Marcom A to Z — M for Marketing

Consider 2009 the big bang of the marketing universe.

Marketing has evolved to the extent that a new practice area has emerged out of the former neighborly conglomeration of vertical disciplines. Where individual disciplines once stood, a mash-up of powerful, overlapping channels now exists. The glue that binds them together is social media and associated applications.

What’s forced this convergence and transformation? Among many other factors:

• The public’s heightened need for community and connection;
• The ability to quickly communicate, target an audience and provide return on investment;
• The promise of better knowledge to drive strategy, execution and results.

At some point, with the current growth rate of social media, professional marketers and communicators will lose their edge in public relations, advertising, research, strategy or direct marketing if they don’t embrace it. Similarly, businesses and organizations that don’t embrace this change may not reach the same level of success.

But when?

If companies, agencies, non-profits or individuals do not embrace social media (and other new technologies that feed digital communication, community, knowledge) as part of their marketing strategy, when will they become irrelevant?

A. In 2010
B. In five years
C. As long as they’re good at their craft, they don’t need to embrace new media to survive
D. They are already irrelevant

We’d love for you to answer this question and continue the discussion in the comment section.

This weekly series discusses marcom concepts by the letter — from A to Z.

Comments

[Brendan K]

It's difficult to say because we don't know what, "other new technologies that feed digital communication, community and knowledge" is yet. Thus, we don't know the ramifications of what a refusal to embrace that said technology would be for a company.

However, speaking to today's existing technology, I would actually say that it greatly depends on the type of company. An established company won't feel the effects quite as much. Take Sony for example. I can't count how many times I've heard someone say, "Well, it's a Sony" when referring to the quality.

Then take a company like Vizio. A start up electronics company that was only founded in 2002 and didn't hit the mainstream until only recently. Social Media -- particularly firsthand reviews from consumers that have been able to share their experiences about the product -- has done wonders for them.

It's taken them from, "Really, you bought a Vizio??" to, "Cool, those Vizios are nice."

[John G.]

A colleague shared a nugget with me that was gleaned from a recent presentation he sat in on.

He paraphrased, "Traditional marketing is akin to sending a quiverful of arrows toward a distant bullseye. Social media is akin to playing ping pong. And most marketers aren't equipped to play ping pong"

I like this simple analogy.

Even if a brand ACKNOWLEDGES the importance and value of opening up and engaging in conversation with consumers, it may simply not be organizationally equipped to do so. At least not until some level of evolution takes place.

[Anna Baxter Kirk]

To add to this discussion, I just read an interesting blog post by Carol Rozwell, a member of the Gartner blog network: Resisting Social Media is Futile (http://ow.ly/wGUi). I like these phrases, which are captured in response to a Cnet story about a keynote on social media given at Gartner Symposium last week:

--"...opting to resist or ignore [social media] IS a decision -- one that shuts your organization off from valuable insight."

--"[Social media] offers a new source of information and, perhaps, insight. I'm talking about the opportunity to actively seek information in realtime, as well as to mine collected information for new ideas and perspectives."

Also, as referenced, if work today is more collaborative than ever and the workplace is a social system, do companies, organizations and other groups who choose not to embrace social media potentially lose out in two ways: by ignoring new modes of two-way communication and not embracing a socially strong workplace/ corporate culture?