Digital Marketing And Social Media PR – The Future Buzz

Mitch Joel over at Six Pixels of Separation wrote a post titled:  Unlike Advertising, Social Media Can’t Save A Bad Brand, Product Or Service.

I’ve taken issue with Mitch’s content previously (and also agreed with him).  I’m going to take issue again today.  His headline insinuates that advertising can save a bad brand.  Then, the only point in the post where he even mentions this again is a repetition of the title 2/3 of the way down the post.  He didn’t back up his point – but I’d challenge him to do so.

Maybe it was true in a previous world, where monopolies existed on attention held by media.  But in a fragmented media world, advertising can’t save a bad brand, product or service.  It’s a total fallacy.  Let’s consider why:

If your product sucks, word will spread

Just like the web allows remarkable products and ideas to spread, it equally allows us to share our negative experiences with products that suck.  Word of mouth goes in both directions.

You’re creating false expectations

If you advertise a bad product/brand/service, you’re obviously not going to position it as being that way in the ad.  What happens when perception meets reality?  People are going to be unhappy, and that unhappiness is going to travel.  It will equal negative blog posts, poor ratings/reviews, forum threads flaming the product, etc.  When previously media monopolies existed, the poor experiences people had with products could only spread so far, so fast.  Now they travel faster than earthquakes.

Consumers are voting with their wallet

In times of plenitude, perhaps consumers would take chances on new products.  No longer.  Now we do our research.  According to Internet Retailer, a whopping 92% of consumers conduct research online prior to making a purchase.  If your product sucks, people are going to call you out on it, and the market will find out.  Shoppers bite back! (that’s one of 45 of my favorite blog taglines).

We don’t trust what’s new

Back in the “good old days,” there were only a few brands.  Now we suffer from not just an abundance of media, but products, brands and companies.  In such a world, consumers don’t trust what’s new unless it’s proven, has social proofing or the backing of a quality brand.  And even with the backing of a quality brand, the advocates or passionate fans are now quick to call out something new if it does not meet expectation.  Businesses that try to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers are not embracing a long term, sustainable growth strategy.

New ad systems reward quality

Modern ad platforms flip the power of advertising to the consumer.  Google’s AdWords rewards ads that are given a high quality score.  Digg has ads you can Digg or bury.  Modern ad platforms take user feedback into the equation, changing the game of blasting interruption-based advertising.  As Jeff Jarvis notes:

Google and Digg begin to reverse the economics and power of advertising: customers end up setting prices – implicitly on Google, explicitly on Digg. The better the advertisers’ relationship with customers and the more relevant their message, the less marketing costs them.

This is counter to the world Mitch alludes to with his headline – one which has already passed.

Conclusion

In a fragmented media society, you need people to tell each other about how great your product is.  In essence: your product, service or brand is now your marketing.  The idea of the Meatball Sundae Seth Godin describes in the book of the same name is not limited to digital marketing.  If you tell an inconsistent story in any form of marketing (for example, advertising saying product is great while the product itself sucks) you are creating one.

No longer can advertising save you.