Marketing has always been an inexact science. Starting with John Wanamaker famously saying over a century ago "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" to modern day marketing pundits suggesting social media tips and tricks are the new marketing.
Digging deep, we find marketing is psychological, and personal; not technical and mathematical as some may suggest, and very much just as inexact as John Wanamaker described. Ergo, modernizing marketing is a study of the modernization of psychology. The psychology of the world is now more about "me" than us. In 2010 the New York Times published an article on the "Me Economy" suggesting that every individual is now a marketer. While this is true and I am guilty of this, there is something new happening in psychology affecting marketing and advertising beyond every individual becoming a individual marketer.
We are going from a Me Economy, to an Econo-Me.
Consumers want marketing and advertising to be more personal, engaging, and meaningful. Consumers want to skip ads, we want shorter versions, we want mini stories, we want to be emotionally and psychologically jolted before we buy. Telling us about your product is boring.
I call this, marketing and advertising in the "Modern Attention Econo-Me"
Below are nine things CMOs should consider about consumers who now no longer want to give their attention to boring and scripted product descriptions.
1. Messaging - Be greater than the sum of your products. Winning brands are within narratives beyond their offerings. Think Nike: do you remember the last time they implored you to buy their shoes?
2. Media - We're a visual culture. Aesthetics are equal part to your message. Engagement statistics don't lie: posts with photos and videos garner highest-level buzz.
3. Measured - Strive to quantify your effectiveness. Otherwise, you're at risk of appearing out-of-touch with consumers that are increasingly less forgiving.
4. Medium - Be ubiquitous across all devices--achieve ominchannel. Undoubtedly, mobile is the new mission critical. By being ever-present, ever-visible, you have an opportunity to generate incredible emotional equity with consumers.
5. Many - Accept that people are more influenced by others than brands. It's a secondary influence marketplace. Elevate the share-ability of your message. You now need to capture your audience's audience.
Elevate the share-ability of your message. You now need to capture your audience's audience.
6. Minutes - The one-post-a-day mentality is dead. It's now minute-by-minute updating. Strive for rapid-fire, top-of-feed content initiatives. Be consistently visible to capture consumers with now microscopic attention spans.
7. Multi-directional - Touchpoints are everywhere, in every direction. Listen to and understand the diverse ecosystems where consumers are letting their voices be heard.
8. Meaningful - Intelligence is being democratized. Consumers don't read ads, they're reading for brain food. If your message isn't contextual and focused on proliferating valuable information, it will fall flat.
9. Movement - Join one. No brand is an island. All of today's market leaders are a part of a movement--whether it's about celebrating the human spirit or educating someone--it centers on something good that you just happen to be a part of.
Is your CMO a modern marketer?
-r