What is New Marketing?

I am reading David Meerman Scott's book, 'The New Rules for Marketing & Public Relations.' This book has made me stop and think about how marketing and public relations has changed over time. Certainly, podcasting and blogging are new ways to communicate.

Meerman Scott argues that these new methods have changed the 'rules' for marketing. I disagree. I believe that new media provides new opportunities to reach consumers and opinion leaders directly, but the rules of marketing are the same. To be truly effective, one must know who one is communicating with, and provide messaging that resonates with that person. Mass messaging does not work. A diluted message that is meant to speak to everyone, speaks to no one.

One way to bring a niche consumer group to life is to create a lifestyle board. Before you get artsy, you'll need to gather baseline data. Utilizing internal customer information, or your team's best guesstimates, create a Profile for each target consumer group including age range, income, ethnicity, and home ownership status.

Then, pull psychographic profiles from online sources such as www.claritas.com. You will then be able to add interesting details such as: drives luxury automobile, frequents Macaroni Grill, golfs weekly, travels internationally, or eats fast food.

Using the information above, identify magazines that cater to your target consumer group. Go to a newstand and purchase several of these magazines. Read the articles to find out what matters to them. Cut out captivating photographs, visuals, and words. Create a collage for each target consumer group and mount to foamcore. This tool will be very useful when you need to write copy, or decide upon a delivery method for your message.