Language of ‘those in the know’
I really like David Parmet’s work on PR and marketing, but I really (really) dislike language like the following:
At this point, anyone trying to figure this brave new world out is already two years too late. The train has left the station. You and your agency are either on board or missed the boat. Feel free to add your own metaphors.
David is referring to Steve Gillmor’s latest.
Whatever Steve’s point was, David’s message is one of smugness, the “you just don’t get it so you’re not worth talking to” elitism that so plagued the original ‘Net bubble. It’s telling all those marketers out there that are still feeling their way through how the new technologies, “conversation”, etc works and figuring out how to adapt – it’s telling them give up, go home, don’t waste the time of those of us who do get it.
Frankly it’s an exclusionary tone that betrays tunnel-vision, and reminds me of all the people who said “you just don’t get it…profits don’t matter and anyways, the old business cycle is dead, this one only goes up” right before Bubble 1.0 popped.
David, again I love your writing most of the time, but this type of message serves only to shut down the conversation by turning people away.
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hrm… well that wasn’t my intention to give that impression.
In my particular little corner of the marketing world there are PR agencies that at least know that social media is something they need to pay attention to, and those that are still doing the traditional smile and dial.
More specific to Steve’s point, the ‘change’ that we were aware of a couple of years ago has already changed.
My point is that we’ve been having these conversations now for years – remember the Cluetrain is seven years old. I almost feel like any agency who’s still taking the ‘get our clients big media’ approach should just keep doing that – it’s working for them so why stop now?
Hope that helps and makes me sound like less of a smug bastard! ;-)
Smug yes, bastard by no means. ;-)
On the agency issue, EVERY agency should be working to get their clients big media, just not as the sole focus. Good agencies should have a heavy dose of reaching out to the community, direct to customers, bloggers, etc, of course. But if they only do that, and drop the “big media” outreach, they are doing a disservice to their clients. Mainstream media sites, old-school product reviewers, analysts, etc aren’t going away and still carry vast sway, depending on the product and industry. It’s like saying “press releases are dead” or “advertising is dead” as a way of pushing an extreme argument and not recognizing that the old ways of doing business will continue to co-exist with the new ways.
They each have their purposes. An agency that ignores big media is just as bad as one who ignores the new realities of the Cluetrain.
On the text of my post – I’ve generally found that in most cases, the train never really leaves the station. Everyone can jump on, even if late. Yes, they may be behind and need to do some serious catching up, but there will always be seats.
Actually, most of my practice happens to be getting ‘big media’ targets for clients. The blog stuff comes naturally – most of them are already in this universe. they just need some help getting dead tree coverage.
It’s a story that’s not finished yet, by any means.
Well said, and nice closing point. :)