It’s an uphill battle for the laggards when it comes to social media. It moves at such a fast pace, to capture this year’s trends they would need to play catch up, quickly. I say start where you are and grow from there. If you try and ride the new trends you will most likely fail. Hedge your bets and start. Who cares what’s happening with “big data” if your Twitter account is still locked with no tweets. You shouldn’t jump onto the “gamification” bandwagon if you’ve never attempted a Foursquare deal. Start where you are and grow.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe this is the direction that brands should travel. I wholeheartedly believe that the future of marketing isn’t marketing at all, but a combination of strong relationship building with awe-inspiring experiences built in. With that said, I’m not sure we’re quite there as brands (or as consumers for that matter).

As these expectations rise, I challenge all marketers to strive to achieve what we are communicating… Personal experiences with each of our consumers.

Digital has the ability to segment or even dynamically personalize messages, offers, or experiences that produces a more profound output for a brand than a simple blanket message to drain money from an unsuspecting small percentage of the communicated universe. It allows for dynamic interaction; in real-time, wherever the consumer may be.

So when thinking digital, please don’t ever say the word “scale:” for it kills the opportunities before anything commences. Instead, think loyalty, advocacy, passion, lifetime value, and incremental purchase… Expand a relationship, don’t squander it by treating people like sheep. We have a great opportunity to think beyond traditional and think about the future of our brands.

Scale is in the long term, lifetime value of consumers, not universes reached.

*** Caveat, I’m not saying that awareness building campaigns shouldn’t be a part of the overall marketing strategy. They most definitely should be discussed and executed, even in the digital display arena. What I am saying, is allow yourself to segment, allow your consumers to segment themselves, reward them for doing so.

A combination of craftsmanship, humanity, super-humanity, creativity, and aspiration develops these brands…

Don’t let all that work go to waste just to create mass-shopping-hysteria. Stay true to your brand this holiday season and your loyalists will love you even more. Ensure your sales are brand centric; be sure the craziness that happens in your store or around your products are being communicated in a way that would make your brand craftsmen proud. Don’t cave… overcome.

I imagine Tim Cook is shaking in his new role, looking at the sustainability of any of the Apple product launches. If the expectations aren’t met for the masses, the position that Apple has developed in the mind of their consumers can quickly falter. With the rise and consistent wins of Microsoft, Google, and even Facebook, Apple needs to continue to find a way to exceed consumer expectations to continue their expanding growth.

I admit, I am reborn Apple follower and want to see a great success of the iPhone 5 and the future of what Apple will produce. But looking at the continuously evolving and growing mass hysteria for their product launches, I see an uphill battle for the realization for their success. Expectations are getting out of control. But if any single company can succeed in innovating success around these expectations, it’s Apple.

This uphill battle starts today. When religious expectations are met with mediocrity, we will see a shift in perception;we will see a drop in Faith; we may even see a revolt against the brand. Imagine if you heard the Divine stories of Jesus only to see that he was a mere mortal with no healing powers whatsoever… a strong let down that would make you reconsider your Faith in His word.

But we will see what happens.

What this means is that we get to turn back time and play a big game of “Connect the Dots.”

By understanding the various touch points and mapping out where they live in the lifecycle of purchase funnel, we can begin to track and develop user journeys that not only provide a positive decision, but also add value along the way, furthering the strength and engagement with our brand. This exercise also allows us to better understand where these touch points live within the daily lifestyle of the consumer and their cultural implications towards different communications within their life. This power has the potential to open doors of opportunity through effective messaging, through the proper channels at the most opportune time within the purchase journey.

Once identified, we take out our pen and start “Connecting the Dots.” Align the different platforms with the particular messaging and calls to action to ensure activity and sustainability throughout the process. A dead end or unfulfilled promise may lead to defection or confusion. Ensure the communication leads closer towards an objective or end goal. Working in silos will likely develop these dead ends or confused messages. To provide a holistic experience that is sustainable throughout a long-term relationship, the playing field has to be identified; which is why the aforementioned identification of the various touch points is critical.

A dead end or unfulfilled promise may lead to defection or confusion.

A successful game of connecting the dots allows us, as marketers, to see the entire picture vividly while the user is experiencing our brand the best way for their particular life, needs, and cultural implications. Along the way, delight your consumer, give them something exciting to engage with, fulfill promises, and over deliver. The best “connect the dots” from my child hood were the ones that rewarded with an amazing picture; the ones that delighted me when I could start seeing the holistic experience. This is what we strive for as brand advocates… The excitement for the integration of the holistic experience.

This is what we strive for as brand advocates… The excitement for the integration of the holistic experience.

Originally posted @ blackwhalegroup.com

From where I see it, as advertisers and agencies both work in these disparate silos the internal communication between groups is very little or almost nonexistent.  So how can we expect an integrated messaging output to come from that?

This is what I currently see happening:

As new channels and communication disciplines come about, both the advertiser and agency mindset is to create a new division or build a new agency to handle that particular channel. Done.

We don’t have to worry about it. We’ll build a “Social Media Task Force” and a hire a Social Media agency and everything will be perfect. We can keep doing what we’re doing while the social people (whatever that is anyway) will give us the presence we need to tap into that discipline. Now I’ll go back to my TV advertising.

I’m sure you have all been a part of a similar thought or have seen a similar thought happen in your organization (advertiser or agency). Huge disconnect here. No strategy, no communication, no thought of elaboration, or collaboration, or collective brainstorming… no integration.

So what have we learned about integrated marketing communications? Companies and agencies work in silos; HOWEVER, consumers do not. These silos don’t produce optimized results because of inconsistent messaging, false promises not held up by another touch point, confusion in action steps; frankly a disconnect between the needs of the consumer and what we’re providing as value through communication.

We all know this is a major issue facing everyone in the industry, so I guess the question becomes, “Why do we still act this way?” Just because it “worked” in the past doesn’t necessarily mean it will work in the future. Adding divisions and new roster agencies every time a new communication channel comes around will continue the siloed effect and quickly tear the beauty of expert messaging apart. Why not break down walls and focus on core messaging and definitive objectives for that messaging (regardless of the platform)? Why not start with a strategic view to satisfy consumer needs and strive to reach those needs.

Being completely platform agnostic and starting with the objectives and consumer needs in mind will allow for a literal strategic mapping of sorts of how communication and engagement should unfold for the consumer, not the other way around; not from the brand. Then, with this map to guide us, we can begin to develop a robust messaging strategy that is consistent across the touch points that are the most relevant to each consumer, effectively breaking down the silos and putting up a unified, dare I say it, Integrated front, continuously supporting the consumer to produce the blissful, purchase-minded results we all want.

All in all, consumers are constantly changing; their messaging platforms are constantly changing; their needs, desires, and behaviors are constantly changing… Why are we so reluctant to change?

So, why don’t we map our conversations with our customers?

By mapping out all touchpoints, all messages, and all interactions, we can begin to identify where our customers will be, what mind set they’ll be in, what content they may need, and what channels they will be using to communicate. With that information, we can devise a strategy to best engage each and every customer the best way possible, whether online, offline, or converged.

Interesting.

Now the question becomes, what’s our physical strategy?

My answer? Not necessarily a technology but more of a rough idea or underpinning thought…

The idea of “convergence” or “integration.”

As marketers, we continue to discuss tactics and strategies as it relates to the silos that we manage (what’s my digital strategy, what am I going to do on Facebook, is my TVC on brand, etc). By thinking this way, we are limiting our creativity and missing huge opportunities to converge, learn and grow with our consumers. While social and mobile communications continue to emerge and natural enhancements to traditional communications elevate in the marketplace, there will be a tremendous amount of focus and energy put towards the “conversation” or interaction with the consumer.

While this happens, we must figure out away to create conversations that not only happen in “real time” but also conversations that learn and grow.  Having disparate conversations in silos we are losing the opportunity to continue relationships and increase chances of consumers dropping off or becoming confused over time.

The opportunity and technology is here to connect conversations that grow over time; relationships that spawn into amazing assets; and advocates that will shout from the mountain tops. As strategists we can now begin to take a holistic view of our communication strategies to form a managed asset of relationships.