This post is part of the CluetrainPlus10 project by Keith McArthur, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger.
Marketers are savvy.
Marketers make you want what you don’t need. Marketers embed a desire whether you’re hot to trot or not.
Marketers are the Ambassadors of Kwan for sales targets and brand focus.
Or are they?
Does your decision rest on your head or your heart? Is there an emotional reason for buying something or a logical one? Does it matter? As long as you buy, the marketer’s job is done, right?
Maybe, maybe not.
Take a look at some of the key tools in marketing’s make-up:
- Target markets
- Products
- Promotion
- Distribution
- Pricing
- Support services
These aren’t all that marketing does, but they’re the ones that need to be done well to succeed and measure the success. Savvy marketers would use a combination of these and instill a want for a product or service, collect the check and move on. Game over, new challengers please.
That was then; this is now.
Today, marketing is different. Today, consumer marketing is the new tool-set. Communication channels have changed and the message distribution model has changed with it.
Today, word of mouth is leading the charge of marketing. If you thought it played a key role in the past, it’s only just getting started. Services like Twitter, blogs, Youtube, citizen journalism and more mean a single marketing message isn’t enough anymore.
Consumers no longer like to be told what they want; they like to be asked what they need. Want is the old; need is the present and the future.
But not everyone’s on board with this idea.
Companies are still spending thousands, and often millions, on a message that isn’t being heard. Or if it’s being heard, it isn’t being listened to. Marketing agencies are just as at fault – many still cling to the power base they used to have and feel they can ride out the storm that is social media.
After all, what do us consumers know, right? Wrong.
Today, we’re connected in ways that marketers can only dream off. We have instant access to the best information on anything we need. We’re now the tool-set that used to be the sole domain of the marketer.
And still many don’t get this. And they wonder why results are crap.
So, to paraphrase The Cluetrain Manifesto itself:
“When we’re not busy being your ‘target market’, many of us are your people. We’d rather be talking to friends online than watching the clock. That would get your name around better than your entire million dollar website. But you tell us speaking to the market is Marketing’s job.”
It is marketing’s job; but today the target audience is the marketer.
We’re your people too, marketers – isn’t it about time you opened up to our tool-set?
photo credit: Thomas Hawk
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Danny, To quote what you said…”Companies are still spending thousands, and often millions, on a message that isn’t being heard. Or if it’s being heard, it isn’t being listened to” I fully agree. Funny thing is that I am a direct mail marketer (job role in title, but my personal view is way different) and expected to continue to pump out direct mails over and over with the same message saying “You need to buy this now.” Personally, I strongly believe companies need to start interacting with their customers and ASK what customers need, not what the company believes they need.
Twitter: DannyBrown
It’s interesting to see your take as someone in the “old model” (which, I feel, does still have a place in certain industries).
Do you find that it’s a lack of interest or understanding? Or something different altogether?
It pains me to see a major corporation make a ridiculous media buy that has no metrics, interactivity or real imagination. Boring and not very lucrative is it?
By marketing one on one with consumers you are able to build up a repertoire that could become viral. Those empowered consumers could then spur forward your brand to heights that may have been previously unrecognized.
Twitter: knealemann
You mean it isn’t about a slick campaign aimed slightly over the heads of potential customers whilst talking down to “the great unwashed” who know nothing about your product and will believe any claim you make? I had no idea
Another brilliant post, Danny. Bravo!
@knealemann
Twitter: DannyBrown
Maybe it is – maybe I missed the mark on this one?
Cheers Kneale, always a pleasure good sir.
I definitely enjoy the paradigm shift that new communications tools are causing in how products + services are created and offered. It’s scary for some personality types.. but for my type, it’s a lot less scary than watching the clock and filling out TPS reports. It’s challenging but overall really fun to be in the midst of something new… collectively figuring it out and creating the new business culture.
p.s. Cluetrain is a great book. Over 10 years and it still sounds fresh and groundbreaking.
Twitter: GlobalPatriot
There will always be those who are okay with being told what to do and what to buy, but increasingly the public is finding it’s voice, and using the various avenues of social media to express opinions on the matter. In that light, one-way marketing communication will continue to have “some” effect, but the tide is turning on a daily a basis, and the voice of the individual is winning!
Twitter: DannyBrown
Do you think the trend will continue to move toward interaction and communication, or will we hit that tipping point sooner rather than later?
With the amount of businesses still unwilling to move into the social media field (or any that uses a similar approach), it just makes me wonder if it’s a “battle” that may not have an end in sight.