Self Replicating Awesomeness – The Marketing of No Marketing was an odd title for a panel, but it was an interesting discussion. Here are the thoughts of six amazing marketers talking about a different way of marketing.
“When we talk about marketing, we mean bad marketing, because good marketing you don’t notice.”
Parmet“Either you understand that you don’t exist without said customers, or you don’t and it’s in your DNA. No blog or bling or swag will change that.”
Schultz“The more I give away, the more I get.”
Hunt“They are not your community.”
“I didn’t really think of the people drinking the wine as ‘the Stormhoek Community.’ They were just cool people having fun with the wine.”
MacLeodLarger companies are starting to listen to customers who complain. Why aren’t you also listening to the ones who love you? Talk and listen, especially as a small company, so that it is ingrained as you grow.
SchultzWhat Doc Searls called the “Because Effect.” We are giving it away because that’s helping us make more somewhere else.
HeuerMarketing is moving away from our message (i.e. Come Fly the Friendly Skies) to being about you. (i.e. You’re cool. Here’s some wine.)
MacLeodFollow up and tell the stories of the people you interact with. The people who received Stormhoek Wine were asked to send back pics of their wine parties. Those pics were shared on Flickr.
SchultzIf your product is too expensive or tough to give away demos or samples, then think of creating social objects that are cool/relevant/free and give them away.
MacLeodThe iProspect CEO Frederick Markini said, “The brands with the best storytellers win.”
HeuerNothing replaces listening.
Schultz
Read Heuer’s own summary at The Golden Rules of Marketing.
Panel Participants:
- Chris Heuer Partner, The Conversation Group
- Tara Hunt Co-Founder, Citizen Agency
- Jeremiah Owyang Forrester
- Deborah Schultz Founder/Chief Catalyst, deborahschultz.com
- David Parmet Owner, Marketing Begins At Home LLC
- Hugh MacLeod Grand Pooh-Bah, gapingvoid.com
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
Great insight. I think the theme of transitioning from “us” to “you” is valid across industries and locations. We’ve seen that among (I hesitate to say “our”) constituents, leaders of really innovative small firms: they want communications from us that do more to share their news and growth stories with each other. In essence, we become a mirror for them. And as long as the technology is in place and works the same way for everyone, that’s not too tall of an order. It’s something we’re working on on both the e-mail and web front.
Thanks for sharing, Becky.
Mark, I love the idea of your group as a mirror for the community! That concept could help shape decision making on many levels! Excellent! Now if I could get my favorite membership group to adopt it …
Thanks, Mark!