For so long, marketing has often been out of reach for small to mid-size businesses. Though there are many reasons for this, expense is certainly near the top of the list. The cost of media and implementation were prohibitive.
David Meerman Scott, the internet marketing strategist, who spoke at the AMA | Rochester “Real-Time Marketing & PR” event on Friday, April 19th, broke that myth and proved there are many strategies to obtain real time results.
David provided many examples of companies that have capitalized on real-time opportunities – the most prominent of all being “United Breaks Guitars.” A fine example of a company that was mired down in the old way of thinking. United chose to take the “no comment” approach to this situation while others capitalized on it. It started with Dave Caroll’s YouTube video and his song which now has 13 million views. The Guitar manufacturer, Taylor, did react quickly and in two hours created its own You Tube video with tips on how to travel with guitars. Taylor’s video has 665,000 views.
David Meerman Scott also gave us new ways of thinking about marketing. While developing advertising and communications campaigns should still be part of the mix, he advocates thinking about now, right now. Who is in charge of now? What are customers thinking about now? What problems need to be solved now?
Creating interesting content involves understanding buyer personas. His Marketing Strategy_Template is helpful in developing them. Knowing and describing our target audience isn’t a new idea in marketing communications – it’s a reminder that it’s equally as important in real-time marketing. That understanding helps create the content, creative ideas, that gets shared and liked and leads to results.
He also advocated for the use of journalists to create content – he called it brand journalism. He sees their value in being able to take on the buyer persona and ask those insightful questions. In his opinion this type of content is one way to differentiate your company particularly on your website. Get away from “brochure-ware” on your site, rather focus on information that is timely and targeted to your brand persona. Many companies like Raytheon have already moved to this marketing strategy.
As David said throughout his presentation, these are his ideas, there is certainly no one way to achieve “real-time success.” And he asked that we share our successes with him in the months to come. You can connect with him on his website.
Cathy Rubino Hines, President AMA | Rochester, and The Marketing Collaborative, LLC
