Jul 9, 2013 | Branding, Change, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
To talk to consumers, you used to stick an ad on TV, in one of the main mags, on maybe a few radio stations, a shotgun effort informed by some pretty rudimentary demographic data.
Then we migrated to the web, in the late 90’s, and advertisers transferred the techniques of mass marketing to this new medium. The cost of banner ads, in the early days calculated on a similar reach basis as mass advertising, has plummeted to perhaps 1% of that cost, and much better targeted, as we realised they simply did not work. Mass media consumption necessitated being interrupted by ads, we expected it as the price to be paid, but the web, we do not need to be interrupted, as we have the option to ignore. Increasingly, advertising became about direct response, as we can now count it.
Now the next shift is on, to mobile, where the “rules of engagement” have dramatically moved again, and we are figuring out how best to leverage the move. Customers need to be wooed, as shouting at them no longer works, you have access to mountains of data (using it is another whole challenge) that enable targeting at behavior rather than simple demographics, and you can count the effectiveness of tactics, one by one, person by person, directly.
Not only is the practice of marketing radically shifted to accommodate these moves by consumers and the tools to hand, but the organisation of the marketing function needs to have changed to reflect the immediacy of direct response, and the disconnect that has existed between the strategy held in the minds of the senior group, and those who by default spend the marketing dollars, often without any real authority beyond budget expenditure with little accountability for the outcomes.
It seems to me as I poke around that organisational inertia that is the greatest impediment to the potential productivity gains from this explosion of accountability of marketing investments that is now possible.
Jun 25, 2013 | Change, Governance, Management, Marketing, Small business, Social Media
Governments and their regulation centric thought processes always lag the digital developments that are accelerating in our world. Typically, they are regulating to close the barn door well after the horse is across the paddock, and failing to consult those who understand the processes, so do a lousy job. Just look at the failed supermarket and petrol price “initiatives”, web site filtering, and utter failure to communicate the case supporting the NBN in anything other than clichés, amongst other failures.
Well, there is another revolution on our doorsteps, one that governments must be salivating about, if they recognise the opportunity to rope us in, as the Prism revelations in the US have demonstrated.
It is pretty obvious that recognition software is about to be a general reality, as it gets rolled out in various forms on mobile platforms. Voice, face, and biometric recognition are all technologies that are in existence, and when Apple, or Samsung stick it on a mobile platform, whooppee, off it will go, and with it, the opportunity to collect huge amounts of personal data beyond that which is collectable now. Facial recognition and digital trickery combined will enable every face (just double click anywhere in the linked photo) in a photo to be identified, by simply tying to a social media database.
Bingo!
What will be done with this capability?
The old “I have nothing to hide” argument is looking limp in the face of such absolute ability to identify the where, who, who with and when capabilities being delivered to just about anyone with a camera and computer. Where are the new barriers of “personal information”?
Clearly commercial uses abound, as do those for the administrative and legal tracking of individuals, but it is the nefarious uses this degree of identification can be put to that are scary.
Jun 17, 2013 | Customers, Marketing, Sales, Social Media
Look at all the verbiage on the net about content marketing, having a personal brand, being a substantial presence on social media, and all the rest of the stuff. Really it is all about one simple idea, making yourself easy to find, then engaging the finder in a conversation that leads to a relationship. With good marketing comes the opportunity to turn that relationship from a casual one into a commercial one.
The days of putting a few advertisements out there, and making yourself available, are over. Everything has been commoditised, supply chains disintermediated, information ubiquitous, and terms and prices transparent.
Those in the market for something now do their research on line, sometimes “road-test” the product (weather it be a car of pair of jeans) in a bricks and mortar retailer, come to a decision and purchase, all in a set of discrete actions over which the seller has no control, and often is totally unaware of it going on. It is this loss of control of the process that makes the huge difference between now and just 15 years ago, when the retailer had the control of the information, and the location.
The initiative is in the hands of the buyer, so the game as a seller is not to have the product the buyer wants available when they want it, in the specifications required, but firstly to be found, all the rest comes later.
Buyers move through a cycle, from recognising the need, setting themselves a budget, doing research, creating a short list, and making the final choice. The earlier in the process a seller can be a part of the consideration, the greater the chance they will be there at the end.
It is in this new process of “engagement” with potential as well as current customers that is the value of content.
Jun 14, 2013 | Branding, Marketing, retail, Sales, Social Media
What will happen when facial recognition is good enough to recognise a person walking into a retail shop, and convey to a device that persons purchase history, returns, sizes, social media mentions and links, and all the rich data that can be collected. The opportunities to use this sort of marketing data integration are limited only by your imagination.
This is just a step away, probably closer even than that, the speed of development of software applications has been amazing.
Next time you walk into a shop, the assistant just may greet you with asking how the function you bought the blue dress for 2 months ago went, or inform you that they have just one left of a belt that would be a great match to the shoes you bought in February, and on it can go……
The real human challenge will be engaging your customers using all this information without being stilted or “creepy”, not a good outcome.
George Orwell is alive and well.
P.S. August 20, 2013.
Tom Fishburne, a favourite commentator on marketing who uses incisive cartoons to make his point posted this cartoon this morning, with the link to the Minority report clip that makes my point above way better than I did. Great stuff Tom.
Jun 4, 2013 | Branding, Collaboration, Communication, Leadership, Social Media
Hugh MacLeod
There are many people I would like to meet, but a special group of them are the thinkers in the “new media” space.
Brian Solis is one of them, along with Clay Shirky, Hugh McLeod, Mitch Joel, and Seth Godin. These are all people who are shaping the manner in which we perceive the explosion of connectability that is driving our lives, enterprises, and the world we live in.
A current report of the Altimeter group of which Brian is a principal is called “The evolution of Social Business: Six stages of business transformation”. The report, and embedded slideshare presentation puts a framework around the bumbling most organisations are experiencing as they grapple with the opportunities, complications and costs of social, and socialised media.
Two last guests. First, someone who does a fantastic job of curating the content and thinking that is going on, is generous enough to share it all, and who knows all of the above blokes in person as a result of that generosity, Mike Stelzner. Second, an Aussie bird, for a bit of balance to the testosterone, and an alternative way of looking at things, Bernadette Jiwa.
What a truly great dinner group, the conversation would redefine “out of the box”, what pity I suck as a cook.
Jun 3, 2013 | Communication, Customers, Marketing, Social Media
Amongst the most common questions I get is “how do we make it viral?”
In the minds of most, “Viral” amounts to “Free” and it may be, but it costs to get there, even if the costs are often less obvious than an invoice from an ad agency.
Word of Mouth has always been the most effective form of advertising, and it still is. An endorsement from a friend or known expert, is marketing Gold. However, in the “old days” of word of mouth, you never heard what Mrs Jones said to Mrs Brown over the back fence, you just hoped you had done enough that it would be an endorsement rather than a panning, but on an individual basis, it really did not matter, so long as the balance was right.
No longer.
Word of mouth has changed into word of mouse, and the while the upside is seductive, the downside is the loss of control, and the immediacy of the impact.
You simply cannot control what is said, or the outcome of the saying, all you can do is respond, and the quicker the better, and with a healthy dose of common sense, a rare commodity it often seems.
