Update to Death of a Salesman post

I just read 2 stories in BusinessWeek that show exactly what I was saying in my last post. Check them out:

Amazon: The Web giant's cache of consumer-generated reviews lures ever-more shoppers, who increasingly research products before buying
"Amazon's review program reflects a new reality for the way consumers shop in the Digital Age: The Internet has become the world's greatest research tool, and consumers hardly buy anything anymore without first getting the skinny online. Some 70% of Americans say they consult product reviews or consumer ratings before making a purchase, according to an October 2008 survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a research and consulting firm. Amazon has played a central role in the change in consumer behavior by being the first successful Web retailer to embrace consumers' views. "What we try to spend our time on is harnessing customer passion," says Russell Dicker, Amazon.com's senior manager of community." bit.ly/25mYeg


FaceBook: They're reaching customers via new tools such as Facebook Connect and pushing the social network toward profitability
"Merrill Squires avoids car salesmen at all costs. So when the 48-year-old marketing executive from Dallas was choosing between a Chevrolet Tahoe and a GMC Yukon Denali recently, he turned to his 600 Facebook friends. Dozens responded, and one old pal—a Denali owner—steered him toward the Tahoe. "I trust his opinion on it, and I would never have thought to pick up the phone and call him," Squires says. bit.ly/2dshZJ


As one commneter posted on the original post, big, complex sales will always need a salesperson, but I bet that the salesperson comes in later in the salescycle after the research has been done.
How can you control what they see?

Death of Salesman?

Lately I have been wondering if, as social media tools mature, will marketing become the new salesforce or at least a closer extension than it already is?

There are certainly some products where face to face interaction is critical in the selling process. However, with more people doing research beforehand on social media sites and seeking out opinions/reviews on products, will marketing have to monitor those areas to make sure the correct message and information can be found. This role of gatekeeper seems more suited for marketing than sales to me.

Marketing's key role is communicating with the customer until they are ready to buy. Social media sites provide a great venue for this conversation. I do not think it is too far fetched to think that marketing could become a key player in turning prospects in customers without interaction from sales.

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• Is Selling Becoming More Like Marketing? (ducttapemarketing.com)

Augment your SEM and SEO programs with SMM and SMO

Image via Wikipedia

Everyone is familiar with SEO and SEM. But with the emergence of all the new social media (or social marketing as Mike Volpe from HubSpot is saying it should be called) platforms you should be augmenting your SEO and SEM initiatives with SMM (Social Media Marketing) and SMO (Social Media Optimization).

The interesting thing about SMM and SMO is that it allows you to inexpensively test words to see what resonates with your followers. Maybe these will be the same words that you are using in your SEM/SEO efforts, but you may passibly discover words you had not thought of before and these could turn out to be cheaper than some of the more popular words.

SMO and SMM should be part of your overall marketing strategy and the good thing is that there is not hit to your budget!

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• Social Media Marketing Helps Search Engine Marketing. PROVED (guide.opendns.com)