Are you at all amazed at the continual fads of marketing? I have several friends who consult in other disciplines -- operations, finance, accounting -- and they don't have the fads that so typify marketing.
So what's hot now? W_O_M (word of mouth for those a little behind the curve), Web 2.0, blogging particularly (Like this one), ethnography (we'll follow you around, and you won't even know it).
Going back 30 years here are a few of the other big ones. In the early seventies, the big hit was promotions. Promotion agencies sprung up like weeds. Unfortunately many were. But a few really provided value; Frankel comes to mind.
Then there was direct. The big and the good are still around. But in the early eighties, if you weren't looking at direct agencies, you just weren't on top of it. And a few minor fads like fax spam, although it wasn't called that then, came and mostly went.
Then the fadulous nineties which gave us branding (back to the basics of customer value), the internet (do you have a website?), email ( it's not spam to me, much), which pretty much brings us back to now.
All of these fads spawned their specialists, their agencies, and all promised to drive your marketing through the ceiling. You would grow and continue to grow forever. (Actually, for many of the fadsters, you would pay and they hoped you would pay forever.)
At their core, each of these fads has just enough value to where it could help grow your company. But on top is all too much BS. And as the next fad emerges, the old fadsters, riding the past fad slowly die out. Good riddance.
The specialists and agencies that do survive all do so for the same reason. Underneath all the hype, the dogs and ponies, the PowerPoints, they understand the foundation of marketing -- understand your consumers so well you can continually innovate new ways to delight them.
The essentials of marketing haven't changed. Unfortunately so many marketers and their CEOs are always on a quest for the silver bullet, you know the one that only costs a few pennies and solves all your problems, that we will always have fads. The next fadsters see you coming.
Here's where you can purchase the book
Available at Amazon and other online booksellers
Jack Trytten
.jpg)
About Jack Trytten
Jack Trytten is President and founder of Insight Direction, Inc. Founded in 2000, the company consults on new product development, brand development and other areas of core marketing strategy.
Marketing is focused on influencing behavior. Just as mathematics and physics form the foundation for engineering, psychology forms the foundation for marketing. All too often, companies base their marketing strategy on limited knowledge of their customer, occasionally faulty knowledge. While they may save on market research costs, the expenditures that are wasted in misguided marketing are always much greater.
Insight Direction leverages new research methodologies based on the current developments of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Marketing, to a degree, has become brain surgery. If your marketing is to influence behavior, specifically how you and your customers are to relate to each other, you must understand how those customers perceive and react to your marketing efforts. And to do this, you must understand the subconscious decision processes. This critical understanding is the foundation of marketing strategy. Without it, marketing becomes a matter of luck.
Marketing is focused on influencing behavior. Just as mathematics and physics form the foundation for engineering, psychology forms the foundation for marketing. All too often, companies base their marketing strategy on limited knowledge of their customer, occasionally faulty knowledge. While they may save on market research costs, the expenditures that are wasted in misguided marketing are always much greater.
Insight Direction leverages new research methodologies based on the current developments of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Marketing, to a degree, has become brain surgery. If your marketing is to influence behavior, specifically how you and your customers are to relate to each other, you must understand how those customers perceive and react to your marketing efforts. And to do this, you must understand the subconscious decision processes. This critical understanding is the foundation of marketing strategy. Without it, marketing becomes a matter of luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment