I wrote a while back about the PSFK Conference in New York and how “kind of” has become the new “um.” My point being that newer marketers tend to equivocate when talking by peppering their language with “kind ofs” and “sort ofs.” Marketers are less definite today. Go into a meeting sometime with someone who knows what they are doing, and you know right away. They use language with little wiggle room for interpretation.
Part of why we equivocate in marketing today is the emergence of digital marketing. It’s so new, relatively speaking. It’s the wild west. Digital marketing is supposed to be more definite, more predictable — a click is a click, a purchase a purchase. Yet there are only a few handfuls of experts and more questions than answers.
Some experts in digital marketing that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to were at PSFK in NY. Bloggers. Community builders. Art builders. For me, what made them experts was that they focused on their art, not on the business model. Those speakers who focused on the business model, failed. Their discussions sounded hollow. And though there were only one, maybe two, speakers of this caliber, it provided a great foil for the real visionaries.
Focus on the art and the business will follow. If you have a chance to get to the PSFK London Conference, go. And listen carefully.
