The Hindu Business Line : Play the new marketing game

In the earlier era, advertising was about great creative work, and “good advertising people were well versed in the tools and techniques of reaching broad markets with lowest-common denominator messages via interruption,” writes David Meer man Scott in The New Rules of Marketing & PR ( www.wiley.com).

In the post-Web era, people want authenticity, not spin, they want participation, not propaganda, says the author, an ‘online thought leadership strategist’. Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it, he explains. “PR or public relations is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It’s about your buyers seeing your company on the Web… Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It’s about your organisation winning business.” Taking a leaf from Chris Anderson, the author says there is a ‘long-tail’ market for Web content created by organisations of all kinds. “Today’s consumers are looking for just the right product or service to satisfy their unique desires at the precise moment they are online.” Therefore, marketers should shift from ‘one-size-fits-all Web site with a mass-market message’ and create many different microsites, ‘with purpose-built landing pages and ‘just-right’ content,’ suggests Scott.

For those who are eager to catch up, fast!

Spur creativity

Retail Buying Techniques
Fiona Elliott and Janet Rider

Creativity is a key attribute of high-achiever buyers, say Fiona Elliott and Janet Rider in Retail Buying Techniques ( www.jaicobooks.com). “Some buyers are fortunate to work within a creative environment, surrounded by like-minded people. However, many buyers work on their own in a small office, and creativity can seem hard to attain.”

So, what to do in such a case? Rather than stare at the same wall every day, go for a change of scene, advise the authors. Go to see a supplier or a trade fair, they suggest. That can ‘free up the mind and lead to clearer thoughts’. Importantly, the interaction with other people can provide the opportunity for problems or ideas to be aired. “Some buyers feel that sharing their problems with a supplier is a sign of weakness, but most suppliers, who are interested in the success of the business as the buyer, react more positively and are happy to express their opinions.”

Rich guidance.

ROI take-off

Profitable Marketing Communications
Antony Young and Lucy Aitken

As with alcoholics attending their first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, the first step for marketers is acknowledging that there’s a problem with measurement, write Antony Young and Lucy Aitken in Profitable Marketing Communications ( www.vivagroupindia.com). Despite Herculean efforts, marketing ROI (return on investment) remains something that just isn’t being delivered, the authors bemoan. “M ost marketers aren’t serious at all about ROI. They get their budget approved and then they just go and spend it,” reads a quote cited in the book. “For an ROI culture to be created, marketers must work to make marketing outcomes more transparent, more commercial and more aligned to the business strategies.”

Value read.

D. Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

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Play the new marketing game