Blunt – The Conversation Agency

Jon and I got into this business in 1995-96. At the time the Internet was very much the Wild West – we took a shot at a startup in an emerging industry. Our business development activities were plentiful as the whole world was coming online. Everyone was without a web presence and everyone needed one. I remember distinctly leaving meetings where prospects would tell us that the Internet was a passing fad. Kinda like paper and gravity. Very few companies “got it” in the beginning. Our responsibility as pioneers in the field was to understand prospects business requirements and pain points and wrap the technology around it. While I was in sales, I was selling a technology and marketing product. There was no definition for the service offering or the industry. We were just doing it. Selling and building and learning.

By 1999 the digital medium could no longer be ignored and the traditional advertising agencies began to acquire smaller digital shops. It many cases it was not a result of foresight or an understanding of the medium; rather the agencies were in reactive mode, no longer able to pitch large accounts without a digital offering. And so the buzz words “integrated communications” was born. They had little meaning, but it was a good sound byte.

By the year 2000, the VC backed industry had imploded. Dot com businesses were dying by the day and sites like fuckedcompany.com were springing up to document the demise of the dot com empire. As my 2.5 year old son would say “to much is no good”. While many individuals and organizations that had jumped on the technology bandwagon were abandoning ship, the digital elite understood that we were at the doorstep of the digital era. Weathering the storm required resolve and commitment to the power of the human network.

2009 represented the emergence of an entirely new web. The social web, or web 2.0 represented a paradigm shift from the “read only” to the “read/write” web. Companies became bystanders in their own brand conversations. The micro celebrity emerged often replacing traditional media as a source of information. Facebook became the place to see and be seen with over 350 million users worldwide.

As a sales executive the evolution of the Internet has represented many challenges. Selling malleable customized communication services is very different then any other sales process. In general we follow a missionary evangelical sale. Our responsibility is to educate the market. Sales listens and marketing speaks. The resulting integration of sales and marketing highlights a holistic full duplex conversation and the birth of the digital marketer. Digital marketers are in the trenches, working and collaborating with clients and team members alike. Being clear and core with the offering, yet malleable and flexible with solution. The digital marketer is integrated into the entire corporate experience. Every touch point from receptionist to product development and deliverables. The digital marketer is the embodiment of the brand; developing an ecosystem of micro celebrities whose collaboration leads to innovation and legitimate thought leadership.

While the industry is continuously evolving and marketing increasingly migrates to the digital medium, the role of the digital marketer will play a critical role in the ability to speak with consumers and grease the conversion funnel. Regardless of the channel, that’s what it’s about.

Richard Zeidel