Just saw that even the Queen of England is posting on YouTube now. Queen Elizabeth hearkens back to 50 years ago, when she first broadcast her Christmas message on another (fairly) new medium, TV. Buckingham Palace has recently orchestrated a "Royal Channel" on YouTube, with the first Christmas message now posted for 2007.
If the Queen can take this on, and use the medium in a relevant and (in theory) welcomed way, it's curious, if not remarkable, that Pharma companies have such an opinion of themselves to not fully participate in this medium. In a study by TWI Surveys, Inc., the primary obstacles currently preventing marketers from investing more in conversational marketing include: manpower restraints (51.1%), fear of loss of control (46.9%), inadequate metrics (45.4%), culture of their organizations (43.5%), and difficulty with internal sell-through (35.8%). Manpower and metrics are easy obstacles to tackle. The others are not. Nearly 80% of consumers trust recommendations from family, friends, and influential persons over all forms of advertising and marketing (source: Keller Fay Group). Yet, the fear over loss of control defeats the beauty of social media. I once heard a speaker at a conference say that it's not about being naked, it's about what you have to show. Meaning, if you are honest, transparent, and listen to your audience, you should be fine. If you have something to hide - that's a different matter. This was OK before, now it is not - it will only catch up with you and be your nemesis if you don't get ahead of it. Rather than constant band-aid management, you can use this as a marketing tool, by listing and inviting conversation inward. Now, culture and internal sell through are one and the same thing, but this can change one person at a time. All in favor?
If the Queen can take this on, and use the medium in a relevant and (in theory) welcomed way, it's curious, if not remarkable, that Pharma companies have such an opinion of themselves to not fully participate in this medium. In a study by TWI Surveys, Inc., the primary obstacles currently preventing marketers from investing more in conversational marketing include: manpower restraints (51.1%), fear of loss of control (46.9%), inadequate metrics (45.4%), culture of their organizations (43.5%), and difficulty with internal sell-through (35.8%). Manpower and metrics are easy obstacles to tackle. The others are not. Nearly 80% of consumers trust recommendations from family, friends, and influential persons over all forms of advertising and marketing (source: Keller Fay Group). Yet, the fear over loss of control defeats the beauty of social media. I once heard a speaker at a conference say that it's not about being naked, it's about what you have to show. Meaning, if you are honest, transparent, and listen to your audience, you should be fine. If you have something to hide - that's a different matter. This was OK before, now it is not - it will only catch up with you and be your nemesis if you don't get ahead of it. Rather than constant band-aid management, you can use this as a marketing tool, by listing and inviting conversation inward. Now, culture and internal sell through are one and the same thing, but this can change one person at a time. All in favor?
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