Are You In or Are You Out? Reality Check On Your Marketing Activities

First, we want to thank everybody who sent us comments regarding our new blog. Almost 100% agreed on being challenged with finding new ways of reaching customers and clients. And almost all asked about how to find out, if they are still in the old Marketing world. That is why we decided to give you a reality check this week. You are still in the old mindset, if you believe the following:

- Marketing means advertising
- Advertising needs to reach out to the masses
- Advertising relies on interrupting people to get them to pay attention to a message
- Advertising is only one-way: company-to-consumer
- Advertising is about selling products
- Advertising is based on campaigns that have a limited life
- Creativity is the most important component to advertising
- Advertising and PR are separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals,
strategies, and measurement criteria – and they usually do not talk much to each other.

We all know that none of that is true anymore. The Web has transformed the rules. Please check, if you are (already) on the new track of reaching your customers and clients:

- Marketing is more than advertising
- Public Relations is for more than just a mainstream media audience
- You are what you publish
- Be authentic and avoid to spin
- Let people participate in your product, services etc.
- Deliver content at just the precise moment your audience needs it
- Reach vast numbers of underserved audiences via Web
- Marketing is about your company winning business, not about your agency winning awards
- You drive your customer into the purchasing process with great online content
- Blogs, podcasts, e-books, news releases and other forms of online content let you communicate directly with buyers in a
form they appreciate

In an offline world, marketing and Public Relations are still separate departments with different people and different skill sets, but this is not the case on the Web. The lines between marketing and PR have blurred. It really does not matter, if a customer's first exposure to your product or service is a hit on the Web site, or a news release your organization sent, or a magazine article, or a post on your blog. Great content in all forms helps buyers see you, because content drives action.

Mr. Meyer, Don't be Afraid of Your Customer

As Marketing and PR Consultants we have been coming across some very interesting 'species' of clients lately (we will not mention real names): the Uncoachables of the 21st Century. They just keep being resistant against any kind of new client/consumer approaches. They stick to traditional print ads and direct mail campaigns and choose to ignore the new media: the internet with all its possibilities. We wonder sometimes: is it just lack of knowledge or real fear? 'Uncoachables of the 21st Century' come in many forms: as managers, executives, small and big business owners, men and women, young or on a senior level etc. They often hide behind ignorance, arrogance or even an optimism, which usually crosses the line to denial. But they have one thing in common: they fear their customer(s).

Yes, the new Marketing and PR world is fast, and yes, we all know it is not for everybody (yet). Most people don’t like running fast in business: they feel more comfortable if there are lots of meetings, committees, excel-sheets to hide in or behind. We admit, it can be quite scary to drive in that new, sometimes rough Marketing and PR lane without many rules or regulations. Customers could actually express in very clear and open words, that the service or the product ‘sucks’. Uuups, that hurts. But it teaches everyone a few lessons: to do better and to listen to customers directly to find out what they want. Forget anonymous research statistics for a few moments – everyone needs them, but they are not everything. Prepare for the direct communication with your buyers via internet and have fun!

Let's assume we had a client the other day, let's call him 'Klaus Meyer', whose marketing department said that the company needs to spend at least $40.000 to do a professional video to reach out to new customers. And the PR manager suggested to hire a PR agency for $ 15.000 a month to get stories in the national papers. These may be good ideas (well 10 years ago), but we strongly recommended to Mr. Meyer not only check on the credibility of his people, but also to look at his budget and his target groups again. Why not create a 1-minute-fun-video for a few hundred bucks, put it on YouTube and tell the world all about the product, or – even better – himself and his team? Why not put an article on a blog, which reaches not only the media, but also his customers? Well, fortunately, Mr. Meyer belongs to the new generation of coachable people. He wants to get to know his customers. He is now checking out the blogging and YouTube arena; and he is re-evaluating his marketing and PR approaches. Good for him: he will save tons of money and he will finally be able to understand his customers. We will let you know in the next few weeks how Klaus Meyer does.

Please let us know what your experience is with Marketing and PR in the internet world. We are also excited to hear from other Marketing and PR consultants: tell us your experience with your clients. And you can give advise to Klaus Meyer - he likes to learn from the whole world!