Marketing Bisnis

I hereby claim "rights", for whatever the hell it's worth (hint: probably very little) to the following line: Web 2.0, the blogosphere, etc., cuts the old "15-minutes of fame" thing down to "15 seconds". I'll let you come to your own conclusions as to the marketing and branding implications, but one thing's certain: For a resource-hungry, early-stage venture unveiling its premiere product, 15 seconds ain't much. It underscores the new reality of the launch party, which you don't want devolved into a lynch party. Your Mission Damn Near Impossible calls for marketing innovation at least equal to the breakthroughs that conceived your super-cool, gotta-have-it new product you now need to brand. Your task: concoct the go-to-market strategy and tactics that blend just the right measures of guerrilla and conventional PR, go-to-market materials and tools, and -- something I call event-ing. Think of the audience, or the target market, you're pursuing as a kind of navigational coordinates, or simply as a template. Then calculate how those people want to be informed, talked to, and sold. Then create events, online or off, that encourage small communities of them to hear more. Ah, but you would say, nothing new here. Isn't the whole buzz phenomenon all about identifying the "hub" people in networks of affinity groups? Sure it is. But what about those "groups"? Who are they, really? Are they in fact your hottest prospects? Not so long ago, Napster worshipped at the altar of the 16-22-year-old demographic, believing that it was the center of the bulls-eye. That is, it did until its media guys sobered Napster with news that it was actually the affluent, 30-and-40-somethings who were the power-downloaders! True story. This necessitated a slight adjustment in Napster strategy. Point is: market segmentation isn't the most important thing when you're preparing your go-to-market plan and concocting your PR-cum-marketing formulae. It's the only thing. And, in a 15-second timeframe, you better make sure the audience you've invited to get your pitch is the one containing the most people who'll raise their hands and want to hear more. Start counting: fifteen...fourteen...thir..