Why micro-marketing increases ROI
Many marketers still work under the notion that bigger is better. While that philosophy may have been true in the era of mass media, it is far from true in our new, multi-lateral, digital environs. Mass media is not what it was and with it now is the diminishing value of mass media marketing. Marketing in today’s digital landscape requires a much more nuanced approach, one that measures success by impact not by reach.
As marketing expert Seth Godin explains in his blog, “When someone wants to know how big you can make (your audience, your market share, your volume), it might be worth pointing out that it's better to be important, to be in sync, to be the one that's hard to be replaced.”
How then can brands be important? What do marketers need to learn from the end of mass media?
Think in micro markets
In the days of mass media marketing, success was largely based on the law of averages i.e. the more balls you pitch the more likely you will hit something. Or in the words of Seth, “Make average stuff for average people (by definition = mass) and promote to every stranger within reach.” This method was premised on the idea that success and popularity were one and the same. Unfortunately, as digital technologies disrupt mass media, this dogma does not hold up.
Micro production, niche publications and an ever more refined audience demand a greater degree of personalisation. As I argued in a previous blog, audiences want content that fits them like a glove.This requires marketers to think in micro markets, to understand the parts that make up the whole and produce content that is tailored to their needs and interests. As Seth Godin maintains, “The only way to be important is to be relevant, focused and specific.”
Build word of mouth credibility
The end of mass media production belies a greater truth of human communication. That is, journalist Mathew Ingram argues, that “Media has always been personal and social.” In the pre-industrial era, he explains, news and information filtered through taverns and chitchat. It was shared, embellished and delivered through personalised networks.
Digital technologies have brought back the social element to the distribution of information. Yesterday’s tavern has become today’s Twitter. This return to socially based information sharing has put greater emphasis on word-of-mouth marketing. What’s valuable – what’s important – is to be the brand your customer wants to talk about. This means engaging; creating content, experiences and relationships that add value. When you win over Bill, you win over his network. Marketers that take advantage of our human instinct to share prove they are important – not just popular.
Take control of digital assets
The end of mass media marks the beginning of brand publishing. This is a radical turning point that resets the boundaries of what marketers can and cannot do. Tom Standage from The Economist explains, “The biggest shift is that journalism is no longer the exclusive preserve of journalists.” Today, brands can take up the mantle of publisher and show that they are “relevant, focused and specific.” Not with simple ad campaign but with an ongoing commitment to targeted, high-quality content.
As Mathew argues, the change has prompted “the growth of new entities that take advantage of the networked, social and smaller-scale nature of the media ecosystem.” By turning to brand publishing, marketers have discovered new and increasingly more complex ways to show they are important.
These ways capture the essence of the digital era - they are social, nuanced and relevant.