The Slow Death of Mass Marketing
Need proof that mass marketing is dying a slow death? Look no further than the iPod, Tivo, Do-not-call lists, spam filters, pop-up blockers, RSS (real simple syndication). Demand for all these things will continue to grow because they give consumers (not marketers) the power over the user experience.
Let's examine the consumer perspective of why these types of services and technologies will continue to experience growing demand for a long time to come:
Digital music players (ie. iPod): My music 100% of the time. No annoying radio commercials
Tivo: My favorite TV programs available when I want to watch them without the commercial interruptions (70% of people buy Tivo to skip the commercials)
Do-not-call lists: millions of registered households sending a strong hint. Don't bother me!
Spam filters: Helps me fight the spam wars. I only want email from people I know and trust. Period.
Pop-up blockers: Pop ups are clearly the most annoying type of advertising ever invented. Thank goodness for pop-up blockers, even though they don't work nearly as well as I'd like.
RSS: My web content delivered easily and directly to me instead of me having to go chase it down
It's not hard to understand why there is a thriving market for these things. All things being equal, consumers will always opt for the product that does not subject them to advertising and promotions over one that does.
The average consumer is bombarded by thousands of marketing messages a day. It's because they don't have a choice. 99.99% of marketing messages go to people who aren't really listening. They have already tuned out. Nobody ever "chooses" to receive advertising messages, they just do.
Is it any wonder than most people view marketers and advertising with a healthy dose of skepticism? Instead of the marketer being viewed as someone who helps create, communicate, and deliver a valuable product or service they are viewed as slick (if not slightly manipulative) folks with a silver tongue who are a little too biased to be truly genuine or authentic.
For the old school marketers that may be asleep at the switch, here are some rules they should keep in mind if they want to adapt and come into the fold of the new era of
marketing
1. Generally speaking, your prospective customers don't want to hear about your product or service unless they are the ones that come to you. Rather than "push" you product out to the masses, work on "pulling" in the ones that really have a need for what you have to offer. I'm not sure if Google figured that out by accident or sheer brilliance, but they have clearly shown that relevance is the key driver in advertising.
2. Your customers and prospects are more connected than ever. The internet is the greatest amplifier word of mouth has ever known. The internet, email, blogs, bulletin boards, chat rooms, etc. all have the potential to spread the word about how great (or how lousy) your product or service is. What's the buzz about your product or service?
3. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, bar none. Get creative about how you can get your market talking about your product. Just remember, they won't talk about your product in order to help you meet your sales targets. They'll talk about your product if it is really unique, interesting, controversial, etc. People don't talk about the ordinary, mundane, or boring. You might have to step out of your comfort zone to really have a shot at supercharging word of mouth about your product or service, but you can't have eliminate risk and expect high impact when it comes to word of mouth. Doing the unconventional implies assuming some level of risk.
4. Be obsessive about understanding why your customers buy from you and not your competitors. Don't assume you know the answer, rather go directly to your existing customers and ask them. If you didn't have a product or service to offer them, how would that impact them? In some sense, the insight your existing customers provide you can be your greatest source of new customers.
Fundamentally, marketing will always be about understanding the problems, challenges, needs, or desires of a specific market and being able to deliver more value than the other options available to that market. It's that simple, and that difficult.
About the Author
Faisal Qureshi is the Founder and President of Tell-A-Pal, an internet marketing company (www.tellapal.com) based in Silicon Valley, CA.
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