Drive Thru Marketing

Remember the Dotcom burst?  I do.  I specifically remember things like clients asking for content management system enabled Websites when they didn’t need one. Or better yet—choosing the wrong system.  I remember the abuse of Flash (skip intro anyone)?  I even remember co-workers back in the height of the bubble saying things like “this will make your site sticky”—when the experience of the site was about buying something quickly vs. hanging around it.  And who can forget about scalable?  Oh yeah and let’s throw in seamless for good measure hold the ROI.

Thankfully those days are over.  So let’s learn from them.  Today’s marketing mix has it’s own challenges.  RSS feeds, Podcasts, Blogs, Viral content—it all sounds so yummy and immediately gratifying.  Just like fast food.  But We all know what fast food leads to.  Putting together a marketing mix that looks like “one Social Media Network with a side of Viral, hold the mayo”—may not be the best thing for your business and brand.  And the stakes are high.

Here’s a few things to think about as you plan your 2.0 marketing strategy:
What percentage of your customers are using these platforms regularly?
What is the plan to maintain something like a blog? (they require a lot of effort—trust me)
How transparent are you willing to be?
How will you deal with negative feedback?
How will these channels compliment the traditional/digital ones?
What will make your effort genuine vs. feeling "staged"?

I know there is more, but just think of this as a little fast food for thought.  The marketing media landscape is changing, but it’s best to combine calculated experimentation with strategic planning vs. the “midnight munchies” approach to selecting tactics.

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

Woah I am getting shivers down my spine.
Don't know that "those days" are completely over just yet. Take a look at the people playing in the mobile/cellular area ... same hype, different screen size. There is the same talk about "syndicated content", "platform independence", "scalable architecture" and "usability" that we had 10+ years ago. Still not a decent business model in sight!
We may have learned much about the web side of things, but there are still plenty of people out there who are willing to buy into the mobile marketing Nirvana without understanding what and how these "new" channels can be activated for their brands and audiences.

[justin powell]

nice observation. i've seen a lot of interactive marketing "strategies" that just pick and choose from this menu. likewise, the clients who hear the buzz words and want onboard.

what are the actual business objectives? is a podcast really going to meet that objective?

on the other hand, there is value in saying that your agency offers these services. because of the equity and sales leverage in these buzz words. overall, everyone needs to take a hard look at the objectives before executing a blog. or a flash intro.

[Scott]

Dave - great post, as always. I continued the analogy with a regional reference. Thought you might like to have a look.

[DA]

Well,

The best thing we can do is help our clients think through these options in an intelligent fashion. We have our work cut out for us. :)