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Remember when the objective of improving efficiency used to include a human element?  Not so much anymore.  It seems we spend more time trying to create systems and processes whereby people do not have to touch anything than we do spending time creating touch-points to clients and reaching out to prospective customers. And the new model works for some things but should be examined with great caution when considering its application to customers.

We subscribe to the “win without pitching” model whereby we prefer our clients be drawn to us by our expertise and not by some sales pitch we develop (..sounds like marketing - doesn’t it).  Then how should we spend our time?

If we left it up to tech trends we would spend all of our time on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; connecting with “our social  networks”.   I don’t know about you, but most networks I am invited into smells of a pitch.  There’s not much social about it.

In reality, I am spending more time these days trying to figure out how to service fewer clients at a higher level.   Trust me, less is more!  I am most interested in applying my expertise for fewer clients, whereby I can care deeply about their future and purposefully help them meet their objectives.

Sure, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, but give me a clear problem that I can touch and address, and apply all that I have learned for a client that matters, and there I will be a happy camper.   CAN touch this!

While idling at a stoplight yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice how my fellow commuters were taking advantage of the moment, technologically speaking.  Just in the few cars around me, I saw people talking on their cell phones (two on wireless Bluetooth devices) children watching a video in the back seat, all while I sat scanning through emails on my phone. And before the light could turn from red to green, I was invited to join one of the four wireless networks in the area.

Obviously, digital technologies are just a way of life these days. But it’s amazing to consider just how much how our lives have been impacted by changing technology overall – and it shows no signs of slowing down.  Check out the video below to see what I mean.

This is a very interesting article that appeared today in AdAge. Probably the most sense I’ve heard from anyone lately regarding print subscription media.

Amazon Device Could Be White Knight for Newspapers and Magazines

By Steve Rubel 

Published: March 17, 2009

Newspaper and magazine execs have long regretted making their crown jewels — quality content — available for free. No one has really been able to make a go of digital subscriptions.
As the tangible media era ends, the media formerly known as print can’t count on advertising alone to survive. They need to find healthy subscription revenues. Thankfully, an unusual white knight has emerged: the Amazon Kindle.
The Kindle 2.0’s debut was a watershed moment for print media. It offers one last solid shot to build a robust digital-subscription businesses — if newspapers and magazines move quickly.

Steve Rubel is a marketing strategist and blogger. He is senior VP-director of insights at Edelman Digital.
Like the iPod before it, the Kindle is a critical emerging device that actually encourages consumers to pay for content. When Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, some were skeptical that people would shell out cash for music they could snag for free from file-sharing networks. They did. The same was true when Apple, and later others, rolled out movies. Today millions rent or buy movies online.

The Kindle offers a similar opportunity in a much larger market: text. This one is tougher to monetize. Even though magazine and newspaper content is widely available for free, I believe that people will pay to receive their favorites on their Kindles or their Kindle-enabled phones.
The media needs to meet them there now, while they can. One unsolicited suggestion: Offset part of the cost of the Kindle to get them into the hands of loyal readers with content preloaded. Imagine if Time Warner gave readers $100 off a Kindle that came with a year of digital subscriptions to Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune. I bet a lot of people would jump in and stay for years.

The Kindle, like the iPod, overcomes the hurdle required to get people to pay for content. The secret sauce is easy and near-instantaneous information delivery.
Newspapers and magazines must jump in now. Subsidize Kindles. Create value-added content for the device. Or even partner with advertisers in creative ways to offer new content. This is the last shot at getting people to shell out for digital subscriptions. The Kindle is print’s white knight.

SOCIAL TRENDS?

With any new social trend, or new marketing technology for that matter, there is a danger in isolating the ‘ideal’ and over-investing dollars, with the expectation of above-average results.  That’s all good until, like previous ventures, it proves to be just another trend.  Some might say marketing is best defined as ‘trending’, meaning all efforts are given to identifying general tendencies or inclinations toward new behavior. Sounds good, but what does that mean to your brand.

PEOPLE POWER

For some marketers people are seen for who they are and what they can contribute to any brand’s success.  Unfortunately, for many marketers these days, people are just voices.   That is: voices they can use to influence others (word-of-mouth).  But, in reality people ARE the media.  They ARE the source generating the content.  It’s not about telling people what to say, rather giving them something to talk about.   The intelligence generated and transmitted (communicated) to others is not to be manipulated by the brand, but rather influenced.  And influence comes in many varieties.

THE DANGER

So, the danger is in isolating any trend in preference to considering all of the available marketers’ efforts.  And Social Media?  Well it’s like an ocean with many waves and your desire should be for your brand to ride one of those waves.  You don’t make the waves: people make the waves.  Quit focusing on the ocean, and focus on being able to recognize the individual waves that matter to your brand.  People who generate scoial media freely discuss their interests and expertise.