What do influential companies have in common? According to Business Week, they define and redefine ideas and the terms of competition.  That’s exactly what we need to do with the way we market.

The rise of the social internet is redefining everything including email.  Consumers are in control; old marketing approaches are losing their effectiveness and consumers are growing increasingly frustrated.  Think it’s just hype? Well, take a look at a few of the red flags over the past few years.    

2002:

• Nielsen Begins Tracking Tivo Usage.

2003:

• Do Not Call Registry Created And Passes 50 Million Mark In September 2003. 

2006:

• DMA Mail Preference Service Reaches 4.6 Million.
• DMA Email Preference Service Reaches 400,000.
• AOL pays $3 million to settle complaints related to consumers having difficulty canceling their accounts after a consumer posts recording of their interaction with an AOL representative on a website.  Posting gets national press coverage and serves as one of the first and most powerful examples of the emerging social web.

2007

• 78% of consumers report using anti-spam/filtering solutions.

2008:

• Do Not Call Registry reaches 157 million – Wow, name one marketer's list who has grown that fast?
• Catalog Choice, a leading mail preference service surpasses the 1 million mark.
• DVRs used in 20% (up from 9%) of all households and make up 7.5% of all prime time viewers.
• PC Magazine print folds - not to mention dozens of others…but let’s save some space for more bad news.
• DMA study finds email ROI declining.  Hey don’t worry, email is still cheap.
• eMarketer reduces its social media advertising forecast for the second time this year as social networks find themselves still trying to figure out how to turn their vast audiences into advertising dollars.
• Forrester Research’s Josh Bernoff publishes “Time To Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas” citing corporate blogs rank at the bottom of the trust scale with only 16% of online consumers who read them saying that they trust them.  For some of you out there still wearing your rose colored glasses, you’re probably thinking hey that’s 16% I might be able to sell.  Go for it, time is running out.

What do these stats say about the state of marketing?   I believe they indicate that traditional push and permission marketing strategies and tactics are sick, very sick and will get sicker if they don’t evolve.  Consumer control and growing trust issues are a problem and these issues need to be recognized and addressed. It’s time to start listening to customers and engage them with creative and innovative ideas and communications that create value.  After all, the great marketing of tomorrow will be, as Business Week notes - less about a company’s physical assets and more about the force of its ideas.  Those ideas must start with what benefits the customer first. 

Now the good news…many of you are starting to think differently.  According to a recent StrongMail study, a significant number of organizations plan to experiment with new programs in 2009 to raise visibility and increase sales. As long as they are customer-centric that is a good start.  In addition, the investment in email trumps all other programs as the communication of ideas that value and speak to the needs of consumers grow increasingly important.  Key lesson for '09 - experiment more, create BHAGS: Big Hairy Audacious Goals and use powerful mediums like email to encourage your audience to interact with your brand.  If we do that well we might just see some good news like higher open and click-through rates, cheaper acquisition costs via WOM and more sales.  

'Til Next Time