New Marketing Rules? New Marketing Tools?
By Walt Goshert on Feb 1, 2008 in Marketing Strategy
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Sure, we’re in a time of change for small business owners here in the U.S. of A…
- Economy headed towards recession
- Presidential Election that could result in higher taxes and regulation from the next Administration
- Global competition
- Soft housing market
- A mind-numbing, head-spinning array of social marketing buzz happening all over the Internet.
http://flickr.com/photos/fortphoto/344900665/
Come on, Jay Ehret, cut me a freaking break!
You mean Jack Trout and Al Ries, two of the world’s best-known marketing strategists, were smoking crack when they wrote The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing?
Now, you can Violate Jack and Al’s Rule #20, The Rule of Hype all you want Jay…
But, please Do So At Your Own Risk!
The Rules, The Laws of Marketing, DO NOT CHANGE.
Why?
Human Nature.
Remember, it’s people who buy stuff.
Men and Women, through the ages, have had the same basic fears, desires, needs, and wants. We’d all like to think we’re evolving into something better (yeah, I’ll admit, some of us individually are better at the whole self-actualization thing than others) but, as a whole, within a market, inside market niches, people’s ACTIONS are very predictable.
What’s changing?
The Marketing Tools. The Marketing Tactics.
And here online, with all this social marketing crap buzzing around us, sometimes it sure does feel like climate change.
So, before all of you get your tightie-whiteies all knotted around your neck, take a breathe and remember this:
People are still people.
Do the heavy lifting of marketing strategy thinking first before you get all caught up in missing the boat on the latest Facebook or YouTube trick.
Think about the unique strengths you deliver to your clients.
Spend the time to ask and deeply understand what your clients really want.
Figure out how to craft a message that tells your amazing story about how you are THE choice for your clients.
Understand where your prospective clients are found.
After this exercise, now you’re ready to determine:
The best marketing tools to communicate with your prospects.
Dan Kennedy says “every business on Earth, past and present, needs three things to prosper:
- Right Market
- Right Message
- Right Media”
(BTW, In Dan’s No B.S. Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses, you’ll find The Ten No B.S. Rules of Marketing)
The biggest mistake I see small businesses make in their marketing is a sole focus on tactics, on that latest shiny marketing tool that will bring in quick and easy cash.
If any marketing “rule” has changed it’s that with the blizzard of marketing tools, and resulting avalanche of bullshit messages flooding prospects today, you better have a rock solid strategic foundation in place throughout your business…
Because…
Using the wrong tools, to deliver the wrong message, to the wrong market…
Will put you OUT-OF-BUSINESS.
What “Rules” Your Business?
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7 Comment(s)
By
David Meerman Scott
(Check me out!) on Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Love your analysis here. You’re absolutely correct that marketing hasn’t changed when it comes to fundamentals. And yes, the best thing is to find a problem people have, solve the product with a great product or service, and then communicate to people who have that problem.What has changed, however, and what is “new” is that millions of people now go online to solve problems. The use search engines, they read blogs, they ask people in chat rooms and forums for advice. THis is new. But it is new in the same way that 50 years ago the new thing was television.Marketers need to adapt to marketing on the Web and what works is different than what works on TV (the last major marketing tool that came along).CheersDavid Meerman Scottauthor “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”
By
Walt Goshert
(Check me out!) on Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
David,
Thanks for visiting and I, along with all my readers, appreciate your comment.
I respect your insights as a thought leader in this arena. (Note to self: Run to Borders after this post to buy David’s books)I agree with you that what is “New” is the message delivery via the Internet.
MSM… TV, Radio, Newspapers “controls” information via “push” to market. The Internet empowers people(those folks who buy stuff) to “pull” the information they want.
It reminds me of the line from Seinfeld:(Gotta love Newman)
“When you control the mail, you control…INFORMATION.”
MSM, and lots of business owners, and yes even some of the top marketing pros, cling to this “information control”.
Couple this with all the “noise” of social marketing online…
Result: A hellava lot of confused marketing people.
It’s like your golf game. If you’re spraying the ball all over the place for 3-4 rounds in a row, can’t get up and down, can’t seem to drain a putt to save your life…
Do you run out and buy all new tools… new driver, wedges, and putter?
Or, do you go back to the basics? Check your stance, check your alignment, have your pro check your swing…
Yep, you focus on the fundamentals.(well… you do if you’re a Pro)
But, after the hard work of getting your fundamentals down…
You might put that new Nike Sumo driver (yep, after Borders, gonna swat a couple with this new stick!) and Nike One Platinum golf ball in the bag…
Do you ditch your faithful, trusted wedges and putter after a couple stinker rounds? Nope. These are tools that are tried and true, tested, and work under pressure.
Here’s my point:
If you don’t have the fundamentals down and start using those shiny new “tools”, you’re just going to hit it farther off line and into the woods.
Losing a dozen Nike One Platinums is damn expensive!
Thanks David… keep an eye peeled here for the review of your book, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”, and the new Nike Sumo driver.
Walt
By
Jay Ehret
(Check me out!) on Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Walt, I’m not sure how you think Ries & Trout’s Law of Hype applies to my blog post. Are you suggesting that MySpace and Facebook are hype? While not every industry should use these vehicles for marketing, the music industry seems like a good fit. 70% of teens log on to a social network monthly.
Twitter is hype, green marketing is hype, Second Life is hype. Facebook has more than 40 million users, MySpace reportedly more than 70 million, and that’s not hype.
Maybe laws stay the same, but rules do not, even in golf. The new rules have to do with tactics, distribution and delivery.
In my experience with small businesses, there sole focus is not on tactics. It’s just the only place they have to turn because no one’s taught them what to say. You make some good points about finding your message, but I believe your shot about the new rules or marketing hit the sand trap. Read David’s book and see If you perspective changes.
Thanks for the link,- Jay Ehret, The Marketing Spot Blog
By
Walt Goshert
(Check me out!) on Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Jay,
You’re welcome. Glad to provide the link because I think your blog has valuable information for my readers.
“Real revolutions arrive unannounced in the middle of the night and kind of sneak up on you.”… and so ends the reading of Ries and Trout’s Law of Hype.
MySpace and Facebook might be Right Media fits, social marketing tactics, for music related, video games, ring tones, and zit cream… stuff that the active demographic there wants. But, for 95% of local small businesses,it’s too much noise.
You’re right, and I stand corrected, golf rules DO change. An interesting rule change this year, especially in light of this conversation, is use of GPS and Laser yardage devices. Seems that technology is changing things in golf and marketing.
So, is the Internet, or more specifically social marketing, literally changing “The Rules of Marketing for Small Business?”
The “Rule” I see changing is that it’s gonna force Small Business owners to move away from their unbalanced focus on advertising/media tactics, to doing the hard work of deeply understanding their Markets, and honing their Message, their unique and compelling story, so it rings true.
Right Market, Right Message ,Right Media. Market leaders balance this formula. The rest are reduced to commodity trading of goods and services in their markets.
When a business has these fundamentals in place,then they’re in a position to use the social marketing tools to build community and foster word-of-mouth client-building. I see social marketing as a tactic within a Media tactic, that potentially offers tremendous opportunity for small business owners.
Shifting back to the golf metaphor, most established small business owners right now aren’t in a sand bunker. They’re sitting in the first cut of rough, with a scary 250 yard carry over water to the green. The water is social marketing…and all the other changes currently hitting small business owners . Now, for 95% of small business owners, the 3-wood 250 yard carry is a “defining moment”, a career shot. The smart ones will lay-up. The dumb will try it. Only the best will try the shot, hit it in the water, and try again. And, you’re also right here Jay, they need someone to teach them, to caddy them to the green.
The “hype” I rant about is not you specifically Jay. It’s that here online, social marketing is pimped as the be-all, end-all killer-app. Most local small business owners don’t have a warm-fuzzy feeling about the pets.com sock puppet era.
Yeah… the “rules” are sneaking up on all of us. But, yep,ya better watch out, or they’ll bite ya in the butt!
I’m sure David’s book will deepen my perspective,too.
Jay, Thanks for the adding to the conversation and the community here.
By
Ian Denny
(Check me out!) on Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
Walt,
You are so right. As a devout follower of the teachings of Drayton Bird, and he in turn by Claude Hopkins, David Ogilvy etc, I see no new rules.
Techniques and media may change, but since we exited the caves, very little has changed about who we are.
Once we’ve satisfied our basic needs - read Maslow - all of the other stuff like belonging to a group comes into play.
And particularly in business-to-business, it amazes me how often people market to the business rather than the individual.
In a large corporate - you have to appeal to the needs of the individual and frame the message in such a way that “…profits will soar, but so will the career of the wise person who does this…”
This is even more the case when marketing to small business. You are dealing with an individual and their ego, fears, desires etc.
I don’t know if you get pigeons in your neck of the woods, but we have them in the UK.
They land in the road and can see traffic coming toward them. But too late very often. They cannot judge the speed well. When they escape, it’s at the very last minute rather than by safely flying off when you’re 200 yards away.
The point is, they just cannot evolve in the space of 100 years to cope with a new threat - the motor car.
Just like humans cannot de-evolve in the same time to adapt to this connected and hi-tech world we created.
Evolution takes thousands of years, not a meer tick on the clock of our history.
That’s why the pioneers who wrote the rules of marketing based upon the human condition will be right for many thousands of years to come.
By
Adrian Keys
(Check me out!) on Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
I totally agree but not taking away from small business owners, how do they go about determining right, right message, right media?I ask the question as I think often the the requisite marketing skills do not reside internally. If it doesn’t, then will the small business owner have the resources to hire a marketing consultant>Let’s say they can muster the resources to get things rolling, the next question is will they have the resources to monitor, analyze and tweak? Some tough questions, but but I agree…it’s all about right marjet, right message, right media!!!
By
Walt Goshert
(Check me out!) on Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
Ian,
First, thanks for your visit and adding to the conversation here.
Second, your insights and real-life business experience you share in your blog are truly inspirational. (Thanks Cath Larsen, for commenting here and leading me to you, Ian)
Third, it’s amazing how much you learn reading both the original post and the following comments, and it’s amazing how when you write a post and respond to your reader’s comments your own understanding deepens.
Ian thanks for mentioning Drayton Bird... a “must-read” for all marketing pros (Yep. that includes you, Small Business Owner. Realize that no matter what you do, you are IN the marketing business).
Here’s a quote from the Drayton Bird site that gets to the heart of our conversation here:
The way you have dealt with your customers, the product you have sold, the value he you have offered, will do more for your brand and its image than anything else.
Pretty damn fundamental and basic.
You see, when you step into the social marketing world, and build community with your prospects and clients, you can’t dazzle them with bullshit. You can no longer throw big-bucks at interruption advertising — TV, radio, newspaper and magazine print — and expect to “buy” an image. You must BE your image.
Have a “Rules” changed?
Nope. The bar has been raised. Without deep thought and understanding of your unique business strengths, understanding the fears, desires, and wants of your market, and your fine-honed “story” — the message that resonates with your market…
You are a pigeon sitting in the middle of the road about to be run over.
Perhaps the violation of the “Rules” is thinking that MSM Image/Branding thinking and tactics will work in the social marketing world?
Isn’t the challenge of social marketing about getting back to the basics and honestly communicating and building community?
Ian, thanks for sharing your thoughts here… and your insights on your blog that provides a real-life, from the heart and soul of the small business owner guide for fellow travelers on his journey.
Cheers, Ian!
Adrian,
Thanks for jumping in…
You’re right, most small business owners, (Well,let’s face it, even Fortune 100 businesses), don’t know the right questions to ask about their marketing.
Fortunately, any business has been in business for a period of time and has actually turned a profit, has tons of hidden assets that aren’t being leveraged.
The most un-leveraged asset of any established business is the client base.
Begin with a study and analysis of your client base. Start asking them questions and really listen to the words and phrases they use. (Can you think… keywords?).
It’s funny how this simple change of perspective from product/service focus to a client-communication and relationship-building focus will begin to transform a business.
How do you get started? What questions do you ask? Check out my “7 Simple Secrets for Growth-Focused Entrepreneurs” Free Report. You’ll find lots of bread crumbs hidden there.
The small-business owner must make a decision. Does he want to personally spearhead his marketing efforts, and devote the time and effort to do it? Most don’t. They’re happy and comfortable doing the work of their business… tax consulting, managing construction projects, leading a sales team, treating patients… Also, marketing scares them because they don’t understand it.
My experience is that innovative small-business owners figure out how to profitably hire a marketing consultant. They realize that the increased revenues and resulting profits will easily justify the investment.
The very top small-business owners “get it.” They know they are IN the marketing business. They transform their role from DOING the work of the business to driving marketing innovation throughout every aspect of their business. These business owners are extremely rare… and usually enjoy both time and money freedom.
Adrian,Thanks for coming back and commenting!