In the spirit of college basketball and the Final Four we wanted to have our own showdown of sorts…sans the basketballs and tall players. (Unfortunately for Maven his legs are a little short for this type of athleticism)
We wanted to bring you a showdown of the “final four” marketing buzzwords that have made the cut into 2013 so far. Granted, some absolutely despise these buzzwords and some have wholeheartedly embraced them; however, we think giving these words a reasonable definition with some facts behind them make using these “buzz words” more justifiable.
This week we have a showdown of Real-Time Marketing vs. Native Advertising and Big Data vs. Growth Hacking. It’s a battle of which you like more or the one that you feel is the buzz-word of the year. It’s up to you to determine which one wins this Marketing March Madness.
Here’s the Buzziest Four Bracket:
Here’s a breakdown of the first showdown with Real-Time Marketing vs. Growth Hacking. We’ll figure out the winner for this game from votes today and tomorrow, but Thursday and Friday we’ll determine the winner of Big Data vs. Native Advertising. Tell us between each of the battles, which term you like better. We accept votes through Facebook polling (Will be open at 12pm), tweets with your favorite marketing buzzword or if you want to hand deliver, or should I say paw deliver, your vote to our new office we’ll take that too!
Real-Time Marketing vs. Growth Hacking
1. Real-Time Marketing
Real-Time Marketing (or sometimes closely associated with News-Jacking) is the marketing that happens in exactly real-time. It’s “on-the-fly” and could be seen in full during the SuperBowl this year with the best example done by Oreo (Dunking in the Dark). It’s a type of marketing surrounding real-time events and isn’t always planned in advance. After marketers and advertisers spend millions of dollars planning long-term campaigns and advertisements, real-time marketing goes against traditional grain. A great example of the value and experience that marketers can provide with Real-Time Marketing can be seems through a panel with the Big ‘Oreo’ Marketers at SXSW. My favorite quote from the very beginning sums this marketing perfectly: “Makes people understand that your brand is acting just a little bit human…You are actually a part of the conversation.” With things shifting to a more mobile manner and social media becoming an always hungry beast, people crave conversation with another human being not a polarizing brand. They want this now and Real-Time Marketing provides all of that.
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2. Growth Hacking
A blend of marketing and coding, growth hacking can be described as being super resourceful and connective in order to get the most customers possible with minimal costs. Some have said that this is a buzzword that’s dying, but startups rising up, having some type of growth hacking seems essential to being a “wearer of multiple hats” and for the lean startup model. It brings the traditional world of marketing up to speed with A/B tests, experimental landing pages, loads of measurements etc to bring increased and fluid optimization in generating new leads for sales. Growth hacking is more agile and works well with data to ensure that you are maximizing all of your marketing channels. Growth is the goal for Growth Hackers and who doesn’t want that?
How do you feel about these two marketing buzzwords? Do you cringe at the sound of both or does one just make your heart race? Vote for your favorite today and tomorrow to see which buzzword will go into the finals next week!
Tweet at us (@TrackMavenApp) or vote on the poll on our Facebook page. Or you can just tell us if you know where our new office is ;)