Back in the day, while working in marketing at Starbucks Coffee Company, I remember a phase where nearly every product manager wanted a brochure printed and put in the brochure rack to promote their product. There were (and still are) only a few places where signage and communications can live within a Starbucks. You’ve got a few poster frames, the large banner, a sign or two at the registers and a perhaps a sign at the condiment bar (where you add milk and sugar to your coffee). For whatever reason, an additional space that became the “hotspot” for communication was the brochure rack…
I see this same infatuation with today’s trendy marketing tactics… social networking, search engine optimization, microblogging, blogging… A practice becomes “hot” and we re-write our marketing plans to include this new strategy.
I think we’re past: “every company needs a blog to survive.” For blogging, we’ve come to realize that it…
- is a tactic, not the strategy…
- the majority of customers aren’t using blog sites as their primary source of information about making a purchase, and
- if you can’t be good at it – you should probably *not* do it. (Which are the rules for ANY tactic).
The brochures at Starbucks made the product managers feel good. They could walk into a store, see their product promoted in print, and feel good that marketing was “doing something for them.” Even though, the brochures didn’t drive additional awareness or purchase. (Or even pay for themselves!)
Social media is the current “brochure” of marketing. Spike Jones, the Fire Starter at Brains On Fire said it right in a recent comment he made on Jason Baer’s DailyFix post about social media…
Spike agrees social media is the flavor of the month. He comments…
“There are waaaaaay too many people on Twitter and Facebook (talking to themselves) who think it’s the be-all, end-all. It’s a great tool. But it’s just a tool. It’s not the answer. And it can easily become part of the problem.”
So what’s the secret to successful marketing?
Well it isn’t a secret.
It’s the old-fashioned who, what, where, when, how and why. It’s work. Not a quick fix.
Identify and connect with your customer in a meaningful way. Answering…Who is your customer? What are they looking for? What is the best vehicle to reach them? Where can you reach them? When are they most receptive? When do they need your products or services? How do they want to be communicated with? Why are you important to them? Why should they care?
Your marketing plans shouldn’t be driven by the axiom, “if it feels good do it.” Feels good isn’t the same as affective.
“I see this same infatuation with today’s trendy marketing tactics… social networking, search engine optimization, microblogging, blogging… A practice becomes “hot” and we re-write our marketing plans to include this new strategy.”
In many cases I don’t think the plans are being rewritten, social media is just being added. Companies hear the hype and assume it is justified. Which, in my opinion it is as a set of tools, but still might not be right for an individual business’ situation.
But what they don’t realize is that social media is a lotta damned work. Yes, it’s usually ‘cheaper’ in terms of money than other forms of marketing/communications. But creating, building and maintaining relationships via social media requires a lot of ’sweat equity’.
And while I agree with your general premise that we shouldn’t blindly fall of the hype of social media, we also shouldn’t dismiss it. I am finding that many in this space seem to fall into two camps;
1 – The ‘Social Media will change everything’ group
2 – The ‘I’m sick of hearing about social media’ group
The first group usually overhypes SM, the latter group usually underestimates it. Not saying you fall into either group, but posts like this usually turn into the latter group coming in with a torrent of ‘what he said!’ comments.
Appreciate the shout-out, Jason.
I think it’s SO easy to get caught up in “how great social media is” because everyone it’s a bubble. A fishbowl. The vast majority of people I follow on Twitter are marketers. So it a lot of marketers talking to marketers. And we know that never gets anything done! And of course those “top” marketers that are known exclusively through SM are going to talk about how great it is.
And it IS great. But it’s a sliver in the 2×4 of marketing. Just a piece of the puzzle. A means to an end. I honestly don’t know how some of the people I follow on Twitter and are “friends” with on Facebook, etc. actually get any work done…unless they are paid to tweet all day.
It’s easy to get excited about the shiny new toys of SM. And I’ll admit that I’m part of that crowd, too. But we must keep in mind that we can do a lot of good with these tools, or we can do a lot of bad with them. I think the companies that figure out how to use these tools to unite their fans (and become fans of them, too) will win – because with so many tools that are supposed to connect us, they might just be doing the opposite.
Paul, this is a great reminder that we should always be focusing on the “WHO” and leaving the tactics/tools/technologies as a secondary concern.
I’ll personally be very excited when the marketing hype moves from social media to enterprise data management.
Right on target. As a small business person, I am facinated with the new marketing mediums and how they can apply to small, local, community businesses. Seems one could spend so much time perfecting the social media of choice, you could forget the simple basics of just plain business. If you, your products, your staff, something….is so TRUELY remarkable, the old “word of mouth” social media might be all you need. Time spent by business owner on blog,facebook, etc = zero.
Mack – Man… you just killed my hopes for “what he said” comments.
I believe in putting ALL of these tools into your marketing toolbox… and selecting the right tool(s) for the job at hand.
Not all jobs need only a hot glue gun.
Although… if we followed this notion… I wonder what the duct tape of marketing tactics would be…
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to provide your reaction.
Paul (Barsch) – I find with some clients, we fall in love with a particular tactic… and then find the excuse to use it…
I’ll have to use this notion for a future post… but to create remarkable marketing you need to be a great detective… (If it helps wear a Sherlock Holmes houndstooth deerstalker hat, with pipe and magnifying glass).
By finding the answers to the right questions – the scene unfolds itself – and the appropriate strategies and tactics will be clear.
Of course, social media marketing is only one tool in many for modern marketers, and it is not the easy road many believe it is. Only people who have not had a lot of experience actually implementing social media marketing think it is easy. It is complex and requires a lot of knowledge to do well. That is why people who work in the field tend to over hype it. You promote what have a passion for and you know. And you hype what you can sell.
That being said, as marketers we need to go where our consumers go and more and more that is social media sites and tools. It is also mobile marketing, and who knows what in the future. Your point about strategy is exactly right. If you have a strong strategy, you can logically and successfully implement any number of media as tactics.
Paul, You bring up some great points. We are using an array of Social Media in our Small Business, however the real tactics are right out of a twenty year old playbook, just bent and reshaped a bit and as a conduit for communicating with our customer
It seems like everything that is done these days is a bubble. Nothing seems to be built on substance therefore lacking a solid foundation.
Transcend and include all the way up and all the way down. The future will get better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster– hence the drive to do an about face and become a raging retro romantic.
I just wait to see which players of the new trend shake out and then apply them if it makes sense. I find that all these new emerging tools help to keep my old school business relevant in the eyes of the new emerging technospheric elite. why do that?
I stay #1 on Google!
“So what’s the secret to successful marketing? …It’s work. Not a quick fix.”
You nailed it right there. It’s work. While I enjoy spending time on Facebook and Twitter, they can be a huge time drain for me …. a reason to avoid my important work.
Too many times I’ve sat down and thought, “Gee, I could work on my [insert important marketing activity here], OR, I could just take a few minutes to see how my Facebook or Twitter friends are doing.” One hour later, I’ve accomplished nothing.
I hear that others are making real business connections on Twitter and Facebook, so I haven’t given up. Perhaps I’m taking the “quick fix” approach and not working hard enough at it myself.
As marketers, we have to continue to ask ourselves why we do what we do. Why we’re placing that ad, printing that brochure, writing that blog, and spending that time tweeting. If done for the right reasons, we may just have a successful marketing mix.