Control Is Overrated

So many of the (professional) conversations that I have boil down to the changing way that control can be viewed in today's marketing environment.  For ages, mass marketing has been about control of the message and command of the media - an intoxicating power-brew for the world's global brandmasters.  So the slightest sniff that those heady days might be coming to an end can be a bit tough to swallow.  However, I think it's time to get it in perspective...

...Firstly, while the marketing machinery did and still does offer the opportunity to wage global campaigns in a tightly controlled fashion, it never offered total control over what people thought.  It just seemed like that.  Really it was/is just a blanket approach that made a tiny percentage raise their hand. 

Secondly, today's environment isn't about giving up control and getting nothing back in return.  A level of control is required - obviously.   But by using the machinery that's available today, we can adjust the settings.  Output slowly down, input gradually up.  The result - interested people, otherwise known as customers (once known as consumers).

The Union St Sessions offer yet another tasty offering in this area:

"Only by giving up control that you can learn from your users. It is intuitively obvious that if you allow users only the choice between a red widget or a blue widget, the only thing you can learn is whether they prefer red or blue, but by allowing them greater control over the way they use your service you can learn much more."

Comments

[bigswinging]

good post james.

Do you think one could now say "customer marketing" otherwise know "consumer marketing" ???