Seth Godin, author of many best selling books about marketing, blogs, and all things viral posted a great insight into marketing; http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/10/five_common_cli.html
He lists five common misconception, most of them were discussed before and after our emarketing event last Thursday (* my comments):
The early adapters will use it. Actually, they’re adopters, not adapters. The mistake in wording represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how most markets work. People don’t adapt to what you make, they adopt it. They can’t be forced to adapt, so they won’t.
* This is a point in marketing that we need to start our communication focusing on customer point of view. Although it sounds obvious most companies still hate the idea of selling online or using tools like eBay because it disrupts their supply chain strategy, and creates complication for their pricing – regardless that the customers are already doing it
Half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half. Actually, it’s closer to 1% of your advertising that works, at the most. Your billboard reaches 100,000 people and if you’re lucky, it gets you a hundred customers…
* I actually used this quote by Wanamaker in my presentation (and you can see on our Seven Emarketing tip collaborative document: http://hyperthinker.wetpaint.com/
Let’s do a focus group, they’ll decide. A focus group is supposed to focus you, not them. It’s supposed to lay out ideas and issues that mean little to the group and plenty to you. If you’re not prepared to focus, better to not go.
That’s a wacky idea. Actually, doing what you’re doing now is wacky. Because what you’re doing now is certain to become obsolete, possibly sooner rather than later. Just ask my old boss!
* This is where Hyperthinking comes in: you need to be able to proactively think creatively – not wait for it to happen, but make it a part of how you think.
We need a bigger marketing department. Probably, you need everyone in the organization to do the marketing… from scratch. More brochures aren’t the answer.
* Amen!
Phil
