The Participatory Marketing Network (PMN)

Over the last 50 years, we have seen marketing evolve from “Push Marketing” (1950 – 1990) to the “Permission Marketing” concepts popularized by Seth Godin in 1999/2000. More recently, an increasing number of industry experts have proclaimed the coming of a new marketing model “Participatory Marketing," and while their definitions may differ slightly, their concepts are united in their recognition that:

1. We are in the midst of another paradigm shift that calls for new solutions that recognize and embrace consumer control and empowerment.
2. The Internet and technology have fundamentally changed consumer and brand interactions forever.
3. To succeed and build trust today, marketers must advocate for consumers and make them an active and willing participant in the promotional conversation.

The Next Wave, Participatory Marketing combines:

Customer Advocacy – Forrester Research	“The perception by the customer that the firm does what is best for them, not just what’s best for the firm’s bottom line.”
Trust Marketing – Glen Urban	"Recognizes that increasing consumer power will drive a new paradigm for marketing which is based on advocating for the customer by providing open, honest, trust-based marketing.”
Partnership Marketing - Sandeep Krishnamurthy	“Calls for marketers to make the consumer an equal partner in the promotional conversation.”

Participatory marketing is really about marketing with your customers rather than at them. Participatory marketing is also about people getting actively involved in the promotion of your brand and engaging them to take an active role in plotting your brand's future. It includes all marketing that encourages participation - contests, print ads, TV and social. Last but not least, participatory marketing is about charging up your customers by advocating for them and relinquishing control by putting your customers in charge.

Let’s face it - to be successful in this new world, marketers will need to embrace these concepts and build multi-channel marketing strategies that acknowledge consumer power and their need for control over the marketing process. The PMN was developed to address this need by providing marketers with the intelligence and know-how necessary to capture the hearts and minds of the consumer in this new world.

JOIN THE PARTICIPATORY MARKETING NETWORK:
Marketing is in the midst of a paradigm shift. The rise of a semantic and "social" internet is ushering in a new era in marketing defined by consumer participation and control. The PMN was established to give marketers the knowledge and know-how necessary to start marketing with customers rather than at customers. Join Today.

SEARCH THE PMN: