consumers, brands, and the social marketing landscape

I was going through my RSS reading list and something caught my eye from Adrian Chan and Andreas Weigend at Gravity 7.  His latest entry was informative, inspiring, and thought-provoking - and is definitely worth a read and a discussion.

Of all the things that he said - and he said a lot of good things - these are just some of the few that really struck with as they are things that I have always believed in:

(Oh - and I will quote without shame because I believe Adrian Chan of Gravity7 has ensnared these thoughts so beautifully.)

1. Conversations are at the core of marketing

Conversation is the new marketing. Markets are no longer made by the brand, around brand image, and by means of brand messaging. Markets are made by consumers, through their connections, and interests as related in conversation. Distribution through conversation is the new mode of production.

2. Advertising, marketing communications, promotions, PR, digital, newspapers, magazines, TV spots, internet ads, digital ads, social ads - all these are not about eyeballs, reach, frequency, 'engagement'... It's about the brand and how it connects with consumers - and how consumers connect back.

This is not just a matter of the eyeballs having turned from one screen, the TV, to another. It’s not just a matter of changing medium – it’s about talking now instead of looking. And this is new, even still, to many brands. Of course brands like to see themselves mentioned and reflected in consumer opinion. But then so, too, do consumers. Consumers are the new brands, and they do their branding in person. Conversation is the highest form of shared value, individually produced, and mutually engaging. ... Conversation is the new marketing because it is the right way to engage with the medium.

 3. Brand management, brand creation, brand strengthening - heck, BRANDING is all about the relationships that consumers have with a named-product that happened to have elicited a significant relationship with the consumer.  A brand is a result of consumer's response.

It is the brand that now wants to be seen in the proximity of the consumer, not the consumer who desires to identify with the brand. The social self is now so self-constructed and socially connected that consumers expect to see themselves reflected in the brands they relate to. Consumers make brands in their own image, revealing this in their own words and interests.

 

 

[ Consumers own the brands they want.
Consumer loves the brands they choose to love.
Consumers can unlove a brand they choose to unlove.
And consumers don't just fall in love because it is the best in the world relative to others - consumers fall in love with brands because for them, it is worth loving. ]