People talk about Twitter being a cocktail party. Little groups gather to talk about various topics of interest, much like the physical groups at a real party. One group talks about sports, one about children’s activities, one about work, one about cars, one about movies, one about politics, and so on. As one new to the party walks around, they listen to see where they may fit in (or at least that’s what I do). When something strikes their fancy, they join the conversation. If they feel they have nothing to add or aren’t interested in a specific topic, they move on to the next group.
To Segment or Not to Segment..THAT is the Question
The argument going on in the marketing world right now is that customers must be segmented. I agree. What I don’t agree with us HOW and based on WHAT criteria. People wouldn’t likely stay at a cocktail party if the only thing they had in common with others was that they did a lot of research before they bought something (self-sufficient). I do a lot of research before I buy stuff, but there are also a lot of people in that customer segment I can’t stand to be around because we don’t share complementary worldviews on a plethora of other things. This is why marketers and sales must be aligned in worldview. It’s a mindshift in how and why content gets created and distributed.
You know what’s really crazy? I’m not the only one who is shifting to this way of thinking. There are numerous posts remarkably consistent with the cocktail party/personal branding theory. Here are a couple of posts from LinkedIn:
This one by Townsend Wardlaw talks about how people are the average of the five people they spend the most time with.
Here’s another one by Julia Manoukian that highlights how branding all the way down to the personality of the representatives enables deeper relationships with customers. Humanity is something buildings or websites can’t add to the customer experience.
It’s time to KISS all the fluff goodbye, folks: Keep It Simple, Stupid…
My head’s so full of acronyms, abbreviations, “buzzwords”, and newly made-up terminology that I want to puke. What about you? Why is it necessary to add “content” in front of “marketing”? What IS the difference between Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and Social Selling? Do we really NEED to refer to selling as “social”, as there’s a social element involved in pretty much every customer experience? Isn’t it time to cut through the frosting and get right to the cake? The ONLY thing customers care about is getting what they want, when they want it, as efficiently as possible.
20-20 Foresight
How about we fast-forward to 2020 for a moment… What will our world look like as a consumer? Whose cocktail parties will WE be attending? Chances are good that we’ll be hanging out with people like us. Anyone who doesn’t like us will be at a different party. Those of us at the same party will be talking about things we ALL want to talk about. And anyone who thinks someone would benefit from coming to the next party will send the invitations themselves.
If this is true, how can we acquire the attention at such parties with MARKETING?
