Today the book Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It? comes out, with contributions from 237 marketers. All proceeds to to Variety: The Children’s Charity.
I contributed to the “My Marketing Tragedy” section. I passionately believe in the power of conversations to build understanding, trust and relationships — fundamentals in business. However, from much experience I realize how difficult it is for businesses to move from “talk at” corporate and product message-speak to the much riskier and unscripted “talk with” conversations.
While much has been said about the value of social media and conversational marketing, not enough thinking has been put to HOW to help organizations change. Earlier in my career I was totally wrapped up in the ideas and concepts, but many never saw the light of today. Today, I have a much greater appreciation of the value of helping clients overcome the obstacles — changing minds, changing behavior, changing business processes, changing legal policies.
What I’m learning is that people need to be inspired to see the possibilities so that they have the passion and energy to create change. And then they need a steady sherpa guide to navigate the formidable legal, IT and executive alpha fraidy cat objections.
I do think marketers “get it.” The real priority is to allay the valid concerns of the people who don’t.
Just recently did a consulting engagement for a PDA manufacturer. It started off as a pure desire to jump into the Social Media landscape but got dragged down pretty quickly in the traditional red tape…but to your point it only took a small handful of champions to get it back up and driving through. You’re right marketers and PR agencies believe this is their domain but they still think it’s about controlling the conversation as opposed to participating it…they still believe they’re giving up the reins of their brand…but that happened years ago.
alec