Marketers should stop talking, start educating

I recently had a conversation with a lady in the small business arena and she confirmed what I have feared all along. Businesses are overwhelmed by the Web 2.0 bubble.

It is the sort of comfort zone that many of us (as marketers) fall prey to. Speaking to fellow marketers is far easier. They understand the terminology and jargon. They even get the geek jokes.

Marketers tend to speak to fellow marketers, rather than educating businesses. We should be taking their hands and guide them into a world totally unbeknown to them, familiarise them with new media and commercialise their efforts.

We need to divulge the pervasive qualities of new media in a language that they can associate with. We need to explain how it adds brand sustenance and how the Internet allows it to permeate far beyond their reasonable expectations.

The same principles

Marketing principles are the same. It is only the face of marketing and vehicles used to transport the message that have morphed. I believe it is our approach that is rudimentary and not necessarily the unwillingness of some businesses to adopt.

It is up to us to inspire businesses to align their marketing efforts with the latest trends and put these tools to better work.

Convergence with traditional marketing is vital and many businesses get it wrong. It's not a choice of to which side the pendulum swings. It is the collective effect of both and the application thereof that is critical.

We need to guide them onto the path of convergence. As it stands, it seems traditional marketers and online marketers are engaged in a media war and businesses lurk at the back waiting to see who comes up trump.

Note: I know there are numerous businesses out there that do not acknowledge the power of new media and refuse to join the online conversation. Whether or not they view it as a phase or whether they actually believe the returns are not worthy of the effort is beyond the scope of this article.