OK, I admit it — disintermediation is a big word, but it sounds cool, conveys a lot of meaning, and accurately describes the situation. Simply put, “disintermediation” means the middle man is devalued or eliminated. I see that happening with marketing, which should be a cause for concern among business owners and leaders as well as competent marketing professionals. We are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

It used to be in marketing that various institutions held all the cards — the media, advertising agencies, the marketing department, and consultants with specialized knowledge. The average business person knew little about marketing and did not have a way to implement marketing on their own. Today with the Internet, social media, powerful computer programs, a multitude of educational resources and a tight Economy, many businesses are looking to manage their business economics as tightly as possible. Marketing expenditures such as advertising, strategic events, collateral materials, and the marketing staff itself are easy and popular targets for cutbacks. The danger is the belief that anyone and everyone can do marketing well and that marketing professionals — the perceived middle men — no longer hold value.

Prior to the current disintermediation of marketing, we have seen similar trends in many other industries, such as financial services, home repair and medicine. How many people stopped relying on financial services or insurance representatives to help them? How many people have flocked to the big box home stores to do it themselves? How many have decided they are their own doctors because of what they have seen on TV or read on the Internet?

The fact of the matter is that many have stopped relying so much on experts in finance, home repairs and medicine. Rather than not using these professionals at all, the positive and productive approach is to be an informed consumer and work hand in hand with professionals to get the optimal results. I know financial professionals, contractors and healthcare professionals who would all agree.

And so it should be with marketing. If you are a business owner or manager responsible for growing your business profitably, there is no ally better for you than a qualified marketing professional who will take the time to work hand-in-hand with you to engage you in the marketing of your business. You should become smarter, more profitable and more productive by working with your marketing pro. Likewise, if you are a marketing professional, take the time to listen and work closely with your clients. The more you teach them, the greater your value to them will be.

The changing marketing landscape can be a positive and productive development. One word of caution: If you are going to work with a marketing professional be sure to ask about their experience and credentials. There are an amazing number of unemployed, unexperienced people who hold themselves out as “experts.”

And remember — you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater — you want your baby to grow and reach its full potential.

All registrants were asked to indicate what they would like to cover in the program.  This resulted in an interesting list.

One of the tools I like to use to analyze content can be found at www.wordle.net. By taking the topics generated by the TrendCamp registrants and plugging that into Wordle, we can see a visual representation below of what the next TrendCamp may look like. You can also see this as a PDF here. Can’t wait!

Within this site, you will find information about Your Marketing Exec, as well as some resources to help you with your marketing. We invite you to share your own ideas about marketing, branding, business or other germane topics on our Sharing Page. We encourage open and productive dialog. So feel free to post, write or email with your comments, questions and insights.