Some people who visit this blog are a bit confused. Well, in fact, it’s not really the people that find the posts on this blog interesting but more the marketing companies and some fellow bloggers.
People tend to get confused when it’s not clear what you’re talking about, or what you stand for. We are used to come up with all kinds of labels and tags, it makes us feel safer (which of course is an illusion). Some people would like this blog to be about email marketing and others about social media marketing, etc. Label it, tag it and life goes on, you know?
Well, this blog is not like a disease. You can’t go to the doctor and ask what it is and what medications you need to get better. I mention diseases because, just like many companies and people in the marketing industry, the medical ‘industry’ knows about labels and tags too. “You have an ulcer, take this”. “Thank you doctor, I feel better now that I know what it is.” Who cares what’s the cause of the ulcer, right?
Back to this blog. Please allow me to tell you why it’s called what it’s called and then to say why I feel the urge to explain this. Deal? Thanks a lot.
Warning: as it is often the case with me, there is a message in this post. You don’t have to agree with it. As a matter of fact, I hope you disagree and comment, then we can think together (PS: to the folks that have been adding spam comments the last few weeks; I don’t really appreciate it, you oblige me to start approving comments, and I hate that, I think you suck).
This blog could have been called Soblicity, Holistico or Bloggingdude for all I care. It could also have carried my name. However, the latter is not an option. I have no personal branding purposes nor do I feel the urge of getting my name in the open. I’m just a bloke with a computer, a broadband connection and a passion for writing, people, thinking and connecting. And, yes, I have other blogs too.
This blog is called Social Email Marketing, which is not the most original name, for several reasons. Some obvious, some less obvious.
First of all, it’s about social media. Next, it’s about social media marketing. Then, it’s about email marketing. It’s also about being social. And it’s about the impact of social media, and what we call Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 (damn, I have to pay again because I used those terms) on all areas of marketing, sales, business, life, etc. But most of all it’s about marketing.
And this is important for me. Because every single day again I meet companies that are active in one specific area of (interactive) marketing (be it email marketing, SEM, social media marketing, conversion, usability, web analytics, whatever) and every single day again I see that many of those companies focus so much on their own little discipline and on the tools and services they offer that they forget the big picture: that it’s about marketing and that marketing is about people.
Get real, get the global picture or get out
I pity these companies. But most of all, I pity their customers (well, not really, they should know better). If marketers don’t strive towards having a holistic view and perpetual customer-centric dialogue with their company’s entire ecosystem (customers – which include employees -, partners, the media, distributors, suppliers, whatever), they will lose customers.
Yes, I know, everyone has been talking about customer-centricity, etc. since ages and yes, I know, there are cultural changes, and it’s hard to keep up, etc. Don’t pity yourself: choose a partner or an agency that thinks with you from the broader perspective. Alternatively, choose several specialized partners that know that what they do is closely related to what the others do, and that they need to collaborate.
The same goes for platforms. An example: don’t choose an email marketing partner that isn’t able to think in terms of your business and has no tools or partners to integrate your email marketing with your social network presence, CRM, social media management tools, web analytics, CMS, communication channels and all the other stuff you need to be there where your customers are.
I remember a saying from the early years of ‘the Internet’, before the famous bubble burst: “get big, get niche or get out”.
I think it’s time for a new one: “get real, get the global picture or get out”.
Join me in the Social Marketing Forum