After all the thunder here’s the lightning: Euro-eCommerce rock star Rok Hrastnik.  I dared ask the Web business leader of Europe’s infomercial powerhouse, Studio Moderna, “is interruptive marketing dead?… because all this social — and for that matter online — marketing stuff seems big-time disruptive to traditional media like TV.”  Boy did he surprise me and set me straight!

“I’m working in the most interruptive ad industry of them all.  My idea of ‘cool’ marketing would be injecting the latest infomercial directly into the consumers’ vein,” jokes Hrastnik.

Actually.  He wasn’t joking — I was soon to find out.  He’s fairly hard core!

“Seriously… I can tell you that direct response TV advertising it not only alive but kicking, thriving more and more every month.”

While newspapers and broadcast media trail behind various forms of word-of-mouth (in terms of the customer trust factor) traditional forms of interruptive media are no where near dead yet says Rok who, bye the way, sleeps about 4 hours a day and is author of Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS.  (in addition to being Director of Internet for Studio Moderna)

Ok… I let go for a minute and assumed his statement to be true.  But if it is, what does that leave for the Web other than being a subservient channel to TV — as it drives people to the search box and browser bars?  Where’s the glory for Rok and his international Web marketing team?  I began to wonder if his team was all about pop-ups and banner buys… and to what degree he was doing anything original or creative on the Web side.  I suspected he was given his working for a direct response TV company!

Social Marketing: Fad or ‘Must Do’ Relative to Traditional Ads?

Rok and I both tend to question the validity of what most call “successful social marketing.”  (BTW “social marketing” is not a term either of us much care for but we’re forced to use it for the most part)

Yet it’s dangerous to ignore what’s going on behind the scenes — even in these early stages.  The fact is you’ve really got to look hard to find the success stories out there but when you do they’re startling in two ways:  1) how retro they are (what’s old is new again!) and 2) how simply they can be executed on minimal resources.

Hrastnik admits that infomercials are interruptive but the reason they work is — get this… “because they interrupt consumers in ways they welcome … entertaining them, educating them, thrilling them and just simply giving them a great story… which then actually goes on to sell something.”

“Yes, we interrupt but we also provide value with that interruption.”

That, says Hrastnik, is how marketing should be.  Humph.  Nuf said and THAT is precisely the opportunity represented by “social marketing” if you think about it.

“Look, Jeff… most of us will always depend on interrupting consumers and pushing our message in their face. No way around that. But if we want lasting attention we need to interrupt in a valuable manner. For most businesses, that value may come in the form of relevant editorial content.”

And that, in my eyes, sets up a good bit of discussion.

Marketers as Publishers

Here’s where it gets both dicey and exciting.  Hrastnik and others believe that marketers must start becoming publishers of information and entertainment…  they’ve got to be storytellers.  Yikes!  Church and State issues.

Rok argues for marketers becoming actual publishers — providing relevant content that people want to consume.  Customers trust it for what it is (that’s key).  And no this is not “branded entertainment” where the ad is inherently a lie — an ad masquerading as something else.  That is, in his eyes (and I agree) nearly worthless.  It should be, very clearly, an ad.  Think informercials.  Now things began to click for me — Rok was up to something cool.  I was sure of it.

“Contract publishers have been teaching people this for decades,” says Revenews founder and GMD Studio’s Brian Clark.  “Advertising tries to make a point, marketing tries to induce an action and experience design tries to shift perceptions.”

Experts like Clark and Hrastnik suggest that content does not necessarily need be product related — may only be loosely related or not at all.  Essentially, marketers aren’t depending on that content to sell so much as they’re using it as… well… bait.

“The content is your way in … your bargaining chip to win the consumers’ attention, the first step to a relationship which someday may result in profitable sales.  The emphasis being on ’some day,’” says Hrastnik.

Ok.  So now it’s beginning to sound a lot like branded entertainment.  Someday?  I’m getting lost… but Rok brings me back on track through telling a story.  It’s one that I tell often at conferences and with clients and one I’ll share with Revenews readers next!

Go here to read the rest:
Social Marketing Best Practice: Marketers are Publishers