The Sweet Spot

In the past few years we’ve grown used to hearing one respected consumer brand, after another, announce decisions to focus almost exclusively on digital. Advertising spending, or adspend, on print collateral had already been declining. Adspend in both print and broadcast media followed suit, as tightened budgets were reallocated to digital.

Why? Search marketing, social media, semantic technology – all of these promise to help a brand achieve greater impact with less investment. Brands making the switch expect to realize significant cost savings and achieve greater reach, too.

The big question is, can the social-semantic web deliver on that promise? I believe the answer is yes. There is potential for more brand loyalty and much greater return on investment (ROI) in the long run, but only if the brands making this change also embrace certain core principles that are critical to success in the current media landscape.

The Honey Pot is really about embracing those principles – things like alignment, authenticity and value – and using them to build a rich online ecosystem that can attract customers the way a pot of honey attracts bees. If done properly, the honey pot may even start to feed its own growth.

The reason why a Honey Pot strategy can work so well right now is that value matters more than ever. We’re in a long-tail world, where niche products and services proliferate, the voices of individual consumers are louder, and the impact of those voices more wide-reaching than you can imagine. But if you can win over your core constituency by providing real value – the sweetest honey – the customers will find their way to you.

Take a look around at what’s happening in the advertising and media landscape and you’ll see why it may be time to change the way you think about marketing. It’s no longer about mass marketing, and may not even be about one to one marketing. Today think one to niche marketing as a way to reach your core.

I’d be the first to admit that a Honey Pot strategy won’t work for every business. For those companies that have a compelling core, however, this kind of approach can provide better ROI over time. The principles behind the Honey Pot can help you build strong brand identity, attract new prospects and forge lasting relationships with customers.