I remember, many many years ago, having recently left the hallowed halls of the University of Georgia with an MSW, and feeling all know-it-all and accomplished with my sparkling shiny new degree. I was at a party and just chatting with a fellow party-goer, I asked, as one does to get a conversation going: “what do you do?” His answer: “business.” At that moment, I was stumped what to say next because nothing seemed less interesting as a way to make a living than business. Then I discovered marketing.
For me, marketing was like creating great art or playing with a band on stage. It engaged both the left and right sides of my brain. It felt, and it still does, as one would feel leading the charge. Years later, again, many years later, I’ve taught marketing, developed marketing curriculum for a community college, consulted to businesses on developing marketing programs, developed web-based and multimedia marketing campaigns, marketing campaigns for non-profits, and marketing strategies for my own company. One example of a campaign I developed can be found at Enzymedica, a leading supplement manufacturer, which, four years later is still running the campaign I developed for them. Not every marketing program I’ve developed has worked, but enough that I would describe myself as a successful marketeer (not to be confused with mouseketeer).
The marketing that I have known, as to be differentiated from social media marketing, is now called traditional marketing. Some make the distinction between new marketing and old marketing. Call it what you will: traditional marketing and social media marketing are born of the same mother, and must complement each other. That may change in the near future, the 12/16/09 blog post 2010: The Year Marketing Dies, but now, most marketing strategies include a mix of traditional and social media. Which leads me to my next post: Marketing 101: A Basic Foundation.
Tags: marketing, new marketing, old marketing, social media marketing, traditional marketing
