I just got off the phone with a recruiter. His client is looking for a Director of Marketing who understands SMO. His test, in determining whose candidacy deserves to move forward, is to simply ask them to explain what SMO is. This is hardly a revolutionary technique, but what’s interesting is how people break out the ten cent words to explain two cent ideas. The underlying challenge, which I understood instantly, was to be clear, concise, and actually communicate not only my understanding of SMO but the ability to explain it to others.
SMO is hardly a revolutionary concept. It’s the natural, pendulum-swinging effect of years of one way communications. In the past, companies (record labels, PR agencies, musicians, Fortune 500 corporations…take your pick!) dispensed information from the inside out – and we were inundated with press releases, print ads, billboards, and commercials. By and large they were successful, but the public was essentially reduced to lapping it all up like a dog. The better it was, the more we lapped it up.
Soon though, we got full. And the Internet, like a giant information superhighway (hey, wait …. ) opened up other lanes of traffic. Suddenly we were a two way street in which marketers and PR folks had to deal with traffic coming from both ways. Suddenly the voice of the people was infinitely louder. And it mattered.
Unfortunately, now that everyone can yell as loud as Coca Cola, they haven’t turned into expert drivers. Traffic on this two way street is blocked up and the car in front of you has had its blinker on for the last 1/2 mile. What to do? Well, be creative! Engage both lanes of traffic, and create a dialogue that keeps folks coming back to participate in the conversation. It doesn’t matter what the industry is, everyone has something to say. More importantly, they want and expect to be heard.
If you’re not listening, someone else will…
