I was recently in the room with a big-swinging-dick executive who was like a frightened rabbit when it came to marketing and the social web.
He’d been happy in the established ‘command and control’ role that marketing fulfilled in the past (his glory days).
He’d taken all the right exams, joined the right associations and institutes. He was recognised by his ‘profession.’ He was generally respected. And I’d heard that he’d stepped on a few heads to climb the greasy pole.
But now he quietly confided that he had the feeling there were faster, smarter, more connected people who had some kind of secret way of taking his customers. The board wanted to know what was going on.
Somehow life had moved past him at a frightening pace. His ordered world had been shattered into a thousand fragments. Now he stood before me bare-footed in a sea of broken glass. It was sad and a bit weird.
He didn't get out of the way fast enough
We sat and talked. Browsing the web I showed him proof of his fears (I confess I kinda enjoyed that bit). I outlined how we could still make a positive difference to his brand by opening up a two-way dialogue with customers and prospects. Although he murmured in accord, his eyes were glazed. It did not compute.
I gave him the lowdown on empowering everyone on his team, not just the marketing guys.
“Let them get stuck in. They are all the voice of your brand. You can’t do it on your own.”
But he was scared of losing control. And of having an honest discussion with customers, in pubic.
He couldn’t embrace ‘social media’, engagement (I know, I know…), or marketing with content on the social web. He was stuck in a marketing campaign mindset.
Well, anyway, I got paid for my consultation, and the exec is hanging on, but the brand is dying (and I’m not enjoying that bit at all).
Coda
The reason I posted this today is that I was prompted to think about the concept of trusting staff enough to network online (if they want to). I was reading Niall O’Malley, group account director at Immediate Future, in a B2B magazine from a few months ago:
“In the next few years, it will be commonplace for sales teams to build their own network and warm up the sales cycle.”
It’s as good as any example of how marketing and sales functions are atomising – everything is being mashed up together.
I’ve seen a similar situation recently, Mick. A client recommended me to a management consultant who has started a new online venture in a hobby, something he loves. After an initial consultation and honest discussion with a demonstration of SEO/SEM he was quite receptive to the notion of the “new fangled” social media as part of his marketing mix (I know, I know…), which I believe will play a huge part in developing his particular brand.
After two weeks on vacation I came back and, whilst everything’s good, he seems to have developed some reservations about the social media; in his own words he said he was “nervous”. Whilst not in quite the same league as your old skool exec he’s probably going to need a trial period so that I can demonstrate the advantages of social media for him.
His field, his hobby, is something that’s completely alien to me but it’s not so great a stretch of the imagination to implement that I’m 100% sure it can be picked up on, run with and then handed over to the client to continue – He’s not so far down the road that it should be too hard to show him that social media is merely another channel that will work to his benefit in similar & complementary ways to those that mobile, email, websites have done before.
Thanks Paul, interesting and all too familiar.
I think the extreme caution of some people when they first come to social marketing is down to the fact that it is ‘out of my control’. Marketing had always been a command-and-control activity. That was nice and cozy for the execs who were in power. They never had to actually talk to customers!
The realisation that people are talking about your brand, managers, shops, service or whatever – whether you like it or not – can be a bit of a shocker for some business owners.
All part of an interesting journey!
Mick