The real time business mindset

It's been nearly two years since the original edition of Real-Time Marketing & PR was published and reached #2 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. Since then, I've published a new, revised paperback edition with some fresh stories of success.

I've delivered talks about real time marketing in more than a dozen countries (as I write this I am in Belize doing a session for the Belize Tourism Industry Association) as well as to many audiences in the U.S. People are intrigued by social media, but it's interesting to me that when I speak with executives around the world about social, many *still* push back and resist. They tell me about their kids' Facebook or talk about Twitter by saying what they had for lunch isn't important. They’ve already made up their minds that social is frivolous at best and a dangerous time-waster at worst.

Convincing the bosses

In order to scale social, I recommend that we not using the word "social" at all and instead substitute "real-time".

When I talk to the same executives about "real-time communications with customers" they lean forward and want to know more. These are the same people who dismiss Twitter.

I tell executives that an immensely powerful competitive advantage flows to organizations with people who understand the power of real-time information. What are people doing on your site right now? Has someone just praised you on Facebook? Panned you on Twitter? Published a how-to video about your product on YouTube?

Executives understand real-time and are eager to implement the ideas.

Conventional vs. Real-Time

The conventional business approach favors a campaign (note the war metaphor) that requires people to spend weeks or months planning to hit targets. Agencies must be consulted. Messaging strategies must be developed. Advertising space/time must be bought. Conference rooms and refreshments must be prepared for press conferences. Do you serve them sushi or sandwiches?

The real-time mind-set recognizes the importance of speed. It is an attitude to business (and to life) that emphasizes moving quickly when the time is right.

Developing a real-time mind-set is not an either/or proposition. I'm not saying you should abandon your current business-planning process. Nor do I advocate allowing your team to run off barking at every car that drives by. Focus and collaboration are essential.

Large Organizations Need to Work at It

The more people you have in an organization, the tougher it is to communicate in real time. In a command-and-control environment where no action can be taken without authority, without consultation, without due process, any individual who shows initiative can expect to be squashed.

The challenge is to develop a new balance that empowers employee initiative but offers real-time guidance when it's needed—like a hotline to higher authority.

In a real-time corporate culture everyone is recognized as a responsible adult.

If you're the leader, and you want to cultivate a real-time mind-set throughout your organization, tear down the command-and-control mentality. Recognize your employees as responsible adults. Empower them to take initiative.

Comments

[TanjaRiemann]

Agree so much with David's article. It is comfortable to work a traditional campaign , because we can feedback 10 times until the final decision maker agrees to buy the idea from the agency. With real-time we have to react to consumers faster and it means to make decisions ourselves. Need to learn doing that again.

[David Meerman Scott]

Tanja - Exactly. Campaigns are comfortable. But success comes from getting out of your comfort zone.

[ArtilleryMarket]

I guess you won't be surprised that I appreciate the military analogies. But they ARE applicable.

The military is not going to fight many more large land battles, it's much more about asymetrical counterinsurgency. Much the same in marketing, as there are so many Davids wreaking havoc on the Goliaths.

I hope to meet you next week at Inbound to get some books signed. I also have a grenade to give you. Don't worry, it's not the exploding kind!

[David Meerman Scott]

Artillery - see you next week!

[Tony Faustino]

Chapter 7: Crisis Communications and the Media in the first edition continues to be my favorite section because your pragmatic advice would help so many people and organizations in dealing with crisis situations.

Your 5-Point Plan on "how to credibly connect with journalists before you need them" is solid gold because building trust and credibility with the media takes significant time. The best time to build these media relationships is before a negative event strikes (not as the crisis unfolds).

Congratulations David on this latest, revised and updated edition!

[Bob Steinkamp]

David, thanks for writing this post. As an agency owner, one of the most frustrating things for me is recognizing when a client or potential client needs to using social media, but refuses to for whatever reason he or she has.

Repositioning it as "real-time" media just seems like a brilliant idea, because it rings true with the mindset of most of the executives I deal with. They don't want to hear that building a social media following takes time (and an investment of their time), they want results, and they want customer retention and loyalty. I can see our firm repositioning SM as real-time communication with them, and making our efforts to get them to buy into it a lot easier. Thanks again for sharing this idea.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Tony!

Bob - it works! Glad to have you try out using the "real time" language. Good luck.

[Emma Barton]

Thanks for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.

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[Biggy]

Thank you for this post, it is very inspiring. I'm also curious, how long it will take the 'old fashioned-marketers' to finally adjust more real-time communication/marketing

[ios developers]

social media providing great platform for sharing your business and additional activity its open the concept of non relevant people how type the business in running up in market