Mr. Marketer, if you’re smart as today’s consumers, you’re not relying as much on the same old media any more.
“Many in Generations X and Y, and even some Baby Boomers, are rapidly turning their backs on traditional media, “said Jill Bach, founder and principal of Marketnet. “Marketing methods from the past simply don’t deliver the audiences they once did.”
Those not reached by traditional media are still being marketed to "by their own user-generated circles of influence,” Ms. Bach said. “It’s a valid question: how will companies market effectively without embracing some of the new social media technologies?”
She said consumers are more and more influenced by blogs, on-line reviews, discussion groups and the proliferation of social networks.
Ms. Bach said she believes marketers have a 12-to-18 month window to transition to interactions with customers or prospects through careful integration with social media technologies like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. “The imperative for marketers is to investigate new communication mediums to converse with your audience, or be left behind in a year or two,” she said.
She cited several ways in which today’s Internet-savvy consumer is turning off old-style media while embracing new techniques:
1. No radio. Many consumers find out about local events, promotions, and exclusive offers using “word of mouth” via Facebook, Twitter, and a local RSS feed.
2. No TV commercials. With DVRs on millions of television sets, viewers zip right past commercials.
3. Music and audible content with few ads. Consumers encounter very few “sponsorships” on the podcasts they listen to. They hear about new music through Twitter, Facebook (iLike), MySpace, genre/band-specific bulletin boards, the Genius feature built into Apple’s iTunes, and customer reviews on Amazon.com.
4. Billboards are ignored as intrusive roadside “clutter.”
5. Inbound emails are often read on a cell phone. Poorly formatted email that may be a marketing message is deleted before it’s loaded into a desktop mail application.
6. No telemarketing. The cell phone is the main phone, the home phone is ignored.
“With both ads and up-to-the-minute news online, Web-savvy consumers don’t need print media,” Ms. Bach said.
Google AdWords and similar formats are often the only ads that appear on many Internet users’ browsers. “Banners, buttons, text ads, interstitials - all gone,” Ms. Bach said. “It makes for a much faster web-browsing experience.”
Social Networking is imperative for companies to remain competitive in today’s marketplace.
For more information on creating a social networking presence, contact MarketNet at 972-941-3200 or http://www.marketnet.com/.
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Marketnet, Inc. is a full-service interactive design and development company. Based in Dallas, Marketnet provides marketing, strategy, creative services, web development, application development, search marketing and analytics and reporting to its broad client base. For more information, go to www.marketnet.com.
Media Contact:
Jo Trizila, Trizila Communications, Inc.
jotrizila@trizilacommunications.com
office: 972-247-1369
cell: 214-232-0078
