No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing to Mass Handselling

Citation

Guang Tian, R. (2011), "No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing to Mass Handselling", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 159-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761111116006

There is no doubt that highly advanced technology, especially the internet, has changed humans' social and economic life in every aspect. These changes in turn challenge the effectiveness of traditional ways of marketing in product development, pricing, delivering, advertising, public relations, sales, and promotion. It is important that, to be profitable, firms in today's digital age need to fully engage customers and communities in the rapidly changing world of marketing. The book No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing to Mass Handselling by Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone is one of the best books in recent years that deals about how marketers can get inside different groups, clubs and organizations to promote whatever they are marketing in the digital age.

In the book, the authors present a compelling picture of a society irrevocably changed by the internet and explain different types of groups, why they choose these groups and what they do. The world we are facing is simultaneously global and personal, vast and small, open and private, futuristic and old‐fashioned. It is increasingly fragmented, even as it becomes more connected and global. Traditional institutions have given way to millions of niche groups online, most of those groups hard to penetrate, suspicious of newcomers, and deeply resistant to sales pitches. The book gives marketers an inside on how people think while in some sort of group or organization. The authors demonstrate that the attention of insular groups is harder than ever to capture but even more lucrative to hold. Therefore it is worth the effort to find out and cultivate the right online societies, gradually winning their thrust, earning their loyalty, and listening to their feedback.

To facilitate the firms to become the winners in this diversified fragmented digital business world the authors propose a “no size fits all” approach: bottom up instead of top down, personal rather than public, subtle rather than full frontal. “Selling into this fragmented and wary marketplace requires us to return to a world before mass media; a world of contextual, meaning‐based, even intimate hand selling.” (p. 14) The authors draw on fascinating case studies to show how the smartest players are already navigating the new world of marketing. Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Emeritus of MIT's Media Lab, indicates that the book is “undeniably the most informed, thorough, and insightful book about marketing in the digital age”,

The book consists of 12 chapters, divided into four discrete parts. The first part includes three chapters: the first chapter provides readers with a brief discussion on how human form groups, how individuals act differently in their groups, and how marketing to the new social groups in the digital age is different from anything we have known before. “The key to the new kingdom is to be invited in, to give more than you take, to allow members to spread the word for you, and to stand out as a good citizen” (p. 41). Chapter two discusses the dynamics of groups. The authors argue that people in groups behave differently from people acting alone, as they can influence one another. They suggest that diversity of thought makes a group useful, but conformity of thought keeps the group together. While groups tend to be insular and close‐walled, however, the cohesive groups are not as smart as ad hoc crowds. “Today's transparent social group formation online makes it relative easy for marketers to identify and find simpatico self‐selected groups of customers. Reaching them is another matter altogether. Even if it is possible to penetrate the walls of these clubby communities, marketers will likely be rejected as outsiders unless they earn an invitation to participate” (p. 63). Chapter three confers how information flows between groups in a network by examining these three concepts:

1. 1.

   information cascades;

2. 2.

   social proof; and

3. 3.

   social profit.

The authors indicate that “social groups become more important to us – not only as medium for the sharing of new ideas and new products, but also as the providers of social proof that shapes our opinions and decisions” (p. 86).

The second part comprises chapters four through six. In this part the authors provide the readers the information about the new mind of the consumers with their conspicuous power. Chapter four is about the change from mass markets to my markets. The authors address the importance of the power created by the internet and indicate that the internet “gives people more information than ever before – and information is power” (p. 95). Chapter five introduces a new worldview of the mash‐up mindset, which “gives the consumer the power and the permission to blend and remix, rework and blur, cur, paste, and collage at will” (p. 106). The authors argue that this power changed the old business models, it is important that business firms learn to use mash‐ups to improve collaboration and productivity, which will in turn increase the business profitability. Chapter six discusses the drawbacks of abundance. The traditional theory suggests that the options people are give the more satisfied they will be. However, as the authors demonstrate, it is not necessarily the case. “The future of marketing is giving customers exactly what they want without making them choose” (p. 125).

Chapters seven, eight, and nine make up the third part, which gives the highlights on the rise of consumer communities in our new digitized world. Chapter seven talks about the pink catallaxy; according to the authors, “catallaxy” refers to the natural order that bubbles up from many independent transactions in a free market. They suggest that “we have enter a new era where marketing is more than a conversation, it is an act of cooperation” (p. 131). It is in this chapter that the authors categorize the 11 kinds of personality we can meet in the internet world, which is very valuable for marketers to customize the products and services while doing online marketing. Chapter eight deals with the changes from mass media to mass connections. The authors advocate that “we are no longer reliant on television, radio, or any other mass distribution system; we get out news from each other personally delivered and intimately customized” (p. 157). As such, the business firms must adopt handselling, a new marketing strategy to be profitable. “Handselling relies on context – affinity and intimacy – and deeply personalized behavior – trust and permission to make the sale” (p. 158). Chapter nine is about handselling to a fragmented world. Facing the new economy firms must customize the products and services, from product design to after sale service, which will be a significant part of every transaction. “Handselling means companies that want to operate in this marketplace are going to have to do much of the customizing themselves” (p. 184).

Part four contains three chapters with a focus on the world after material. Chapter ten discusses new systems of trust in the current digital era. The authors argue that trust is not a monolithic concept and changes with both the context and the location. There is no doubt that due to the great changes in economies and technology we have entered into an age where trust will become paramount. “Obviously, there is something in the technology itself that imbues us with a greater sense of trust than we experience in our dealing with the real world economy” (p. 211). Chapter eleven focuses on business strategy for a fragmented world. The authors suggest that under various forces a new global business order is formatted with a characteristic of bipolarity: “Giant companies may pretend to be tiny, while little firms may puff themselves up to look like world beaters” (p. 237). Put briefly, the new global order “will transform how we work, play, and relate to one another, and how we define ourselves in the universe” (p. 238). In Chapter twelve, the authors explores the differences and the connections of the two worlds we are facing: the virtual community and the physical society. The mass customization is one of the key advantages of virtual corporation. “The power of the newly emerging fragmented global economy is that it extends mass customization to our lives” (p. 257).

In short, the book under review is an essential guide to the paradoxes of today's world: simultaneously global and personal, vast and small, open and private, futuristic and old‐fashioned. One of the concepts in this book that impressed the current reviewer most is that marketing means membership. As the authors put it, if you are allowed to be in a group you are essentially a member then and you need to know the rules and respect the norms of the group. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to be successful in marketing without the membership to the group that you target at. As a business professor I would like to recommend this book to my colleagues who are involved in the subject of marketing, no matter academically or practically, take a break from their routine and daily work to read this tremendous book. Meanwhile, as the book succeeds in expanding our knowledge of marketing in the new digitalized world, I believe it has definite appeal to students of marketing because it aids understanding of the new world of marketing.