I was asked a great question today, in a conversation about changing the mindset of marketing: “what makes you so sure change will work”.
It is a complex question, with no easy answer…and a great question at that. Change is always difficult, and when making a fundamental shift in thought, it creates anxiety and second guessing.
Consumer buying behavior has changed. The shift from interruption marketing to what Seth Godin coined, “persmission marketing”, has occured. We have tivo, we have sirius and pandora and consumers are flat tired of the traditional bull-horn marketing speak. We have been desensitized….Think about how television has evolved, 20 years ago, could you imagine hearing some of the innuendo you do in many of today’s popular sitcoms? No. We have become accustomed to it.
Additionally, with the maturation of the Internet consumers are more informed than ever before. They are researching, reading reviews etc. often before they find your website or have your collateral in their hands. Yet, when they come to your site, instead of providing more information to help them, you focus on yourself, and in grabbing their attention with “save!” and other similar bullhorn tactics.
When you have established a relationship, via blog readers, newsletter subscribers etc, instead of providing them great content, you further hit them up with “super specials” “we’re the best” me me me me me.
Your customers and site visitors are frustrated by it, I am frustrated by it. To answer the question, quite frankly, “how do you know it will work?”….
It is not a matter of knowing it will work, it is a matter of recognizing it IS happening. With, or without you.
I have noticed this great video showing up in a number of places, it is making the rounds via blog embeds and tweets…and rightfully so. It is poignant, and illustrates the changes taking place around us.
The German Ad agency, Scholz & Friends, has produced a video that takes a quick look at how things have progressed from the ad world in the 1940’s to today’s socially connected, conversation driven marketplace.
