Relevant Chews

Myspace, Facebook and Twitter… oh my!

Is anyone else tired of talking about this Marketing Land of Oz? Social Media is communication phenomenon, but it’s not the yellow brick road to success and clicking three times will not get you home.

Why? Because if you need a social media strategy to be authentic, maybe you have a brand disorder?

The lofty new authors of “Social Media or Die” are not talking to the real people that are on these channels. If they stopped to have this conversation, they would discover a growing discontent for advertising on Facebook. The low entry cost and viral potential makes it attractive to marketers, but consider what your profile would look like if every brand in the world was marketing on social media… a big, noisy NASCAR page.

How marketing showed up and ruined the social media party…

Of course there are case studies and success stories out there, but the percentage of replicable success is low. The bell curve (something we all learned in grade school) remains true, and the early adopters that failed quickly and refined their strategy are winning. Unfortunately, a big wave of newbies is coming. This will over-saturate the medium and leave a mess in the wake.

What if the best social media channel for marketing is yet to come?

I’m not discouraging social media marketing, but a simpler theory is you don’t need a strategy to be on social media—just be real, build a healthy presence, and have a relevant and compelling word of mouth message. Your fans will do the rest.

If you’re out there already, then keep playing.  Trying to catch up on strategy is about as effective as worrying about the next thing. What will you do then?

Part One: The Truth Hurts

It is almost July and soon there will be CTJ meetings to discuss sales, or lack of them. The business world around you has been rapidly changing over the past 6 months—how can you expect better results anytime soon if you don’t change now?

The truth is… it is not the economy. Your marketing sucks.

Example: GM was in trouble long before the economy went south and they did nothing about it. The media ads running up to day they filed for bankruptcy were the same ineffective ads they’ve been running for decades.
• Sexy images of a new car in the showroom or hugging a turn
• Spokespeople touting “special pricing… act now” calls to action
• Bottom line numbers with an asterisk* that nobody understands

One of the biggest companies in America failed because they grew disconnected with the car buying audience and continued to make products 4 years past their relevance. And they could have sold off inventory if their marketing spoke to people with a greater understanding of their shared situation.

Everyone is looking for a deal and they don’t care if your company is making money. And they still want customer service, environmental ethics and quality guarantees. If you are ill prepared for this (either your B2B Sales Strategy or B2C Marketing Strategy), then something needs to change if you plan on being in business next year.

In the spirit of doing things differently, Relevant Chews is presenting an Eight Part series on “Selling Change.” This marketing insight could be used internally or to pitch new clients, and the business you save might be your own.

Part Two: The Company Framework

Casual Thoughts Friday… “No, we’re never gonna survive—unless we get a little crazy…”  SEAL

During a discussion with some Pacific Northwest business leaders about when (and how) the economy will turn for the better, it occurred to me that any company that has been recently downsizing and/or asking employees to take pay cuts will be in some serious trouble in 2010.

• Revenue: if your company sales revenue is down 30% in 2009, then you will have to grow 10% over each quarter next year just to get back in the black.
• Assets: it will be next to impossible to hold onto your best customers (and talented people) once the economy recovers, unless it is your company taking the lead.

Business leaders will always be the trendsetters because they are always willing to take risks. The marketing strategy “leap of faith” is a willingness to try something their competitors are not doing.

How relevant is your marketing? Are you being innovative or responsive since the economy changed? What will success look like this year, or in December 2010?  And what idea (that once seemed crazy) is now looking like the right pair of dice to risk rolling?

“In a world full of people there’s only some that want to fly… isn’t that crazy?”