Keeping in touch

Marketing in 2006 will continue its integration into daily life,most notably, via cell phone.

"Now that text messages flow to cell phones, the marketers will figure out how to reach you," says Dave Archer, a marketing management consultant and president of the Reno chapter of the American Marketing Association.

And that presents new challenges to businesses.

"Business must become adept at managing the mobile relationship, says David LaPlante, chief executive officer at Twelve Horses."Next year there will be 200 million active cell phones in the U.S.

Business and consumers will realize that the third screen we carry in our pockets is the best conduit to people."

Think of the phone and you think of chatting.

It's all about relationships.

"More than ever, business must become adept at managing relationships and referrals," says LaPlante.

Social marketing is the next big thing, he says word of mouth and personal referrals.

But forget chatting at the water cooler.

The action is online.

Social marketing takes place in cyberspace, at Internet venues like tribe.net and myspace.com.

It's happening in chat rooms, on blogs, and via instant messaging.

Younger demographics adopt new technologies faster and more aggressively.And, increasingly, they favor consumer-generated content.

For instance, Ban deodorant drafted teenage gals to design its new ad campaign.

The company went national with the quirky ads and sales are up.

Attention will increasingly focus on generational differences, says Valerie Glenn, president and chief executive officer of The Rose/Glen Group.

"Marketers need to study Gen X, Gen Y, and those that follow, to understand how they make their buying decisions,"Glenn says.

"It's critical to focus in closely," she adds.

"Mass media is too fragmented.Marketers must find ways to build relationships."

Relationships can make or break a company.

A blogger made life hell for Dell, says LaPlante,when the disgruntled customer broadcast a report of bad service from the computer maker that circled the planet.

Increasingly, the consumer drives the sale.

"It's all about search Web sites," says Scott Frost, the chairman of Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship who also works as general manager for vegashotspots.com.

Forget buying pages and placing banner ads, he says.

Targeted search is the thing.Advertisers don't sponsor a page, just a hot link.

The banner ad displays when a browser clicks the portal to a specific subject.

In this market, it's important to offer a full range of integrated marketing communications, says Stephanie Kruse, president of KPS/3.

It's all an integrated package: strategy, sales training, email,Web site.And public relations, which Kruse spotlights as the resurgent trend in the Truckee Meadows.

"When the economy was soft," Kruse recalls,"companies looked for ways to reach prospects in a less costly way."

While PR requires creativity,Kruse cautions against bringing out the bling for its own sake.

"Clients will want to know the results of creativity," she says.

As outreach options multiply like Star Trek's tribbles on turbo tea, marketers need to measure results.

"They're now tracking whether a response comes from post card or e-mail," says Archer.

The upshot, says LaPlante: The formerly neat little lines between advertising, marketing and public relations are all blurry.