Redefining Marketing: Marketing is science buried inside Art.

Marketing has never been about Advertising.  This is not really a redefinition of Marketing, as much as it is a reminder of what Marketing has always been.  Advertising is a tiny, often outsourced, part of Marketing.  It is the least of what we do.


True Marketing starts with the People.  It is an understanding of the customer -> how they think, what they like, how they shop, their demographics, their psychographics, and as much data about the customer as can be compiled.

It continues with the Product.  What benefits are desired.  What benefits are conveyed.  What to make.  What features to add and CUT. What it is.  What it does. How we talk about it.  Why it was built.

And moves into Pricing. What value is delivered for various customer types.  Pricing Strategy. How to capture the most value per customer type.

And on to Place.  Where to sell.  Where to put product in easy reach of customers.

And finally Promotion (note: this is not advertising)... to include how to let people know about the product.  Packaging.  PR.  And yes, some small bit of Advertising if necessary.

Beyond this, you enter the realm of what I call Marketing Fantasy...

Marketing Fantasy is where some Marketers go... thinking they actually can control:
1. branding/brand awareness
2. style/design
3. predictions/future trends
and more.

These things are Fantasy, because Marketing might be able to measure these things, finding direct controls of these things is nearly impossible.

Why do I love Marketing?  Because...   Marketing is science buried inside Art.

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Skeptical About Fake Social Marketing

Fake Social Marketing = the kind of contrived, half-hearted attention you try to garner by having a Fanpage or Twitter follower... but it serves no purpose other then as a huge mega-phone.

You are just saying nothing to people who don't care.

Real Social Marketing = when you have people that *actually* care... and that you have an interactive conversation with those people, and actually listen and react to what is said.

I am skeptical of the value of "Fake Social Marketing".  I think it has 'some' value, actually... at least you are making some effort, even if it is not social.  Fake Social Marketing is more like a "Blog" than an actual social site.  I think most companies take this approach because "Real Social" is harder and more risky.  These kinds of companies might use tools (such as those available by my own company: http://karmaback.com ) to rapidly grow fans & followers, then spam them with messages but ignore any responses.  That was NEVER the intent of how to use Karmaback..... I am a much stronger believer in "real social".

Real Social Marketing is when companies use Karmaback to REWARD their existing fans/followers with a sweepstakes or discount/coupon... and a side-effect of the Reward is that you get a few more fans/followers... (it's not necessarily the primary goal).  Meanwhile, Karmaback's PostOnTime tool is used to help coordinate when messages get said/planned messages... but someone STILL should be interacting with the comments/responses after the post has been made.  Incidentally, the posts themselves should be useful/helpful/informative/or conversation starting... A great example would be asking your Fans/Followers if you should have a certain feature or not.

So, consider this when you are planning your Social Marketing campaign... Focus on the "real social".  Don't just blindly post... read and respond.  And don't bribe, but reward.

How to reach bloggers. Just ask!

Recently, a representative from jooble-us.com (a job site aggregation, which helps people find jobs), contacted me and asked to post about it on my Blog.  (Done).

What was really interesting was the method of the message.... I actually think this might be a robot!  (filling in my most recent 2 posts, the url of my blog, and my Zodiac Sign automatically!)!

So, if a freaking ROBOT can get me to post about their site on my blog... you can easily do it too... just ask!  (this probably goes for anyones blog by the way).

Here, learn how a robot does it... full email from jooble-us.com below:

Hello!

I just want to thank you for your wonderful blog tytusblog.blogspot.com.

I read the post "A Marketing Basic: Speak & Write Plainly!" and then I spent another hour on your blog by reading your posts with pleasure :) Every article is interesting and easy to read. I really like the "Research Brief: how to write "engaging" Social Posts on Facebook and Twitter".

I work for Jooble company, we aggregate job adverts around the world.

My job is to persuade bloggers to link to our site.

I really love my job! We have a friendly team and good management, but unfortunately I have no idea how to convince a blogger to link to us, I'm afraid I might lose my job because of it :(

And that is why, instead of sending letters to thousands of different blogs, I am reading yours.

Honestly, I am not really sure if the link to our website in United States - jooble-us.com, will be appropriate for your blog, but if you believe it will and you can add it, I would be really grateful to you! Our site is really cool, it can greatly help hundreds of people to find jobs.

I wish you to have a good day and excellent mood! Thanks again for your nice blog. Write more! Thanks!

P.S. I am a Aries by zodiac sign too :)

A Marketing Basic: Speak & Write Plainly!

Speak Plainly.  Seems obvious, but us marketers often get into the habit of "word-smithing" till the text on the page is unrecognizable by normal humans (and worse, by our target customers).  Writing regular Facebook or Twitter updates for your company SHOULD be part of a solid Marketing campaign (try our own tool to help: http://postontime.com... but keep the writing simple.  Here are a few examples to avoid, and better alternatives.

• Don't say user:   "Users can now log in via our web interface"
• Say instead: customer or you.  "You can now log in via our web interface"
• Don't say best, most, or other false-ly colorful exaggerations: "This is the Best interface ever."
• Say instead: we think you will like. "We think you will like our interface upgrades."
• Don't use acronyms:  "Anyone who wants higher marketing ROI should click here"
• Instead, use simple terms: "Anyone who wants to get higher profits for their investments in marketing should click here."

Remember, short is sweet, but complex, obtuse, or marketing-speak is sour.