Eight big ambitions every marketer must have in 2010
Few would argue with the fact that the world has changed dramatically in the last 12 months. However, because Australia has been spared the worst excesses of the GFC, I feel there is a creeping complacency amongst Australian marketers.
A sense prevails that things are returning to ‘normal’ and we can get back to what we used to do. The truth is there is no ‘normal’ any more. Budgets are not. The consumer’s mindset is not. Media habits are not. Marketing has to come out of the bunker in 2010 with a healthy resolve to do things differently, to do it better.
This is the year when we need to have real ambition for our industry, to show it can answer the new challenges and have dissatisfaction for ‘normal’.
Here are 8 ambitions that will take you far in 2010:
1. AN AMBITION TO END THE MEASUREMENT LIE
A recent survey in the US magazine CFO asked the top 100 CFO’s to nominate their biggest business worry. The resounding answer was ‘demand generation’. Ironic when you consider that the same CFO’s have been happily slashing marketing budgets globally. We only have ourselves to blame – if we fail to measure properly this will never be fixed. There are still too many results anecdotes instead of facts, too much ‘we don’t know what the result was’. It’s getting harder because marketing grows in complexity each day, but we need to be much better at proving our total contribution.
2. AN AMBITION TO FOCUS ON THE POOR COUSINS
Everyone is getting hot and sweaty about social media and how it can deliver world peace one conversation at a time. But spare a thought for the ugly older children of the digital world, which we still have not got right yet. Take e-mail – still by far the biggest digital medium yet it is still often done badly with little segmentation, feedback loop or experimental testing. What hope do we have of getting social media right when we still have unfinished business elsewhere in the family.
3. AN AMBITION FOR NOT JUST CHOOSING A MEDIUM BECAUSE IT IS CHEAP
Everyone on a tight budget goes hunting for ‘cheap’ or ‘free’ marketing like viral or social media. The fact is they are not cheap because to do them properly requires time and resources. Earlier this year Habitat, the well-known UK home wares retailer thought they were onto a winner with their Twitter program, as a cheap way to broadcast offers to anyone who would listen. They gave the program to a junior trainee in the marketing department. The poor sod stuffed up badly by adding clumsy promo Tweets to life and death trending subjects emanating from the violent student democracy protests in Iran. Habitat was resoundingly criticised for doing this and shamefully they sacked the poor trainee. Twitter requires careful planning and resources and if you’re not going to do it properly don’t do it all.
4. AMBITION FOR BREAKING DOWN INTERNAL BARRIERS
Its amazing that organisations still silo their digital and off line marketing efforts. This is particularly the case in the world of direct response where on and off line direct response activities from a single brand often compete for budgets, for the consumer’s attention and for the sale. The consumer moves seamlessly between on and off line media when deciding what to buy and many marketers miss an opportunity to maximize sales by not having a single multichannel sales funnel.
5. AN AMBITION TO LOSE THE MARKETING HANDBAG
Everyone seems to have a marketing handbag – the gratuitous and rather crass addition of ‘customer co–creation’ onto the back of just about anything – whether it be ‘make our ad for us’ or ‘name our burger’. Lets lose this before the consumer grows tired of it.
6. AN AMBITION TO ASK THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
It’s human nature to form our opinions by copying the opinions of journalists and our own peer group. Original thought is rare. Sometimes the difficult questions don’t get asked – big questions or small questions. Marketers are no different and sometimes we don’t move forward as an industry because of our sheep mentality. My little question is: Why is it that 75 per cent of outdoor advertising creative is press ad creative? At a distance the copy is illegible, you may as well flush your dollars down the toilet. We all need to ask a few more difficult questions in 2010.
7. AN AMBITION TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF VALUES
Lets face it, marketing has played a significant role in the GFC – we were in the vanguard of peddling cheap credit, of driving materialism and consumer desire –
(Well that’s our job I guess). As a result marketers are less trusted than ever. We are witnessing a change where your personal values as a marketer will become more important. This is not cynically fixed with an ad merchandising how much money your company gives to charity. It is something more genuine that customer can believe in.
8. AN AMBITION TO FIX THE DATA MESS
Every kind of new platform from social media to mobile spits out vast amounts of customer data. Even the old ones Like TV are becoming individually addressable mediums. Every marketer craves brand engagement. They want intimacy, however this requires an ability to extract learnings from the data and to manage individual customer data. Most organisations stink on the score. Until we fix back end data issues soon marketers will be left unable to live the dream and left impotent when it comes to proving their ROI.
Douglas Nicol is a partner at Sydney agency, The Works
douglas@theworkssydney.com
Linkedin
A good article and certainly food for thought! Some of your advice extends to companies in relation to their employer branding and how they go about attracting talent in 2010 – for today’s job seekers can be likened to consumers who will continue to be spoilt for choice.
User ID not verified.
I agree, especially number 6. One thing I clearly remember from uni was my ad management lecturer giving us the rule to never use more than four words on a billboard.
User ID not verified.
With regard to number 7, is it even possible to devote oneself to the promotion of capitalism, with it’s internal necessity for continual expansion/growth and emphasis on the individual acquisition of capital, and remain honestly committed to progressive politics (apart from perhaps sexual politics)?
User ID not verified.
Great read, thanks Douglas
User ID not verified.
Really enjoyed the article Douglas. Especially the one about asking hard the questions. I just hope marketers give back straight answers.
User ID not verified.