Posts Tagged ‘Billy Mays’
According to the “State of Inbound Marketing Report” from Hubspot, as reported by Marketing Charts, inbound marketing is continuing to grow in importance at the expense of outbound marketing. This is good news and further validation that paid search, SEO, social media, blogging really resonate with consumer as well as marketers. For a copy of the pdf – http://bit.ly/aewfHr
With so many marketers looking to employ social media and other non-traditional outlets the report should serve notice that attracting interest in products and services will become the dominant method of marketing. And I could not be happier.
I posted last October that my hope was with the passing of pitchman Billy Mays http://bit.ly/anfWYD the shouting might finally stop. In an article by Stuart Elliott in today’s New York Times http://nyti.ms/9CQlR9 companies like Proactiv are also getting the message that fast and loud is no longer the way to promote products. When the giant infomercial and marketing firm Guthy-Renker tests a less ‘noisy’ approach, that’s big marketing news indeed.
Eliminating in your face direct marketing come-ons still will take time. And don’t think for a second that there aren’t consumers out there that don’t respond to FREE, and ACT NOW. There are many of them out there and the older you are the more accustomed (ok inured) to the blast and hope approach. They continue to be effective but if you look closely you can see the tide is changing.
Why do I think it’s better to attract? Mainly because it offers the prospect/consumer to choose to pay attention what interests them and to disregard messages that they individual feels are irrelevant. The result should be a deeper level of customer engagement since it’s THEIR choice to engage. It does present a major challenge and shift in thinking for marketing agencies. That shift has already begun and there is now a mad scramble in the agency world to show understanding, performance and measurement for social media campaigns in particular.
I’m both intrigued and excited at the direction things are heading with regard to attracting more interest as opposed to promoting it. To give you an example we have a client that wanted to send out text SMS messages to ‘opted-in’ teens promoting music in mall stores. While that can work (and we are planning to test) we suggested signage in the malls noting the number to text to in order to receive free music at the store. We are in development of the campaign right now.
Which do you think will work better?
Yell loud enough and people will hear you. That premise has enveloped television direct response ads for many years. Billy Mays was a prime example of an affable yeller. At the recent Direct Marketing Association conference I came away with a sense that maybe, just maybe the days of shouting out a promotional message are coming to an end. I hope that is the case.
Today’s consumer has many ‘channel choices’ when it comes to information. While there remain a substantial number of people that actually watch infomercials, (c’mon you know who you are) Gen Y’ers and Millennials look at infomercials with bemusement and at times with condescension. Those groups are the future of commerce. The real question is will people still respond to being shouted at?
Audience relevancy, offer, and interesting creative continue to rule the day when it comes to direct marketing and as far as I am concerned MARKETING in general. I can safely opine that this will not change. But in a world where the laws of attraction have taken hold in the advertising world is there still room for shouting out the message in order to be heard?
Today more than ever consumers need to be drawn to a brand and its message. We all talk about higher levels customer engagement, about creating a better and more enjoyable (even fun) customer experience. Personally when I am shouted at I shut down and really don’t hear the message.
Billy Mays was phenomenally successful and a true marketing legend. Here’s hoping that with his passing we see the beginning of the end of the shouting of advertising messages. We all deserve much better. Don’t you think so?