The changing face of marketing

[Chatmaster]

Just a few years ago marketing was fairly simple. There were only a few magazines, a handful of newspapers and very few TV channels and radio stations.

Today that is completely different. The choice and options you have are 10 times more and the audience that you have are so much more diversified. It was much easier to do marketing in the days gone past.

Another thing that has changed its face is the number of competitors. More and more successful businesses that start up today are able to focus on niche markets that years ago would not have been viable on their own.

More and more businesses also change in terms of providing lateral income streams that focus on providing additional niche services that are remotely related to their core business.

All of these are signs that business is changing and that means that marketing is changing as well.

Marketing in most cases is a simple process of repeating advertising and spend money to make money. However this is changing dramatically as well. Gone are the tunnel view mindsets of keeping your business entirely to yourself. In today’s world you need to diversify marketing and work on networking within your business relations to be able to expand your horizons to streamline your income streams.

On the other hand consumer behavior has changed as well. Advertising are being ignored more and more by them and they seem much more skeptical than they have been in the past. If we think about changes in sport for example. Years ago Rugby was an amateur sport that had very little advertising. Today everything a Rugby player wears is sponsored from their head to their shoelaces have paid branding on it. All of this is an attempt by larger brands to stay visible.

This overwhelming amount of advertising has resulted in changes with the consumer and their behavior towards marketing. This directly affects marketing and the marketing strategies we as business have to employ to get the desired reaction from our consumers.

Marketing is a necessity and no matter what you do a business that doesn’t apply some kind of marketing strategy is doomed for failure. The old ways of advertising has become subliminal advertising as the consumers now know which areas to avoid being harassed by advertising and this awareness is done on a subconscious level. This means that repetition of advertising is required at a much higher frequency than before in order to be successful.

These changes between advertiser and consumer are happening at a faster and faster rate. Marketing becomes more and more subliminal for the consumer and advertising agencies are becoming more and more intrusive on the consumer to get the message through. This game is becoming more like open warfare!

How is your business coping with this greater than ever demand and increasing rate of demand? How are you adapting to increase the exposure of your brand? Did you even notice this happening?

[IanF]

Roelof,
Aren't you making a case to not adverise here if you have to increase the frequency. I feel if I see an ad from Pick n Pay and it is something I want I no longer keep the ad as Pick n Pay advertise so much I will see it again.
Why not try the opposite and have a genuine once off ad with a good once off offer. I feel this has more chance of being successful than the repetitions.

Marketing is a necessity and no matter what you do a business that doesn’t apply some kind of marketing strategy is doomed for failure. The old ways of advertising has become subliminal advertising as the consumers now know which areas to avoid being harassed by advertising and this awareness is done on a subconscious level. This means that repetition of advertising is required at a much higher frequency than before in order to be successful.

These changes between advertiser and consumer are happening at a faster and faster rate. Marketing becomes more and more subliminal for the consumer and advertising agencies are becoming more and more intrusive on the consumer to get the message through. This game is becoming more like open warfare!

What do the marketers say?

[Chatmaster]

Roelof,
Aren't you making a case to not adverise here if you have to increase the frequency. I feel if I see an ad from Pick n Pay and it is something I want I no longer keep the ad as Pick n Pay advertise so much I will see it again.
Why not try the opposite and have a genuine once off ad with a good once off offer. I feel this has more chance of being successful than the repetitions.

The case I am making is that advertising is changing. Just having a price list with your products will not have the same effect as years ago. Repetition with certain advertising media is unfortunately essential. Placing one advert in the newspaper will not have a response as most marketers will tell you. Even if you place the add on the front page, you will need to repeat the add several times before it will become successful. There are other factors at play as well and it is not that clear cut but essentially repetition is one of the main ways that current ad agencies and big budget marketers are doing things. That is why advertising is such a big industry. How ever if they do not catch on with times they might soon find themselves in a bit of trouble. They will need to change their strategies.

Merging marketing strategies into a super marketing strategy is becoming more and more important. Therefor including different departments under one umbrella might be something we will see more often in bigger companies. For example there is a lot of synergy between Public relations, marketing and IT departments. Although on the surface it might seem they have different roles and they are currently being treated that way by many companies, however they are becoming more and more related, because the future of marketing is changing to include the merger of more resources to accomplish successful marketing campaigns.

Your point about a genuine once off ad is a very good point. IMO just advertising will not work nearly as well as a good promotion accompanied by a viral campaign and good prizes. However the public already has many choices there as well and repetition might still be required.

[Dave A]

I agree that marketing a business through all the noise has become more challenging than ever. However, I find that exciting rather than a problem.

In fact, I don't understand the problem. Nowadays we're spoilt for choice as to how to go about it.

[duncan drennan]

Flipping the Funnel by Seth Godin is certainly worth a read.

[Chatmaster]

Now that is a great read, thanks for sharing Duncan! Seth is exceptional in so many ways.

[Dave A]

A great read indeed.

Thinking about it, we're back to turning customers into evangelists - just making it easier (and possibly even personally rewarding) to do so.

It does pose an interesting challenge, however. Somehow, you need to make your offering exceptional. Worth talking about. Our delivery needs to exceed expectations. This makes the service department a vital component in the marketing plan.

[duncan drennan]

It does pose an interesting challenge, however. Somehow, you need to make your offering exceptional. Worth talking about. Our delivery needs to exceed expectations. This makes the service department a vital component in the marketing plan.

There are three things that Seth Godin speaks about quite a lot (and he has a book for each of them!),

1) Permission
2) Being remarkable (he uses the term Purple cow)
3) Free gift inside (i.e. more than your client expects)

Traditional marketing is not built on permission, in fact it is build on interruption. That has its advantages and disadvantages, but in a time when there are millions of things vying for people's attention, what gives us the right to butt in with ads (on so on)?

But look at the statement in another way too. There are some things which people would love to be interrupted with, and would be more than willing to give you permission to market to them. Typically those things are remarkable.

Now take that word remarkable. Is your product/service/etc so special that a client of your will make a remark to another person (potential client) about it when there is no direct gain for them?

I've started to try to think in those terms about my own service. Would people talk about it? Would they raise it in conversation purely for fact that it left a lasting impression, or only when something external triggers a thought?

When I got service from Outsurance that went way beyond what I expected, I went out of my way to speak enthusiastically about it. No prompting, no incentives, just a great service worth speaking about.

[Dave A]

A thought occured.

How about if your service is reliable and meets expectations, but you're exceptional in some other way? Communication, for example.

Hmm. That opens up the scope somewhat.

[Alta Murray]

Thinking about it, we're back to turning customers into evangelists - just making it easier (and possibly even personally rewarding) to do so.

.....mmm,being a sheer novice at marketing, I am told that advertising is dead and the only way ahead is PR. The underlying principle has always been that word-of-mouth is the most reliable way of advertising, and thus far we have only operated on the latter. We have never advertised at all as we have never had to. But now that we are expanding we need to enter into the arena of marketing, and I am busy chisseling out a plan. Your thoughts have been ever so helpful!

Understanding human behaviour, I do know that people will reach for that which is familiar, so repitition is needed, that is how super-stars are created. They may not be so super, but they sure are familiar.

Would I be correct in stating that one should not go for one media only, but multiple medias all at the same time?

I am busy going through 'war plans' ( I kid you not -- it is in a Master's Degree text book on Marketing) and I am really worried that I will lead our two Software Houses on the wrong track or should that be the wrong attack?

I think that we need to stand out from the herd today, and that the first step is our method of marketing. Doing it in a humerous way is sure getting old fast, or is it only me? Some advertising is so strong, I remember the punch line, but not the product! Pamphlets -- well, I have actually sat out by the post office and watched people collect their post to see what they do with their pamphlets. I did this on different days. A total waste of money, they all throw it out at the bins by their postal boxes! I could have saved myself a lot of time, I do the same!

Telephone sales are just irritating, and if I get one, I don't like it at all. The general perception is that it is just a scam. As consumers we have become disillusioned & jaded. With time a scarce resource, the ads in magazines are just colour and we don't read them, same with newspapers -- we just go for the headlines of the day. So what is left?

Please Help!

[Dave A]

Is this for software, Alta?
And if it is, what is the target market?

[Alta Murray]

Oh, perhaps I should have mentioned that :-)

Yip, it is for software primarily, but we also prefer to do the hardware and the networks, as in our experience too many cooks spoil the broth! If something does go wrong, you have the hardware guys blaming the software guys who in turn blames the network people ad infinitum....in the end the business owner does not know whom to believe and it takes much longer to sort out the problem. Of course we also provide training on site for the Financial Accounting System, but for my system they have to come in to my place.

Target -- any SME business, I don't like big companies as they are very slow & clumsy.
Industry segment is not a problem, our current client base is spread over the globe and covers anything imaginable. Our software works for any kind of business. But I think at first I want to concentrate on Pretoria.

I also think that I should be upfront and honest -- I am really in this to help, to inspire, to bring hope and to show people that they are a lot smarter than they think. All them old big words (terminology) are just show-offs for things we already know and understand. It brings me the greatest satisfaction to see how people find their own genuis, how they grow in confindence & find their own creative power. Of course this then reflects in the business and oh what joy to see the business respond! It's alive!

But I am not sure how you bring that into your marketing strategy :-) I have also in the past taken deserving causes on board & helped them for free,haven't had a holiday or weekend off in 8 years, so I am dead serious about what I say, only to my mind it sounds too 'corny & girly' for marketing purposes. Imagine " I am here to help" Naah, no one will buy that, I only get it across if I meet them face to face.

I like your credo, free lunch indeed, everything comes with a price tag, you must just know where to look.

What line of business are you in? I pick up marketing,advertising?

[duncan drennan]

to my mind it sounds too 'corny & girly' for marketing purposes. Imagine " I am here to help" Naah, no one will buy that, I only get it across if I meet them face to face.

Do you think so? Really?

I see it slightly differently. If people get that message and believe it, your marketing is done. The challenge is to get people to believe it, and that can't come from a pamphlet/brochure/sales message. More and more we distrust that form of selling, mainly because we've been lied to plenty of times.

If you could get that message across, and follow through on it, wouldn't that be remarkable in an age where most IT companies come across as fly-by-nights?

I really think it would be worth your while to subscribe to Seth Godin's blog - I think you will enjoy it. You have to read it for a while to really start getting the message though - and that in itself is a lesson.

[Dave A]

When it comes to marketing software, I think a strong website for your product/company is a must.

I was thinking "where do I find my software I use in my business?" If I was going to go into the software marketing business, that would be my starting point in identifying where I could focus for results.

Alta - it might be worthwhile starting a new thread asking that question

[Renier]

I think it is about defining all aspects of your target market and finding ways (media) to reach them as effectively as possible.