Redefining your Customers

Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - Justin Boeckman

I am currently attending the Search Engine Strategies conference in Chicago. Even though the airline lost my luggage and I had to wear sweats half of the first day I am having a blast learning new strategies and techniques that will no doubt make our clients money.

I really enjoyed the seminar Redefining the Customer by Brian Eisenberg of Future Now Inc and keynote by Don Schultz. They were both discussing in detail about how consumers in all markets have changed. Companies need to adapt their marketing plans to capitalize on the new generation of consumers. The best branding approach once was spending enough marketing dollars to keep in front of your target audience. Today's consumer wants to be active in their purchase, they want to research items, ultimately they want control. Control? You might ask, why would we want to give our customers control?

The answer is simple. If you want people to talk about you and your products or services you have to be willing to listen to them and take their feedback. A recent survey stated that 40% of Americans admit to sleeping while watching TV and with Tivo/DVR the number of people that fast forward through commercials is huge (Who watches them anyway). This means that unless you are selling medicine for narcolepsy or you are the sonic guys your chances of getting sales/customers in traditional advertising is tough.

The movie Gigli is a good example of how the consumer market has changed. Sure the movie was bad and never going to make it on my top 10 but you could literally watch the numbers drop from the east to west coast. Gigli set the record for the largest second week-end drop ever. This can be attributed to movie-goers blogging, writing bad reviews and how easy it is to access that information via the Internet.

I am not suggesting that you convert all of your marketing dollars online but I do recommend you start being conscious of how it can impact your bottom dollar. As you continue your traditional advertising keep in mind that people will come to your website so reflecting your offline media with your online media is crucial.

I'm sure everyone remembers the Godaddy Superbowl commercials. Two years ago the commercial increased their traffic by 1100% pretty impressive but when you went to the site there was no picture of the model used in the commercial or an easy way to access the commercial unless you were actively looking for the link. The following year they played a spin off of the same campaign but backed it up on the homepage of their website with a picture of the girl in the commercial. The traffic was down 48% from the year before but they ended up driving 100% more revenue.

It's safe to say that as the new generation of consumers continues to change and demand more your company must do the same if you want to continue to survive in the marketplace.

Maximize your online brand today.

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5 comments (Add your own)

1. Colin Rowley wrote:: Justin,

So well said. Much of my success has come from partnering with Marketing/Advertising firms. It is unbelievable how scared and ignorant these guys are about internet marketing. To them, it is a threat to their way of life (and profits).

From the clients' point of view, SEO is like voodoo. They aren't sure how it works, but know they need to do something about it before their competitors do.

My prediction: 5 years from now Internet Marketing will have a completely different vibe to it and widely accepted as a viable marketing strategy.

Keep up the good work man.
December 4, 2007 @ 10:13 PM
2. Justin wrote:: Colin I think you are correct about Internet Marketing having a completely different vibe 5 years from now.

My main initiatives for 2008 is coming up with partner and education programs for our resellers. Send me any ideas that you think could help with the education of Internet Marketing and I will take it into consideration as we start to develop our plan of action.
December 5, 2007 @ 7:27 AM
3. Andrea Decker wrote:: I have been preaching for several years that advertisers need to redistribute their total marketing budget and that Internet Marketing (SEO, etc.) needs to receive a larger percentage of the budget. Internet marketing is like the glue that ties all the rest of your marketing/advertising efforts together. Without the proper online efforts, your traditional marketing and media purchases are just wasted.
December 5, 2007 @ 7:29 AM
4. Justin wrote:: Andrea,

I think there is still a strong need traditional marketing, let's face we still watch TV, read the paper and listen to the radio. The thing to keep in mind is consumers are smarter now, so if they do see/read/hear about a product they like you can almost bet they will look it up, read reviews and research it online before making a purchase.

The best thing about choosing an Internet Marketing partner is they are accountable for their actions and budgets. Traditional markets are responsible for getting the product or brand in front of consumers but there is no real way to track what medium or ad is working. With statistics programs online marketers have the advantage of know what is working and making changes to perfect the marketing strategies based on consumers interactions with the site or advertising.
December 5, 2007 @ 7:40 AM
5. Sports Handicapping wrote:: Great article!
December 6, 2007 @ 10:33 AM

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