Marketing's New Currency: Influence

I'm currently reading Kevin Lee's book, "The Eyes Have It", learning all about the history and practice of paid search as opposed to the Madison Ave. world of Advertising.  In the playground of opportunity that the online marketing world is, marketers need to think about not just how to reach consumers, but how to engage them.  I've posted about that a lot, talking about being relevant and providing relevant content that your audience is interested in.

But there exists now, in the world of online marketing, something that is only becoming available through the advent and application of technology -- something never before possible in a practical way.  And that is enhanced targeting.  As Kevin Lee writes, "Super niche targeting has the ability to deliver what is nearly unheard of in mainstream advertising: relevance.  When responsive and willing consumers notice ad messages, engage with Web content, and interact with brands within a ... website, that's the Holy Grail of marketing." 

"Relevancy is now the governing value.  [marketing] is no longer the act of just blasting out your message to bombard enough consumers until you probably hit some of the right ones." 

More and more evidence is mounting up to confirm the fact (and just look in your own life) that "consumers engage in and are influenced by advertising in direct proportion to the targeting and relevance of that advertising." 

While paid search and search engine optimization strategies and practices will become dominant in terms of demand generation and getting new prospects 'in the door', your ongoing ability to segment your leads, based upon their interest and activity with you directly, and provide relevant messaging and content to them ongoingly, will determine the success and failure of your online activities.  From a B2B perspective, unless you have a very short sales cycle, lead acquisition must be followed up with a lead nurturing program that resonates with your lead -- to continue to gain their interest and trust, until they are ready to purchase.

Influence will be determined by relevancy and superior targeting.  So how prepared are you to engage in this world? 

• First, do you have an integrated lead database? 
• Second, can you segment your leads not just by the demographic information, but also their activity and interest profile? 
• And third, can you present and provide content that is relevant and interesting to that segment in a way that will nurture their interest until they are ready to buy?