Jeff Bennett's Blog

Consumers today are no longer simply influenced by the slick 30-second television ad. The 30-second spot can be one element of a marketing plan but it must be inserted in amongst several other tactics. Consumers are influenced by so many other things today and brands must understand this. This does not mean that a brand launching a MySpace page or putting up their tv commercial on YouTube will solve this either.

Brands must respect their consumers and seek understanding of their needs and stimulate a two way dialogue to serve their needs. This is how a brand can enable positive word of mouth marketing. The targeted social media sites can connect brands to the most targeted of all consumers and enable market research, product development, special promotions and the most intimate one-to-one marketing experience ever imagined. It takes some work and creativity but there are great examples of how brands can positively connect with consumers leveraging the social media ecosystem. The alternative is that if brands just bring their traditional “push” my message upon all in the new mediums you can see what could happen in Tom Fishburne’s comic: