Everything old is new again

In this time of economic uncertainty (don’t you just hate that phrase), it seems that marketing is waking up a little. It is no longer feasible, thanks to the internet, for a few concentrated media channels (local newspapers, the 3 network tv channels) to tell us what to buy, how to act, where to go.

These days we have much more choice. Some might argue, more avenues for manipulation. Sure, you’ve got to take the good with the bad. But on the whole, people are online searching for information. And they’re makikng the choices consistent with our anthropological history. They (we) are forming tribes.

A word of warning. “Tribes” seems to be becoming a buzzword on the internet. And will likely continue offline in the form of a meme. It does make an excellent start for a viral marketing campaign. It will be interesting to see if Seth Godin’s new book takes off the way Malcom Gladwell’s tipping point might predict. After all, he’s not the first to use it. Nor is he the first with a significant following to make it popular. But he is the most influential/popular figure out there using it now, and he may well wind up “owning” the term.

So, with the breakdown of trust the major media outlets are experiencing, as the world becomes bigger, it has already begun growing smaller. Psychographic groups may now connect online. People who were effectively misfits in their own community may now meet like-minded people online.

And gossip travels along these familiar paths. A few blogs will be the center of the communication, or gossip. They are written by the leaders, the centers of influence, for that tribe on that topic. And so on.

So it’s really a great time to be in business. As long as you understand motivation, and stick to the fundamentals.

Twitter

I realize I’m probably the last one on board for this. And I’m keeping one foot on the dock for now. But I was finally convinced of some practical use of Twitter. In spite of its ridiculous name.

Apparently, you can get a following there, and send out what are very close to IMs to everyone on your list. And private messages to your friends. The upside? You can get in touch with people you could never reach otherwise. And you can watch for their activity in real time; you know when they’ve just sent out a message. Thus when they’re online.

This post has to be short because I’m just back from Vegas, and tired.

Bottom line is you need to stay relatively current with all the tech stuff going on. Just remember it all comes back to the basics. The fundamentals may be transmitted through a variety of media, but if you don’t have the fundamentals down, you won’t make the sale.

Do this

It’s true that marketing is hard work. To do a good job, it takes a great deal of time, many missed deadlines, and a lot of coffee (metaphorically speaking). The problem is, no matter how much you do these days, what with Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter (that one just seems to come up more often), you never seem to get on top of things.

And that’s to say nothing of the print ads, radio spots, demographics, strategy…

Well, good news. Much of what you’ve been struggling with is about to go away. Quick story. John D. Rockefeller was walking through his building one day and noticed a young man hard at work. Stopping, he told this fellow to “quit working so hard.” Stunning. Rockefeller went on to tell him he should find someone to do some of that work for him, so he could concentrate on finding ways to make Standard Oil more money.

Which, likewise, is your job. Always strive to increase. And to do so, outsource. This is a call to send work overseas. You’ll be helping them out, and freeing yourself and your co-workers and employees to do higher level work.

Whether you agree with this line of thinking or not, the fact remains that there are things that hold us back. And we should find ways to clear these obstacles so we can focus on what we do best. Making more money.

The Empire, long divided…

The Chinese have a saying about their country. Perhaps it has more to do with human nature than a country specifically. It may in fact be a driver of commercial transactions. A way to track things. Perhaps even to predict them. What do I mean?

The saying goes: “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.” The pendulum swings. Banks are centralized, then deregulated. And centralized again. And it would seem there’s another trend of growth. Of growing larger. And why is the growth so slow, and the dying so catastrophic.

Either way, it’s a good time to be in internet marketing. Markets are opening, the world becomes more connected. The younger generation is trained to buy things off the internet in a way that will forever be alien to the baby boomers. As they grow older, and have more discretionary income (assuming the dollar holds!), we encounter a double edged sword.

The internet becomes more mature. That is, with more sights, more competition, power will tend to consolidate. There is Amazon, a giant. Its competition is its own affiliate network. How long till it swallows its affiliates. Of course, then the cracks will appear, and Amazon will split, or more likely, fall victim to its own old age. Rendered by its size unable to adapt to new technologies. There are always doorways in.

Understand the Chinese proverb, and you’ll be able to put yourself square in the flow of money. Whatever the market or economy. But it might make for strange bed-fellows.

Hedge against economy

I’m sitting out on my deck looking over today’s headlines. Paulson was warning international leaders against “isolationism and protectionism.” The Dow avg. is 8451.19, down precipitously from over 10,000. And yet I remain optimistic. Money is everywhere.

To be sure, I know there is suffering. And I’m mindful of it. (I wonder if it’s more or less than usual on the whole.) And not to seem too opportunistic, but there is great stuff happening in my little world, and for my clients. So we just turn up the marketing in the recession.

So I say, let the folks in D.C. and on Wall Street handle it. Just pay attention, because there are ways to counter any attack on your assets, and to come out ahead in any downturn. At least relatively. So go and learn about money. Once you know how to preserve yours, get back to finding more of it. And put it under your control.

How to control more money? More resources? In the past we had real estate. Commercial and residential. Now you can “own” chunks of the internet. Set up static html sites. You own those domains. But then there’s also free sites. You lay claim to them for free. Now, with all the social media, online real estate has exploded. There’s more of it to own than ever. Unlike the tangible form, there’s more virtual real estate every day.

Plenty to go around, but stake your claim. The competition for getting to the top of the search engines isn’t slowing down, whatever is happening on Wall Street.

Your business

In the everchanging landscape of internet marketing, and marketing generally, there is a special place reserved for the creative. Just over the edge of the cliff. They can be infuriating, missing deadlines, missing the point of the assignment, and always late for work.

Yet, if you find one worth his salt, one well-versed in the time honored principles of direct marketing, then hold him for all he’s worth. Those are a rare breed.

In fact, now that even the big companies are realizing that internet marketing is a direct response medium, they are in more demand than ever.

Of course I am biased, being a copywriter myself.

But we mustn’t neglect the other side of the equation. The tech guys.

Their job has become increasingly complex on some fronts, and much simpler on others. With minimal experience, I am able to design a website in Dreamweaver that will make sales. In fact, I can create a six-figure income online without really designing anything.

And most tech stuff can be outsourced overseas for pennies on the dollar.

So why bother with a techical staff?

If you can find younger staff to keep you up to date on all the developments, and some who understand direct response design and metrics, your business can grow exponentially faster than if you try to wear all hats at once.

I am a fan of direct mail, and integrated multi-media strategies. But the internet is the new television, my friend. And it’s time to recession-proof your marketing. Hope this helps get you thinking, and moving forward, even as the economy moves in directions we don’t want to go.