On hearing the term ‘Modern Marketing,’ most would immediately imagine something digital.
That was my intention.
Marketing used to be about delivering meaningful information to potential and current customers in order that they become or remain customers, despite the flirtatious approaches of competitors.
The more appealing the information, the greater the chance of some sort of engagement that might lead at some point to a consummation.
Bit like the University bar in 1970, when I was young(er).
Advertising used to be, and still is a crucial component, however, this is where it has changed.
Advertising in my day used to be the means by which the information was communicated.
In todays marketing, advertising is often the way people are identified, tracked, stalked, and targeted for offers, sometimes genuine, sometimes outrageous, increasingly fraudulent, and usually unwanted.
This is the dark side of the digital advertising component of modern marketing.
I have yet to hear anyone complaining that they do not receive sufficient numbers of unsolicited digital offers.
No wonder we do not trust anyone or anything anymore.
While it is counter intuitive, limiting your ‘digital reach’ to those who have actively demonstrated they welcome your approach, will become a valuable tactic. By ‘actively demonstrated’, I do not mean just filled in one landing page email address to access a lead bait, I mean meaningful interaction.
Back to the Uni bar.
There was one rather unprepossessing bloke we all made some fun of, as he would sometimes turn up with a bunch of flowers. His ‘transaction’ rate was impressive indeed, and few of us ever figured out how that was the case until much later.
Perhaps being truly generous with our knowledge rather than demanding an email address in return for some valueless rubbish is the new digital bunch of flowers.
