David Meerman Scott, Author of Real-Time Marketing and PR
David Meerman Scott, Author of Real-Time Marketing & PR
David Meerman Scott and The Public Interest Registry hosted a discussion about effective online marketing where David provided case studies and superb advice for marketing executives to explore real time marketing events and news from his new book, Real-Time Marketing and PR.
The Chilean Miners Love Oakley Sunglasses
The Chilean miners that emerged from their mine wore Oakley sunglasses which provided Oakley with over $41 million of advertising exposure. But what could have Oakley done to further their campaign? According to David he would have started a website with a .org as the url providing information and the reasons behind the Chilean miners needing to wear the sunglasses as they emerged from the mine. It used to be market share that made a company or organization competitive, but now all you need is speed and agility to give you that advantage. But most organizations forget about right now, so marketers need to ask, “What can we do today?”
David predicts that there will be a new trend of instant websites that can be created quickly as it relates to the current news for companies and organizations to either react quickly to a crisis, or provide more information to consumers and customers.
OK, But How Can I Get My Company to Respond in Real Time?
So how would you as a marketer for your company or organization go about marketing in real-time?
David has four suggestions :
1. Appoint chief real time officer; Guess what? You are it until one is appointed.
2. Develop real-time guidelines — Allow your employees to communicate in real time. The old way had you going through layers in the organization that included the lawyers, the CEO, the VP’s, but that does not work now. IBM’s corporate social computing guide provides you with a start.
3. Implement real-time systems to monitor what is being said about you. Have two systems in place such as Google Alerts and TweetDeck. Public companies are investing in their monitoring services such as Pepsico’s Gatorade Mission Control.
4. Develop a real time mindset – When something happens, be it news or a crisis, the time for your company to act is now, not a day, week or month later.
How do I get buy-in from my boss and my own company? Speed is the competitive advantage. When something happens, (it could be a crisis or news involving your competitor) these events will most likely occur around holidays, weekends, etc. when key executives are away or unreachable. If you have a plan addressing the steps and procedures to implement you will have the confidence from your boss to carry it out.
David is also the author of Marketing Lessons from The Grateful Dead and The New Rules of Marketing & PR.
You can follow David on Twitter @dmscott.
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