James over at Modern Marketing has a great post about where the world of marketing is going. I agree with him on many points.
Over here on the other side of the pond I feel consensus is building too… it’s not a consensus about what to do in this new world of marketing but, rather, that the old assumptions just don’t apply. Sure, some are still resisting… but I’m finding that in many cases the people who used to just roll their eyes at the mere mention of all of this a year ago are now listening – and wanting to know and understand more.
James references some of his recent client sessions where he has said that he is “definitely not there to provide people with a new rule book”. I love that. In many ways, this is what a lot of people are looking for. The old rules of marketing were formed largely on a very mechanistic view. Sure, there were a lot of pieces to the puzzle, but it was viewed as a just that – a puzzle. It was complicated… not complex. The rule book was simple… everything unfolded in sequence as a direct result of the last tactic or collection of tactics. The new marketing doesn’t work like this. If old marketing was mechanistic and tactical… new marketing is human and spiritual. It is complex… seeking to make things happen indirectly.
I think this is why I’m fascinated by the ten thousand hours concept in cognitive psychology research… that expertise in any field requires ten thousand hours of practice. Marketing and public relations are changing at a dramatic pace… a pace that makes it impossible to perfect any field of practice because new stuff comes along well before you’ve had time to spend ten thousand hours on the last ‘new big thing’.
Understanding that new marketing is not about the technology, but about the conversation, goes a long way to helping make sense of it all I think. This understanding, combined with participation in the space, gives you the minimum amount of order needed to harness the creative potential of the chaos.
James says that “in a world where everything has been thrown up in the air, the only reliable roadmap is the one you draw up yourself”. Or, to put it in context of chaos and order, the only reliable roadmap is finding your chaordic path in all of this and having the courage to walk it.
Previously posted on carmanpirie.com