Image via WikipediaDr. Ellen Weber asked me to devote some time to a discussion of marketing flaws. She wonders if bad marketing practices contributed to our turbulent economy, and whether good marketing practices will help us reach better days.
What Ellen is getting at is the difference between “old” and “new” marketing. People have come to think of old marketing as being one-way communication. Sellers create a message around their brand or product and repeat it over and over through one-way mass media. New marketing, in this context, is two-way – sellers and buyers talk to each other, exchange ideas and develop brands and products in collaboration. Blogs, wikis, forums, and social networking sites are typical venues for new marketing. They are falling into favor just as rapidly as static Web sites, TV commercials, and tacky billboards are falling out.
This is a big, fundamental shift. Because of the internet, information has become free and widely accessible. Companies can no longer control communication, feeding customers a steady diet of half truths and misrepresentations (if that be their intention). Power is shifting from sellers to buyers.
On the whole, accessible, freely exchanged market information benefits buyers and sellers. Ellen, I think interactive marketing will absolutely lead to a healthier economy -
- Product value and price will be better aligned. Word of mouth on an internet scale reveals product strengths and weaknesses that ultimately must be priced in.
- Marketers, instead of guessing what customers want, will ask them. New product development will proceed faster and more efficiently.
- As companies converse with customers, they will obtain high quality ideas to improve existing products and services. That’s what I call true value creation.
We won’t reach the promised land overnight. There are still a lot of people offline, and a lot of companies marketing out of line. However, in the long run, you can’t fight technology. Cellular phones, pervasive wireless access, TiVo, and a generational shift will eventually make old style marketing an historical curiosity.
That’s my opinion! What do you think? Is new marketing going to take us upward and onward?
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Brad,
I believe you’re right that new marketing practices will benefit the companies that use them–as well as their customers–and we can only hope such customer-centric marketing will become more widespread. Some companies seem to be stubbornly grasping the old, in-your-face marketing methods of yesteryear, though–only they’re getting even worse, as they attempt to compete with those businesses that have advanced to less pushy advertising strategies.
For example, TV advertising seems to be getting worse and worse. Companies vie for the consumer’s attention in more and more flagrant ways every day, as they attempt to force viewers to notice them at any cost. I think many don’t realize that the cost (i.e., alienating the very people they’re trying to attract) is too high. In an age when a single click of the remote control can silence a sales pitch or take us to an entirely new channel, I believe advertisers need to rethink their strategies.
I’m quite surprised, actually, that many TV advertisers still turn up the volume on their commercials to the blaring levels designed to make people hear them when they leave the room–a strategy that might have worked in an era when we couldn’t mute them instantly but that I don’t believe is very effective today and only serves to annoy the viewer. In fact, that’s the perfect way for an advertiser to virtually guarantee that I’ll hit the mute button. It would seem that the shotgun tactics these advertisers use are being used to shoot themselves in the foot.
One strategy my mom and I use to fight back (I don’t have cable, so I only watch TV when I’m visiting her) is that we always keep the Weather Channel as the last channel watched. That way, when the commercials become too offensive, all we have to do is hit the “Last Channel” button and voila, we’re home free! After all, it’s important to check the temperature every now and then!
Now, if only more advertisers would see which way the wind is blowing, they might actually attract a few more customers.
Thought-provoking post!
Jeanne
Jeanne, Your thoughts and behavior regarding TV commercials must be shared by many. I never watch TV commercials. Similar problems with newspapers. The Chicago papers are full of ads which are getting tackier by the day. Readership continues to decline. They just don’t get it. These folks don’t want to adapt; they just want to go down swinging their old advertising clubs.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Marketing Is Now A Two Way Street Leading Up
I agree, Brad. They’re in their death throes, but they aren’t going down without a fight. In fact, judging from the outrageous content of some of their ads, they’re almost literally going down kicking and screaming.
And swinging their clubs!
Brad, I hope so. The internet seems to be awash with people who are trying to exploit the potential of social media to sell, without thinking through that it actually means to listen. And listening might send you down some radically different routes – changing your product, not producing something at all…
But let’s hope so. We’re certainly going to need some new economic development models to get us out of the current situation.
Joanna Youngs last blog post..Writing That Comes From the Source
Joanna, Yes, it does seem as though new media is being corrupted in that way at a much faster pace than what occurred in TV and newspapers. I hear college-age folks complain about Facebook in that regard all the time. But I think the fact we can fight back makes all the difference in the world. Companies that are listening are doing well. More and more are engaging in new media, or at least trying to, in a positive way.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Marketing Is Now A Two Way Street Leading Up
Hi Brad, you have thoughtfully shown how Blogs, wikis, forums, and social networking sites provide a medium for learning and understanding. A marketer cannot be just about the product to make a sale. A marketer must create exactly what customers need at a reasonable price. Today’s marketing is indeed vastly different.
One drawback is that customers are less likely to come into forums or other media and share great experiences. But when there is a problem they take a jet ride to the site to show what problems they encounter. Lately that has been related to the airlines just to provide an example.
Negatives are not easy to endure, especially if they’re wrapped in emotions, too. So problems need to be addressed right away, professionally and with excellent tone.
Social media can help marketers and businesses make needed adjustments to their products and advertising, to polish it and make it better.
Joanna, mentions something I hadn’t considered – that some social media can take advantage of others. That would be akin to false advertising, where you are driven more by what it can do for you rather than how it helps customers. Really it’s the conversations and the listening on both ends that make the difference.
A very thoughtful post, Brad, that opens the window to explore Ellen’s question well.
Robyn McMasters last blog post..Explore Escape Routes from Corporate America
Hi Robyn, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Negativity is always a challenge, regardless of the medium. You probably know the statistics better than I, but isn’t it true that people are about ten times more likely to share a negative experience than a positive one? I’ve argued elsewhere that this phenomenon is a compelling reason for a company to blog. If people are going to complain (and they inevitably will), why not encourage them to do so in a forum where you can see their complaint and respond to it?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Age of Conversation 2 Available Now!
Wow, thanks for this mind-bending post, Brad — you sum it up well with your notion that “Power is shifting from sellers to buyers.”
Love the suggestion that interactive marketing will absolutely lead to a healthier economy! Yes, what a learning and growing opportunity.
It takes teachability on both sides for product value and price to be better aligned. Here at MITA we use “Word of mouth,” as you detailed it here.
Imagine the wonder of Marketers, who instead of guessing what customers want, will ask them.
No wonder new product development would tend to proceed faster and more efficiently.
This model is not used often, but what a fine addition it could add to enterprises that use it!
With folks like you at the helm, Brad, new marketing can take us upward and onward. What an adventure to look forward to! The key is to engage others at the top who’d add their support to the changes – would you agree?
Ellen Webers last blog post..Age Graciously or Voraciously?
Hi Ellen, I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic comment! I can tell you are really excited about these new trends in marketing – and we need all of that we can get. I’m far from the helm, but I’ll do whatever I can to alert business folks to these new ideas that really do work. You are right – it’s all about knowledge sharing at this point. Social media is still very new. It took us a while to master radio and TV, so why should this be any different? In a few more years, I believe companies will be using social media naturally and almost reflexively, again, because it works.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Age of Conversation 2 Available Now!
Thanks for your response, Brad. Maybe sellers can find thoughtful ways to connect by asking customers for possible solutions at the same time customers might say something didn’t go right. It’s the solutions we’re all after and it takes a savvy marketer to keep the conversation positive as you say.
Robyn McMasters last blog post..Explore Escape Routes from Corporate America