Control-Alt-Delete Marketing?
Andrew Graham of Bear Sterns posed a fascinating observation last week in his Friday “Morning Note” (emailed only, such a shame) when he said:
“The bottom line is it appears that we need to hit Control-Alt-Delete on the economy, and before investors “buy†into the new paradigm, they need to know what the new operating system will be: The New Deal 2.0, Capitalism 3.1 or the Overlapitalism beta v1. At least its on sale for the holidays.”Â
That got me thinking about marketing in a down economy, and made me ask the question:
Is it Finally Time for Marketers to Hit Control-Alt-Delete on Traditional Marketing?
Unfortunately, marketers control (and live by) the largest discretionary budget in any organization. Programs and people are getting cut or will be victims of “planned obsolescence” as 2009 budgets are being drawn and redrawn.
The harsh reality of the day is that Darwinism has come to every part of every business: adapt, change or die.
At the same time, there are some truisms that still exist:
- Those who continue to market through economic downturns are far more likely to benefit than those who cut their marketing budgets too much during troubled times.
Think about it - the best time to gain visibility with your prospects is when your competition is cutting back. And because so many are cutting back, your messages have more opportunities to get through.
- Those who adapt to the demands of today’s marketplace - I see trends in authenticity, transparency, connectedness and simplicity being demanded all around - will be much more effective in their efforts.
Gone is the ‘coolness’ of excess - look at the automakers reception on Capital Hill as they flew in and out in their corporate jets - even the assumption of a sense of humor (hello, Motrin?). Our bullshit detectors are on high alert as we watch and listen to those who’ve driven our economies and futures to the brink, and even well-researched campaigns aren’t guaranteed to hit the mark.
Everyone suffers when people are inauthentic in their approach to marketing. (Check out Koifish Communications’ excellent post, “The Ethics of Advocacy” for even more fuel for that fire.)
As a result, we are increasingly shutting out “marketing” and “news sources” and turning to our friends and families - our smaller, more intimate and immediate circles of influence - and appreciating them more, sharing information with them, and (likely as a result) bullshitting less.
So are there any bright spots in the marketer’s toolkit?
I’m happy to see more and more explore the notion of marketing through social means. Let’s face it. People trust people they know. And (aside from searching for products and services online) most people ask around of family, friends and (now) their followers for advice when researching and buying pretty much anything… from food to fuel to Facebook.
We’re leaning on each other like never before in my lifetime.
Marketers, listen up. We’re about more than spray and pray messaging… we’re about more than behavioral targeting… it’s time to ask ourselves:
- How are you entering in ongoing conversations about your company, your products, your services?
- Is your entire company (from customer service to product management to sales) listening for mentions of your brand?
- If they hear something, do they know what to say or do?
Whether they occur online or in your local restaurants, malls, offices, hospitals or schools, it’s time to join the ongoing conversations. As marketers, it’s time to:
- Listen more than we speak
- Offer expert service more than braggadocio
- Engage rather than cajole
- And show rather than tell…
Are you ready to rethink everything? I believe it’s finally time to take advantage of a reset.
Let me focus my reply on the concept of “traditional” marketing, since this post seems to allude to the idea that there is some different marketing now available to which we should evolve.
I do not think that the new marketing techniques available today that weren’t conceivable 10 years ago are necessarily a new breed of marketing in the Darwin-sense. Nor is authenticity necessarily new, but it is certainly more important that marketing people don’t stray too far from the truth what their product can do because the online community can be brutal and unwieldy.
Marketing in 2009 strikes me more as a collection of maturing tools that can permit a level of precision not previously available, and in many cases measurable. There are certainly more channels available than before, like cable TV. I’d also say that CEO’s are seeing that some of these new techniques are not fads, but are new and exciting arrows to add to their corporate quivers.
That said, I feel the fundamentals of Marketing remain the same and do not need a cntrl-alt-del (apparently marketing runs on Windows ;-). Marketing has been around since Uglaark tried to sell his line of new and improved wood clubs to his Neanderthal neighbors cave door to cave door.
It is fundamentally marketing’s responsibility to articulate the value of the product or service to a prospective buyer, manage (or at least cajole) the perception of the brand, help define the company’s voice, and most important, help maximize the conversion of prospects into buyers. The better job marketing does using technology to help connect a prospect to a sale is in my opinion the real advance in marketing techniques which lends credence to these new marketing techniques.
So I think this is the time when smart marketing departments will need to become more critical of which “arrows” they choose to carry during these lean times, and ultimately those that choose correctly and stick to the fundamentals will come out winners.
“the online community can be brutal and unwieldy”
You’re certainly right about the brutal reactions to dishonest claims… why not? We should be brutal. The unwieldy part is true until you get the tools you need to help manage the conversations.
And I completely agree with you that smart marketers need to become not only more critical of the “arrows,” but more facile with the bow and the options available in their quiver. (Whoa… let’s beat that metaphor to death!)
How many CMO’s do you know that fall back entirely too much on their dated training to support the activities of their increasingly more web-savvy employees and prospects?
Perhaps the Command-Option-Escape (yes, marketers use both PCs and Macs - great point) button should be used for those who remain blissfully and intentionally ignorant of the new tools available to them.
I would like CMOs to start looking at what more they can do with their people - using new media tools applied in online conversations - and maybe we can save a few jobs.
Time is the only enemy online. Both the time you take to catch up, and the time it takes to converse.
As always, Craig, thanks for spending a little of your time commenting here.
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Great post — and thanks for the luv.
I think Craig is right, the tools have changed but the essence of marketing is still the same. People buy from people. I also believe now is the time for a major shift in marketing. This shift is going to naturally occur forced by the continued collapse of the financial markets. This is the evolution of marketing which reflects new behaviours.
A new younger or empowered generation is coming with a different attitude. The new tools are maturing and the old are dying. It’s all mixed in and linked to the shift changes in money and our global climate. Hold onto your hats
@Nick, you’re absolutely right, the more ‘connected’ generation is coming in with a different attitude, we’re being rocked by (and with) technology, financial and climate changes, and ‘hold on to your hats’ is exactly what we need to do. Remembering that grass bends in the wind, and deeply rooted trees often fall.
Marketers, more than ever, need to be nimble and fleet… and they’ll require the same of their tools.
I’ve moved the Ethics of Advocacy post you reference in this piece. It is now here http://koifishcommunications.com/blog/?p=69