Internet Tech Boston

I attended the New Marketing Summit (NMS) to learn how the thought leaders are combining Social Media, blogging, “traditional” internet-based marketing, and offline marketing in innovative ways to product results for their clients or commpanies. I was not dissapointed. It was a face paced event, treating us to 18 speakers in one day. Nobody had the time to drag on. Topics were brisk and lively. Great idea for format.

Day one started early with an 8am kick off by Chris Brogan, the emcee of most of the day. He let us know the most important things – the wifi key, the twitter hashtag to use (#NMS) the Flickr tag to use (NMS08) and that the NMS is a green conference – no water bottles or extraneous pads of paper, etc. Kudos to NMS for that. Chris started the conference off with 3 broad topics that were reinforced throughout the day – New Marketing is about listening, learning to speak to your community, and content.

Mike Lewis, President of BMA Boston, spoke next with the purpose of defining “new marketing.” He came away with a solid definition of the term that include 5 main points:

1. New Marketing is about listening and engaging in dialogue – not broadcasting your message.
2. New Marketing is more than technology 
3. New Marketing is measuring the right things better, rather than measuring everything 
4. New Marketing extends beyond the marketing department in your company. Everyone joins the party. 
5. New Marketing is not “one size fits all.” Because each audience need is different, there is no standard, no template, than can be extended to all companies.

David Meerman Scott spoke next, and I found his 1/2 hour to be the most effective of the day, summing up what New Marketing is all about in a real way. Much of what he said reminding me of High Probability Selling applied to the current Web 2.0 world. He calls them the “Rules of the Rave” and are described in his new book:

1. Nobody cares about your products (except you). 
2. No coercion required. 
3. Lose control. 
4. Put down roots. 
5. Create triggers that encourage people to share. 
6. Point the world to your (virtual) doorstep. 

Sounds goofy or a little too hippy? Consider this, TripAdvisor spent 2 days building a small Facebook app caled “Cities I’ve Visited” and turned it loose without a big marketing push. It currently has over 5 million installs. David ended with a quote from the [Matt dance] “Sincerity is something hard to fake, impossible not to recognize, and hard not to respond to.” In other words, share what you’re passionate about, leave out the PR taglines, and let people share your enthusiam with no strings attached.

I also enjoyed listenign to Adam Broitman, Director of Stragegy at Crayon during his panel discussion of Brand and Reputation. A few gems that I pulled away from his disscussion include:

• Don’t be afraid of negative comments on your blog. Use them to amplify your responses.
• Don’t use “artificial adjectives” to describe your product (“Durable Toilet Paper” yes – that tagline exists). Use your own voice. 
• Social Media is a commitment, not a campaign. 
• When your press release can’t get mainstream coverage – it’s a lot easier and more effective to write a blog post. 
• “No longer can you sit in your walled garden and work to get people to come to your site [using SEO and PPC tactics]. You need to be where your they [customers and prospects] are.”

I’d love to continue with a detailed recap of each speaker, but with 18 on the agenda, it would make this post unreadable. Here are highlights from the best of the rest:

• Rachael Happe of Mzinga believes that Social Networks are the new Marketplace – places people go to research, socialize, and buy. 
• Chris Brogan doesn’t mind interrupting himself on stage to say hi to people in the crowd he recognizes. 
• Alecia O’Brien of DNA13 used a clever tactic to get people to listen her – After my talk come by our booth, if you answer 3 questions correctly, you win a prize [that people wanted]. I noticed people started writing down notes . . . 
• Tim Young of SocialCast tells us that Generation Y employees are known for pinpointing the location of information within your company, and will often disregard the org chart, or the hierarchy to get what they need. 
• Speaking of autenticity, John Munsell, CEO Bizzuka, took a moment to complement a fellow panelist and loose competitor, Peter Nieforth of docmetrics, on having a “brilliant product.” Trust points +5. 
• Worried about turning Twitter loose inside your company? Laura Fitton logically reminds us – If you’re not worried that your employees will divulge company secrets using email, why worry about them doing the same on Twitter? Regulate policy, not tools. 
• “Millenials” is the term used to define the generation that grew up after the internet was born. Ben Grossman, a millenial, stated with pride that Millenials “have $200 billion in shopping power and we haven’t even entered the workforce yet.” So, I guess that means we should be marketing to your parents still, and not to you? Call me back when you have your own money. 
• When asked if you should treat “influencial bloggers” that same as press, Christine Perkett answered an unequivocal “Yes . . . and I believe that ALL bloggers are influencial.” Thanks Chris! 

The day ended with a keynote from Don Peppers, who ended the day with a bang. He described 2 large motivating forces of marketing: Product-centric marketing, where you try to reach as many customers as possible with your product; vs. Customer-centric marketing, trying to satisfy as many needs of your existing customers as possible over their lifespan as a customer. These 2 forces tug and pull a product company and if not managed correctly – can pull a company apart. Don left us with a mantra – “The only way to succeed is to build & maintain a reputation for trustworthiness.” If you over-promise features in a pure customer-centric organization, you WILL take a hit in the trust department.

Overall, it was a great day, I learned a lot, and met some interesting people. Stay tuned for the final, Day 2 recap tomorrow. Or, if you can’t wait, follow me and the #nsm tag on Twitter for live updates throughout the day.