Another Poobah Insight: Marketing Is an Opportunity
March 21, 2012
Please, read the entire write up “Marketing Is the Next Big Money Sector in Technology.” When you read it, you will want to forget the following factoids:
- Google has been generating significant revenue from online ad services for about a decade
- Facebook is working to monetize with a range of marketing services every single one of the 800 million plus Facebook users
- Start ups in and around marketing are flourishing as the scrub brush search engine optimizers of yore bite the dust. A good example is the list of exhibitors at this conference.
The hook for the story is a quote from an azure chip consultancy. The idea is that as traditional marketing methods flame out, crash, and burn, digital marketing is the future. So the direct mail of the past will become spam email of the future I predict. Imagine.
Marketing will chew up an organization’s information technology budget. The way this works is that since “everyone” will have a mobile device, the digital pitches will know who, what, where, why, and how a prospect thinks, feels, and expects. The revolution is on its way, and there’s no one happier than a Madison Avenue executive who contemplates the riches from the intersection of technology, hapless prospects, and good old fashioned hucksterism. The future looks like a digital PT Barnum I predict.
Here’s a passage from the article from the mobile device of a Bain Capital Ventures professional. You know that any outfit which spawned a presidential candidate, the Guinness matter, and focused health care support for some full time professionals is going to be right in the sweet spot of business innovations. Now the snippet:
The Web changes everything.
There you go. Short and sweet. Oh, do you think that this is a truism? Well, that’s why you are not working at Bain Capital Ventures and hanging out with the real drivers of online advertising. Your problem.
Let’s step back from the chatter about “loop marketing,” personalization, the cloud, big data, analytics, and predictive algorithms. My thoughts include:
- Most people don’t understand much more than using a mobile phone and getting cash from an ATM. For those who are savvy and have access to resources, the clueless are not people. The clueless are Play-Doh. Digital streams will influence and shape these easily distracted so whatever money these “prospects” have will flow to those with the smarts to suck cash from them.
- The anomie of everyday life will complement mindless absorption of “information” from video. The McLuhan chestnut of hot and cold media gains a new relevance when the easily distracted plug in, accept, and hook themselves to a digital dog collar. Yep, master and pet is the metaphor which summarizes the new world of marketing.
- The broader governmental shift is to monitor everything. Hey, when someone is watching all the time, that just creates more marketing opportunities.
I know that 20 somethings and blue- and azure-chip consultants will suggest that my viewpoint is uninformed, old fashioned, and in the buggy whip side of commercial enterprise. That’s okay. I am not going to be caught in this river of opportunity.
Just keep in mind that streams of data can be shaped. Assumptions about objectivity are probably going to have to be verified. Too bad the Play-Doh crowd won’t know that digital information is tailored to make them spend their way to happiness. Why “search” for information and try to determine what is accurate and what is not? Waste of time for Play-Dohers. Savvy folks, on the other hand, will be doing their data thing, kicking back, and cashing in on the new opportunity. No wonder marketing will be bigger than IT. Marketing is now information technology. The future has arrived.
No reason to remove the battery from your mobile device. Oh, you can’t remove the battery and you can’t turn it off. Great for marketers for sure.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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