If you were paying attention during the dot com era, there was a lot to be learned. Learned in the sense that George Santayana wanted us to learn from history — or be condemned to repeat it.
Speaking of history, the vaunted authority Wikipedia has this to say about the Gold Rushes of the 19th century:
Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a “free for all” in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly. The significance of gold rushes in history has given a longer life to the term, and it is now applied generally to denote any capitalist economic activity in which the participants aspire to race each other in common pursuit of a new and apparently highly lucrative market, often precipitated by an advance in technology.
Surely the incredible growth in the formation of businesses — complete with CFOs, HR departments, health benefit plans — around very small ideas which took place during the dot com craze was like a gold rush.
Who knew there would be so much investment available to support so much overhead when compared with the technology or product idea at the core of these internet businesses? Thousands of companies sprang up — each requiring space, phones, furniture, accountants, parking spaces and dental insurance. Some with ideas so small the founders couldn’t even articulate what it was they were in business to do.
Well we all learned our lessons. Or did we?
Business Week’s December 14 issue (online December 3) includes an article by Stephen Baker entitled “Beware Social Media Snake Oil.” In the article, Baker does the unthinkable: he calls out the self-styled “experts” who are flogging all social media all the time. “The consultants evangelize the transformative power of social media and often cast themselves as triumphant case studies of successful networking and self-branding.”
Baker gets it. Go ahead and wade into the social media… just your little toe… and you’ll be awash. But not in gold dust rushing through the stream caught in your pie-tin pan. Awash in an amazing volume of offers to help you get your social media mind right… or else!
Social media doctrine? “Engage your community.” “Listen twice, talk once.” “Be transparent.” Don’t worry about troubling prospects for contact information… just give all of your information away.
I really loved Josh Kopelman’s post on Redeye VC that cautioned those who, when the rubber meets the road and they realize they don’t have a proper go-to-market plan, say at the last minute, “Oh, we’ll just make it viral.”
After the dot com bubble burst, sales people had to sell, not just stand by the fax machine taking orders. Lots of sales guys lost their jobs as a result.
Mark my words: we are passing through a marketing gold rush. There’s gold in them thar hills, at least today.
But in the long run, marketing is about expressing an enduring promise of value, and delivering it. Though the media may change, that challenge will not.
Photo Credit: flickr/Rossco
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