I recently finished reading “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis (I really do not read ultra slowly and I did start reading this book a several weeks ago-other reading temporarily usurped this book’s place in the queue).
As I read this book. I had many “ah ha” moments. I do not believe Mr. Jarvis’ book contains all of the answers—it is a book designed to stimulate thought, not a Ouija board.
The seeds were planted for the changes we are now experiencing 15 years or so ago, but it has really been the last handful of years that the world of media has been turned on its head. Every type of media from television, newspapers, magazines, books, movies, music….the list goes on and on, has been forever changed.
B2B media has been far from immune. And an improving/recovered economy will not bring new life and prosperity to a forever changed and constantly changing landscape. Those merely waiting for the economy to recover so that we can return to “the way things were,” will be sorely disappointed.
However, in a media landscape that has radically changed, I find comfort in the reminder that as long as there is more than one supplier for a given product or service (in other words, as long as there is competition), marketing, marketing communications and advertising will exist. As long as competition or choice exists, product, service and solution providers will work to establish themselves as the products/solutions of choice.
In other words, as long as choice exists, marketers will strive to change the behavior of non-customers. And, changing behavior of non-customers or motivating continuation of desired behavior amongst existing customers has been the core goal of marketing and advertising for decades. If we are Coke, we want to change the behavior of Pepsi drinkers. If we are Thermo Scientific, we probably want to change, at least to a degree, the behavior of Bruker customers. If we are Emerson Process Management, we certainly want to change some of the behaviors of Rockwell customers.
So as marketing, marketing communications and advertising professionals, we can rest assured that there is an ongoing need for our craft. However, the question is, are we going to update our thinking, strategies and tactics to take advantage of and to survive in the new marketing and media landscape? This is the magic question in my mind.
1 comment:
Good post and I completely agree. Even in the social media craze, for example, there still exists a need for communication skill, tactics and wisdom. Where people thought they could do a free for all by which to promote their business, there are now social media experts to help people be better networkers and communicators. In principle, the need to communicate why your product is a better choice over another's will always exist. It's really only the method by which it's communicated that is ever changing.
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