Here’s the thing. I’m not that old. I’m far from 40, and I continually decline the chance to dine anyplace offering an early bird special. I like to go places, do things, and I refuse to watch Matlock. The Internet has made huge parts of my career possible, but yet, I’m continually finding myself drawn to the “old school” way of getting things done.
My friends and co-workers are finding ways to use Social Media to get jobs, increase awareness, and make magic happen. And I think that’s great, but at the same time they’re continually losing track (or never learned!) some of the older, and often less idealistic, ways of doing business.
For example: one client can’t fathom why another competitor is getting all the buzz, attention, and industry fawning. Both companies provide essentially the same product, but they’re the rockstars. All the Twittering and co-promotion in the world isn’t what’s getting them noticed. It’s the old school model in play: spend money, staff up, buy presence.
In the long run, that may not carry you particularly far. You still need intelligence and foresight (and a killer product) behind those types of spends and decisions, but it’s not a problem that “more” social media or “viral marketing” can solve. Right now, they’ve got money and therefore they’ve got influence. It’s also the same reason why truly crappy music seems to creep into popular culture. But I digress…
I’m all for the savvy marketer who knows his way around a blog post. But there’s an equally valuable skill set to be had: working the press. Developing relationships, building alliances and partners, and then utilizing them when you have something to broadcast. In days of old, I got mocked for my presumed decimation of a marketing budget. There were many business lunches, and I was at a bunch of conferences and trade shows. But the numbers that resulted were pretty substantial. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. As all marketers know, numbers don’t lie. And yeah, sometime those numbers cost money.
And sometime’s it’s not always a fair fight…
