This is such an open ended question but as the owner of a marketing agency focused on the social media space and emerging technologies I certainly have some thoughts.

Obviously they need to work and play in this space. They can’t just talk about the tools and communities, but they have to be active participants in them.

Measuring results and setting the measurements for success up front with clients is vital. Not every campaign or initiative will be about hits, visits or sign ups. Sometimes it will be about engagement and awareness building. Determine that up front.

I also think it is critical for agencies to execute on the plans they come up with. This space is changing so fast that I firmly believe the with every campaign you run that you are going to learn new things, change your way of thinking and thus help the client even more because you will have lived and worked through it before rather then just reading about it or hearing it in a presentation.

I’m going to collect some more thoughts and come back and share, but off the top of my under caffeinated brain this morning this is what comes to mind.

Good question.

I think it’s about building your community online, meeting your community offline possibly in an open and free unconference such as a Barcamp.

After that it is about consolidating communities with integration, so that what you have build in your environment does not get lost.

Can you make market products or services with this formula?
I am.

Julius

The services a new generation of marketing firms should offer include:

* Web content creation & strategy
* Brand reputation management and buzz monitoring
* Active social media engagement & participation
* Online community design and management

A bit wordy and off the cuff but those are the four that sprang to mind.

Great question (and I’m looking forward to hearing what your research digs up).

It would be interesting to learn how marketing companies are shifting from ads (from banners to tv commercials) which don’t work as well and are creating 2-way, attention grabbing and information filled conversations.

It’s not rocket science but that’s the beauty; we need more conversations (I know this is second nature to you Chris; it seems it’s taking a while for other people to catch on and actively do this outside of the blogoshere).

Simply put: create great conversations and you’ll attract great audiences (and earn trust that leads to loyal customers for your offering(s)).

That’s my 2 cents worth–hope it helps with the research and your summit!

We don’t know what future technologies will be a hit or miss, which makes preparing for them and changes in business difficult.

With ANA members reporting that marketing budgets are expected to be slashed, more marketers are going to join the social/new media space to see what’s up and how they can use it to benefit their clients.

I think we’ll see more strategies instead of total immersion into every social space by new companies. I also think that we’re likely to see better defined metrics emerge with the attention they are getting. It’s something that’s important to businesses to prove that it’s effective.

Hi Chris, the key word in your post above that sticks out in my mind is *listening*. I snicker (cringe?) when I monitor people/agencies in this space - many of whom pretend to be SoMe experts. The problem I see here is that what works in SoMe for one company, does not necessarily work the same for others. It bothers me that many (the majority)now in the SoMe space come out of a PR background (no disrespect, I have some PR background in me as well). This tends to give SoMe initiatives a one dimensional view IMO. So for me, I would like a real new media agency to truly be bi-directional, and not so myopic in its roots. Social Media is not just about PR, and not even about just marketing. It is all encompassing within an enterprise with reach that should cover everything from HR, to product development…and yes, of course marketing.

Your blog has become a personal favorite of mine, keep up the great posts!

http://www.twitter.com/A_F

Aside from all the Web 2.0 communication channels that are opening up, I really believe any new marketing agency worth its salt will recognise that you still have to understand that these new channels require different rhetorical strategies on the part of marketing folks.

Blogging, tweeting, vlogs, facebook facilitate different ways of talking to each other. But it’s essential to understand that old school corporate rhetoric won’t get you anywhere here.

Globally we have more opportunity to get our message across than ever before. Whether or not people listen will rely on the stories we tell about ourselves whether we’re corporations or individuals.

So for me it’s not just the applications themselves; it’s the personas, voices and forms of discourse we employ that are exciting.

Hi Chris:

I think the first mistake is to focus on the tools. The web is plumbing that enables us (as marketers) to communicate in new and different ways.

The blocking and tackling of digital communication is:

1. Understanding what people are passionate about.
2. Feeding that passion.

Communities of interest gather for THEIR OWN reasons, not yours. Your efforts should be informed by the community’s interests and motivations - not yours.

I have examples to share if anyone is interested.

TO’B
MotiveQuest LLC

I think it can be summed up in two items: relational marketing and analytic. First people buy from companies they trust & second, need to be able to measure result and tweak if necessary.

Just my $0.02 & I think this was covered in more words above.

Cheers!

Hi Chris,

Marketing in itself has transformed of being both revolutionary and evolutionary. Things like blogs, twitter, discussion board, and I am sure you will know better than me about various other options. However I have just got access to the Google Ad Planner and I truly recommend to all new age marketers to get access to the same not only to plan your online media but also for research purpose.

Further in the age of mobile technology hyper-disruption I would recommend looking into not only the internet space but also to build into the mobile space.

I would say that this is an art where there is no bad or good ideas. There are just ideas…some work some doesn’t. But even then they are ideas.

Best Regards
Shiraz Datta
http://www.shirazdatta.com

I think it’s about figuring out what makes a product/service/company really stand out (old school) and then using new school techniques get your “thing” to resonate on a very individual level.

THEN it’s about creating space/tools/stuff that helps individuals pass the word along.

So as marketers, we have to get better at figuring out how to personalize our approach so people will say “hey, that thing really speaks to me and what I’m all about.” And then becoming their partner in spreading the word to the people they know who share that “identity”.

Chris, I’m not sure if this is really answers your question but I blogged about something related the other day:

http://mediadriving.com/2008/09/15/the-post-big-idea-world/

That perhaps takes the discussion in a different direction…

Aside from that aside, since you said “new media” as opposed to “social media” (which I for one see as a subset of new media) I’d have to say that creation of things like websites, banners, emails, widgets, videos, etc. is still the primary job of most agencies that work in the space. The social web is of course becoming an increasingly important consideration for all brands (or it certainly should be!) but the reality, at least in what I see as common at least here in Canada, is that the biggest job of digital marketing agencies is still to build the creative assets that are on strategy for the brand, the same way as the traditional agencies are there to create television, radio and print.

Hi Chris. Great question. Those of us who have spent more time in traditional media than new media will really learn a lot from your conclusions. An area I think is underestimated is the Gen Y market. This group is way bigger than the boomers and a bit more complicated when it comes to how they are influenced by marketing. While not all companies may target that demographic now, those Millennials will surely be in the market for most products at some point (cars, investment funds, mortgages, childcare, etc.). The are fickle, self-assured, ready to jump to a better product or service (often mislabeled as disloyal), and have the technical savvy and inclination to do their own research. They can spot inauthenticity a mile away. They also have more influence on household purchases than any other generation (i.e. vacations, houses, cars). Some forward-thinking companies are even marketing to the 18-24 year olds to reach the parents! They live in the social media space and marketers will have to get into their heads and understand what/how they perceive value and how to give it to them.

I think new marketing has a lot to do with reaching people on a more personal, more individual level. A billboard won’t do it anymore. You need to reach more in my networks, in a way that feels personal and not like a billboard.

The new media of marketing is going to be about creating a voice and presence online. This is mainly going to be by engaging with discussions and participating when necessary with users as well as others to try to establish a voice and to be recognized as a thought leader.

Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com

Segmentation.

Mass customization.

Prediction.

That’s what is next.

To Chris’s list I would add:

Accurate tracking of brand, video and other social media tools.

Right now there is no perfect answer to tracking/reporting.

I agree with Andy Finkle re listening and Tom O’Brien’s comment about not focusing not on the tools, but rather what you do with them.

I see marketing becoming more closely allied with social psychology, borrowing and adapting its findings and even its terminology, in an effort to understand better peer-to-peer interaction. At the moment, social media seems to be hovering at the edges of social science, still clinging on to a lot of the old marketing pseudo-science and certainly not ready to throw out the 20th marketing textbooks.

Great Question Chris. I feel a new media marketing agency will focus on assisting companies with quality content creation,SEO/M, community building and helping their client have a presence online where their target market interacts (This could be Twitter, Social Networking sites,Youtube, blogs, forums etc). Another key thing I feel new media agencies will do is to help their clients identify and develop strategic relationships with other complementary companies & bloggers to cross promote or assist in marketing their brand. (A company like IZEA has a good platform for this and it will get even better with time) Agencies will also find ways to better measure their clients social media efforts and will closely monitor feedback from consumers.

I see Social Media as different from “New Media” but… marketers need to know how to start with the person, not their product.

They are also going to have to come down from the ivory towers and listen. That’s not an easy thing for a company to do but it’s not impossible. They are going to have to learn to be a little less sensitive about their brands so that they can have the courage to use social Media tools and strategies and their audience to strengthen it.

They are going to have to learn that it’s not about “marketing at” but “working with” and “listening to” their customers. They are going to have to get better about simple basics like customer service, and that people like to talk to people rather than robots… new campaigns mean squat and only serve to irritate if I’m a customer who descends into a veritable voicemail hell when all I want is said company to solve a problem with their product or something they’ve promised me in their ad…

They are going to have to have the whole organization enabled for Social Media… not just marketing. It has to be top-down so it’s supported and consistent. Which means their biggest challenge may be to sell it to the CEO.

I don’t think the fundamentals of marketing have changed (marketers must still have a strategy, goals, success measures resources, conversion, etc for Social Media) but the buying behaviour of those they are trying to reach definitely has.

I think the roll of marketers is shifting away from content developers and towards content accelerators. No longer is that the department where all outward messaging is produced and/or approved. With both large and small companies, so many more spokes of the corporate wheel have a public voice. So the role of the marketer is in helping the entire organization understand the communications goal, coaching them on the various tools they can use to achieve it and then offer a helping hand as they wade/dive in.

This appears to be a question on many minds lately… After attending HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, my boss just posted on this topic (PR perspective).

In summary, “Inbound [or new] marketing is powered by content. In order to grow smarter and faster than the competition, organizations must continually publish great content online… you can’t ignore or resist where the market is taking us. It’s time to expand our knowledge and services. Think critically about the value we deliver to clients.”

(See the post in its entirety at http://pr2020.com/Blog/post/2008/09/Dawn-of-the-Inbound-Marketing-Agency.aspx if you’re interested.)

New media marketing is about understanding and leveraging conversations. Conversations are happening. Its up to us as marketers to identify and understand who is participating, what are they talking about, and where are they talking. We then provide strategies to brands on how to participate and actually be part of the conversation. If traditional marketing was about talking to an audience, new media marketing is about talking with an audience.

As a 17 yr marketing comm person I differentiate “Social” media from “New” media, which in peer journals/blogs/sites the term “New Media” seems to be defined as Websites, video and flash type production.

As a Social Media & Web PR agency, we are active in the channels, and work to ensure integration with traditional channels and tactics.

Mostly though, two words define (successfully according to our clients) what we do “Listen” first, then “Talk”, a Social Media agency needs to understand conversation skills and impart those skills to a company. Business/marketing needs to learn how to have conversations.

Businesses need to have CEO’s spend less time analyzing spreadsheets and understand marketing the whole organization. Cutting marketing costs in a recession is the wrong approach.

Peter Drucker was right 40 years ago: Businesses need do only 2 things - innovate and market.

I’d add to my last;

Bring on sociologist and anthropologist.

Those are 2 skills that are going to be in dire need soon with the advance of the Social Web.

I think the inevitable is for “marketing agencies” to evolve to co-create with clients of the product or service. This is the more meaningful expression of any potential relationship between company and community. All aspects of community building (somewhat of a misnomer as the best brands fit into the conversations/enhance connections amongst existing communities) hinge on having something that intrinsically fits practical or more likely, social need.
Adrian Ho of Zeus Jones gets at some of this with his notion of marketing as service (actually he says the marketing is dead).
Regardless, if we believe that the best way to gain traction and create value is to work from the inside out, and that issues of reputation, utility, sustainability, HR, partnership, sourcing, etc. now matter more than a little, the only real way to contribute value is to enhance the most fundamental and powerful idea - the business idea itself.

I love when a question or a post takes on a life of it’s own. I haven’t wanted to comment, because I hope we keep the discussion going.

I love Robbie’s idea that the insides of an organization are more important than ever.

Thrilled to see the Drucker quote, though I think CEOs are glued to their balance sheets for the next two years. Whatshisname at Merrill Lynch could’ve seen this coming, they’re saying. There’s going to be a lot more focus on the finances than the marketing overall.

And yet, that’s partially why the time is right for this stuff. The dollar cost is spread across more opportunities than what traditional often covers.

I think David Brim was the only person who mentioned SEO/SEM. Is that part of it? I think so, though it’s not MY strong suit.

Mass customization. That’s the goal. Mr. Penn says, and I agree.

Anyhow… I’m going to hope we keep this going. What’s your idea?

The best way to understand new marketing and new media is not looking at old media companies trying to look new, or technology masking as marketing. Best to look at the lessons from Obama and really understand them and why they’re different. It’s not just that he’s using Facebook or sophisticated with text messaging, his campaign is imbued with the spirit and mindset that utilizing these technologies to specific, very measurable ends. Just happens that I posted five such lessons today - http://socialsphere.net/blogs/36-johns-blog/137-top-5-lessons-that-obamas-campaign-is-offering-business.html

[…] Chris asks What’s next? What do you think marketers on the web need to know more about? What do you think are the services that the new generation of marketing firms have to have, now that traditional marketing isn’t always getting the job done? […]

I echo the comment of Webconomist re: sociology and anthropology. I see the lines between customer-facing functions, e.g. marketing, sales, PR, customer service, product development, blurring in the 2.0 world as the tenets of collaboration, openness and truth take hold of organizations and individuals. This leaves the new media marketing agency with the role of “sherpa,” guiding clients through the culture change that new media participation requires.

I have a simple response. A lot of what people are trying to create and foster in the social media (web 2.0 space, etc.) is buzz. They are trying to get people to mention their product, talk about it, etc. In the old world, this is called public relations. You issue a press release, call some reporters, watch the press hits roll in and count how many people you reached.
What makes it interesting is the consumer reverb effect - that your message and content doesn’t get thrown out with last weeks’ newspaper. It stays alive in cyberspace and people can start chattering with each other.
I think too many people see it as a brand dialog that a company engages with a market in. The company feeds into the dialog, but the people in a company talk to other people, not the company.
So, net, net, the old notion of company to people breaks down. This is about the democratization of marketing. Guerilla marketing gone haywire, every employee as an ambassador. Most companies don’t get it at all. They still have their employees chained to their desks looking at spreadsheets all day, and they still limit marketing planning and strategy to the confines of the corner office.
My 2 cents.

You ask “what’s next?” I think it’s all about recognition.

Just a consumer here (and a consultant with a live+online business now a decade old), but I find I respond to ‘new’ or ‘old’ marketing when it tells MY story.

(It’s not PC to admit,
but I think “Social Media/SoMe” = “So [about] Me” — literally. and I buy from unknowns online all the time when I find a product or service that I exclaim “I thought I invented that!”)

So I’d suggest that we:
(a) improve our listening skills (as you suggest/teach);
(b) improve our story-telling skills (no plug for my consultancy, but I’m in that biz); and
(c) be more specific/detailed when speaking after listening.

That last point is a tool my screenwriters use. To make the protagonist more likely to connect/resonate with the Viewer, we choose very private, specific, seemingly-unique details that are true to that character’s time/place/upbringing/ education/age/class/etc. The more we think that only one person will get this detail, the more intensely a wider-than-expected group will identify and connect with a passion.

An example would be something like this:
how many times have we see a girl brushing her teeth in a screen scene? They’re all the same, despite varying levels of sexy-wear depending on the genre. But if one female character, of any age/race/anything, were to hold her hair back with one hand, and lean that elbow on the sink while brushing her teeth with her other hand — like I do — I would follow her with devotion. And so will the surprising hoards of other women who’d feel subconsciously recognized in this small background act.

Consumer says to Marketer:
Listen to me (especially when I’m not talking directly to you) + tailor the story specifically to me = recognition that bonds us. Then don’t mess it up.

Sorry for the post-sized comment; your commenters are great reading — thanks ~!

Spinning from Mark Carter’s suggestion above, there is a disconnect between users online and offline. It’s not as important for e-marketers to do X, but for all marketers, whether online or not, to educate their customers, clients, and competitors the benefits of doing X - and doing it online. Once everyone recognizes the benefit, more good and innovative things will happen.

SEO is part of the strategy, but I also point to community-driven engines like Wikipedia where SEO plays zero part to raise an issue.

I also point to social networks like Zivity as an example that an e-marketer should strive to emulate. To the uninitiated, Zivity is a social network that features pictures of scantily-clad female models. It’s not porn, but beauty, where each picture is from a professional photo shoot. Users pay $10 a month to join, rate the photos they like, similar to Yelp, and every vote is worth $1. Then, 80% of the $1 is divied between the model and the photographer.

Marketing shouldn’t be just about pushing content at people, but providing a service, engaging the community, and giving some of the rewards back.

It’s all in the discussion and really the root of what traditional marketing is suppose to be. Giving the consumer what they want or letting them know you have what they want. The introduction of the web allows for two way communication which is now easier than ever. What is cool about that is that ever service can be adapted and catered to the needs and wants of people. thats where is needs to move. a two way communication that allows for need to be meet specifically rather than a one for all model.

Hey Chris - hope you’re still taking input…

I think new media, old media, even media we don’t know about yet (Media 100.00?) all rely on one thing - *Human Connection*

Really, I don’t care if you’re sending pre-sorted envelopes or posting your companies viral video on YouTube and Twittering until your fingers turn blue.

If the message for you, your product, or service does not contain some form of human element or connection to the target audience then I think you will fail.

Enjoy your travels and try not to lose too much money in Vegas. :)

In the new, you’ll see your share of the old. Old-time radio used product sponsors in the storyline. You see it emerge in episodes of 30 Rock, and with the disdain for pre-roll — it’ll emerge in online video.

You’ll still have marketers managing image. That’s still a big part of decisions. iPods were not the best products out there, but they had incremental advantages in some areas, a pretty good UI, nice form factor — and then the marketing made them cool.

I don’t see these old-school elements being lost in new media.

But new media will need to be nimble. Do you work with either Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce or all of them? And form factors are changing. You’ve got the web via browser, web via desktop app/sidebar gadget, web via mobile. It’s a lot of ground to cover.

Chris,
First time here. Great content.
I just wrote a few thoughts about the future of ad agencies, which ties into your question. The general gist is that there should be a “retracting” of marketing services into fewer organizations, rather than the expansion that has happened ver the last 10 years. If you get a chance, please check my thoughts out at http://rblb.wordpress.com/.
Cheers,
Barry

[…] what people felt new marketers and new media marketing agencies should be doing. As always, Chris’ post and the related comments are well worth the time to read in their […]

[…] Do Social Media Marketers Need To Know? Posted by: Nicky in Social Media Marketing Chris Brogan’s question was so interesting that of course I headed on over to add my two-pence worth. I thought I’d blog […]

A new marketing agency is one who is prepared to walk away inneffective forms of old marketing, like banner ads and microsites - no matter how profitable they can be.

And new marketing is far less about brand campaigns, but ongoing brand relationships.

@Phil “It’s all in the discussion and really the root of what traditional marketing is suppose to be. Giving the consumer what they want or letting them know you have what they want.”

This is true, but we are suddenly in the unique position to give people what they want, when they want it… instead of pushing content out and hoping the right people see it, and remember it when it’s relevant to them.

Chris, I think there’s something to be said about the direction that blogger relations is taking. Ethical issues aside (and there are plenty– Heather Yaxley’s post on Molson’s Brew 2.0 event comes to mind), I believe one of the larger shifts that internet marketers and PR folks are seeing is the status of blogger as like a journalist. This is going to impact the way we get our information out!

There are also the “hard” new media marketing issues, like SEO and click-customization marketing. How people find you, a far different dynamic from the traditional marketing target approach, will be shift that new media marketing causes.

[…] Brogan and CrossTech Partners - Question for You- New Marketing - Trying to define what a new media marketing agency does is one of the things that CrossTech is up […]

Hi Chris. I’m totally going to hunt you down at BWE08.

I have a marketing and PR firm, and the lines are just so blurred. New media. Marketing. Social media. PR. Where does one end and the next begin?

For the most part, I have to train (yes, I said it) my clients to be adaptable. To understand if something they’ve been doing for 10 years doesn’t work anymore, it’s time to try something in my New Media arsenal that may do the trick. It’s a difficult task, to show people that change is the future in marketing, but it is my burden in life (as it is for everyone here!)