1.5 The Technology Revolution

The strategies proven over time to convince consumers to buy your products have not changed. The tools and tactics we can use as marketers to most effectively and efficiently reach consumers have changed dramatically and will continue to change over time.

It wasn't that long ago that "social network" was the term that described a group of ladies who get together at church to knit quilts on Saturday mornings. Senior marketers remember when there were only three television networks, and "appointment viewing" was Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. to watch The Cosby Show on NBC. The most technologically advanced piece of home electronics was a VCR, with a flashing "12:00" on the face because most adults were too intimidated to program it.

Now social networks mean Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and countless affinity groups. Cable and satellite providers have diluted the effectiveness of TV advertising, bringing up to 200 channels into homes, specialized into everything from sports to history to home improvement, which can be of help in some cases if you're selling to a very specific audience, but a detriment to reaching consumers far and wide. Mobile phones are now complete entertainment devices, with the ability to stream TV, hold your music library, access your email, and give you turn-by-turn driving directions. DVRs have replaced VCRs, and appointment viewing is a thing of the past. Consumers record their favorite shows on their DVRs and watch them later, so they can skip through all the commercials (a very bad thing for marketers). About the only television programs being watched when they are being broadcast live are news and sports. Miss your favorite program or accidentally erase it? No problem. Just watch it at your convenience on your computer via streaming video on the web or your cell phone.

Advertising to youth has changed the most radically. Kids use the TV more to play games on their PlayStation, Xbox and Wii than to watch programs. They don't listen to the radio; they get their music from an iPod. They don't read the newspaper or magazines; they browse the Internet, use widgets or subscribe to RSS feeds for the things that interest them. The traditional media channels that have been used for decades to advertise to youth are becoming less and less effective.

A wise man once told me "it's not what you can do, it's what you should do." The question you need to ask is "Does this fit with my brand strategy and drive the sales needle?"

Can vs. Should

Three or four times each week, a salesman comes into my office to show me his latest and greatest marketing tool. Most are technology driven, such as location based Bluetooth or GPS texting, "smart" database systems, and innovative Internet technologies. One gentleman came in to show me how I could upload a scanned photo of myself to his website, and his company could insert my face over the top of the actor's face in any commercial, and my eyes, mouth movements, and expressions would all look exactly like I was in the commercial. Cool, but what do I do with it? How will it help me sell my products?

Marketing today isn't just about initiating an email blast to your database, texting them, "tweeting" them, or creating a really cool mobile app. While those are tactics that can be used, they need to fit within a strategic plan that drives product sales. Just creating a great looking website the ad agency has convinced you to make "sticky" so that consumers come and linger doesn't necessarily translate into improved product sales or even increased brand affinity.

In 2008, Taco Bell created the most incredible website I've ever seen in conjunction with the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit edition. It allowed you to be a virtual Sports Illustrated swimsuit photographer with supermodel Daniella Sarahyba. You could virtually move around with a camera and click photos of Daniella, then print them out on your home printer. All the while, Daniella was chatting with you, just as if you were there. Awesome! Fun! Sticky? Absolutely. I played virtual photographer about twenty times, but did it make me go to Taco Bell to buy my lunch? No it didn't. Did it positively affect my brand image of Taco Bell? No again.

SMS Texting

American Idol made SMS text-voting the vogue, and it makes perfect sense for that program to use texting as their platform. But does it make sense for Ford Motor Company to send you text messages to try and sell you a car? No. Does it make sense for Ford to rip off the Daniella technology to create virtual test drives on the web? Absolutely! Should a sports team offer real-time score and team news / injury updates via SMS text to their fans? Yes. Do you want your local grocery store sending you text messages promoting their sale this week on Fruit Loops? Probably not. But would you like to go to your grocer's website and note the products you would like to get text alerts for if they come on sale? You might!

President Barack Obama embraced SMS texting in his successful 2008 campaign for U.S. President, having voters register their cell phone numbers in order to get the first word on his selection for Vice President. Over 10 million Americans signed up—primarily young voters, who historically have been hard-to-reach for politicians through traditional media channels—which gave President Obama a platform of 10 million young, tech-savvy voters with whom he could then communicate directly in the two months leading up to the election. Here are just a few examples of things the Obama campaign did with these phone numbers:

  • Raised funds by asking for donations

  • Conducted surveys (e.g., Are you registered to vote yet? What zip code are you in?)

  • On a state-by-state basis, sent reminder messages about the cutoff dates for voter registration and link to registration forms

  • On a state-by-state basis, told people to mail in their ballots to vote absentee

  • Invited people to campaign events in their area code

  • Reminded people to get out and vote on Election Day

  • Promoted other Democratic party candidates on a zip code-by-zip code basis

President Obama is still embracing text messaging in his presidency, soliciting new sign ups on the White House home page, building an ever-growing network of voters with whom he can directly communicate. He's also embracing YouTube as a means of posting his weekly "chat" with Americans, a great way to give unfiltered information to the public, and a very smart way to use the tools of the technology revolution effectively. Several times during his presidency, he has sent email messages direct to his database urging supporters to contact their Congressmen to help push through a piece of important legislation, creating a ground-swell of support that couldn't be ignored by the partisan Republican Congress.

What you can do and what you should do in a marketing campaign are very different. Too often young marketing managers get caught up in the can do—what can we do with Twitter, Facebook, Google+, SMS Texting, Plaxo, LinkedIn, email marketing, mobile apps, widgets, RSS feeds or building micro-sites—because it seems more exciting, cutting edge, and innovative to hurl themselves into this world of evolving technology.

Doing the should do's—brand positioning, websites, packaging, traditional advertising, point-of-sale materials—seem old school and boring. The truth lies in between. Successful marketers need to keep a keen eye on all the possibilities presented by things they can do with new revolutions in technology, media and hardware, and integrate it if it makes sense into the plan of what they should do. The fundamental strategies of marketing—the should dos—haven't changed. The ways we can execute them have.

Previous Next