Charles comments on the “you talkin’ to me … “ post.  Its a great comment that zeroes right in on the issue at hand.  Is Marketing an extrapolation of what once worked or, is an entirely new model required.

Its not an insignificant question.  The fact is that the newer things are the more they stay the same (or something like that).  So why might marketing be different.

What’s interesting is this approach is a perversion of something that started out very right. That original idea was the notion of customer focus-the idea that every customer is unique, and that if we as producers can customize all the way down to the level of individual consumer, then we can provide value and specialness to best serve buyer needs.

Nothing wrong with the idea. But it too often falls down in execution because it gets polluted by motives.

It make perfect sense when we first started to think about it, that marketing 1-1, at the right time, to the right person, at the right place (channel).  In fact thinking carefully about it that remains pertinent. 

The issue is that we (the Bank) don’t know the right time.  We can get the right person, and the right channel even, but the timing is always an assumption for us.  We have to extrapolate that when a customer clicks, or appears to read, or uses a tool, that they are interested therefore we can “sell” them.

I think there is a deeper change happening here that internet has brought about.  I spoke of it here.  Internet has brought a generation of people use to controlling their media.  It is no longer acceptable to provide interruptive marketing. 

No matter how customer focussed we are, customers don’t want that attention in that way.