DIALOGUE MARKETING

Where Content, Community and Conversion Merge

Regardless of whether we’re talking about the days of the two martini lunch, or the current alogrythmic-obsessed generation where Google analytics and ad words campaigns are the de rigueur of marketing, advertising was, is and always will be a means to an end for businesses. In earlier years, we ad folks spent millions of dollars pushing stories out to people who we thought might be interested in our clients’ products and services. Then we would cross our fingers and hope for the best, specifically that people would open their wallets and buy what our client was selling.

Today, that focus is shifting. While great storytelling is still the predominant driving force behind great advertising, what we still call advertising today is not only about the attention being given to the stories that advertisers are telling to buyers. Smart marketers today are beginning to realize that building relationships with customers is about communication of the two-way variety. Nowadays much more attention is being paid to using media in ways that encourage the give-and-take of information and ideas between company and consumer, such that a community is formed and a dialogue ensues and flourishes in ways that benefit all parties concerned. Marketing today is about information out and responses back. It’s what we at Optimize New York call the 3Cs of marketing: Content. Community. Conversion. And more and more businesses are embracing this concept with a vengeance.

Major marketers in increasing numbers are integrating offline, online and the latest social media marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to: distribute content and solicit comments from consumers; build communities of like-minded people and make it possible for them to share their needs and interests with one another and with the company. It’s that critical input from the community that provide businesses with a better understanding of their market. It’s input from the community that can help marketers refine their offerings, develop new products and services, and tailor messages and offers to those community members who raise their hands and say: “If you do it this way, I’ll buy it from you.”