The staple of end-of-year journalism, when reporters start banking copy so they can take some time off during the holidays, the year-in-review list is generally partnered with the forecast for the year to come.
I thought I’d get a head start on the season and celebrate my 11 month anniversary as a first-time marketer with some random bloviations on life inside a $14 billion startup.
- I thought, going in, that marketing was where the right-brained side of the MBA class ended up. The creative, non-quantitative types — Word versus Excel users — who thought up “whiter-than-white/brighter-than-bright” slogans and approved television commercials. Wrong. Marketing is extremely quantitative and creative and driven by the Four P’s — Product, Price, Place and Promotion. This is a challenge to me, the most un-quantitative man alive.
- The Four P’s don’t mean much to me. I don’t care. That doesn’t mean they aren’t crucial, they just don’t hit me as that relevant.
- Web marketing is the “plastics” of modern business. If you are thinking of a career, then think about Web marketing. It changes so fast that half the fun (and half the terror) is making it up as you go along.
- Corporate blogging went from a circus freak show in January (when Scoble and Israel published Naked Conversations) to a fact of life in December. If you and your company are still noodling over whether to do it or not then I feel sad for you. Don’t hire a PR firm to set your blog policy.
- It’s all about Search.
- Interactive/Digital marketing feels hotter to me in 2006 than Online Journalism did in 1994 in terms of potential impact and disruptive impact.
- Metrics are nothing without analytics. Metrics are what makes number 6 as hot as it is and is what makes number 1 so crucial. Analytics driving actions are hard.
- Web publishers who depend on display advertising for their growth strategy are very threatened. Don’t focus on what is happening to the print and broadcast side, (as the obituary writers would say, “donations in lieu of flowers”) the next big upset is in the 1.0 to 2.0 model of transformation that is coming down on the gross tonnage web models that emphasize eyes, clicks, and impressions.
- Customer service is the noblest manifestation of a brand and should be parented by marketing.
- Engagement marketing is where the action is but direct marketing is where the money is.
There … ten random bloviations.
David,
As an “independent consultant,” in July, I spoke at a couple of Frost and Sullivan event on online marketing. Haha!! I met Israel during the D(h)ell inevitable plastic exploding crisis, and listened to his venom. During the breakouts, I said “ever heard of Lenovo?” So I referred them/him to “a good blogger” at Churbuck.com with a nice shoutout about you, who at that time had recently became Emperor of Marketing at Lenovo.
There are really seven p’s. Regardless of what Kotler says. They are useful concepts, but very very basic. Besides price, promotion, product, and place, one also could think about “people,” “process,” and “physical evidence” in regards to service marketing…
I’ve even heard it said by some smart people that another p exists in MNC’s “politics.”
Sincerely yrs,
Judah Mnemonic.
We really need an “email to friends” button for this post. It’s a list that really needs to be heard in corporate America.