When maritime marketing met citizen journalism something novel and useful was born
By Ryan Skinner (email)
In the first Deadwood installment, I shared some of maritime marketers' confusion and frustration as the scenario in trade media publishing changes. That good old shipping TV channel has started to get staticky and more and more people are turning it off and going online.
Changes wrought by new media will sooner rather than later wreck the influence model that many know and love. This model meant that newspapers and magazines, by the strength of their readership, expertise and neutrality, had influence in the market, which they parcelled out in exchange for advertising and PR budgets.
All three of these pillars of influence are now under attack. Traditional readership is declining amidst a profusion of alternatives (what some call the firehose of information). The conceit of trade media's neutrality is increasingly looking like a ruse, compared to some of the honesty people stumble upon at conferences or in discussion forums. And expertise has always been in the hands of practitioners, the professionals; journalists never had a monopoly on that.
As a result, conventional advertising and PR are showing less and less results, just as the need for publicity and information escalates. If you're a marketer, how do you deal with this situation?
Best industrial marketing practice these days is a combination of the older PR models (buying influence) and new PR models (publishing own influence). For big brands, that means setting up your own channel for news, information and contact with new and existing customers, then advertising that channel in trade or mainstream media. For smaller brands, it means playing off others' channels with their stories, and using their agility and cost focus to get the most coverage with a small investment.
The upshot of all of this is that, from now on, you yourself are the market's best reporter and guide in your field and of your technology. Here's an excellent post describing the general change across B2B marketing. This is citizen journalism applied to the shipping industry. How do you get started? Think like an editor or publisher:
- Listen to what people are saying, both in print and online, in discussion forums and the like
- Study where the market is confused or disturbed by developments that relate to your field
- Start by publishing simple information and guidance to give people perspective
- Urge key staff (likely already active in social media) to explore social media for your business
- Share your little stories with your key audience (initially via email, then twitter, your blog or discussion forums)
- Build up affiliates: Read and interact with your partners' or clients' own channels
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