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PM Forum - Bristol
New media is dead - long live digital media!
Driving back from Bristol after the latest PM Forum event it seemed fitting that the discussion on Radio 4 was about the reaction, 80 years ago, to the "new media" of television and radio within politics. Like the professional services, those in the political arena sometimes struggle to get the balance right between "talking the same language" as their audience and not appearing lacking in substance through their choice of media channel.
Chris Thurling, Founder and Managing Director of digital marketing "wunderkinds" 3Sixty had his work cut out. Many came with negative pre-conceptions but rather, like Lloyd-George communicating the benefits of "audible media" to his counterparts, so Chris's quiet experience and practicality shone through.
Starting with the statement "new media is dead" you have to have a fairly convincing argument… particularly when talking to an industry that hasn't yet fully embraced this new media! "Digital marketing", Chris went on to say, "goes beyond brochure-style websites and banner adverts. It's a distinct channel with its own rules."
Consumers now want to interact with us. The point at which we start the "relationship" has moved forwards from first contact to first "notice".
It's no longer about putting content out there but presenting opportunities for consumers to interact with it.
Interaction, however, makes marketing teams nervous. With it comes a loss of control over how your brand is used. Power has shifted. Chris proposed that "it isn't a case of whether [the professional services] choose to embrace this or not… it's happening, consumers increasingly expect it as their right, and [we] need to be brave enough to turn it around to [our] benefit."
Of course, the concern is that DM will make law-firms look "light-weight" and silly. It's also perceived as time-consuming and resource heavy. "It's actually all very common-sense", argued Chris.
It's not about everyone having to log on to Facebook or Twitter but it is about creating a clear strategy for starting to use this new channel.
This might include setting up a blog or using Twitter (over 200 law firms already do), it might mean developing an online Wills or Conveyancing tool or just maximising the opportunities from pay-per-click. It's important to understand our limits and our consumers, the rules for "trust" and how we want to position the firm.
In this sense, is it really any different to how we approach other marketing channels? Surely it's just an extension of our currently one-dimensional "thought-leadership" practice?
Whatever approach we take we need to keep consumers in mind when planning things. If they are using digital channels then we don't really have a choice in whether we do the same… "if we want to keep on talking to them", said Chris.
http://www.3sixty.co.uk/
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Helen Hammond
Implementor
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