
I like this picture very much (via Webilus). It symbolizes the old perception of mass marketing on the left and the new perception of the world 2.0 on the right . Through the live web, everybody tends to be involved both in the purchase as a unique person and in the economy production process. The concept of consumer is weakening and is transferring to the old notion of customer (with the new web and social software, I can treat any single person in a unique way) and to the new concept of prosumer [with the new web, anybody can at the same time define and consume what is needed]. It means for marketers, they should start changing their unilateral vision and address each of those dimensions appropriately: consumers are actually single customers, users, producers, participants to the brand and product definition and members of communities. A true conversation is needed (conversational marketing) where marketers interact 1:1, learn from people [customer listening / some people at Sony America created the nice word "Listenomics"], create something with them and in the end have the opportunity to sell something. With the two-way web and the proliferation of excellent platforms including blogs with comments, communities, microblogging, buzz analytics and watch tools, this new marketing has become a reality and the best companies are now far ahead ... and most companies far too late. To adapt to the new conversational world 2.0, the "only" things marketers should do is change their mindset, accept the new rules of the marketing game and upgrade their knowledge rapidly and constantly by reading a lot from advanced marketing specialists in online communities and blogs (books being too rapidly obsolete). The implementation is the most difficult part, especially in Europe where many brands claim to be innovative but where their top executives are actually too conservative [they grew up with Philip Kottler, many of them stick to it and know better than the new generation of marketers since it always worked that way, so why shouldn´t it work like this in the 21st century?] or self-protecting to lead the change properly. It means for marketers a tough job to influence their top management through strong argumentation and appropriate behavior [which should not be too political to avoid dilution; this would lead to burry your company and yourself with it. Innovative marketing management is the only way to survive]. An appropriate way to carry the marketing revolution and change marketing processes is probably through best case practices: start something small but strong and enlarge the circle.