Interesting thoughts on the future of marketing from John Hagel. He describes three forces which are combining to change the approach to customers:
- It’s about attention, not shelf space
- Costs of production and distribution are declining
- Customer acquisition and retention is getting more expensive
These all make it tricky to do traditional marketing (Intercept, Inhibit, Isolate) and presage a shift to collaboration (Attract, Assist, Affiliate). Hagel calls for Return on Attention (on both sides) and Return on Information measures to track progress in this new world. Key point: there is a substantial marketing change programme required to deliver marketeers to this next phase. I don’t see anyone out there doing it.
[More from Maister on individual marketing through blogs and related items.]