• by Denise Shiffman , April 1, 2008

Denise Shiffman presents the Six Vs for a changed marketing world

Violent change always comes quickly. With all the new terms used in the lexicon of the Web, it can get kind of confusing to talk about. It wasn't long ago an executive at O'Reilly Media coined Web 2.0 to refer to the social aspects of the Web. By 2006 The New York Times had already used Web 3.0 to refer to the Web that offers meaning - where the sum of knowledge and behavior can be accessed (of course this is of primary importance to performance marketers). But the one I like best is used by industry pundit Doc Searls: Live Web, which is meant as an all encompassing term to refer to 2.0, 3.0 and everything in between.

Marketing 2.0 is defined by the open, collaborative, social, virtual, user-generated, mobile environment of the Live Web. So much change in such a short time has left marketers scrambling to implement new programs with little understanding of the entire scope of activities and impact. As marketers work hard to catch up with all of the technology and change, it's time to recognize that we are marketing within a completely different medium and with a new set of rules. This book proposes a new model for marketing in the age of the Live Web.

It's time to euthanize the old marketing model, the "Four Ps": product, price, place and promotion. Although a core section of many of the old marketing texts taught to most marketing students, this Marketing 1.0 discipline for defining marketing strategy and planning is outdated. Consider the impact the Internet - and the Live Web - has had on each of the "Four Ps." You will see it is profound. It gives us reason to consider that the creation, management, marketing and life cycle of a product has taken on new meaning. In direct opposition with the information posted on the "Marketing" entry on Wikipedia [though by the time you're reading this magazine that might likely have changed -Ed.],

I would argue with the contribs that the "Four Ps" model is dead.

Although the Four Ps concepts are almost fifty years old (the paradigm was invented by E. Jerome McCarthy in his 1960 first edition text, Basic Marketing), many companies still organize around these disciplines as if they were journalists clinging to their Ws. Different groups within a company are responsible for defining the product, pricing, distribution channel, and the outbound and brand marketing. Even if the groups communicate often, a deeply integrated solution is difficult at best. Innovation that spans across these disciplines is nearly impossible. It's also difficult to continuously refresh and advance the entire solution, or adapt to specific needs of the target audience or in the marketplace. Yet, all of this is mandatory in the ultra-competitive markets companies face.

The companies, constituents and innovative gathering places that have been created by the Live Web force us to approach the marketing landscape differently. Customers and prospects talk to each other about you. How can you participate in the conversation? Price comparison sites destroy value add. How can you be unique? New marketing techniques appear to confuse the media, the message and the consumer. It is time to redefine the paradigm for marketing strategy, planning, and implementation.

We can no longer write a marketing plan at the beginning of the year and execute against it over the year. The traditional marketing plan can do no more than give us a snapshot of a point in time. It doesn't help us make the right decisions as we move forward in a complex and constantly changing marketplace. Marketing planning must be fluid, and needs a flexible new model, which is collaborative and can be adjusted on the fly.

The only marketing strategy that will work today is one that is designed to encourage and incorporate change as the product evolves. It's time to redefine the fundamental strategies that determine a product's success. With this thinking, it is possible for anyone to build and market products that thrive in today's extraordinarily competitive and complex marketplace. This marketing paradigm is based on the "Six Vs":

• Venture: The deep integration of product, service and channel of distribution
• Value: Creating inherent "marketingness" through unique, defendable, sustainable and engaging value
• Voice: The perception created and the followers gained through vision and story
• Verification: Developing credibility through proof, truth and transparency
• Vicinity: Harnessing the communities and myriad voices of the Live Web
• Vehicle: Incorporating Marketing 2.0 strategies to attract and delight customers

Each of these strategic segments is elaborated on in The Age of Engage (Hunt Street, $24.95). It is time to shake loose old thinking and ingrained habits. It's not enough to test the online waters; it is no longer safe to take the trusted path. The traditional tried-and-true forums for getting your message out are under attack. The way marketing has been implemented for the past forty years is dead. Marketing has been reinvented. It is exciting, inventive, and challenging, and opens many new paths for creating product successes that take off like rockets.

Excerpted from The Age of Engage by Denise Shiffman (Hunt Street, $24.95). Shiffman is founder and principal of the strategic marketing and innovation consultancy Venture Essentials. In her 23-year marketing and management career she has launched over 30 products responsible for more than $2 billion in revenue and marketed pioneering computer and Web technologies. Her commentary has been featured in The New York Times and BusinessWeek, and on CNET.