Smart Marketing

Suit or Ponytail? Knowing this is key to marketing success

After 20+ years in the marketing field, I've learned that there are two basic personality types throughout marketing: the Suits and the Ponytails.

The Suits are:

• Logical and rational thinkers
• Focused on bottom line results
• prone to saying "An ad must generate sales to be successful".

The Ponytails are:

• Intuitive and free-flowing thinkers
• Focused on testing the boundaries of art and creativity
• prone to saying "An ad must be creative to get noticed"

Both have their place in the art of marketing. But those companies that are successful almost always have a healthy balance of Suits and Ponytails running around. One challenges the other to stretch (a Ponytail to a Suit) or to focus (a Suit to a Ponytail).

The  most important thing you can do today is know whether you're a Suit or a Ponytail. Once you know this, you can then set about hiring or finding your complimentary type. I'll talk more about this in future posts, but for now I'll leave you with this question: Are you a Suit (comfortable in the same office with a set schedule) or a Ponytail (work-whenever-I'm moved to work)?

New search engine marketing magazine

There's a brand new search engine marketing magazine that you'll want to know about.  Search Marketing Standard is:

"...the first and only periodical completely devoted to the world of search marketing. It covers pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, web analytics, click fraud, local and contextual search, and other search-related topics. Each publication features articles and advice from leading experts in the field, interviews with the who’s-who of the industry, reviews of the most popular tools and services, latest news and trends, and much more."

If your business is dependent on search engine marketing (and whose isn't these days?), check this magazine out. Until February 28, the publication is offering free , 1-year subscriptions.  Go here to sign up for your free subscription.

Consumers will increasingly lead your marketing

Yesterday's New York Times ran an article called Madison Avenue's 30 Second Spot Remover where it warned about the end of traditional advertising. The article, which profiled Robert Greenberg of R/GA, drew attention to the rising role that consumers play in interactive advertising.

Among the examples it cited were:

• A Nike billboard in Times Square that allows consumers to enter  commands from their cellphones to actually customize the footwear appearing on the billboard above them
• Subaru's website that lets car buyers actually "build" a car from scratch
• Response codes that are embedded on movie posters that allow trailers to be downloaded onto cellphones

One of the core messages of the article can be summed up in a quote by Mr. Greenberg himself: "The Internet is a new language because it's not linear. The novel is linear, film is linear, but the web is not."

Keep tuned in to this development in the field of marketing. More and more consumers are driving a company's marketing efforts and this trend seems to be gaining steam...