Some of the best marketing I’ve seen in the past year has come from an unlikely source: Kochi, India. Instead, he says it often pays to focus on bread-and-butter marketing (like direct mail) or even on technical innovations of the past few years that are effective, but less novel (like mobile websites). “Anyone who’s bought a smartphone in the last 18 months is doing some things they hadn’t imagined yet.” When they read about a big company launching a cutting-edge initiative, they want in - but the economics usually only make sense for large companies that have experimental budgets.
“There’s so much that’s sexy in social media and in mobile right now,” he said. He’s obviously a believer in the future of mobile - and so am I - but he agreed that high tech isn’t always the right choice.
I recently chatted with Tim Hayden, the SVP of Mobile Strategy at Edelman Digital, a conference where we were both speakers. Doesn’t my company need a smartphone app? How should we leverage augmented reality? What about gamification? But, as a marketing consultant who is putting my own theories to the test as I work to drive sales of my first book, it’s become clear to me that many companies have needlessly forsaken some marketing strategies that still have life in them. Marketing is changing so fast, it’s easy to get our heads turned by new, high-tech developments.
