ORLANDO, Fla. - With technology changing as swiftly as it is, the only way a marketer can compete is if he or she "relishes speed" as a factor in all aspects of getting the job at hand done, two marketing experts maintain. "How else can you survive all of this?" asked Mark DeBellis, vice president of PSB, The Marketing SuperSource. "We're all in the same boat, and keep in mind that nobody's really ahead yet. So you need to get into the thick of it and work with it, until you get to the point where you have confidence." DeBellis and Anthony Serna, vice president of creative in the Creative Lab at PSB in Lake Forest, Calif., addressed their comments to attendees at the recent CUNA Marketing Council 2000 Conference. They pointed out the difference in marketing strategies that worked in past years and what works today, describing new ways to get the marketing message across that eclipse older practices in speed, ease of production and sophistication of the final product. While it's never too late to jump on the bandwagon of being savvy about the Internet and technology innovations, it would be best for any marketers who haven't yet begun the switch to do so quickly, they emphasized. "Everybody who adopted new technologies early now use that technology to compete against others," DeBellis said. "Your challenge today, if you haven't done too much with this, is to get moving and get there before those ahead of you get so far ahead you'll never catch up." Unfortunately however, there are only so many hours in a week, so many weeks in a year. So it has become more crucial than ever that CU marketers be able to plan and map out how creative, innovative projects can be completed on time and with the maximum use of technology at hand. "We've reinvented everything except time, and the time we have in which to deal with all our various endeavors is becoming increasing precious," DeBellis said. People in all types of careers are finding this to be the case, and it's the ones who are able to adapt to changing times and conditions who will prosper, said Serna. "Don't react," Serna said. "Be proactive. For instance, take your local supermarket. Have you noticed how they have expanded and become a center instead of just a place to purchase groceries? Today, you can do your banking there, eat in their food courts, and eventually, you might even find useful amenities there like laundry services. "Eventually, they might even offer things like child care. Meanwhile, getting back to what's different from in the past, something called `homegrocers.com' is growing," Serna said. "It's a great service. I am willing to pay that extra money to get them to come out and deliver my groceries." Success in today's Internet driven world depends a lot on how marketers "juggle technological challenges," DeBellis said. While technology has been good in many ways, it also has created other issues such as lengthened work weeks and shortened leisure time for today's marketers and other profesionals. Another effect of the Internet - people are "always connected," DeBellis said. "We're never out of touch..." he said. "Think about the consumer, the member and you. How do you break through to someone who is never out of touch? You have cell phones, pagers, e-mail and the latest of course is the wireless personal digital assistant. We're always connected." This makes for a "communication" war out there," DeBellis said. It's a challenge for members and other consumers to sort it all out, and the marketing professional seeking success in conditions of today would be wise to be aware of this and find ways to get marketing messages out that help members do this. Obviously, the Internet plays a key role in everything that is happening in technology today, with usage rising and 39% of the population now having access to the Internet. These people sent 19 billion e-mails in 1999. It has been estimated that 200 billion will be sent four years from now. "At some point, people are going to just say, `Leave me alone!'" DeBellis predicts. "How much is too much? There actually are times when we can do more harm than good by overusing e-mail. My advice is don't overuse it just because it's cheap." As e-mail usage balloons, the challenge is going to be to get the right e-mail to the right person, and that is where companies who make a living figuring out ways to identify people in terms of their likes, dislikes and product preferences will thrive, he said. And of course, "spiral marketing" in which e-mail recipients are encouraged to pass a message along will be more and more the strategy of tomorrow. Riding the wave of technology like a good surfer is the only way to go, because there's no chance it will go ebb or go away. In fact, spiral marketing and other new age techniques should be considered the new tools of the trade for reaching out to members rather than any kind of temporary phenomenon. The marketer who can make the switch and use these tools with dexterity will be most likely to move up in terms of success. -
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