There’s something about the terms “digital agency” and “creative agency” that attracts the sad refugees and wannabes of the old push media model. These wolves, often self-proclaimed creative-types, are re-packaging last century’s failed old-media branding and design fads in a shiny new digital box and re-selling it at a premium.

Don’t let them get in the way of your message.

When it comes to marketing online, relevance counts. Giving a shit about what your customer cares about and caring about it too counts. Approaching your market from a humble perspective of giving service counts. It’s quite lucrative as well.

So why the bright new shiny, the hyped iphone app? Why the designs that scream “look at me,” rather than designs that stage our expectations like a theater set? The most generous explanation is confusion: our confusion over what’s effective, what works.

If you’re going to reach people you have to give up the fantasy that they’re going to be impressed with you. You need to make them impressed with themselves. Or their choices. Or beliefs. You need to focus on what they care about – their problems, their struggles, the way they see themselves.

The truth about new media is that it’s not about the technology or the device. It sure as hell isn’t about the design. It’s about us using the tools available to us to assist our customers the way they wish to be assisted – at their convenience, on their terms.

So when the new media wolf calls at your door promising to build you a “rich, interactive brand experience” to push at some unsuspecting person trying to get something done online – be careful. It may get downloaded or viewed, it may even get a “wow,” but it isn’t going to build your business unless it does something far beyond capturing your interest.

(Don’t get me wrong, gaining interest is very, very important. But it’s the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing your business online. Treat it as such.)

When you’ve mined and refined your value proposition, when you’ve developed a core marketing message that is persuasive, compelling, and effective – then you’re ready for a pretty package to wrap it all up in. A package that complements your message, not distracts from it or, as is all to common, substitutes for it.

Remember your rebellious years: don’t trust authority!

Don’t be duped. Even some very bright people are going about parroting the phrase “thought leadership.” No one knows what the hell it means. It’s a vacuous construct and it’s intellectually lazy.

Ain’t nobody got nothin’ figured out baby – none of our modern gurus: surely not Seth, certainly not Scoble, (not even!) Barack.

Struggle, try, fail, succeed, learn – in your marketing, in your life. We’re all learning every day. Re-imagining old principals and playing with new constructs and the latest app that lets us yap back and forth.

Be inspired by others, but think for yourself.

It takes just a few seconds to struggle for the words, the real words, the right words. Trite phrases like “thought leadership” don’t invite struggle or reflective thought, and they shave off just a wee bit of that good old-fashioned human dignity.

Remember – buzz phrases generally suck. Thought Leadership? Just say no!

Cripes.