It is quite inconsistent that the author said “marketing is
dead” while using traditional marketing methods to attract readers by using a
blog name like this.
I agree that with the advent of Internet and social media,
buyers’ behaviors are inevitably changed. Traditional marketing strategies are
playing a less and less important role in influencing customers while
discussions about e-marketing become hot issues.
E-marketing can be buying commercial spots on Google or
other search engines, can be posting funny videos on YouTube and also can be
sending promotion emails to customers. The formats are quite new and different
from traditional marketing methods such as TV commercials and public relations.
The new marketing methods are created based on the natures of Internet media
platform. The essence of marketing has not been changed. No matter whether traditional
marketing or e-marketing, it is and will be always about communicating with and
passing information to customers. Companies still need to build marketing
strategy to introduce their products or services, promote them and build brand
images. The concept of marketing can’t be ignored anytime. Especially, since
everything is on Internet right now, customers can be reached in many ways. Competitions
have never been such fierce. Businesses need to pay more attention to come up
with different and effective marketing strategies. What’s different right now
is the ways to pass the information have been changed. Now advertising, public
relations and brandings have to find new ways to reach their customers.
The hottest issue in e-marketing B2C is social media
marketing. How to use social media effectively to marketing is always a
question mark for me. Right now companies open their home pages on Facebook and
accounts on Twitter or put commercials on these social media. From my point of
view, companies’ home pages on Facebook are no more than profiles. Companies upload
their products information and promotions on the page. But are these all about
social media? As the author talked in the article, “word of mouth” is the key
point. Market professionals need to work out how to put the “word” into people’s
mouth. In other saying, we need to focus on creating connections and
perceptions unnoticeably in customers and raise their interests in a passive
way which means let customers believe that they love the products forwardly but
not pushed by others, maybe by friends but not by marketing people.
What I want to say is that marketing is becoming invisible
online. Since people tend to trust what their peers said much more than what advertisements
said, marketing people should take steps back behind scenes. We should manage influence
invisibly. We need to create an environment to let people believe they make
their decisions on their own. However,
what customers don’t know is marketing people are actually behind all of these.
We can create buzz on Internet; we can create public relation events by
offering peers influences. There is huge space out there for marketing people
to innovate and to become the “unseen” hands.
Reference
Bill Lee, "Marketing is dead" http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/marketing_is_dead.html
Mengting, I like your idea about creating connections and perceptions unnoticeably. And I really like the way you explain it. You're right, our marketing people should figure out how to pass our information unnoticeably although it must be a difficult process. If we do it too obvious, customers would notice that and suspect all the comments about our products. If we do it too lite, however, customer may easily be led to an orientation where we don't want to see. Learning how to control and lead buzz is so important to us.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the angle you read the article - as a marketer! I actually read the article on the aspect of a customer. You bring out a important point, which is invisible marketing. I totally agree with you that with the help of social media and digital marketing, marketer should take advantage of invisible marketing. It may be the most efficient way to attract customers and pass the information to them. But the problem is, how can we do this? I found a very interesting blog talks about this type of marketing, you can check it out on http://lkrsocialmedia.com/2011/10/the-art-of-invisible-marketing/. Also, the author tells us some methods to achieve invisible marketing.
ReplyDeleteI will check out your link later. Thanks for your information, Julia :-)
DeleteI like your opinion on how to use Facebook for companies. It is indeed that most companies' Facebook pages are much similar to the profiles on their official websites by flooding with products introduction and promotion activities. That loses the meaning of social media. In contrast, Facebook should act as a great tool for marketers to communicate sincerely with customers, asking for feedback, doing small talks, collecting ideas of improvement and building brand image.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, your idea of marketers should act as an "invisible" hand is interesting. Nan and Julia were always talking about the possibility of fake customers or vicious rivalry existed in the online reviews. Is that a disadvantage of invisible marketing? How can we utilize the invisible marketing correctly? That's my question.