by Brian Flook, MIRM, President of Power Marketing

When Johannes Gutenberg, a simple goldsmith and businessman from a small mining town known as Mainz, Germany, invented his printing press, he probably had no idea about the ramifications of his invention. The printed word wasn’t new. His Gutenberg Bible wasn’t even the first book ever printed using moveable type. The Chinese are believed to have done it nearly 400 years earlier. So, why all the hype?
The printed word is traced as far back as thousands of years before Christ. The Old Testament of the Bible, specifically the book of Job, dates back to 1,500 BC. The written word has toppled kings, educated leaders, organized governments, made millions of sales and won many hearts. The printed word is the most important communication tool in history… until maybe now. In comes the Internet and words take on a whole new level of power!
Well-crafted words can calm a nation during difficult economic times.
Passionate words can incite a riot or bring peace to a wounded heart.
Words of kindness can turn away anger.
Words can mislead, sell, convince, or manipulate.
Misspoken words can destroy political careers.
Words have incredible power!
For Gutenberg, the written word wasn’t the invention; it was the object of his invention. Suddenly, the written word could be reproduced quickly at an affordable price, and new and old information could circumvent the globe. Radical!
And since then, inventions like the telegraph, fax machine, digital typesetting, and now text messaging continue to provide new leverage for the printed word to change our lives. Ten years ago, who would have believed that text messaging would be the rage among teens that it is today? Who predicted the rise of blogs? Who anticipated the money that would be made using email blasts? Who could have had expected that advertising would show up on our telephones? Who would have ever considered storage devices that fit in our pocket that hold gigabytes of information? These are all new issues facing marketers today. What will we do with them? Continue reading →