How Marketing Has Changed and Why It Matters

The marketing has Changed

Ten years ago, people went to one or two websites when looking for a product, and made a decision based on that information. Today, however, the information available about products is almost endless. Without practically limitless data online, customer reviews, and countless vendors to purchase from, the purchasing power is in the customer’s hands more than ever before. When we started using the phone instead of the letter, or mobile phone instead of the landline, our lives changed in significant ways. New communication tools have meant lost industries and jobs as well as new opportunities. The same is and will be true in marketing so we should not deny the major changes that face us.

So, one important change in marketing is its intimate connection to technology which should make us question the status quo every day. And there are more:

Marketing and its tools change so quickly, that your marketing team needs to become a research department

You can’t simply attend a marketing conference once a year and expect to keep up. You really do need to find curators and be your own curator of what’s important in the cutting edge of marketing. Are you aware of how platforms like Pinterest or Vyou could be used in your business? Do you know the research on how people actually use Facebook or any of the other platforms? Are you aware of cutting-edge developments and case studies on social media measurement?

The changing tools of marketing mean that your initiatives have to shift

A video is one example. If you haven’t started to use your smartphone and inexpensive video cams to use video more this year to introduce your website, answer customer questions, and communicate one on one, you’re not even using the tools to their advantage. If your focus is totally on words, it’s as if you’re still sticking a stamp on all your letters and taking them to the post office. Here are eight inexpensive, highly effective ideas for using video to wow your readers that you can implement today.

Your entire business has to change to accommodate the use of social media

Before marketing became social, the rest of the business didn’t have to revolve around what you were doing in your department. Today, your company needs to be an open book. It’s more important than ever to break down departmental silos because your customers don’t care and they are in control now.

Your marketing department needs to become a media and education department

Marketing has moved from creating punchy little messages to producing content that moves people over a period of time to make you their provider of choice. That means hiring differently, whether they are in-house, freelance or consultants. Some of these talents include video production, writing, editing of text and video, WordPress technical skills, analytical skills.

How you spend your marketing dollars is different

A Facebook business page is free. A Twitter profile is free. How much extra do you need to spend on services, apps, and design? What agency is going to be able to help you make the right decisions at the most prudent cost? How much of the expertise should you bring in-house? Does social media demand more in-house expertise than broadcast media? The budgetary questions are more nuanced. It’s not a matter of buying time and space on someone else’s media. Some of the money that once went into traditional media will move into digital media. Just a year or two ago, few companies had line items for app development, social media monitoring, or training or hiring staff in how to use the new tools. I may be raising more questions than answers here but they need to be asked.

Even the Four Ps of marketing have changed

Brian Fetherstonhaugh of Ogilvy One has spoken and written about how marketing is no longer about Product, Place, Price, and Promotion but about Experience, Everyplace, Exchange and Evangelism. Well, if the Four Ps of marketing have changed, then the textbooks need to be rewritten.

People have changed

You might think that the basic rules of marketing don’t need to change because people don’t change. But people have changed. In three significant ways, your potential customers are different. First, they don’t see themselves as passive consumers. They don’t expect to call your toll free helpline and be placed on hold forever. They expect to get the attention of someone on Twitter or Facebook NOW. And if not, they will get the attention of plenty of others about their problems. Second, their attention spans are shorter. Attention marketing is where there is hope. You can’t just be providing a wonderful product anymore. You have to use your platform as a business to make their lives more meaningful. That’s a tall order for the marketing