Tips from a Master Marketer
Amidst all the scientific marketing chatter about Google algorithms, empirical quantitative research, media mix formulas, social media analytics and marketing metrics, there is a rising roar about the data explosion. Some estimates say that information is doubling every two years due in part to the daily influx of 200 billion emails and 147 million tweets. We’ve gone from a megabyte culture to one of gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes—a single petabyte can hold 500 billion pages of standard text. And scientists say we are rapidly approaching the realm of zettabytes and yottabytes. To put it in perspective, the entire World Wide Web now takes up nearly a yottabyte, and it would take approximately 11 trillion years to download a yottabyte file from the Internet using high-power broadband.
The Science of Marketing
Not surprisingly, technology has also produced new ways to process this deluge of raw information. Capabilities now exist to tackle everything from customer sentiment in social media and predicting future outcomes, to faster insights with in-memory processing and greater understanding of web behavior. Our lives, our behaviors and preferences, are being scrutinized, analyzed, digitized and monetized. Data analytics are fueling a new marketing mega trend and essentially changing the marketing dynamic as it begins to evolve into an outcome-oriented science rather than an art.
Many marketers welcome this insight into the minds and behaviors of their targeted demographic. Traders and merchants dating back to the beginnings of civilization have benefited from knowing their customers’ or trading partners’ preferences to nurture customer loyalty. (The tall guy likes the beaver pelts, that short guy prefers the deer skins.) Heralding this new personalized strategy as intelligent one-on-one marketing, many marketers are eagerly finding new ways to gather, process and utilize information to create even more personal messages using multiple mediums.
Other marketing minds are wary of this new trend. “I find this hyper customization and localization troubling,” says Jon Cropper, a highly respected media strategist and entrepreneur. “This is a desensitizing, dehumanizing, data-driven unfortunate trend that will eventually overtake this industry. I think you’ll continue to see less art and more science. That’s not all that comforting, but that is definitely the reality. It’s getting creepy.”
Cropper, the genius behind some of Nissan’s most creative and successful campaigns, says that privacy issues aside, the trend is disturbing because it is an attempt to create a false sense of intimacy. “Intimacy is based on trust and the mutual sharing of ideas between people who are trying to connect. This is based on hyper observation of what you do and who you are in an attempt to exploit you—more like a stalker who is pursuing you in an inappropriate way. It’s completely wrong.”
It likely won’t end well, he predicts. “This new love and dependency on the use of data—because there’s so much of it out there—is going to eventually blow up on itself, but not before a lot of emotional fatigue on a broad social level becomes the norm. We’ll all be enduring unnecessary attempts to get into our pockets.”
The Art of Marketing
Rather than increasing aggressive data analysis, Cropper suggests a less-contrived, more authentic approach to marketing—more of an artful altruistic approach. The key principles that he thinks are necessary for marketers to succeed in this new economy focus on trust, multiculturalism, community building, attention to details and an element not usually used in the commercial realm —love.
1. Trust
One of the first things Cropper advises great marketers to do is to restore their promise to keep their promise. “I use the word principles specifically—I mean key principles in the framework of ethics and morals. Trust has been breached. There is a high level of cynicism and distrust among consumers, and much of advertising is a manipulation designed to create a false sense of need. The messages are becoming less believable.
“Great brands are going to have to re-up their commitment to do the right thing. There’s the cliché double bottom line mindset—do well and do good; generate profit and do good things. Companies have a responsibility to help the communities they operate in. The government, in this country and in many countries around the world, has faltered in their fiscal responsibility. It’s partially the role of marketers and brands to step into that void and be agents of positive change within their markets. I think that’s going to be a mandate and requirement for marketers operating in this ‘new economy.’”
2. Multiculturalism
Marketers should have a deep understanding, appreciation and respect for multiculturalism and diversity. “We live in a really dynamic multicultural world and that means that there should be different messages for people that come from different heritages and backgrounds. The insensitivity of some commercial messaging is shocking. Messages should resonate with people that come from all different backgrounds,” he explains.
3. Community Building
Marketers need a deep appreciation for and understanding of how to build interactive digital communities that have utility and real function, Cropper suggests. “A group of people who are fans of a brand should not be passive, but should actively work as a group toward something that has a positive outcome. Brands have to have the mindset of a mayor of a town or digital community. It’s not just your job to sell something, but also to provide community members with a suite of services and support.
“Social media and mobile technology are remarkable enablement tools that are here to stay. We have the opportunity for dialogue now instead of just a monologue and this is a massive game changer.”
4. Attention to Details
“Marketers should heed the lesson of Steve Jobs and develop a deep appreciation for a maniacal level of focus on detail—step into excellence through over commitment to detail. It takes more time and costs more money, but details matter,” asserts Cropper. “That’s what it’s all about—going the extra mile; giving 102 percent rather than 90 percent.”
5. Love
“This is a word that people often find uncomfortable to use in the commercial realm, but great marketers need to demonstrate love. In this age of austerity, people are dealing with a lot of negative energy swirling around. Great marketers have a responsibility to project and inject optimism into this culture and become more love-based rather than fear-based in their orientation. Marketing shouldn’t be about creating anxiety for people; it should be about injecting a positive attitude. We should continually be reminding people of what is possible and provide them with a sense of how they can get there.”
…And the Heart of Marketing
Cropper says that one of the most important pieces to this whole thing is a very clear sense of self—self-awareness, self-definition. “Be ruthless in your articulation of that. Look yourself in the mirror and have a precise and honest inner dialogue. Be able to say this is who we are; this is what we stand for. This is the most important piece of advice I can offer to anyone trying to figure out how to create some kind of energy that will be attractive to other people. You are not just selling a product—you’re selling the energy around the product.”
For Cropper, it’s important to try and live his life as a contributor. “I want to be net positive—to give more back than I receive. Having that kind of orientation has governed my point of view and philosophy in the commercial realm. There is a sense of responsibility that comes with being able to reach out and communicate with lots of people. I think that looking at my work as a responsibility—and not just as a job—has left me in a good place.
“At the end of the day, I think the goal and mission of marketers is to communicate ideas that help people to progress, that move our culture forward…It’s as simple as that.”