The Future of Marketing

Marketing is in the midst of a C change. The old marketing model was to broadcast ideas and the message in hopes that your target customer was listening and would act on it. It’s TV thinking mentality- where the power of marketing was seen in the maxim that the more dollars you spent the further your message spread. It didn’t matter when or where or how the message was received. It was OK to interrupt anyone; anytime. Not so anymore. The system is broken. It was hurt by all the clutter and too many choices. The shift in power is to what experts are calling permission marketing. It’s a power shift away from the marketer to the gatekeeper-the consumer . The internet has brought all this about. TV, radio and direct mail are the traditional channels of communication invented by marketers for markets. They exist to sell ads. The internet doesn’t care. Marketers are no longer in charge. They can’t control the customer anymore- what they see, read or especially what they say.
So what will the future bring for marketing? Seth Godin recently looked in his crystal ball to identify these  fourteen future marketing trends:
1. Direct communication between the people who make it and people who buy it. Create a community of your customers and engage them, cutting out the middle man in the relationship. Be prepared to take the bumps and bruises that might come along with it.
2. Amplification of the consumer Every person is a designer or reviewer and has the power to reach others. They are the new gatekeepers; embrace them and invest in their experience. Seth says instead of selling stuff; spend your days creating joy.
3. Authentic stories mean people do not buy facts; so you must sell the story. Is it about the location; is it about being green; is it about ownership, is it about why and how we make it? Facts are not important; it’s about creating opportunity. So craft a story that resonates with your view of the world and then live the story. You must do both- the customer can always spot if you are telling the truth or not.
4. Speed or let’s be honest- hyper speed. It’s about no waiting, it’s about reorganizing your business and building your processes around speed.
5. Longtail has proven that if you give people a choice they will take it. Over half of books that Amazon carries aren’t available in book stores. Offer your customer a chance to have a choice. Look for the small profitable niche.
6. Outsourcing products and services that were inconceivable five years ago .
 Google has diced the world into bytes. Social media and the internet are now the marketing platform. Your website needs to be friendly to the visitor. But you also need to realize that they are treat searches have become sophisticated; they are landing deep into you site more often than on your home page.

Check back tomorrow for the the rest of trend list