With all the talk around here lately about social media's place in business, customer interactions, service recovery, and marketing strategies for growth, I've been thinking more about how the world of marketing and doing business has changed with the digital/social *revolution*.
And more specifically has my business embraced the change?
Marketing to the Social Web
I ran across a presentation given by Larry Weber, Chairman of W2 Group, titled "Marketing to the Social Web - How Digital Customer Communities Build your Business", which helped put together some thoughts for me regarding the changing landscape in which we do business
While the entire presentation was informational, one concept summed up the business world we are currently living in, and how it's changed in a relatively short amount of time.
Don't get me wrong, fundamentally business has not changed. We still need to find stuff people want/need and provide it to them, but the way we go about doing that is very different than years past.
The New Rules of Engagement
The presentation points out the differences between "Old Marketing" and "New Marketing", which could just as easily summarize the difference between "Old Business" and "New Business"
Old Marketing:
- One-way communication
- Brand recall is Holy Grail
- Group customers by demographics
- Content controlled by marketers
- Virality driven by flash
- Michelin Guide - expert reviews
- Publishers control channels
- Top down strategy
- Information hierarchy
- Emphasis on cost - CPM
New Marketing:
- Brand is dialogue
- Customers determine brand value
- Group customers by behavior
- User generated content
- Virality based on content
- User reviews (Amazon, etc)
- Publishers build relationships
- Bottom up strategy
- Information on demand
- Invest for growth - measurable ROI
I think this is a nice illustration that approaching business and marketing the same way we did 20, 10 or even 5 years ago will be less than effecitve.
The Importance of Community Building
Customers will shape our businesses, we won't shape our customers. Customizing experiences, building community, and relequinshing control of our brands to the consumer will be the driving force for growth.
Larry's presenation also details the 7 Steps You Can Take to Build Digital Communities.
The communities we build will be very important to our businesses, and that portion of Larry's presentation is certainly worth checking out.
Your Turn
What do you think about all of this? Do you agree that the rules of engagement have changed?
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Two thoughts on this post (a great read by the way… good to be thinking about the evolution online): First, I think demographics are still a key in tracking behavior and targeting customers. Second, targeting influentials has never been more apparent as it appears to be now. Having an “influential person,” (who could be that person on Twitter with 5 million followers–ok, 5 million is a little much) mention your product, name, company is great stuff.
@JB
Your point about influencers is a good one. I agree that they are extremely important, and I wonder if engaging an influencer is easier in today than in years past. In the “old world” you had very little opportunity to interact with the big influencers, calling them on the phone, or trying to cross paths at a networking event was about as good as you could hope for. Today you can use the web, social media, etc to attract the attention of the influencers and make a connection that way. If you’re remarkable enough you can get them to come to you, not vice versa.
Matt
You make a great point! It’s WAY easier today to connect to an influencer than in year’s past. In fact, I think I “met” you via Twitter? And countless other influencers as well. The toughest part is helping them sift through the deluge of email and other messages the “influencer” gets. Now to work on being more remarkable…..
Interesting article. I would add that marketing has and is evolving as we have more tools etc to engage with customers and it will continue to evolve.
That said at the heart of engaging with customers is really understanding how they think, feel and behave and that I do not believe will change. 20 years ago the companies I worked for always went well beyond just using demographic data and included behavioural etc. Today we can get that information more easily.
Mr. Weber’s breakdown of new versus old marketing gibes very closely with David Meerman Scott’s in his book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR.” It was the first book I read on the change in communications brought in by social media – and I’d recommend it to anyone.
I’ve been a marketer for over 30 years – an ad man at that. This metamorphosis in how brands are (I almost typed “built”) SHARED is quite a change for me. But, you know, it’s the most exciting thing to happen in marketing in a long time.
I’m enjoying the ride!
Mr. bblackwood, Wow! 30 yrs in marketing you’ve seen and lived it all… Lucky you. (I’m easyly impressed by that, I’m 31)
I think web revolution is not only changing models and habits in marketing, but it is also changing some social values, the way we perceive our roll in society and the way it works. How? democratising processes and forcing hierarchies to become more horizontal. We all share a tiny bit of power. Take for instance, a student community who rate their professors. What do you reckon?
One thing about social marketing to the web is people have to remember that there are millions – billions – of people out there that don’t speak English. I recently looked at the most popular tweets (can’t remember the site that shows it but you can find it) and of the top 20 most popular had 4 in English. Time to find a way to market to to those people as well as English speakers.
FYI the link in the phrase “Chairman of W2 Group” does not work.
@McLaughlin
Great reminder – we live in a global economy, to market only to English speakers excludes some HUGE non English speaking opportunities.
Matt
PS: Thanks for the heads up on the link.
@bblackwood
That’s a good way to put it…brands are no longer BUILT they are SHARED and through the sharing is how they are shaped. All we can do is help our brand be shared, and reinforce our message with those doing the sharing. After that, it’s out of our hands.
Matt
I agree, BeBop Designer. I just hired a company to rebuild my deck – based on other people’s recommendations on Angie’s List. I just bought a new coffee pot based on online reviews from consumers. Etc.
I truly think this is a revolution – as in a change of power into the hands of the many (the consumer). Back in the 60s, we used to like to say: “power to the people.” It took 45 years, but I think that has largely happened.