The Times They Are A Changin'

In his blogpost, We Are Actively Dismantling Your Trusted Marketing Strategies, Brian Massey explains that,

"The culture, the strategies, and the beliefs that your business has relied on for the past 20 years are being actively dismantled."

I think that in many ways Brian has it right. As we shift power away from the Boomer Generation that thrived on hype and mass marketing we find control of defining what a brand means largely in the hands of the "new" consumer. Enter the era of conversational marketing where the words humility, simplicity and authenticity rule.

The truly interesting thing about all this that Brian points out is that the parts still work, they just need to be put together in a different form.

"TV is not an effective way to communicate, video is."

"Radio is not an effective way to communicate, the human voice is."

"Print is not an effective way to communicate, words and images are."

"Web sites are not an effective way to communicate, solving problems is."

All of this relates to my last post on listening first and always. Understand your audience (those that are important to you as well as those that are important to them) then say something powerful. They will do the rest.

As Shakespeare said, "To thine own self be true."

Be real,

--Charles

The Markers of the Next Generation

Below is an excerpt from today's Monday Morning Memo from Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, that should be the guiding principles for all communications over the next 30-40 years:

"Ten years ago when Locke, Searls and Weinberger published the 95 theses of their prescient Cluetrain Manifesto, they listed thesis number 4 as: 'Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.' Then, in thesis 22 we read, 'Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view.'

There they are; the markers of the next generation: 'Uncontrived, straight talk, a genuine point of view.' Another way of saying this is 'unfiltered blurting of your truest feelings.' "

Use this to build rock solid relationships that will lead to success and prosperity.

Be real,

--Charles