Sometimes--Freud noted--a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes online marketing is just online marketing. To wit, I have noticed a drastic change in marketing articles lately, shifting from what and why, to how. This is exciting. The message is finally getting out. But I do not see so many clients acting accordingly yet. It is not the size of the campaign, but how carefully it is crafted.
Is the client side still missing the point? Some questions.
Do you really know why consumers come to your site?Well if I was to guess, I would say client-side readers reflexively answered "yes," but I know that they can't really believe that is always the answer either.
Do you know what they want?
Do you know how they felt about your site?
Do you know what they left with?
Do you know what they told others, if anything?
We all know that consumers distrust advertising (which is why brands kill themselves trying to be clever about their message). Consumer distrust is reason enough for many to stop treating Web 2.0 as an elective or as a box to check. This is short sighted. At this point, it is a prerequisite. What cannot be justified why it isn't used correctly.
There are only a few key elements that make all the difference. They are missing in many, if not most, marketing strategy executions. So, what are they?
1. Start with education--understand what will work for your brand, not just whats new.
2. Create a clear strategy--how will you launch, what can you offer and how will you monitor?
3. Be a leader--is the rest of your team on board, and can you look ahead and identify key growth opportunities?
4. Know--really know those who love you, those who don't and realize the real-time impact?
5. Understand---Social media isn't a tool that be everything to everyone, nor does it to drive consumers back to old media.
6. Interaction--you can have the greatest content in the world, but without real interaction it loses much of its value.
7. Creative--The people executing the creative, like the consumers, should have fun.
8. Size--it isn't the size of the community, but the influence it has.
Here's a great example of a brand that is doing it right. If you Google my name, this is number-one result.
Firefox doesn't crash since Leah McChesney disabled add-ons.
Well no more Firefox crash reports since they told me to remove add-ons. But I like add-ons. More is better right? Not always.
No, I wasn't messing up Firefox for the rest of the word wide web, the point is that Mozilla was listening when I had a problem, they actually found me talking about my problem. I didn't seek them out, they understood what they were offering. They instantly had real-time impact on their brand, they helped me solve my problem, do I trust them more? Of course I do. Did I share this with others?
If you got this far, I did.
Leah McChesney
Strategists & Planners