Merge

Yeah. The gizmo. Call it a CMS, integrated video, a blog, or a talking person that comes out (have you seen that one? God-awful annoying).

Whatever it is, it's the latest gizmo. The media pushes it. The cheesy salesman pushes it. Why? Because we love it. We're still enthralled with the get rich scheme, the magic bullet or as some would call it, the internet.

Get real. Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae, says:

“Gotta get me some of that New Marketing. Bring me blogs, e-mail, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, Google AdWords . . . I don’t care, as long as it’s shiny and new.”

But wait:

"All these tactics are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor. If you start with ice cream, adding cherries and hot fudge and whipped cream will make it taste great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs . . . yuck!

As traditional marketing fades away, the new tools seem irresistible. But they don’t work as well for boring brands (“meatballs”) that might still be profitable but don’t attract word of mouth, such as Cheerios, Ford trucks, Barbie dolls, or Budweiser. When Anheuser-Busch spends $40 million on an online network called BudTV, that’s a meatball sundae. It leads to no new Bud drinkers, just a bad case of indigestion."

Well said, Seth. The new gizmo isn't going to revolutionize your marketing. Slapping a new gizmo on top of a poorly branded and poorly constructed web site may provide short term results. Just be warned, you'll be looking for the next new gizmo in about three months.

Instead, may I suggest you build a foundation: your brand and your digital strategy? I don't care if you use Merge or you use another web firm or an advertising agency. Just don't fall for the "We have the new shiny tool" approach. You'll be much, much happier in the long run.