marketing

Mitch Joel:

Think about it - what if everything we knew about Marketing and Advertising until now really was just an anomaly, and the new ways that are spurting up as we Blog is the way things were meant to be?
Human beings are often great at being able to adapt as situations unfold, but I think there is an opportunity now to be magnificent. To really embrace a new way in which Consumers and Producers blur all the lines and write new rules together. And who knows, maybe what we're really seeing with Social Media and Web 2.0 is how Marketing, Advertising and Communications was really meant to work... even as traditional agencies continue to clamp on to business as usual.

Tehanu:

I have yet to find a book that describes the rest of it-- why user profiles are good to have, why you want to make user feedback very easy, why you want people to have a way to see how useful or popular their contributions are, strategies for handling moderation and user disagreements. I would pay for a digital or paper book version of essays such as these.

Kevin Kelly:

Answering real FAQs is smart for several reasons:
* It forces you to face the problem.
* It forces you to face your answer.
* It's an opportunity to sell (yes).
* It projects your character and brand.
* You can control the answer.

Cheryl Barre:

If you think about the fact that industry sales are down this year, year to date, and when you think about fewer people being in- market, digital is even more important to be able to talk to those consumers who are in market.

Jeff Jarvis:

Do I trust you? The key is to make sure that I have control over my data.

Clay Shirky (via Jeff Atwood):

What we've got is a network that is natively good at group forming. In fact, this isn't just a fifth revolution. It holds the contents of the previous revolutions, which is to say we can now distribute music and movies and conversations all in this medium. But the other thing it does is move us into a world of two-way groups. Thirty years from now, when I'm presenting this book, if I had to describe it in one bullet point -- this is what the bullet point would say: Group Action Just Got Easier.

Roger Hobbs:

The Internet is not a separate place a person can go to from the real world. The Internet is the real world. Only faster.

In his new blog, Steph Lagrange reports a conversation we had last April about my work:

Proximity (i.e. “always available”) is another key concept to Bruno. Whereas in traditional media the distance between the ad and the store can be miles and/or days away, on the Web the distance has narrowed down to a mere hyperlink (i.e. URL). The call to action and the ability to take action are instantaneous, almost real time.

And this is exactly where most media companies miss the point. Too focused on page views and unique visitors to measure their online ad display revenue, media corporations miss the conversion to action stage.

To get your customer engaged enough to act upon an ad with the intent of following through, remains the biggest conversion whatever the media. And then, what happens?

Stephane is really impressive: there was a lot distractions around when we talked but he didn't miss a beat and he summarizes this whole concept beautifully. Thanks!

Makes me wonder if I shouldn't do like McLuhan: rather than spending months (years!) writing a book, I could just talk and collect the notes of people I am speaking with. :-)

The always brilliant Mark Pesce just published That Business Conversation, the text of his latest speech.

The conclusion should be on the screen of every business leader.

The balance of power has shifted decisively into the hands of the networked public.

... unless you embrace conversation as the essential business practice of the 21st century, you will find someone else, more flexible and more open, stealing your business away.