When we start looking into learning the basics of coding, social media, marketing, the next “it” of anything, there is a ton of white noise! We arent talking a little bit here. We are talking a massive, vertigo inducing list of hows, whats, whys, and where to start. I admit to being stuck at this point for the last few weeks and find it unnerving. I have finally gathered an attack list for the next 30 days. I will share that in the next post. But for now, I have been overwhelmed, and ended up chasing down the rabbit hole called the internet, would realize I wasn’t were I needed to be and had to start the process over again.
As I am setting up the hosting and WordPress, debating if a theme is needed at this stage or not, I have been listening to some audiobooks. My current full time employment has me traveling quite a bit. As such audible is a dear friend on these long drives. I don’t remember how I found it but I have been listening and enjoying “CLTR ALT DELETE” by Mitch Joel. Very well reasoned and honestly, he has been verbalizing exactly, one of my concerns or base thoughts about modern marketing in the connected society or “internet of things” future.
What type of marketing is important in the connected and “internet of things” future. I agree whole heartedly with his focus on utilitarian marketing instead of the traditional push, broadcast etc. (BTW, I am still locking down these definitions so if I happen to use them incorrectly, please correct me.) The level of annoying ads, in general, is overwhelming. I have a 5 year old and her interaction with advertising is incredibly one sided. It is an easy lesson for me to tell her to ignore the ads. That new toy or blanket, or doll is all you need for happiness. What happens when I teach her that they aren’t happiness? They are fun, she has more than she needs, and I teach a child self-worth that doesn’t need push or passive advertising? For our generations, it is becoming simpler and simpler to ignore the majority of ads simply because of the sensory overload. It is too much and we can just walk past. To be frank, we can mostly agree that the majority of them aren’t even effective and extremely poor at attention grabbing.
I understand that marketing is becoming a fast developing science, but what happens when the subjects (you and me) are fast evolving. Have you ever looked at ads from the 40’s -50’s and started laughing asking how anyone could be fooled by that? This isn’t any different for when my 5 year old becomes a 45 year old, or at least I don’t believe it to be.
We have all heard that Marketers are what always ruin a good thing. For the large part, I entirely agree with this. Yet for businesses we believe them an absolutely critical part of the infrastructure. After all, We have to sell to keep the doors open. My ultimate question of this post comes down to what happens when we put selling as a secondary goal objective? What happens when we put community and relationships first? I am not talking about a utopian concept. Just a friendly, traditional, neighborly approach. I give you something of real value. Something you need or something that at least enhances your life in some way. The enhancement needs to be greater than a cliché soothing of a friction point. It has to be something we look at and say “hey, I can’t believe they made this, I use it so much.” Maybe a crazy concept from someone that knows how to spell marketing and that is about it.
Either way, I am on board with this concept and plan on taking it into this experience as a fundamental. Selling isn’t about the marketer, the social media guy, the business owner, or the coder making something cool, it is about value to the user and how it effects our daily life and interactions.