If you work with colleagues who resist the idea of social media, you're not alone. In a post at his Web Ink Now blog, David Meerman Scott says he often encounters marketers who insist their customers simply aren't online. According to their claims in recent conversations, tech-averse audiences include:
- Those who donate to humanitarian non-profits
- Workers for government agencies
- Senior executives at large companies
Scott believes this argument tends to serve as a cover for those who feel most comfortable with traditional marketing channels like direct mail or billboards. And, should you encounter this rationale, you might want to borrow his standard response: "Nonsense! These days everyone is online. Executives use Google, government workers read blogs, people who donate money watch YouTube videos. And even if they don't go online at work, they do at home. Stop making excuses and reach your buyers in the way they want to be reached."
The post includes an amusing video, shot in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where Scott admits he found a market that really isn't online. "If you're selling camels at the Riyadh camel market," he notes wryly, "then keep marketing the same old ways."
David Meerman Scott provides a great piece of Marketing Inspiration by stating this fact in unequivocal terms: The time for finding reasons not to engage customers through social media is long past.
More Inspiration:
Mack Collier: Broadcasting with 'Social' Media
Elaine Fogel: Creatives: Stop What You're Doing and Watch This!
Ann Handley: Who's On First?
by Christina "CK" Kerley
