Most of the time, when I mention speed in marketing, someone will attach this trait to the fact that I’m of the “millennial” generation. When I say “speed”, I’m talking about the way technology, innovation, and the world itself is pushing each one of us to do better tomorrow than what we are doing today. A letter that used to take three days by mail now takes seconds. What happens in tech and innovation is also happening to marketing.
Last week I was doing a DIY project selected by my lovely wife (I bought an old TV to turn it into a bar). As I carried this 140-pound TV from 1970 and stripped off its old parts, I thought about how this jewel of 70s technology is now sold for $10.99 in a thrift store. It used to cost thousands of dollar. Now kids use it to reverse engineer the way television works: here is a kit so your 6-yo can build his own computer. Engineers forty years ago cannot create the same way they used to with old habits. The market expects new technology to come faster, and our competition understands that.
In marketing, it is the same — speed and momentum need to be used if we want to succeed in selling the “awesome” products we offer. Other companies are also offering their “awesome” products, similar in many ways, often through the same partners.
We need to reinvent ourselves and listen to the pulse of the market to anticipate customer behavior and challenges. We are not only pushing information anymore, and we need to iterate our touchpoints. Marketing speed is necessary for the following reasons:
- Collective intelligence.
Going fast is good; but we need to create a collective knowledge to learn faster and avoid making the same mistakes. Going fast is not just a succession of actions. - Better and faster market penetration.
We are creatures of habit and it is easier to nurture an existing customer who is familiar with our products. The more they hear about us from different people (marketing touchpoints), the more trust they have in our brand. - Happy customers. We are not perfect. Customers accept mistakes, but they don’t accept that companies fix them. Marketing speed forces companies to adapt to customers’ needs and expectations, and create RELIABLE channels of communication.
- More opportunity to celebrate. The quicker you try new ways of communication the more chances you have to succeed. Trying only a few ways lowers your chance of success. Trying many ways will increase your chances.
How fast are you going when it comes to adopting new ideas?
NB: Kano is a computer and coding kit for ages 6 and up — just like LEGO –
PS: Here is a pic of my DIY by the way!
