I only wonder when I see the confusion that reigns in many companies about internet marketing. Everything is going well, while talking about the offline world: The 4 p’s of Jerome Mc Carthy  unfortunately still work like a charm. There is talk of product, price, promotion and distribution, as always. However, when we go to the online world, things go wrong, they become dark and complicated, when in the end, they are not, or if they are, they are not more than in the offline world.

The problem is often motivated by some professionals who work on the Internet, who speak of a “new internet marketing” or simply “internet marketing” as a “new and specific” discipline. There is talk of seo, sem, affiliate marketing, remarketing, social media, community management, web monitoring tools, web analytics (And little else) and it says: This is the new internet marketing.

All this reminds me of a dialogue that Scully has with Mulder in a chapter of X files, when Mulder claims that many want to confuse to get rid of and fulfill their purposes: “Mulder, not everything is a labyrinth of dark conspiracy, and not everybody is plotting to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate ”

Well yes, dear Scully, Mulder for a change, he’s right. The thing does not reach levels of conspiracy, but of confusion. And is that this purported new marketing is not such. They are only tools (valuable that if), to work in a channel that has specificities that must be known and treated. Marketing, is still marketing. The tools are just that, and not the panacea or the definitive solution to the problems that afflict thousands of websites in Spain. Pretending to replace marketing (Solo) with web tools is dangerous and expensive in the long run.

Lack of training

Also say that many marketing professionals are completely unaware of these tools. Yes, they are “new” so it is necessary to learn them. Do companies train their marketing department in these tools?

In my opinion, few do. This brings problems, fears, insecurities, and the worst: They generate a disconnection between the online and offline marketing demolition for any brand.

It is not the first time nor the last (I am afraid), in which I will continue to see how the marketing of a company is managed from the marketing department and the marketing management of the internet channel is transferred to a third party “because it is a new discipline of which we know nothing here. ” Epic fail.

A new marketing?

Marketing as any discipline, evolves, therefore, if we talk about a “new marketing on the Internet” we should also talk about a “new offline marketing”.

Although the Internet has existed since 1991 (not to mention ARPANET), it is in recent years that it is having the importance for marketing that has made it what it is today: A new channel.

If something is wonderful on the internet, it is the speed with which the changes occur. The Internet, as we know it today, has undoubtedly motivated marketing to evolve.

To speak of four P’s today (on and off the internet) is to take the risk of oversimplifying things. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not more than that.”

Marketing has adapted to a much more complex reality, and its evolution has, if possible, even more meaning on the internet.

From inside to outside or from outside to inside?

Lauterborn and Hayman have developed marketing theory talking about the 4 C and 8 D respectively. But beyond putting initial words, what is really important is the change of direction of the actions that are undertaken from the company:

Before, marketing decisions were made from “inside out”, from the company to the “market” (sum of consumers): a product was designed (Product), launched at a “market” price based on costs of production and development, (Price) was distributed in different channels (Place) and promoted with different techniques (Promotion).

Today, the actions are taken from “outside to inside” (The consumer decides and the companies try to give him what he wants). We are talking about four C’s:

• We sell “needs adorned with something” more than products in themselves : Apple, does not sell a mac, sells the need to have a gadget that provides status, standard of living, membership of the club “maqueros” or what is the same: Customer value
• The relevant thing to put a price on something, is no longer the cost of production (only): The important thing is the “perceived price” by the customer when it comes to satisfying a need: Mercadona is successful as a commercial model, not because of its “Cheap” if not because your customers perceive that to satisfy the need to make the daily purchase, the price offered is fair. Apple, three and four times more expensive selling a laptop than their competition, because the need for his clients “is something more” than a laptop. (Customer cost)
• The important thing today is not the “place” where to buy the product, it is the “moment” in which it can be accessed . “The Chinese” know it well, that’s why they can charge you double for a product that is in the supermarket under your house, alone, because it is closed when you want it. (Convenience)
• Today, you have to “talk” with customers, but you also have to “listen” to them: You can post a wonderful vacation, but also better if you listen to which places they would like to go.

Do you already guess what is going on?

It is easy. Things are not as easy as before, today you have to sell ornate needs, and that means selling specific things for specific targets, at specific moments, with concrete value propositions and with concrete messages.

Internet, without a doubt, is the best place to do it, but EYE! Out of the internet too! : To say otherwise would be “deceive, Inveigle and obfuscate” (deceive, seduce and obfuscate) as Scully would say.