This year’s TradeDoubler Summit was held last week at the BMI in Southbank and I was there to enjoy free muffins and listen to talks about online marketing.  I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect and had secretly planned to sneak back to the office half way through the day, but I was pleasantly surprised:  TradeDoubler had picked both inspiring and funny speakers and I ended up staying until the end.

A lot was said (and far from everything was retained…) but there were a few things that stood out, particularly from Gerd Leonhard’s note on “the future of digital marketing” and I’ve tried to pull out a few examples below. These things are by no means revolutionary ideas or thoughts, but they seemed to put words to what a lot of people were thinking and they made the audience nod and hum in agreement:

Interaction comes before transaction.In other words: getting people to engage with your brand comes before getting revenue from them – this has always been true but the format is changing – which is why so many companies have gone towards Social Media as a way to reach potential customers. The trouble is: not all of them know how to properly use this forum to their advantage nor are they aware of what it takes to get there.

Marketing is having to learn to listen – rather than shout. Interruptive advertising, where as big a crowd as possible is bombarded with the same marketing message, is out. Instead, the aim is to reach a very specific target group with an equally specific message. This is achieved by (again): engaging with consumers and requires having to listen to what is being fed back.

“Data is the new oil” This might seem slightly exaggerated but it’s true that we’re living in a society where access to personal data is becoming something you can trade with and where we all share a lot more information with the world than we used to (or might like to). So with companies needing the data and being prepared to pay for it – individuals have to work harder to protect it, or, make sure it’s exchanged for something of a high enough value. If given access to this data it might seem very tempting for a company to use it in any way that would benefit its needs, but permission and trust are key elements here: abuse and you’re in trouble.

All this means that we are increasingly in control as consumers – Social Media is forcing companies to be more open with what they do and based on what they’re saying (or not saying…) we then choose whether we’d like to interact with them or not. They may have our personal data and they may be able to reach us in an increasing amount of ways, but it’s really give-and-take. Look at Facebook for instance; all these brands that set up a page are essentially on the hunt for new and loyal customers but what they don’t always realise is that you have to put in quite an effort in order for the page to be of any value. Just setting one up for the sake of having a presence on Facebook can actually do more harm than good. If a company does anything to upset or disappoint consumers, having a Facebook page means they’ve given people the perfect forum for venting their feelings. And as it is social media, things soon spread… Remember the Nestlé fiasco? (If you don’t, try typing “Nestle facebook fail” into Google) They interacted alright, just not in the right way… Trying to control consumers is a bad move on any company’s part – especially when you’re talking social media. In order to gain from this potentially lucrative side of marketing, brands need to accept that they’d be losing control. They’d have to be honest with consumers and own up to what they do – which means they better make sure there are no skeletons hidden in their closets… Though as daunting as this may seem it isn’t an entirely bad thing: handing over control means more trust from consumers and consumers that trust, tend to become loyal customers.

As mentioned above this added openness and increased engagement has an effect on consumers too and as we become much more visible than before, it’s up to us to actively choose what information we share and don’t share. Gerd Leonhard said towards the end that “Privacy is becoming an action – not a default setting” (or something along those lines…apologies if I miss-quoted) which goes hand in hand with what was said earlier about data being the new oil: personal information now fuels a lot of the online marketing business and if we want to protect our privacy we have to actively think about what we do every time we’re online.

Personally, I’m in awe of the multitude of ways in which we can now reach people. From the location-based tweet telling you that the hair salon around the corner just had a cancelation at 2pm and that anyone looking to get highlights should pop by, through the app showing how many male single’s in the age-range 25 – 30 are currently in or near your local pub, to the speed in which a video can get from your iPhone to getting 5 million viewers online. The technical inventions behind these things are, to a non-techie like me, extremely impressive and when you add amazing new creative solutions to this – the online world becomes truly mind-boggling…

Nevertheless, I do like my privacy and being the owner of a rather “retro” Sony Ericsson from 3 or so years ago, I can’t say that I’m making the most out of what the online world has to offer…  Being slightly behind (on the tech-side of things) also means that I sometimes start wondering where this world; with all its apps, re-tweets and Facebook Likes, is  really heading. And I must admit: I have moments where I long for the good old days of pen-pals and payphones…  So I wonder: With the boundaries between offline and online becoming increasingly blurry – how can we ensure we get the best of both worlds? Is there a way of maintaining a certain level of privacy while continuing to enjoy new and quirky online inventions?

I guess there’s no telling where all this online business is going but one thing I do know, is that my Sony Ericsson and I will soon have to go our separate ways…. And in preparation for my phone-upgrade I’d like to make a request to anyone out there making apps: Muffins by proximity. I’d like to know how close to the nearest raspberry & white chocolate muffin I am, at all times. Much obliged!