The notion that we must choose between the art and science of marketing neglects that people have a left brain and a right brain, and we use them both simultaneously.  This applies to the marketers doing the work, and the consumers and business professionals we’re trying to reach.

When I contemplate buying a car, my logical side needs to hear that it’s safe, reliable and affordable.  But those aren’t the only characteristics that interest me, because my emotional side wants to know that it has a killer sound system, wicked acceleration, and comes in a hot color.  Marketers must hit me with science and art to win me over.

Similarly, when I plan a campaign to introduce a new high tech product to the market, I must appeal to both the logical and the emotional. To do so, I might highlight how the product can save a business tons of money, while making the professional look like a genius in front of the boss.  I, too, must hit the target with science and art to win them over.

Is marketing an art or a science?  It’s both.  Must we choose one at the expense of the other?  No.  Do I ask and answer my own questions?  Sometimes.

More and more, the answer is "yes".  The rise of direct marketing has yielded a wealth of statistics on open rates and click-throughs.  As more and more media move to the Internet, we can track referrals from a news story to a company web site.  And once visitors hit a site, we can track their every click, how much time they spent, and what resources they downloaded.  Our ability to measure is better than ever.  But are measurable results the only game in town?

While business managers and investors alike might nod in agreement, I’d argue that we have to continue to leverage "old school" activities that don’t produce oodles of statistics or fancy line graphs.  Don’t get me wrong, I love activities that produce measurable results- after all, this is The Science of Marketing and here we like things we can prove.  But to do the best job we can, we have to deploy the right mix of programs, some of which we can measure, some of which we can only believe to be effective.

We must continue to brief analysts on our strategies, and trust that they’ll provide better guidance to their clients and be better references for the press because of it.  We must continue to advertise in print publications and exhibit at trade shows, because sometimes people need a reminder that our companies exist and are active participants in their market.  And we must get out and talk to audiences about our latest solutions to their most vexing problems, because there is no substitute for personal touch.

There are plenty of activities we cannot measure, but that doesn’t mean we should scrap them all in exchange for stat-filled spreadsheets and fancy bar graphs.  We must continue to mix it up and do things that we can only trust will produce results.  We ust continue to believe.

Slowly, then not-so-slowly, the pool of media we marketers were targeting began to dry out- readership, page counts, ad revenue and staff began to dwindle.  And the marketing practice of leveraging these conduits to generate awareness began losing its effectiveness.  And so began the shift…

The major movement underway begins with our audience, who have reduced their reliance on the media to tell them what’s up, and instead have turned to one another for information.  Through user reviews, product ratings, online forums, blogs, tweets, homemade videos, and social networks, the mass collective of customers for just about any product has found a voice of its own.  Your customers are no longer only consumers of information, they are also producers of content.  They are both informing and being informed – about the prospect of a new storage array before it’s even launched, or the problems with a software update for a router before its first "official" review.  And this shift is forcing an evolution in the role of the marketer.

With users empowered to talk to one another, we can no longer pretend that we are in complete control of our messages.  We can no longer simply talk through the media and to the market.  Here are a few implications of the shift:

• We must speak directly to our customers- build a community, provide the information they want, and be more candid than ever before.
• We must give our audience a voice- allow them to speak directly to us, make sure they know we’ve heard them, and close the loop when possible.
• We must enable our customers to talk to one another- providing a forum for users and curious prospects to exchange information and ideas.
• We must not censor- nurturing our credibility and trust by encouraging open dialog with and between our audience members.
• We must listen- learning from the people who are most important to our success, and letting their voices guide our actions.
• We must build killer products- testing and double testing new features before release, and avoiding mistakes that will become very visible to customers and prospects, very quickly.
• We must over service- ensuring that the customers we have are over-satisfied, and well armed to be ambassadors of our brand.

The shift is on.  Are you ready for it?

You see- I am self employed, and in the business of high tech marketing doing good work for my clients requires a working Internet connection.  So after the first few days of scrambling to procure and connect a generator, I quickly turned my attention to my next urgent need: getting online.  And as it turns out I wasn’t alone.

During one of a thousand trips to the gas station I discovered it- an oasis at the side of an icy road.  Not too far from some down power lines, I encountered the simple chalkboard sign you see above.  My local coffee shop was lucky enough to have their power and Internet connection restored, and they were promoting it well.  So I went home, grabbed my laptop, and prepared for a bit of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic situation.

When I stepped inside the coffee shop, I realized just how urgent the Internet has become, and how effective a simple sign could be.  The place was packed- every table was taken, every inch of counter space was filled.  Everyone there had a laptop and a hot cup of coffee.  The place was like a refugee camp for working professionals, and almost everyone looked happy (including the owner).

Even though life is a little out of the ordinary right now, I wanted to leave you with a little something about marketing this week before I go feed the generator…again.  This week, my thoughts are on those urgent needs we all have, and how companies can deliver and promote solutions that restore a sense of normalcy when problems arise.  What are your customers’ urgent needs?  What’s your WiFi? And where’s your chalkboard sign?

When we put all the right pieces together, a well executed launch (much like a cannonball off a dock) can result in a big splash.  At launch time, onlookers watch to see how high, how far the splash will carry.  But inevitably the water falls back down to earth, and all that’s left is a concentric ripple that travels away from the swimmer in all directions.  Much like that ripple, rolling thunder provides a steady beat of awareness for companies and products once the initial splash subsides.

Since December is often the time to get next year’s plan in order, I thought I’d provide a sampling of basic rolling thunder activities that can be used between major launches to sustain awareness the whole year through.

Advertising – Get your brand out there through targeted ads that won’t break your budget.  Consider sponsored webinars and other non-traditional paid opportunities.

Announcements – save "B" and "C" level news releases for between major launches, and space them out to avoid quiet times. 

Blogging – Your company has deep experience and a unique viewpoint.  Use your blog as a forum for interaction with your audience about the topics you know best.

Communications Calendar – research and pursue editorial opportunities, speaking engagements and awards submissions that raise your profile among your targeted audience.

Direct Marketing – send the prospects you know a periodic, useful newsletter.  Always think of ways to expand and segment your list.

Events – Establish a presence at industry events, if not with an actual exhibit then through sponsorships and aggressive media engagement at the show.

Web Content – Make sure you plan some updates to your web site between major launches to reward frequent visitors with new content, and increase your search engine rankings.

I’m not alone here.  I found a forum on Trains.Com, where people from all over the country are wondering the same thing: why the commercials?  There’s a lot of speculation on the target audiences: regulators, shippers, investors, potential employees and general brand awareness (i.e., everyone).  But, no one seems to get it.

I may be off track, but in this new age of conversation where communications are personal, I think CSX could make better use of their marketing dollars by targeting their audiences with a little more precision (or spend the money hauling the turpentine another ten miles on a gallon).

How do you feel about this?

It is also filled with advertisements for coin dealers and others providing services to the hobby.  Most of these advertisements consist of a bunch noisy words and I fly right by them.  But, my page turning stopped abruptly when I saw this advertisement.

What caught my eye, was the simplicity of it all. Really just three lines (and two pictures): Wishful thinking. Sure thing. Insist on PCGS.

[If your not familiar with the concept, PCGS, is a third party grading service for coins.  For a fee, they authenticate, grade and encapsulate coins.  The value of this is that the encapsulated coin is now liquid with most people in the hobby accept a PCGS (and a handful of other grading service) grade as a sure thing.  The difference in value of an ungraded and graded coin can be enormous regardless of what the owner might wish.]

Of course, to those in the hobby, the advertisement need not be explained; it portrays a simple problem/solution value proposition and a company name.

OK, Jeff, I’m not a coin collector, so what’s this all got to do with advertising in the high tech B2B space?

The answer is simple, take a look at 90% of the advertising you see in one of your industry’s trade publications.  A majority of the advertisements are filled with noisy words. The PCGS advertisement reminded me that B2B print advertising is not necessarily about selling and it is certainly not about getting the spec sheet for your product out there.

What B2B print advertising is about is page stopping and branding – getting the audience to stop, even briefly, and recognize your message and name.  This is best accomplished with simplicity, just like PCGS.

These masses of competing signs remind me of crowded markets, and how difficult it can be for a company to get its message across when so many others are plastering the neighborhood with their own signs.  When you find yourself up against several other companies that all claim to do exactly what you do, it’s time to stop printing signs, and start looking at your messaging and marketing mix.  Here are a few tips that might help your company slice through the noise.

Get to know your market and audience

If you expect to reach your audience better than your competitors, you need to know your audience better than your competitors.  By segmenting your market into a few manageable groups, you can talk to each group of companies based on their unique attributes rather than as a single unrelated mass.  But go beyond segmenting your market – profile your audience too.  Whenever there are multiple stakeholders involved in a purchase (as is often the case in high tech business to business selling), it’s important to separate those who can recommend, influence, overturn or approve a deal.  Once you know who you’re talking to, work to understand the unique concerns of each group as the foundation of good positioning.

Be Different

If your competitors are all saying the same thing, don’t join the party.  Look at what the other companies in your space are claiming, then find the holes in their stories that present an opportunity for you.  The more you can align a differentiated message with the unique concerns of your audience, the better chance your message has of getting through.

Change The Channel

Just because your competitors are printing signs, it doesn’t mean you have to.  Look at all the options available for generating awareness and find a venue that nobody else has thought of.  If all of your competitors are advertising in a trade publication, sponsor their monthly newsletter instead.  If everyone else has a booth at a trade show, secure a keynote speaking slot and sponsor their cocktail reception.  If everyone else uses lawn signs, get a blimp.  You get the picture.

Just because everyone else is saying or doing it, it doesn’t mean you have to join them.  The key to standing out in a crowded market is doing a better job of talking to people on their terms, presenting a better story than your competitors and selecting opportunities for awareness that nobody else does.  

Most marketers are no longer swinging for the fences with marketing communications – they are thinking through their marketing goals and mapping out phased communications strategies that get them there over time.  They are walking before they run, dating before they marry, and establishing a dialogue  before they sell.  Here are a few examples of progressive thinking in the area of marketing phases:

Marketing Experiments Blog: Writing Headlines that Don’t Sell — But Get Much Higher Conversions

Startup Hustle: Acquiring, Engaging, Retaining and Monetizing Your Customers

Marketing Interactions: B2B Websites Need to Focus on the Long Term

Drew’s Marketing Minute: Are You Expecting too Much From your Marketing?

I’m a big believer in marketing programs that don’t sell or try to do too much, but instead happen in phases and focus on long-term success.  I’m glad to see that others agree.  What do you think?

His answer: localize.  "I’m not everywhere," he said, "I focus on a very small area, and try to appear everywhere to the people who live there. Anything else would be a waste."

I know…it’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s a good reminder to all of us marketers, who often have to make a big splash on a little budget.  While we all want to do as much as possible to create visibility for our brand, we also want to remain as focused as possible to avoid wasteful activities.  The better we can understand who our targets are and where they get their information, the better our advertising and promotional plans will be.  This means:

• Segmenting your audience into multiple groups and building a profile for each segment
• Thinking about a day in the life of an individual in each segment, where she goes, what she does, who she interacts with, what she reads
• Finding the promotional opportunities others haven’t
• Going big where it matters most

With a local approach, we may not be everywhere, but to the people that matter, we’ll appear to be.  Do you localize your advertising and promotions?