A CHANGING PARADIGM IN MARKETING

A major change is occurring in business marketing and communication due to the digital revolution and increased sophistication of consumers. The emergence and proliferation of Web 2.0 and social media have shifted the power over content from a few to the crowds, creating a new media ecosystem based on collaboration, customization, transparency, interaction and communities. The many-to-many communication paradigm has become central in the digital sphere, bringing change into many other connected sectors. Consumers are now dictating the needs they want fulfilled. Companies need to respond to this paradigm shift with enhanced relationship marketing efforts to build long-term customers. This change in marketing efforts, however, does not negate utilization of the traditional transactional marketing, or 4Ps. Both transactional and relationship marketing are essential for today's complex marketing strategies. The Internet has revolutionized business communication, as much as the introduction of the written word and the invention of the Gutenberg press brought change. First, all companies began establishing web sites and tacking their URL addresses onto all their promotional materials. Now, Facebook and Twitter logos are being placed on all marketing. Yet the story is much larger than just adding a new site or social media icons. Marketing is changing, significantly and quickly. The digital age has transformed the rules of communication in both public and private spheres, domestically and globally. The emergence and proliferation of Web 2.0 and social media have shifted the power over content from a few to the crowds, creating a new media ecosystem based on collaboration, customization, transparency, interaction and communities. The many-to-many communication paradigm has become central in the digital sphere, bringing change into many other connected sectors. The discipline of marketing, in this context, has undergone a profound transformation from traditional pre-digital approaches to new assumptions. Relationship marketing is becoming as critical as the traditional 4Ps and transactional marketing. This does not mean, however, that marketers should throw the baby out with the bath water. Marketing to consumers - especially the sophisticated ones of the 21st century - requires a hybrid approach, with both transactional and relationship methodology playing an important role.