Mavance, LLC

Over the past three weeks, I have been reading five books. Yeah, I know it’s a no-no to read more than one non fiction book at a time… Anyhow, I finished the book this afternoon and really thought it was a top notch read. The author, Mike Moran, does a great job of helping the audience, present day marketers, understand how the direct marketing world has, and more importantly, is changing around them. The book is not a hands on howto book nor is it a book on theory. It provides a good mix of both extremes and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to gain a better understanding of Internet (Direct) Marketing.The rest of this review includes details of he book, a listing of the chapters and some takeaways from the book.

Book Information:

• Title: Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules (Amazon Link)
• Author: Mike Moran
• Publisher: IBM Press, 2007, Edition 1, 408 pages
• ISBNs: 0132255960 & 978-0132255967
• Overall Rating: 4.5/5

The Chapters

The book is broken down into three sections. The sections break down to: 1) theory 2) detailed information 3) how to implement and stay on top of things.

• Part 1 (’That New Fangled Marketing”) - Chapter 1 - “They’re Doing Wonderful Things with Computers.” This chapter discusses the old marketing paradigms and how they have shifted.
• Part 1 - Chapter 2 - “New Wine in Old Bottles.” This chapter rights the ship and explains how newer marketing methods are similar to older ones - the main difference is - everything moves much faster.
• Part 1 - Chapter 3 - “Marketing is a Conversation.” This chapter discusses how permission marketing (see Seth Godin for more info here..) and new media formats are changing how marketers discuss products/services with customers.
• Part 2 (”That New Fangled Direct Marketing”) - Chapter 4 - “Going Over to the Dark Side.” This chapter is all about the conversion of customers.
• Part 2 - Chapter 5 - “The New Customer Relations.” This chapter discusses how to engage in the initial, and follow on, conversations with your customers.
• Part 2 - Chapter 6 - “Customers Vote with Their Mice.” You have to continue to experiment and understand motivations change. This chapter highlights how you can never rest on your laurels when it comes to marketing to your customers.
• Part 3 (’That New Fangled You”) - Chapter 7 - “This Doesn’t Work For Me.” As the author puts it: this chapter borderlines on self help. The chapter is all about him trying to help you (and most importantly your mindset.)
• Part 3 - Chapter 8 - “This Won’t Work Where I Work.” A chapter dedicated to organizational behavior. Anyone who has worked in a political environment will relate to this chapter. For some, this could mostly be skipped. If you decide to skip then I’d recommend you pick back up at page 287..
• Part 3 - Chapter 9 - “This Stuff Changes Too Fast.” This chapter prepares the marketer for new mediums to consider including cell phones/mobile web, virtual worlds (like Second Life) and social networks (like MySpace). This area is still developing so you need to keep up with these maturing markets. The author provides his blog as the site to keep up with the changing times. This is the only plug within the book (that I caught atleast..) but there’s more resources than just his blog. I’ll put in an entry with some resources at a later date.

Points from the Book:

• The Internet has changed Direct Marketing forever. Previously, you wrote copy, printed it up and sent/gave it to the customer. Your message was fixed for days/weeks and changes to the message cost $$$. With the web, this has all changed. Variations to the initial ads on web sites, blogs, search engine and email marketing channels can be changed quickly.
• It’s far easier to measure the effectiveness of marketing messages on the web then in old days of billboards, flyers and commercials.
• The author stresses a trial and error - do and measure - approach to your direct marketing campaigns.
• Using New Media techniques such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and vidcasts to reach a larger audience than standard web pages.
• Major site redesigns may not be the answer. Some tweaks over time is what you may need. The author later correlates this to a trend in project management - the move from big bang waterfall approaches to agile/iterative approaches.
• Establish conversations with customers. The old style of marketing and advertising is fast dying. Customers are not interested in being given messages from a faceless corporation. You need to interact with your customers. Those who chose not to will suffer the consequences.
• Allow your employees to talk with customers directly via web technologies. Sure, they might screw up but the level of authenticity added is worth the short term pain. The author, like others, suggests you establish blogging & communication guidelines.

In Summary…

• The message is clear - do not be afraid to make changes and measure them. However, you must have resource available to make the changes or outsource to a search marketing firm. The value will be seen - you must give it a chance.
• Analytics, and in a more complex environment, full blown Business Intelligence, packages are worth their weight in gold for measuring results. You could go the route of Urchin, Omniture/Hitbox/WebSideStory, WebTrends. Personally, I do not have a need for data mining/full reporting so I’m sticking with Google Analytics for the time being. It’s a good package to start with!

“Do It Wrong Quickly” is available at your local book store or read more reviews on my favorite e-retailer: Amazon (Link for Do It Wrong Quickly)