Foreword
Never in history has there been more pressure on businesses. The average time a CEO keeps their job is near record lows. The average time a marketing director keeps theirs is even shorter — just 44 months.
It's not hard to see why.
We've moved from a business environment where successful companies could hold the same steady course for decades to a corporate battlefield that is being ripped apart by the ubiquitous forces of the internet — instant global markets and competition, extreme transparency and competitiveness on pricing, and the rise of the consumer's voice via social media, blogs and product reviews.
And it isn't about to slow down anytime soon.
One of the most important consequences of these seismic shifts in the marketplace is that the basic, bland and shallow manner in which so many companies have traditionally communicated with their potential customers is no longer working.
These days what companies say in their marketing messages and what they do day-to-day in the world are revealed, commented upon and evaluated within hours by their customers. Speak down to them and your company will be discussed and derided globally almost instantly. Be trite, simplistic or just inaccurate in how you communicate with them, and they'll abandon your brand for the ten thousand others on the internet that offer pretty much the same things you do.
As the mass media devolves into the mess media, we have never been more in need of a new breed of communication expert who can ...
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