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Top 10 Media Marketing Tips
Monday, May 12, 2008
Naomi Reiter

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Edward L. Abrams, VP of marketing at IBM General Business, shared his take on today¹s marketing environment May 5 at the ABM Spring Meeting. Abrams reminded media execs that there
is a different marketing perspective out there, one with customers in control. He points out that the Web is continuing to emerge as a communication tool and that user generated content blogs, wikis and the like are now 31% of what customers are looking at to make purchasing decisions. He adds that by the end of 2009, that number is expected to jump, making this category the leading decision-making source for customers.

According to Abrams, everyone ignores paid content for the simple fact that someone was paid to say it. What is gaining value is unsolicited opinion and organic word of mouth. Everything from a marketing perspective is about communication, he says. And that communication better be genuine for savvy customers to pay attention.

Key items to remember in media marketing, according to Abrams, are:

  • Get comfortable with letting customers participate in the dialogue. A lot can be gained by ceding control.
  • Trust in the ability of the audience to be self-policing.
  • Encourage peer-to-peer communication.
  • Be transparent and be open. Customers can smell sales tactics a mile away.
  • Make entering the conversation easy for your customers to encourage dialogue. Keep the barriers low.
  • Today¹s market is tough‹collaborating and facilitating conversation can only help your business.
  • Connect people and information. Be the liaison.
  • Remember that humans are community-driven. Capitalize on that by building communities to create advocates of your brand.
  • Invest first to attract people, not to make money. The money will come later on once your customers are your cheerleaders.
  • Two-way dialogue trumps a marketing message every time.
 

  Edward L. Abrams of IBM General Business
Photo Credit: Brad Hamilton



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