Something New

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about marketing and the democratization of media, since I took over at Business & Blogging.

And I think one of the most sublimely powerful statements I’ve seen in a long time comes from Hugh MacLeod of Gapingviod.com. “The most important asset in the New Marketing is ‘having something worth talking about.’”

For a long time, marketers have been concerned with “having something to say.” The USP. The Brand Statement. The Positioning Statement. The Mission Statement. Lots and lots of statements.

When we have thought about ‘having something worth talking about,’ it has been from a PR standpoint. How do we get free press? How do we get this thing to “go viral?” Where can we get our product placed?

But when we’re looking at the moment we’re in…the moment of flashmobs, text-messaging, twitter, instant fact-checking…the moment of the gen-x/gen-y coming of age (gen-xers into places of power and prominence and gen-yers into official adulthood), that comes off as a little weak-kneed.

We live in a world where everyone is in instant communication with everyone they know. And the are connected by one degree to hundreds of people around the world. Slide out 3 or 4 degrees, and the numbers get mind-boggling.

Word of mouth isn’t just a hip marketing trend. It is a force of nature that can carry you into the stratosphere or burn you to the ground. Ask Kryptonite. Ask Dan Rather. Ask Barack Obama.

The future of marketing isn’t social media, or SEO, or viral video. The future of marketing is being shareworthy. It doesn’t start before you introduce your product to market. It happens before you introduce the product to manufacturing. It happens before you file for incorporation. And if it didn’t, then it needs to happen before you spend much more money on marketing.

And, of course, it isn’t the future. It’s now. In this moment.

So, next week, I’ll be sharing something new that I’m really looking forward to.