Monday, June 13, 2011

Pinball Marketing

Bowling vs. Pinball: The evolution of Marketing

Ten years ago, in the marketing age of Bowling, we controlled our game; We saw the target, we planned our approach, our pace, our arc, our spin. And if your plans and short-term goals were all met in this one-directional game, you would have achieved a substantial amount of success.

Today, those pins hurl the ball back at you.
Reaction is the name of the game in today's age of marketing Pinball. As your message makes its way through the spring-loaded bumpers of social media, you find yourself hoping that you actually make some noise and that your message doesn't come back at you in an unexpected, and perhaps unplayable, manner. You quickly realize that you have to poise yourself for something that is both defensive and artful. There are opportunities and bonus points for sending your message to seemingly unreachable areas. There are also traps and multiple balls in play when you activate certain triggers. How do you analyze and optimize that? You don't, at least not in the moment. The point is, you rack up more points the more those social media bumpers bounce your ball between them. And all you can do is react to their energy. 


The one-directional game is over, social media can react.  The beauty about the new game is that it pays you back the more you play.  Get your message into the game and let the social world bounce it around.

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