The Marketing Plaza

What’s your age?  Not your chronological or biological age, but your marketing age?  Today’s world is rapidly changing as is the media and methods to reach ever emerging audiences.  If you’re aging rather than De-aging, my word for staying young at heart and in mind, than you’re not well suited for marketing.

In the popular TV series “How I Met Your Mother,” the key character Barney (played by Neil Patrick Harris) is always “suiting up” to  successfully  ”play the field.”  In Marketing, “suiting up” means staying up with trends, ideas, media, and reach methods. It also means having a large dose of creativity and a desire to try new things. It is true that if something works, you should stick with it. That’s why Barney always “suits up.” But, it’s also true that if you just stick with a “control” and never test new options, you will never find the next great touchpoint for inspiring a customer to do business with you.

Recently I had a discussion with a relatively young woman who wanted to be in marketing. Although I don’t know her age, she is clearly younger than me — at least chronologically. She said she “didn’t get” social media, didn’t feel inspired to explore it, and her friends on Facebook considered her a “stick in the mud.” I noted that in marketing terms she was much older than me and that she was potentially at the end rather than beginning of her marketing career. Why? If she doesn’t want to be on Facebook, that’s a personal option.  But if you want to be in Marketing, it’s not an option. It’s akin to saying you don’t want to learn to type or speak clearly in the same language as your customer. You’re admitting you don’t want to communicate with people in their (not your) chosen medium.

When you stop wanting to explore new things, it’s time to retire.  That’s true in business in general, in the technology sector in particular, and in Marketing overall. In Marketing, a successful person has to have some sense of wonder about the world, the people in it, and what makes them tick. The type of media they like is your clue about how to reach them and is a large part of what makes them tick.

Attached is a modern optical illusion.  I like it better than the more classic  “Old woman/young woman” illusion usually used to make the case that the “eye can play tricks.” This one, “Forever Always” by Octavio Ocampo, is not only colorful, but shows both an old woman and old man. Click on  the photo to make it larger. Then take a closer look into their eyes and minds. You’ll see youthful thinking. I guess they’re both in Marketing!

* adapted with permission from original post on InsideMarketing.org, 5/13/09, Rhona Bronson, NAPL