John Hagel on the new marketing era

Samuel Rose

unread,

Sep 12, 2006, 3:10:16 PM9/12/06

to Pinko Marketing Discussion

reposting here as it is very relevant for what were talking about here:

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=437

John Hagel on the new marketing era (Michel Bauwens)

8th September 2006

Interesting wrap-up on the new realities facing business by John Hagel
at Edge Perspectives. This is just a selection:
"We are in the early stages of a profound shift in the economics of
business that will transform marketing (along with many other things).
Three shifts in economics are occurring in parallel.

First, we are moving from a world of relatively scarce shelf-space to
relatively scarce attention. Second, costs of production and physical
distribution are significantly declining on a global scale and customer
acquisition and retention costs are rising. At the risk of
over-simplification, value creation is shifting from businesses driven
by economies of scale in production to businesses driven by economies
of scope in customer relationships. Layer in a third factor at work -
the systematic and significant decline in interaction costs that make
it easier for customers to identify vendors, find information about
them, negotiate with them, monitor their performance and switch from
one vendor to another if they are not satisfied with performance.

These three forces reinforce each other and help to explain the growing
power of customers in markets around the world.

Redefine marketing strategy

These shifts have broad implications in terms of marketing strategy,
branding and marketing performance metrics. To start with marketing
strategy and again at the risk of over-simplification, conventional
marketing is built upon the three "I's":

* Intercept - target and expose customers to your message
wherever you can find them.
* Inhibit - make it as difficult as possible for the customer to
compare your product or service with any other options.
* Isolate - enter into a direct relationship with the customer
and, wherever possible, remove all third parties from the relationship.

Nirvana is the walled garden of direct marketing. It is captured in
the mantra of "one to one marketing" - one vendor dealing
individually with each customer.

A different approach will be required to succeed in a business
landscape defined by the economic shifts described earlier. I describe
this marketing approach "collaboration marketing" and define it in
terms of three "A's":

* Attract - create incentives for people to seek you out.
* Assist - the most powerful way to attract people is to be as
helpful and engaging with them as possible - this requires a deep
understanding of the various contexts in which people might use your
products and a willingness to "co-create" products with customers.
* Affiliate - mobilize third parties, including other customers,
to become even more helpful to the people you interact with."