Monday, June 29, 2009

The Marketing Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. This was a time of great political turmoil and activism – a lot of it pretty effective. As a result, I have remained a bit of a rebel.

I’m also a closet optimist. In spite of the terrible economy and our decreasing individual freedom, I believe that people – working together – can achieve things that institutions can’t. And that the Internet is a powerful force in bringing people together in new ways.

So I am thrilled that the Internet is forcing a revolution in marketing by moving it into “the streets”: social networks, blogs and other democratized online media. The marketing revolution is creating some interesting times for brand marketers, particularly those in larger companies and institutions. It’s creating huge new opportunities for smaller businesses. And all of this is great for consumers: more choice, more bang for their bucks.

I specialize in creating and telling stories for brands, including writing a lot of thought leadership content: white papers, articles and e-newsletters. Today, low-cost Internet publishing technologies and social networks make it easier and cheaper for my clients to:

Find out what customers and prospects are really thinking – so we can make our content more meaningful and valuable to them

Deliver our stories directly – and more precisely through SEO – to customers

Extend the reach of our stories, using a “flattened” media that includes bloggers and micro-bloggers in addition to print and Internet journalists

Engage mainstream journalists and editors, many of whom are accessible on Twitter and other social networks

Assemble and inspire groups of consumers to help market the brands

And, of course, find new customers and make money

These ideas aren’t original with me, certainly. But I am taking advantage of them and will be writing about my experiences with them.

The marketing revolution won’t be televised (thank God). It will be Web-ified, Twitter-ized, Googled, Facebook-ized, YouTube-d, Slashdot-ted, delivered over consumer-run Internet radio stations, and narrowcast over brand-owned Internet TV channels.

Long live the revolution!

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Please see my blog roll. It includes blogs from some very smart people who inspire me and make me better at what I do. A special call-out goes to my longtime colleagues/former clients, Internet publishing pioneer Michael Kolowich, founder of ChannelOne Marketing; and SEO-PR chief Greg Jarboe, who’s a genius at using SEO to accelerate results from PR. Also to the inspirational Web marketing guru David Meerman Scott and my mentor and long-time editor Joe Roy (aka Mr. Clarity).

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