I attended Seth Godin's Webinar yesterday, "The Future of Marketing: Being Remarkable And The Meatball Sundae", and if you didn't get a chance to attend, or haven't yet read his book "Meatball Sundae", I highly recommend you get it, read it, and take it to heart.
If you think about it, in today's economic reality, when the chips are down, and things aren't working, we return to what has worked for us in the past. It seems to be how human beings are wired up. When the pressure is on, we either give up, or we take control and resolve to "make it happen".
But be careful -- because the effectiveness of Online Marketing isn't the same as the Marketing you've done in the past. You cannot take the strategies and tactics of traditional marketing and apply it to how you participate on the Internet. When you do, that's what Seth has labeled, "The Meatball Sundae" -- it doesn't work.
He rationally points out that the old media was designed to sell ads -- because that is how you and I got access to our TV shows, and cheap newspapers -- the Advertisers paid the freight. But in the online world, the Internet doesn't care -- Marketers can no longer interrupt, insist we pay attention, or have the power about what we know about their companies or their products.
Marketers need to fundamentally change their posture. It's no longer about pushing your message, but about providing relevant content and creating a 'pull' for it from your target audience. It's not about spamming your entire lead list, it's about paying attention to their interests and sending them things they'll value and care about. It's not about YOU or your ORGANIZATION (what could be termed Selfishness of the Marketer) -- It's about the BUYER -- and their selfishness.
So this is a wake up call to marketers today. Don't allow the controller in you, pressed for results at the end of the year, to spam your house lists trying to get your numbers for the year or the quarter. The Online world is becoming the primary media for reaching our target markets -- but the game is all different. You, as a marketer, will have to give up your obsession with control, embrace direct communication, and organize yourself and your organizations towards creating friends and relationships (stop burning your list).
I highly recommend reading Alan Wattt's book, "The Wisdom of Insecurity". It is a great primer for the controllers who have got to completely re-orient yourselves for the new world in order to stay competitive. Letting go may be the best, not only for your marketing, but for your living. You'll be amazed at what opens up, what paths become available... The key is to start now.
For more on Seth Godin, visit his page at Squidoo, http://www.squidoo.com/seth
