First of all, you definitely need to have a good leg in order to kick some ass.
Cold jokes a side, what does a marketer really need to know/learn in order to be one helluva kick-ass marketer?
Let me start by being very long-winded and a nag. Back in the old days when we are living in a civilization when kids are still playing hopscotch with no Nintendo or gameboy to play, marketers do not have many options but to do advertising and promotion work through what is now known as the traditional media. Some may call it above the line.
Back then, the paper press business was booming, TV and radio stations are the other alternate media. So it was really a battle of money to see who have more money to throw in the papers, TV and radios.
All of a sudden came the internet boom which fueled the US economy back in the late 1990s. Useless websites with no solid business models were being invested by venture capitalists just because they are afraid to miss the boat.
Of course when the bubble grows too big, either you add more soap to sustain or it will burst.
The rest was history. Many tech setups failed and people were afraid to venture back into tech companies. Because they haven’t yet discover the true potential of the online media.
Why is this so? We can narrow this to a few reasons. [1] Internet penetration around the world was slow. In fact, don’t even mention about internet, computer owners were few. Imagine back in those days you pay about $5,000 just to get a PC. [2] Internet connection was at 56k. Too slow to surf heavy websites. [3] Limited talent pool to brainstorm and develop cool websites.
All these changed after 2000. The talent pool became bigger with skills and ideas galore. Introduction of Dell probably helped bring down PC prices to reasonable level, thus insuring more people own a computer at home. With that comes government support to improve their internet infrastructure.
With people getting richer, electronic merchandise getting cheaper, uber good infrastructure which was beyond our needs (think 3G’s lukewarm consumer response when it was first launched), and talents with vision and skills, technology just keeps improving exponentially.
Ideas like Friendster, Wholivesnearyou, Facebook brought networking and your social life to another level. At the same time, they became the online media’s mainstay, at least for awhile for a few of them.
Marketers suddenly have a whole range of options to tap into. The online media promises more eyeballs, more capabilities to track, and more ways to capture attention.
But it seems that universities are just still teaching concepts. The big idea of how marketing is like. The fundamentals are good. Not that I’m complaining that fundamentals are not important, but I strongly believe in this information age, marketers also need to equip themselves with the technologies of the present day.
- = [ 1] = – The Techie Marketer
With Facebook, Twitter and iPhone, Android and Google running so intertwined to our live, these few new media provides the marketer more ammo in their arsenal to launch their next big assault. The biggest plus? It’s much more affordable than traditional media.
Some marketers may say, “Oh yes I do have a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter account, etc”, the next question is how involved are your fans/followers with your pages?
Marketers may just want to check off their list of things to do by merely creating a page and hope it runs by itself. Certainly more effort is needed. Think acquisition of more fans (Look at Cheers Singapore, Starhub, JobsCentral).
Online banners are good also but will heavily depend on what is shown to the fish. Yes, I call the surfers a fish and your banners a bait. It needs to appeal to the fish in order of the fish to eat the bait, which for this case is the click on the banner.
Knowing Singaporean culture, your copy will need to be some sort of “Win an iPad”, “Win this, win that”, “$5,000 cash!”, etc. Something along this line. Of course you don’t want to learn from scam artist and make your copy sound like a scam.
- = [ 2 ] = – The Copywriter Marketer
I cannot say how important the copywriting needs to be. It is like the mini salesperson who can just bring in that deal in without a real salesperson doing all the psycho-ing.
I always believe the first few words will determine whether you capture alot of audience or not. Followed by how you frame your content to shout out loud but not too loud on why you should use us.
Internet marketers commonly use historical results to prove the success for the product/service they are marketing. Testimonials from people whom have used their products/services (I always doubt the testimonials are real. =x). Table comparison with competitors. And also the super discount they always declare at the bottom of the page vs the real value of the product/service.
For known brands, they often want to keep a certain distinct style of writing to maintain their brand positioning. I can only say, if the copywriting style is inline with the positioning, and after several attempts the money is still not showing in the bank, I probably think the positioning is not working for that product/service.
Now the marketer head honcho needs to rethink of a new positioning.
- = [ 3 ] = – The Designer Marketer
You don’t have to carry Gucci or Prada to be called a designer marketer. You will probably be called a rich marketer. Ever since Apple created products which are so aesthetically beautiful, I have always feel that any products or marketing endeavor needs to be aesthetically beautiful too.
So if the marketer have a pair of keen eyes for designs, it will be great as the marketer to strategically plan where to throw in the words, what image to use, what colour combination to use, etc. Because we often forget that designers design things, and not all designers can value add by providing that strategic element in designing. Fortunately for my company I know such designers exist.
Thankfully for them I don’t have to think of colours as I’m colourblind. Yes, I can differentiate between purple and blue, green and brown.
- = [ 4 ] = – The Trendy Marketer
No, not those kind who are on top of the fashion trend. They can probably market themselves better if they are on top of the fashion trend. Erm, ya… if they are working in the fashion industry, then they probably can do a better job too.
I’m suggesting more of how things are trending in the market. Like technology trends. Because technologies mature and spinoff so fast nowadays, the marketer will need to know what’s gonna be the next big thing and start budgeting for that new media. ie Mobile Marketing.
Clueless people will ask how do they get on top of the trend. Just like how you read fashion magazines to know whether to buy floral dresses or aviator sunglasses, you need to read up on technology blogs and the likes.
Don’t be lazy, just do a search on google and your answer is there. Rememeber, we are in an information age already. Wait, I think we have long passed that age. Now is more like information-overloaded age.
No interest in that particular segment? Then I think if you don’t even have a basic interest on something related to your work, then there’s probably this lack of professional passion in your career. You may want to switch career.
- = [ 5 ] = – The Gorilla Marketer
Oops! I meant to say the guerilla marketer. Always been a fanboy for guerilla marketing
The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive;[1]and consumers are targeted in unexpected places.[2] The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral -quoted from Wikipedia
Nowadays it is always about viral viral viral. With Facebook being the mainstay for the next few years, things will and should go viral with people sharing content so freely.
People now talk about the next big thing after Facebook. With Facebook being the top surfed website in the world, I doubt the next big thing will arrive in the next 5 years. And if it does arrive, it cannot take away the sharing habit of humans which Facebook have instilled in us. See now we already link it back to technology matters.
Put all 5 points together. You get my dream kick-ass marketer.
