The successful marketers of the future will be those who learn to initiate and sustain "conversations" with end consumers in the new multimedia world, and who use advanced social media marketing techniques on the semantic Web.

The biggest losers will be obsolete "product push" mass advertisers, their "message push" agencies, and the "content push" media in which they traditionally have advertised, and the passive carriers of that media.

As the consumer population spends increasing amounts of time online (and not with television and analog/print media), whatever advertising remains will also shift to the online world. Many old media will simply implode.

On the other hand, smart media will follow the consumer online, such that television station websites will become much more like television was, except that it will be fully interactive global "consumer pull" multimedia. You can see this already with companies such as CNN.

posted August 15, 2008

Successful marketers of the future will be those who undertand that the world is evolving into a series of many-to-many relationships, through enabling technologies like online social networks. People in these networks will trade small favors and bits of knowledge to create collaborative innovation and new webs of knowledge. The big impact of this will be a move away from a competitive model of doing business to a collaborative model. Companies will strive to only hold the minimum amount of intellectual property, preferring to shift this investment into collaborative efforts. The boundaries between sellers, customers and competitors will become increasingly blurred, with many customers being integrated into several different companies in the same vertical.

The smart marketers will not resist this blurring of boundaries, and will in fact strive for greater cross boundary linkages.

That's the way the world looks on a Friday afternoon! PS. I am available to speak on this topic. Cheers.. Rob

posted August 15, 2008

Clearly there is a shift in paradigm in the marketing world. The days of throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a black hole and expecting results are gone. It takes a combination of strategy and expertise to determine the best path for each client/project. The successful marketers of the future are those who can back up what they do with verified results. This is one reason traditional media dollars are moving more and more to online. Agencies who embrace online technology and incorporate analytic tools are the real winners because they can track the results of each campaign both traditional and online for the client. Let's face fact's - results matter. When you can back up return on investment you earn your keep!

Links:

• http://www.NewMediaGateway.com

posted August 15, 2008

I think it is simple and fundamentally (sp?) unchanged over time: those that are successful marketers listen more than they talk, ask engaging and thoughtful questions, truly seek to understand, and provide the information that their target audience wants/needs/finds appealing where and when that audience wants it. --Barb

"Successful sales and marketing people use their ears and mouth in proportion [that is: 2::1]

posted August 15, 2008

Marketing is getting into the mind of the potential customer, and/or keeping the existing customer satisfied and interested in the use of the product. As such, any tool that can be leveraged to accomplish these objectives is viable... In this Digital Age, there are many opportunities to harness widely available technologies, such as i3D, ipTV, MIDI, TTS, DV, SMO, SEO, Mobile, PDA, UMPC, E-Books, WWW and so many others, there is no room to mention them here. The successful digital marketers of the future will craft compelling new media using new digital technologies in conjuction with each other, mixing them like spices to create the perfect e-consumption delight for our new age digital viewership.

Links:

• http://www.MindTaffy.com
• http://www.Acrobat-3D.com
• http://www.WOWsignage.com

posted August 15, 2008

I agree with Wallace Jackson. The pipe used to deliver a message is far less important than creating a highly differentiated product that occupies a new position in the consumer's mind. I find laughable the assumption that the Internet is a Godsend to advertisers It's nothing more than the flavor of the year. Want a very cost-effective means of reaching a targeted audience? Use radio. For those of you who think the paradigm has shifted, just look at the extraordinary success of Coldplay's TV campaign for Viva La Vida partnered with Apple, or the Verizon commercial featuring "Verizon Girl", the actress whose name everybody wants. Are you watching the Nike commercials on NBC Olympic coverage? Dream on, those of you who think the web is anything more than one piece of the pie.

posted August 15, 2008

Rightly said by Wallace Jackson and Dan Cooper.
Marketing is about a mix. A mixture that works. Web alone will not lead the way. Same is true for other mediums - traditional and those in pipeline.
However having greater control over a medium I guess will be far more effective to reduce marketing efforts.
Services will lead the way. Future I guess belongs to those companies who will provide real services in a complete mess of product offerings, deals, discounts, styles ...

posted August 15, 2008

The successful marketers of the future are those that are consistently on the tipping point of viral marketing. I have found that companies need to be flexible -more so than they ever had to be in the past and allow creative ideas to come to fruition. Im not talking about a new banner on a site that wasnt on your top 20 for the past 5 years. I'm talking about the extreme and different.

Sometimes I shoot ideas out that may seem outlandish but it would draw a crowd and would tap into a greater audience. Companies need to say yes to some new ideas. The people that can convince their companies to be on the edge with marketing will be successful. The other variable to consider in this is how well does the marketing plan succeed in riding the waves of trends. I recently developed a viral marketing plan that essentially follows what's hot on youtube at any given time. Our marketing plan shifts towards that. So, it does the job for me and I receive better attention by teaming up with a company/service or product that is making headlines at the time. Sometimes its not a product or service but an idea or theme. For example..if 3 million people just viewed a video on youtube...I put up a video on youtube that has a mention (tag) of the same but with my spin on it (add bumper of the company).

Consistency is key. Those that put out their ads and marketing campaigns on a monthly basis as opposed to letting the same campaign dry up for a year are more successful. Is there ever a day where you dont see or hear something about the University of Pheonix? Now if I was their marketing director I would now want to move into some personal evaluations of the school and show what people have been able to do with the education in mainstream media. They should be changing their marketing right now, but I have to hand it to them. They hit everything ALL THE TIME and its consistent.

Authentic marketing is huge these days. Do you know when you see a company that is really authentic those are the ones that media comes to without much effort from the marketing department! Think of that company out there that has their offices decorated to the nines even the desks reflect the style and visions of the company. The people reflect the company. The product reflects the consumer and the company. Those companies are often on MSN best 10 places to work for in Los Angeles types of articles! Being truly authentic towards your product or service is attractive and its up to marketing to help guide that effort.

There are pockets of undiscovered ways to utilize viral marketing that have not been done yet. Essentially the marketing executive who can get a company to agree to trying things and going for the outlandish ideas will come out a winner. Example: wanting my company to do a campaign following the Jackass movie phenomenon where we actually go out there and follow suit and make our own hilarious videos of content. Some said..NO..that will never work and makes us look stupid. A few said, hmm that might not be a bad idea. It did work and drew in people from around the world.

My final thought on this are those that consistenly involve their customers in their marketing. If you have a booth set up for your studio or business. Its the most boring thing in the world in my view to just have some collateral up there and maybe a video loop. Please! I'd rather go poke my eye out with a spoon. Customers will not draw and will not be involved. INVOLVE them. Example: Nacho Libra came out and the studio did a huge boxing ring in the convention floor and had people come in and box nacho libres. It was genius. Stole the show...

posted August 15, 2008

The Successful Marketers of the Future are:

First, the Relationship-Builders who can see Beyond.
Second, Leaders who has developed "People Skills" worthy of Trust.

The future of Marketers as in the future of Leaders
lies in their ability to turn "stone" into "gold".

The losers are those who are NOT culturally flexible.
The winners... well, you now know.

Hope you do well, Philippe.

Links:

• http://jd2-thegreatlight.blogspot.com

posted August 16, 2008

Salut Philippe,

I'm with Barb on this one. We marketers have spent lots of time talking, and not so much listening. But we're now smack in the middle of "dialogue world". That means we have to be better integrators and interpreters than ever before. Listening is critical. The winners will be those marketers who can present their product/service/cause/idea in the place their prospective customers go looking for it, at the time those individuals want to receive it.

posted August 16, 2008

Philippe,

Successful marketers now and in the future need to understand their client’s needs and understand their buying behavior more then before. Those of us marketers with several target marketers have their work cut out for them.

Carefully crafted plans need to access the scope of their client’s buying behavior; what drives the final decision. Loyalty is out in many industries and replaced with best buys.

Depending on the consumer social medium networks may not work. Not all consumers pay attention, they are saturated with visuals.

What does work for my company is the quality face-to-face time with the sales representative through educational workshops, seminars, new product introduction classes, and time in the field with impromptu box lunch meetings. A large part of O&G’s business is driven by B-2-B market; we have mastered and catered to our primary market through successful CEU programs, after-hour events and tools to streamline our client’s daily activities. Market plans in the future continue on this path, partnering with our clients and offering solutions for common problems.

Marketers who develop professionally crafted events in combination with some social network advertising will, in my opinion be successful marketers in the future.

posted August 16, 2008

Hello Philippe,

I believe marketing tomorrow will need to take into account 2 new curves:
Long Tail & Oil Peak, one has to do with one to one management the other has to do with making it happen locally, both can work together.

Feel free to link

John

Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_peak

posted August 16, 2008

While product and services have shifted from mass production and 'one size fits all' to one of custom fits, and while marketing technologies have proliferated to a dizzying array, the hearts and minds of some marketers and entrepeneurs are still locked in a mass market mindset. Driven by funding sources which are even more rooted in the 'sell a billion people, be the next You Tube", these new tools are frequently not applied to the new possibilites of business.

The winning marketers will be the ones who grasp and learn how to micro market on a large scale. How to make a service feel as if it was custom fit for a niche while maintaining the power of collecting a million niches. How to appeal to people's need to feel part of a distinct group, profession and class.
Business to business marketing learned that industry specific marketing was an effective method years ago, but still falls into the same trap of the elusive 'one size fits all' mass market to this day.

posted August 16, 2008

Professional Bloggers, are the new marketeers of the near future... Multifunctional "non-believers" of anything will rock the marketing world, it will go beyond TV advertising for they will provide substance and all in a "show" feature which people will be able to watch 24/7 at any given time. Bloggers will focus on certain areas and it will all take off from there. Current company marketeers will just need to find te right sort of blogger whom will have everything within their control....

posted August 16, 2008

Philippe,

I answered this question in detail with further resources on my latest blog post. Link is attached to this message as a Web Resource.

Feel free to join the LinkedIn group if new trends in advertising and marketing are of interest to you (link below)

Links:

• http://admaven.blogspot.com
• http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/670027

posted August 16, 2008

Hi Philippe I am answering this as a consumer and a supplier of marketing experts to my clients.

The key to the marketing that works for the start up market is simple ideas that are communicated effectively through mediums that the consumer is looking to be part of already.

Facebook has recently started personalising ads to such an extent that we can opt in or opt out of them on our site. This type of "you choose", so I agree with Frank Feathers view on consumer pull rather than marketing push.

All media is relevant, but I don't think we can ever appear or consider ourselves smarter than the consumer, in fact be the consumer at all times.

Two things that have made me think recently is in New Zealand there has been an incredibly successful ad on recently where a gorilla plays the drums to "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins and it just cracks you up, it took us ages to associate it with chocolate which is what it is advertising but the talk around the city was how purely entertaining it was. It then took on the viral component that someone else was talking about below and began being downloaded. Eventually we realised it was a Cadbury ad and we just thought, cool. Then I heard on a radio station that they were flying to the US to interview the gorilla in the ad? That's crazy but it was all about a basic universal concept, humour. Never take it too seriously. For those of you who haven't seen it yet google or go to u tube and check out "beached as" I heard about it while in Australia, now it has it's own facebook site and it is all over the world with kiwi's and australians and especially in universities. It has that capacity, to be approachable to the audience. Marketing is about the "big idea" but consumers know what they want they need. To be as someone else pointed out "listened to" and interactive new media is definitely where most portal communities we are funding are identifying with their market.

Yvonne M also suggests this expert on this topic:

• Sarah T

posted August 17, 2008

Marketing and business is undergoing a seismic shift due to information technologies and globalization. Successful marketers of the future will find ways to make these changes work for them. But in the "what's old is new" category, it still comes down to understanding your customers wants and needs, and then using your imagination and competencies to create value in excess of cost and price.

posted August 17, 2008

Successful marketers of the future will be the people who can carry on conversations in whatever marketing channel they are in. They don't use cliches like "paradigm" or "tipping point" and don't write or talk like academics.

Marketing is about communicating to influence. Prospects are bombarded constantly with messages that all sound the same, which heightens their attention when a "real" voice come through through the babble.

The market at large is becoming more "humanized," and consumers/buyers/prospects want to make flesh-and-blood connection, even when the connection is in cyberspace or through a print ad or other marketing piece.

posted August 17, 2008

The successful marketers of the future will be those that can maintain focus and clarity of vision in an increasingly fragmented and reactionary world.

posted August 17, 2008

Seeing as how Marketing has been developing over the years, I think Marketers will have to watch out for two particular trends in this business.

Firstly, there is a greater importance being given to cultural analysis. Market segmentation has been central in marketing for a long time now, and 'new' methods for conducting research such as innovative ethnographic studies, cyber-research and so on are quickly picking up. I believe Marketing can gain a lot by looking more closely into fields such as Anthropology and Culture Studies.

Apart from in-depth cultural analysis, Marketers must also ride the technology bandwagen and continuously take an interest in furthering their know-how in matters such as coding for the web (HTML, CSS, JavaScript etc...), other programming lang, hardware improvements and so on. The more one can keep up with technological advacements, the higher the probability of one coming up with innovative solutions for tomorrow's marketing problems.

With greater attention to cultural analysis and by taking an active interest in techno-world, marketers can continue to grow in importance in the business arena.

Links:

• http://www.cleversolutions.eu

posted August 17, 2008

A successful marketer of the future has to be a Good Listener, Innovative and above all, a Master Hypnotist. Explanations below:

1. Good Listener: Marketers today tend to be good speakers assuming that the end-user is listening. Consumers have changed, they are not interested in just listening anymore, the world has given a thumbs down to Windows Vista despite the millions of dollars on marketing. The end-user is more aware and wants to "engage" with the marketer to fulfill his needs rather than listen to whatever he says.
2. Innovative: Marketers have to leave their comfort zones and explore new media, promotions etc., With globalization, the innovation is seen by everybody at the same time, so marketers cannot replicate successful ideas across geographies at different points in time.
3. Master Hypnotist: The consumers' conscious mind is cluttered with hundreds of thousands of brands and their messaging, the future marketer should be able to reach his unconscious mind and plug-in the message he wants. Marketers telling the truth (no pun intended:) ) directly is no longer going to work as the consumers' conscious mind is overloaded with information!

posted August 17, 2008

A succesful marketeer in the future is someone who is flexible and a visionair. He/she should be able to adapt in all different functions and fields, because customer is demanding multifunctional services. So a important quality of to be able to adapt is to be able to listening to the customer and market. Thinking outside the box will be a must. It will be a big challenge to be a succesful marketeer in the future.

The losers will those who will only stuck on books, figures and theory.

posted August 17, 2008

The winners will still always be those who communicate their benefits clearly and persuasively. The losers will be those who think that new software means people are somehow less clever and are too dumb to see that "one - to- one marketing" is a step back to the days of the door - to -door salesman. Progress? Times change, people don't. As long as you are marketing to people, all the jargon in the world won't help an empty proposition succeed.

posted August 17, 2008

The Marketing landscape has definitely changed, but the principals remain the same.

We all know the Web allows communities and tribes to emerge and grow "mulinationally" and more efficiently. We also know that through Network Identity, marketing can be personalised.

Although all these factors dramatically improve the way of Marketing, the principles remain the same; Message needs to be:
- clear
- simple
- targeted
- advantageous

Good marketers will adapt, bad ones will fade away.

posted August 18, 2008

The ones who will start making marketing today, thinking to the markets & the customers of the future. The others, who will keep thinking just about budgets, companies, fees, careers etc., they will only believe to make marketing.

posted August 18, 2008

Successful people are the ones who stay on top of trends, technology and industry developments and are NOT afraid to try new methods, tactics or strategies. The only risk is the one you do NOT take. We take calculated risks only.

Links:

• http://www.MayoCommunications.com
• http://www.MayoPR.com
• http://www.MayoGreenPR.com

posted August 18, 2008

The future marketers will be actual consumers who have tried the product and continue being loyal to them.Besides they also promote these brands as they have build their own profitable business from using and being brand ambassordrs. A very good example of this is www.
quixtar.com
Srini
www.balramworldwide.com

Links:

• http://www.quixtar.com

posted August 18, 2008

In this age of information overload wherein any consumer can comparison shop by features, prices popularity and more, any successful agency or marketer will need to be abl to identify with the consumers' needs of information by request and not information by force. As technology as evolved over these past 15 years we have been hit with a deluge of advertising, and 99% of it is not what we are interested in regardless of the new algorithms that purportedly profile our user path, behavior and preferences along with the DPI (deep packet insertion) that the major networks are using, to major scrutiny I might add.

In light of what I states above, if you are a manufacturer or a distributor of any product it will be imperitive that you become and "expert" at your core elements. Again, with the ability for he consumer to educate themselves on anything, if you are offering "anything" then you need to be ready to not only have the correct answer, but also the support to follow up on the customers that you do acquire, because lack of personal interaction and follow up support will travel at light speed across the information highway and one unhappy customer today will lead too countless lost customers tomorrow.

Lastly, focus on your core competency, do not try and become something outside your area of expertise and strength, and make sure that your advertising and information is available to those that want it and request it, the days of "blanketing the earth" with annoying and irrelevant ads is quickly coming to and end, we are heading to an era of information on demand, not information by force.

posted August 18, 2008

A very broad, but nice question, Philippe.....

In my openion, successful Marketers will be those who are not only keeping an eye on the "Customer", but also who always giving the "Respect" customer deserves.

And under the "Respect" you can put all the core parts; Proper Communication, Best Products, Up-to-date tools, Outstanding Service....etc.

In the future, the Loser Marketers are those who will be overwhelmed with the Shell, but forget the Core.

posted August 18, 2008