What does a cancer survivor who had a moment of epiphany while battling a life-threatening disease have in common with a history graduate? Plenty, it would appear, when it comes to marketing in today's social media-driven web. The first is none other than Randy Milanovic of KayakOnlineMarketing, and the second is Mike Allton of The Social Media Hat. The two came together for the second Social Media Today PowerTalk series on Google+.
The subject of this month's Hangout on Air was the challenge created by the need to make marketing personal, and each of our guests approached this from a different direction.
Traditionally, this would have been a sole-trader vs. company kind of talk, where the relative strengths and weaknesses of each became apparent. But there is nothing traditional about marketing right now, which was obvious the moment our guests started to discuss their 'strategies.'
Educating clients, even screening them before taking them on; helping customers understand what they need to do in order to help the marketers they have hired; helping customers understand their own business: these are all signs of a disruption taking place in marketing.
Today's marketing landscape is shaped by relationships, which take time to initiate and then develop. What both Mike Allton and Randy Milanovic made apparent was that unless you're now prepared to work hard on the traditional service provider/client relationship and put a strong educational element in place, you're going to find yourself losing ground.
There were some strong takeaways from the talk that can help new and experienced marketers alike. The overriding message is that "business as usual" is not enough, and that unless you're prepared to understand what's going on and do things differently, no amount of selling is going to keep you in the game for very long.
Watch the video below for the full insights:
We have two fantastic guests lined up for next month: marketing insiders who are both Social Media Today contributors. One is a well-respected CEO and the other is a marketer (which is all the spoilers I am willing to give away at the moment). Their insights on how to navigate the social media archipelago will be invaluable.
Subscribe to the Social Media Today YouTube Channel (if you haven't already) here, and join us at Google+ so you do not miss any future updates. SMT Power Talks are held on the second Wednesday of every month.
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The human element of marketing, and all the disruption to "business as usual" that implies, will figure largely this September at this year's Social Shake-Up Conference in Atlanta. Join us for two days packed with insights, experts, panels, networking and more. Space is limited, and our Early Bird pricing (representing the steepest discount we plan to offer, at 45% off full price) only lasts until May 16 - so register today!