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What is New Marketing?
Social Media
Some have revered to this as Web 2.0 No matter what you call it, it is here to stay in my opinion and not a fad. The power of Social Media is only at the beginning stages and there is a long way to go before it becomes main stream in the business world. more on Social Media > |
If you have heard the expression, social media, blog, viral marketing, podcasting, user generated content to name a few, then you have come in contact with what has been labeled New Marketing. The first place I heard about the term New Marketing, was on Joseph Jaffe's podcast, Across The Sound, the New Marketing Podcast, which has now been merged into the Jaffe Juice blog and podcast. I highly recommend this podcast and also recommend you read his book, "Life After The 30 Second Spot". Jaffe's latest book "Join The Conversation" is another recommended read.
Pioneer's of New Marketing like Joseph who are not only discussing these new practices, but are engaging and demonstrating their effectiveness. Those who do this, are gaining valuable insight to their target markets, are generating new business and are opening up new opportunities not easily attainable using traditional marketing methods.
As a B2B marketer myself, I find it absolutely amazing to learn about these new methodologies which seem to be taking over the marketing landscape.
A Discussion about Blogs
A Blog is a Web Log, or a program used online for user interaction. Basically, the administrator of the blog, uploads a blog post and 'users' online can comment on the blog post. The Pro's and Con's in this section discuss Blogs as part of the media mix for businesses looking to gain an advantage over their competition.
The Advantages of Adding a Blog to Your Media Mix.
Blogs have proven themselves to be a very powerful new marketing tool for many corporations worldwide. By learning to adapt to this new medium through an active involvement in the blogosphere and by being completely transparent in their actions. Companies who play an active role in furthering the education of their clients through the use of this interactive medium have a lot to gain. Having the ability to get insight from customer feedback, negative, or positive, is invaluable. To also have the ability to comment back to the blog and have other viewers read the comments of the corporation has only before been possible through forums. What makes the blog so powerful is the easy of creation. Because anyone can freely create a blog and posting to a blog can be through a web interface, mobile phone, SMS, by email etc., the medium has really taken off beyond any expectations. It is early days yet and we are all still learning how marketers should balance this powerful medium with other facets of the marketing mix.
The Disadvantages of Adding a Blog to Your Media Mix.
Much to the dismay of the hard core bloggers out there, corporations have also learned to use methods that take advantage of this new medium using methods that are not always above board. The power of blogs are leveraged through posts by the corporation to seed favourable content, points of view etc, which often are viewed to arbitrarily bias opinions of genuin bloggers. To the marketer, this is an opportunity, but if you are caught using these tactics, it will backfire 10 fold on you.
From an implementation standpoint, I would also add that administering a Blog is a big commitment for any marketing department, large or small. It requires in most cases, a shift in culture, to break free from traditional marketing efforts and to embrace change. This is a big step, a step that requires commitment from the company to move forward and develop strong online relationships with its clients. Once started, it is essential to maintain a proper platform and therefore use valuable resources. If not carried out correctly, this could waste time and money and could also damage your brand.
Closing Comments
Although we do not have a blog on NetCohesion, we are thinking about creating one. Realizing the commitment to time it requires to generate an effective blog on a regular basis, we are currently evaluating our involvement with the blogosphere. Stay tuned for future updates.
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