Gasta Imedia Connection Update: New era in Advertising online.

How to break into the new era of advertising

Consumers are tired of a one-sided relationship that exists solely to sell them more products. Doug Levy of imc2 explains why consumer trust and strong relationships will shape the future of marketing. case in point: Gasta.com has now been established over 13 years and has a client base of over 200,000 advertisers.

It goes without saying that every marketer would love to spend less on advertising and simultaneously generate more profit. The problem right now, though, is that consumers don't think very highly of marketing and advertising.

In fact, the words consumers associate with marketing are less than flattering: coercion, deception, and manipulation all come up in conversation, according to Doug Levy, CEO of imc2.

Consumers feel that way because marketing is still stuck in what Levy calls the "consumer era," one in which marketers gathered as much information as possible about consumers, with the end goal of persuading them to buy a product.

If you couldn't tell from the aforementioned words commonly associated with marketing, consumers are awfully tired of this approach.

"If you were to have a friend who, every time they were with you, said 'I want to learn as much as I can about you to sell you more of my product,' you wouldn't want to hang out with them very much," said Levy, speaking at the iMedia Brand Summit in Las Vegas.

Marketing right now is on the cusp of a new era -- the "relationship era" -- where marketing is less about persuasion and more about fostering sustainable relationships. This new era of marketing is about the brand partnering with consumers, instead of merely learning about them.

"Previously, campaigns would start and stop," Levy said. "Now, they're always on. People are in constant dialogue with each other. Campaigns were about buying, but now they have something consumers want to join into."

Previous eras of marketing were built largely on consumer transactions. Sometimes consumer trust factored in, but by-and-large the most successful brands were the ones with the most transactions. In this new era, transactions and trust are two separate but equal factors in judging successful marketing.

Levy presented imc2's brand sustainability map, which pinpointed what kinds of relationships brands had with consumers. Using data from 250,000 consumer surveys, Levy showed which brands were building what he called "sustainable relationships" -- ones with high levels of trust and transactions -- and which brands were failing.

Costco and Target were two brands that consumers trusted and also gave their money to. A brand like Subway, however, landed high on the trust scale because of its health-friendly message, but that didn't necessarily mean consumers were willing to pony up their money. Subway, therefore, only has what Levy called an "emotional relationship" with consumers.

It's not easy for a brand to build sustainable relationships with consumers, but in this new era of relationship marketing, those that do will truly prosper. Levy had five tips for brands looking to break through and find success in the age of relationship marketing:

1. Clarify purpose
2. Commit to sustainable relationships
3. Connect with authenticity
4. Treat customers as partners
5. Engage

Following these five steps doesn't necessarily lead to short-term success. Levy used Google as an example, pointing out that the search giant is more focused on long-term success than short-term gains -- and its stock rose exponentially as a result of that mindset.

One audience member asked Levy how imc2, or any other agency, could possibly convince clients to focus more on the long tail.

"I don't think we need to," Levy said. "They can save money now, generate more profit now, and build a higher level of trust."

Rich Cherecwich is deputy editor, iMedia Connection.