{"id":429,"date":"2012-02-26T18:20:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T23:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steinvox.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2012-08-11T12:18:35","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T17:18:35","slug":"ceo-question-for-social-mediawhat-about-growth-profit-the-4ps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinvox.com\/blog\/ceo-question-for-social-mediawhat-about-growth-profit-the-4ps\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO Question For Social Media – What About Growth, Profit & The 4Ps?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"4Ps\"<\/a>Fundamental to business, is profit. Too often social media proposals lose track of this principle. Real Marketing Professionals<\/em> propose every program, initiative or campaign in context with growth <\/em>and driving profit<\/em>. Grounding social initiatives in business fundamentals increases Marketing credibility in the C-suite and throughout the organization.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of what marketers call \u201cFUD<\/em>\u201d (fear, uncertainty and doubt) floating around about social media. It\u2019s not hard to find a social media agency ready to sell pre-packaged activity-based services. The pitches: \u201cmust invest now,\u201d \u201cyou can\u2019t wait,\u201d and \u201cB2B better get on board\u201d hyperbolically overstate the real urgency and often sacrifices a company\u2019s marketing basics for action.<\/p>\n

Two Approaches To Social Media Value<\/h3>\n

Please understand, I\u2019m an avid social technologist, and believe in its value. Social is one of many new digitally-rooted marketing advances.\u00a0 To maximize social media value, it must be tied to business and marketing fundamentals.<\/p>\n

Two typical paths to social marketing initiatives are often taken: 1) jump in without thinking \u2013 a potentially costly path that relies on luck, and 2) plan, engage invest, adopt, adapt and grow the social program as one would with any worthwhile marketing program \u2013 an approach that works. The second approach also implies that your Marketing team is not losing track of marketing process basics.<\/p>\n

Ask Your CEO<\/h3>\n

With social media, are the 4Ps no longer relevant, are they changing or just evolving. The 4Ps are fundamental and relevant. The CMO or VP or Marketing is the CEO\u2019s trusted advisor on all things strategy and marketing. If you doubt that business fundamentals, (revenue and profit); or you feel that the core marketing processes have changed or become irrelevant because of the speed of social media today, consider asking the CEO these questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Does the company still provide a product or service? (P=product)<\/li>\n
  2. Where does value get delivered \/ exchanged to customers? (P=place)<\/li>\n
  3. To reach customers, are activities required to gain visibility? (P=promotion)<\/li>\n
  4. Does that product or service transfer value to customer for money? (P=price)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I think we all can agree that the CEO will answer these questions about the 4Ps with answers similar to these:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. YES, we still have a product<\/em> <\/strong>(or service),<\/li>\n
    2. Our (market) place<\/em> <\/strong>still exists, and it is bigger \u2013 we now compete with global competitors who compete with us in our local marketplaces.<\/li>\n
    3. Our promotion <\/strong><\/em>reach is now greater, and errors are not acceptable as it costs more to correct them. so our messages must be accurate, crisp, clear and timing on point.<\/li>\n
    4. To make money, our product or service must have a price<\/strong><\/em>, set as a fair exchange of value to our customers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Customers & Users<\/h3>\n

      What about Google? Facebook? And Twitter”?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t those products free?<\/em> No, absolutely not, their business ecosystem has increased complexity; but these companies aggregate digitally connected user communities in order to sell targeted access to advertisers and other\u00a0 customers.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make the mistake of assuming that users<\/em> of social media are automatically the customer; they are more often not the customer<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Importance Of Value<\/h3>\n

      To take full advantage of a digitally connected economy and new virtual marketplaces across a global reach, you cannot argue that marketing must go through the foundational marketing processes of:<\/p>\n