Are You Following the Same Old Conventions

February 2, 2010 · Comments

I just watched this video for the world’s most generic news report:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

We tend to follow a lot. It’s easier. There’s drafting that happens, where we can get behind the work someone else did and let that take us to our destination. We do what came before. We shift it to the new thing with very few changes. The problem? We fall into the “looks like everything else” category, and/or the “doesn’t work the same way, but we’ll force it” category.

Why is there a late night TV crisis in American television? Why are we worried who sits at what desk with which band interviewing who from behind what desk? It’s all the damned same, only some folks do it better than others.

And then?

Marketing. Old marketing would be: find buyers for my product. Hunt them down and relentlessly hit them with messages until they buy. The bigger the number of prospects, the better the yield.

New marketing. New marketing is more like: find people who make more sense. Start relationships with them before selling them. Learn more about them. Make the offer if it makes sense. The social in social marketing would suggest that you care a bit about humanity, not that you’re using new pipes for old shit.

And that’s just one way to think about it.

Ask yourself: are you following the same old conventions?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Tagged as: , , , ,

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress

Thesis WordPress theme

Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.

With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like ChrisBrogan.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.

  • it is so good and i will be back to read this article.thanks
  • you're ignorant and you show it. You're a disgrace to women with the name Susan (unless you're the eponymous "Boy named Sue", which would explain a lot). You're very good at assertions, but you offer ZERO evidence of any of your contentions, just like the rest of the teabaggers. Believing in something fervently doesn't make it true. Didn't you learn that in regards to Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy?
  • oh Boy! I'm never going to be able to watch a news story again the same way. I hadn't really thought about how all the news stories look the same. I sure hope I'm not always following the same conventions.

    I'm going to pay closer attention in the future.
  • kevincesarz
    Fantastic. We need more opposite illustrations. Believe we're set for a retro trend of unpolished content to counter TV newsspeak.
  • Having worked as a TV news reporter I found Charlie's piece very amusing - some of us have long believed reporting like this is a rubbish way to do things!

    But even if a journalist wants to tell stories in a more authentic and engaging way, the constraints of the so-called "house style" in many news organisations make it difficult to achieve.

    What's needed is a massive culture shift and a complete re-think of what we understand quality broadcast news reporting is.

    And guess what? That's exactly what's happening, though you'd never believe it from what we're still mostly seeing on TV.

    Anyway, the new digital technologies, and shake up of "old school/old mainstream" journalism means new platforms and styles of "news" storytelling can now emerge.

    Let's hope fresh and appropriate ways of funding appear too, so we can kill off this dreadful formulaic reporting and delivery, and clear the way for more natural and interesting ways to treat stories and content.

    Much love,

    Ian Aspin. www.twitter.com/ianaspin
  • Hilarious. I think this critique brings out some of the best reasons for new media. This also reminds me of the Onion
  • "While walking through the ***ing matrix." lol made me laugh out loud -I though it was a real bbc news review
  • Marketers keeps trying to fit social media into their mix. This is why marketers are so ill-suited to lead a social media program. In their heart of hearts, they'd rather make a sale than build a relationship.
  • Ahh, Rusty,
    You've hit the nail on the head, IMO. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I use Twitter. I'm discovering that my peers are only interested in selling- particularly to other coaches. There is no reciprocity, no giving, no 'Twitter love.'
    I'm learning what NOT to do. It's interesting to watch...
  • Hilarious video, LOL!

    Actually, it's funny only because it's true.

    I don't think I'll look at TV news reports in the same way again.

    Also, I didn't know they allowed the F word on BBC:

    "While walking through the ***ing matrix."
  • I'm about to reach my tipping point with people putting old shit in new pipes, so this post hit just the right buttons!
    Been on Twitter for almost a year. I thought I'd get on the new marketing bandwagon. With the exception of pointing people to an occasional blog post, I don't try to sell my services there (a lot of my tweeps are fellow coaches which isn't too smart on my part). I am very social, helpful and I dare say, downright witty!
    I spend about 10 minutes on Twitter apx 3 times a day. I see so many coaches who all have amazingly full practices and are just dying to sell me the secrets of how they built their 6-figure empires- I feel so honored. They sell, sell, sell. They overuse the whole 'scarcity' thing. It's so transparent, that it's nauseating. They think that the 'social' in SM is all about sharing a bunch of idiotic quotes all day long. They just don't get it.
    Sorry for the rant. I just get disgusted with all the people who ARE using new pipes for old shit. Thanks to you, I have a name for it.
  • New Marketing, New Media, New World...Thank God for the Internet :) and Chris..Thank God for you!! Always Appreciate your insight brother! :)
  • PS, this comment thing was a pain in the ars (British for ass).

    I have signed into Disq many times but always end up circling and missing out on something...

    Odd.. not fun.

    Shawn
    See faceless comment above.
  • Thanks God for the British and their cutting, clear and oft disurbing--if you didn't grow up with it--humor. This is a great and painfully accurate video portrait of the Bull-schawking news.

    Interestingly, I was just reading an article from the Post or Times, can't recall which steaming-hunk it was, and begin thinking about what a bunch of formulaic crap it is.

    Now, not suggesting that the Times and / or other papers don't produce good stuff... they do have some columns that are great and some topics, like politics, which they can actually work at. But this piece was on dieting and in essence is said, not-a-single-solitary-damn-thing.

    But it did close with some meaningless chatter from some expert friend of the writers that said nothing but did cause confusion.

    Good stuff Mr. Chris... Good stuff...

    Shawn B. Phillips
    FullStrengthLife.com
  • leehales
    Fantastic video selection to illustrate your point!
  • The reality is they are catering to a 6th grade level when reporting. That type of style works well to sway opinion off of an image and a few facts. By increasing the conversation element they would be turning away their mass market appeal. The real issue here is we need to raise societies level of sophistication so the average is above a 6th grade level.

    I am hoping the Internet and it's resourcefulness will be incorporated more into education and government so society by default learns more.
  • Made me laugh for first time all day, your the inspiration king. Everyone thinks that doing something different, in media, in news, even in marketing which is meant to about creativity and innovation is wrong.

    Have to say even though the BBC went slighty too baised towards the War On Terror but I still like the way it evolves and takes it self not-too-seriously. Do not mind paying my license fee.

    However, conventions in media have to be broken, some formating is helpful. Unfortunately if your format comes accross as tired people will choose to switch off.
  • That's hilarious. Maybe you could invite the "Dowdy Kitchen Man" in for one of your Kitchen Talks.
  • The old Lighthouse-Keeper-Beheaded-by-a-Laser-Beam again.

    I mean, who falls for that anymore??

    Thanks, Chris, for the reminder that the path well-traveled might just be a pair of ruts.
  • I'm with you Chris, but don't you think that the potential here is for more than just showing that we care a bit about humanity? (Because I would think that the "old marketing" folks would have told you that, heck, they cared a bit about humanity).

    What about this: what if by changing the way we market the product, we change the nature of the product itself? What if the relationship is just as important as the product? In most cases where products are not commodities, people buy things because of many psychological reasons. I think social media may tap into these reasons, perhaps in some cases even more than the products themselves...
  • Wow. Love this Hal: "What if by changing the way we market the product, we change the nature of the product itself?" It get at the real beauty of social media for me, which is what I thought Chris's post was about ~ the intersection of creativity and humanity. The best of all worlds. The way to keep moving forward.
  • Chris, as always I'm on board with your message.

    The problem I am having is connecting my Internet Business Life with my In-Person Business Life. I think both a good but there is a severe disconnect between them.

    Your columns help...
  • Excellent post - I love the last bit -

    "New marketing. New marketing is more like: find people who make more sense. "

    Go after the people who want to play ball and give the others the regular treatment.
  • I've always seen my job as a marketer as making the connections--not forcing them, but allowing them to happen. It might feel harder on the surface (after all, that means you actually have to figure out what your customers and constituents care about), but long-term, it's far easier.

    Forcing connections--the real push behind one-way traditional marketing--is actually a lot of wasted effort. You're firing a hose indiscriminately at a crowd, hoping to hit the one person who might be interested, at which point you'll soak them over and over again, wasting your limited (and shrinking) resources.

    No, no. Far easier to convince an agnostic to have a little faith than to ask an atheist to change religions.
  • No doubt it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I do it all the time.

    The new model is built around two things in my estimation: relevancy and credibility.

    Relevancy: Is what I'm selling even relevant?

    Credibility: Have I built the relationship strong enough to 'make the ask'?

    You can't put the cart before the horse anymore. The sales cycles might be longer - but they'll also be deeper.
  • That's a great video, Chris. Funny and true. As for marketing, I think there's a time and place for traditional marketing as well a social media. Isn't the idea now to include SM as part of the mix? The nature of advertising & marketing is that it has to keep evolving to be relevant. Remember the days of the :60 commercial? Unheard of on mainstream TV now. But look at the cool spots developed just for online, some 3-4-5 minutes long. And everyone knows the best reason to watch the Superbowl is the commercials.

    I think your real point is: Keep moving, creating, shaking it up, questioning assumptions, being open to new ideas. And I'll second that... not just in business but as a way of life. You might like this: http://bit.ly/8gKJrt
  • I could not agree more. I find it all too prevalent that a company will prop up a facebook fan page or a twitter feed and think they have a social media campaign. Then they’ll proceed to simply post ad copy as status updates and call that customer engagement. The lower management can then report to the executives that paid for these types of campaigns that they have “X” amount of followers and somehow that is good ROI. There is no engagement, no conversation, no relationship. It is simply another marketing channel they think they can take advantage of due to the friend status they share with their alleged customers. This is not social media and it most definitely is not marketing. It is lazy and sloppy.

    Just my 2 cents.
  • Guest
    How would a company go about measuring ROI of their social media campaigns: use tracking codes for discounts, special offers, etc.? How would a company that didn't sell a particular product or service track the seemingly intangible returns on real time and money being spent on social media?
  • Sure tracking codes, referral traffic in site logs, etc. Make no mistake we in the marketing industry have been feeding companies or our own executives lies for years. Harsh words? Maybe, but it's closer to the truth than we'd all like to admit. How do we measure success or ROI now. Paper X has X number of eyeballs reading it and they estimate X number of people actually read to page X where our ad is. The same is true with TV, radio and other rags. All those X's don't mean a thing. I realize that surveys and other data can provide some data points that are truly quantifiable, but at least with the web I can show some hard real time data to justify a given strategy.
  • johnrossharvey
    I have a website to market my product (books), but my product is secondary to need to educate people on the dangers of bad road behaviour and save pedestrians lives. That is why I have not added a new post since my compelling statement on the crisis in our streets. Despite that I get comments for approval (which are not) on I love your marketing, I don't tolerate sarcasm, I deliver it.
  • I liked the Matrix comment.
  • Just because lots of companies are now jumping on board with "new" media doesn't mean that they're using it in innovative ways. Each and every corporation leaping into the fray seems intent on doing things exactly the way that other companies have done it.

    Being a carbon copy of someone else -- in this sphere or any other -- makes no sense. If you're going to make the effort to show your company's personality and swim in the deep end with your customers, then DO IT. Don't try to be Zappos or Domino's or anyone else. Zappos has success because it is just being ITSELF. THEY didn't follow convention, but copying their lead and trying to duplicate that success IS following convention.

    Make your thing YOUR thing.

    PS: That video oozes snark and sarcasm from every pixel. I love it. :)
  • "Being a carbon copy of someone else...makes no sense" I'm not sure I completely agree with this in a marketing sense. Of course you want to stand out, to be unique, to connect with your customers on a personal level. However, there is something to be said about not being a pioneer in some fields depending on your resources. It costs money to become an early adopter or to delve into certain markets that are developing. For instance, I work in magazines. We might not initially develop a tablet to publish our magazines. There is too much risk; we have too few resources. However, if we see that one of the huge publishers is doing it and has found a way to make money with it...we will gladly replicate what they are doing once they have paved the way. There is no shame in stealing good ideas from a marketing perspective. It would be impractical not to. This isn't to say that you shouldn't come up with some on your own of course :)
  • Chris, I honestly think people are afraid of creating relationships/connections. Why? It creates accountability. Accountability shows everyone what's underneath the hood. So with that, because of ratings, margins, profit margins and every other piece of measurable BS, accountability could create exposure. But exposure is what makes a connection pure and sustainable. That's just my thought. Hey! A CEO could think I'm an idiot! ;-)

    So until people aren't afraid of accountability and real connections, the same old convention will still persist. Social Marketing exposed that a little, but now everyone can create a fake profile and call it real. Authentic Online to offline. Great post! There's a big difference in creating connections and getting people to connect. The first one takes time and effort.
  • "new pipes for old shit" <--- I like that.

    But what about, "if it ain't broke...." Ok, so there is a lot that is broken - that is worth fixing. Agreed. I do disagree with the video that says people don't want to hear what others have to say. I think they do. That's why this "social" thing works. People want to tell their side, hear what others think and be empathized with.

    It's a good wake up call though. Thanks, Chris.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: