Interactive Marketing with Philosophy on the Side

From the Greek philosophical tradition:

Telos: All things have a purpose. Translated as “the purpose” or “the objective”.

Techne: The way this purpose is served, the abilities and actions required to accomplish said purpose. Translated as “the skill”.

Phronesis: The intuitive understanding of what the purpose of something is and why it is so. Usually translated as “practical wisdom”, Aristotle considered it the ability to determine a particular goal, decide how best to achieve it, and completely understand the effect that accomplishing that goal will have on your overall existence.

Applied to interactive marketing:

Telos – page #1 rankings for the long tail

Techne – a creative, well written, consistently updated blog.

Phronesis – a tool to harness the long tail, which is where the conversions are.

Telos – page #1 for competitive keywords

Techne – high quality backlinks

Phronesis – link aquisition done with focus on high quality, high PR, websites.

Telos – word of mouth buzz

Techne – clever video or blog

Phronesis – people talking about you and sharing your content without your direct involvement is one of the most powerful forms of marketing.

Telos – authentic communication with your market

Techne – social media presence

Phronesis – people want to interact with fellow humans online. people buy from people they have relationships with.

Telos – a permission marketing campaign

Techne – useful or entertaining newsletters and a website with a clear opt-in funnel

Phronesis – permission marketing is powerful and effective tool with a high ROI.

Telos – repeat traffic

Techne – constantly updated authority/entertaining/controversial content, consistent marketing message spread throughout the web (PPC/banners)

Phronesis – people who repeatedly visit a website are more likely to convert, so give your users reasons to come back

Telos – a good reputation and a particular image

Techne – PR and media relations

Phronesis – people work with and buy from people and brands they trust

Telos – a website that positively reflects your brand and drives conversions

Techne – a carefully designed, elegant website that makes people feel relaxed, comfortable, and even catered to

Phronesis – the human response to positive visual stimuli will ensure that your users do what you want them to do

Telos – reach a target demographic

Techne – creative banner ads on sites your target audience frequents

Phronesis – your message is communicated to your targets through appearing on places they already go online, and sparking their interest

And so it goes – it can be applied to every aspect of interactive marketing (it can really be applied to all of life if you want to get seriously philosophical). For every element of a campaign, we can determine on an objective(telos), isolate the skill/actions required to accomplish it (techne), and understand how it will benefit and how it fits into the overall campaign (phronesis).

In other news, I am a huge nerd.

Reflections on Cluetrain, Ten Years Later

As anyone who knows me in real life is well aware, I recently reread The Cluetrain Manifesto, and having read the original when I was in high school ten years ago, I had the advantage of an interesting perspective.  Not only did I get a bachelors and join the working world since then, I work in interactive marketing and often tend to be the person who helps companies board the Cluetrain.  Here are my thoughts, jotted down as I read:

The relationship your customers have with your brand is more important than the relationship you have with your customers.

The feelings and emotions your brand evokes are just as important, if not more important than your actual product.

You can’t control the conversation, and it is stupid to even try.  Instead of trying to hide, be transparent.  Honesty and an authentic desire to enrich and benefit your consumers resonate far more than anything else.

People buy from people.

Instead of PR, do MR – Media relations.  One solid partnership with a journalist or blogger is worth a hundred press releases.

The second you really, truly recognize that it is not about what your customers can do for you, but what you can do for your customers, it all becomes so much easier.

It is not what the website does, it is what the user does.

Your company/brand is boring.  Your people are interesting.

Your customers are not grain and you can’t keep them in a silo.  Give them the freedom to interact, share, remix, and make your content/brand their own and they will reward you.

Anything can be a social object when properly communicated and presented.

Linear thinking will kill you.  Relationship thinking is where it’s at.

First, create something worth talking about.  Then give your audience the tools to make it their own.

We are in the API era.  Chances are someone has already built the technology you need; don’t reinvent the wheel.

The attention economy is dead.  Welcome to the interaction economy.

Minimizing the pain doesn’t make it a kiss.

Once you’re formed a genuine relationship, you’re willing to take less and your customer is willing to give more (Moroccan carpet seller analogy – the more you get to know them and their family the more you want to give, and the more they get to know you and your life the more they want to give you a better deal, since they see you as fellow human and not just a wallet).

Agility and analysis are just as important as research and expertise.

It is damn easy to turn on your user’s BS detectors, and nearly impossible to turn them off.  Build only authentic authority.

All the SEO in the world can’t help you if your content sucks (said it two years ago and got quoted by Doc Searls himself, and it holds even more true today).  In fact, this should really be “all the SEO in the world can’t help you if your content, design, and/or usability suck.”

The web and therefore interactive marketing is fundamentally optimistic.  Go the opposite route at your own peril.

Your customers are online, and they are talking. Full stop.

We’re all so used to the changes the web hath wrought that we don’t even realize it.

Ten years ago no one knew what blogs and SEO were except for the hardcore geeks.

Combining bleeding edge enthusiasm with thoughtful analysis will let you write your own ticket.

Traditional media makes the audience a passive witness to their own life.  The internet enables people to be active.

Passion subverts hierarchy on the web.

Consumers shouldn’t respect corporations, corporations should respect people.

The ideas at the fringes are the most interesting.

Gandhi had it right – “first they ignore you (no one cares about that lone voice online), they laugh at you (what a silly idea! no one will use that), then they fight you (our customers are not online/don’t read blogs, don’t use social media, then you win (adoption/conversion).”

The lure of the web is human-on-human interaction.

Everyone is granted a unique voice and perspective at birth.  It is up to the individual to take full advantage.

Every webpage you see has person/people behind it.

One-way communication is dead, and that is worthy of celebration. Two-way communication is ten times as effective.

The web has changed time from sequential to random in the sense that everything is searchable and accessible.

If your FAQ page doesn’t reflect actual customer questions, its existence is pointless.

Language isn’t camouflage, it is clarity.

If you are not funny, sexy, or useful then change your company/brand until you are.

Customers are not targets, they are friends and partners.

The future hasn’t even been invented yet.

It’s the Integration, Stupid

I love it when people talk about the different marketing channels like they have nothing to do with each other, then they go home and browse the web while watching TV and listening to the radio and chatting on Facebook, Twitter, et al.

Your audience interacts with your brand as a whole.  The same people reading your blog see your commercials and get your newsletters and watch your YouTube channel.  How they first come across you and/or your company may vary, but their interaction with your brand extends across media.  They’ve already integrated your marketing strategies without your involvement.

File under: painful obviousness, harsh language.

Getting Out of the Echo Chamber and Making Something Great

Yes, this blog has been quiet for a while – but I’ve been busy on Twitter (@jazspin), and I’ve been working on a number of exciting projects that truly exemplify the power and utility of the web.  Watch this space.  That said, it is has been nice getting out of the echo chamber for a while – there are plenty of amazing blogs out there, but there are also plenty that are bandwagon jumpers.  Another testament to the fact that people respond to authentic voices both online and offline.

On a related note, I recently re-read the Cluetrain Manifesto (ten year anniversary edition).  The first time I read it was online, sitting in my parent’s basement and probably signed into AOL chat talking with my friends and downloading music – it was 1999 and I was still in high school (yes, I was that much of a nerd even then).  I would like to think I am perceptive enough to have fully grasped it at the time, but not so much.  I did take away the knowledge that internet was going to change things forever, however, and that it was already making the world that much smaller and more connected.  I also recognized the way that the web opens doors – a realization that I did not fully take advantage of until I started my first blog, an endeavor that led to a gig with AOL, and the rest is history (and fodder for archive.org).

Today, I work on the web, developing interactive campaigns and changing the way businesses operate.  It has been an interesting road, to say the least.  There are days when I think I have to drag people kicking and screaming into the 21st century and days when I am so inspired and excited I want to do some Tom Cruise style couch jumping.  Fortunately, there are many, many more of the latter.

Christiane Amanpour on Journalism

“And I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place.”

“In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.”

– Christiane Amanpour
These two quotes seem particularly apt given recent world events.  And by journalists, I don’t mean just the official press, I mean the courageous citizen journalists like the twitter users who are giving everything they have to make sure the world hears their story and perspective from inside Tehran.

The Revolution Will Be Social

Everyone who doubts the power/usefulness of social media should read Andrew Sullivan’s post, “The Revolution Will Be Twittered“, and then check out the #iranelection hashtag on Twitter.

The key force behind this is the next generation, the Millennials, who elected Obama in America and may oust Ahmadinejad in Iran. They want freedom; they are sick of lies; they enjoy life and know hope.

This generation will determine if the world can avoid the apocalypse that will come if the fear-ridden establishments continue to dominate global politics, motivated by terror, armed with nukes, and playing old but now far too dangerous games. This generation will not bypass existing institutions and methods: look at the record turnout in Iran and the massive mobilization of the young and minority vote in the US. But they will use technology to displace old modes and orders. Maybe this revolt will be crushed. But even if it is, the genie has escaped this Islamist bottle.

I think the days of CNN breaking the news are over – people will share their stories themselves, bypassing the mass media conduit if necessary, and the role of the media will be to verify, organize, track, and curate the information reported via liveblogs, Twitter, etc.  The Huffington Post is doing a great job of that right now with their page on the Iran elections and subsequent fallout.

On Being “That Guy” in Social Media

Shannon Paul’s latest post discusses how not to behave on social media sites incredibly well – in fact, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Check it out: Don’t Be That (Social Media) Guy.

Out of the Echo Chamber

Maybe it is because August is vacation month for most of the world, but staying out of the blogging/new media echo chamber is pretty refreshing at the moment.

I think it is making me smarter more original.