Sometimes it's hard to be a marketer - especially when you're talking to people who just don't understand how marketing works. I've been thinking about this lately as I've been talking to a lot of them. I've watched folks blindly switch whole marketing campaigns away from traditional marketing to social media marketing. And while I manage three blogs, three Twitter accounts, and juggle dozens of search terms and love social media, I also know that while technology changes and the channels to get the message out change, you still need to have the basics in place or you just won't be effective.
Great marketing still begins with a great product or service. If you haven't developed something that somebody wants, then you've got nothing. The old definition of product management: know your customer, know your market, know your competition, and know your product hasn't changed. If you haven't developed a product built on that foundation, then what you're doing is potentially taking something to market that no one ever wanted. Now, it will be cheaper on your marketing budget, if you simply decide to tweet about your product that if you launch it at a major trade show with a splashy TV ad campaign, but it's still a waste of time and money if no one wants what you're selling.
Marketing Today
Marketing today means more analytics for measuring how online programs are working than the guys in Mad Men ever had. While we get to see immediately how many people have searched on the terms used to describe our products on the website and through press releases, the old print advertisers had to measure effectiveness with product sales figures when they came in. Marketing today also means repurposing content in multiple ways to get the message out on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, white papers, brochures, and ebooks. The goal should always be to either build awareness or generate leads by using content to send prospects back to the website for more information.
There is no magic pill for getting your message out to your market. All the new technology and distribution channels in the world won't help you sell something that no one needs. Although, if you don't know what you're doing, there are plenty of people out there who would love to sell you a magic pill!
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