When I saw that one of this weeks texts was a TED talk by Seth Godin I was super excited, not only because everyone loves a TED talk, but also because I have read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Seth’s book ‘Permission Marketing’. The theory and ideas behind the talk followed closely behind that of the book, which was essentially that these days it is much harder to grab the attention of consumers (and then keep it!), so that they are able to not only retain information, but then share that information along with their friends.
Permission marketing is essentially the idea that marketing is much more effective when we ask for the consumers attention rather than interrupting. Interruption marketing has been the most widely used marketing tool and is proving now to be inefficient as consumers have less time to stop and pay attention, and more time to simply ignore. In order to gain consumers permission to give them a marketing message or idea, one may offer them some form of payment or benefit, or maybe the consumer will volunteer to learn more, hence voluntarily giving their permission. The whole idea is that consumers no longer want to be constantly bombarded and interrupted with phone calls, junk mail, TV commercials etc. and it is far more effective for a brand to capture the attention and curiosity of a consumer, so that we know they are paying attention, and hopefully then it will lead to purchase or them then spreading that message/ idea.
An example of this transition that Godin has used is in the record business: According to Godin, as a consumer, you’d find a record you liked, listen to it over and over until you’d have to buy the next one. All the while consumers would be bombarded with advertisements on MYV, in magazines like the Rolling Stone and on the radio. So naturally these would have an influence on the next Vinyl purchase.
However, today the Vinyl record is struggling, with new streaming platforms and technology taking over, nothing can be done to resurrect it. “This mindset that we have to find some poor schmo and assault him over and over again until one day he buys from us is now officially broken” (Godin, 2017).
Godin identified three main reasons as to why this technique of bombarding and interrupting consumers no longer works:
When consumers are interrupted they are unaware of the problem that marketers are trying to tell them they have, so they aren’t interested in purchasing to solve this issue.
With the clutter of constant bombardment and brands trying to fight for attention (as stated above we simply choose to ignore), consumers have much shorter attention spans. So in order to overcome this, marketers must make unique content, or make even more noise than the other brands. However, Godin states: ’Your customers aren’t goldfish’.
Mass marketing essentially means that average products are being mass produced for average people at an average price. However, when all the products in the market are the same, consumers will simply take the cheapest option. So, In order to stand out from the mass, brands must create products that are different, Remarkable.
So, what does it mean to be Remarkable?
In the lecture we learnt that ‘Remarkable things are those which are worthy of remark’. It is essentially those ideas/ products/ messages that are out of the ordinary and stand out. They are worthy of our attention, and therefore we are far more likely to remember them and want to share them because they give us social currency. This is important to marketers because products that are deemed to be remarkable get twice as much WOM than those that aren’t. Why? Because when consumers talk about these products to their peers, it makes them seem remarkable, and everyone wants to appear extraordinary, unique or even just stand out.
So, in summary, It is important that we understand the current shift In marketing methods and techniques so that we are able to create much moire efficient and effective campaigns for brands. Moving away from traditional mass marketing methods, and more into this modern day marketing where we create unique and meaningful messages for consumers, in the hopes that they will pay closer attention, and as a result, spread this message.
What do you think about this theory? Do you agree that traditional mass marketing methods are out of date? Can you come up with another modern day method?
Thanks for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed reading this weeks ramble as much as I enjoyed writing it.
As always, please don’t be afraid to leave a comment via the ask button or the submissions page :)
Grace
I think mass marketing will always exist, but it doesn't have to be the go to option! It will probably remain a safe way to market lots of different products and services for years to come! However, the need to market things in different ways will be obviously dependent on the particular circumstances around what is being marketed. - Alex Carey
Hi Grace, I really enjoyed your post ! I've never heard about permission marketing and you explained it in really simple words, thank you. I think that this concept is should be implemented by every brands since people don't have time anymore and tend to mistrust marketers, so it's our job to adapt our marketing to truly respond to their needs and do it at the right moment.