Let’s be honest and admit that most of us marketers are Model T Ford drivers in a 747 cockpit
As she makes the transition from FMCG to martech, Radium One's new regional marketing boss Jodie Koning argues that more marketers should have the humility to admit that haven't kept up with the rapid pace of change
I don’t know too many marketers who have made the move from the relatively traditional world of brand marketing into the ever-expanding, ever-changing and complex world of martech (marketing technology).
That’s exactly what I have just done in taking on the Marketing Director role at RadiumOne.
For me, it made complete sense, I wanted to broaden my skillset and become less of a digital dinosaur. It also didn’t hurt that I was joining a company that already had a strong and differentiated brand story.
One hundred days in and I’ll be honest, I could never have imagined the depth of the chasm between brand marketing and the martech industry.
But the biggest realisation is the gap between what marketers should know and what they actually do know, which is one of the biggest challenges facing brand marketers in all categories globally.
Why is there such a ‘great divide’? For a start, I think it’s like putting a Model T Ford driver in a 747 cockpit and asking them to fly the damn thing.
We’ve gone from the four Ps to a full cockpit interface extremely fast. Some marketers have kept pace and many (including myself) simply haven’t.
The explosion of the martech industry has also contributed – an endless array of new technology and businesses all jostling for position. This has added to the confusion and steepened the required learning curve.
I know my newness to the martech space lends me a wide-eyed perspective on how martech and marketers are apparently working to different playbooks. However, I thought it would be useful to share my early thoughts with my peers before that perspective fades – sometimes the most simple observations and perspectives can be the most valuable.
I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting I have sat for years in meetings pretending to know what various digital experts were saying, only to exit promptly and seek out Google to find out WTF they were talking about.
Or avoiding discussions with senior stakeholders about a potential digital proposal because you can’t intelligently explain it. But trust me, I know now this behaviour is common in brand-land and is far more prevalent than the martech industry truly understands. It is a great opportunity for both parties.
Martech providers should know one thing – broadly speaking, marketers know a lot less about marketing technology than you give them credit for. There’s a serious piece of market education to be done and I have no doubt that any investment of time and resources from martech providers will pay off.
Contributing to the ‘great divide’ is the lack of synergy between what the martech industry likes to think and talk about, and what marketers see as their big day-to-day issues.
During my time at RadiumOne, key topics such as viewability, fraud, brand safety and cross-device attribution are daily discussions.
Undoubtedly, these are important technical issues we need to solve to enhance the level of service we offer our clients. What’s missing though is simple and agnostic recommendations to brands on what to do about it and why.
Easy to say that’s the IAB’s job… I think we all know that it requires less blaming and deflecting the issues and more senior collaboration between brands, their agencies and the operators in the martech sector who are genuinely committed to industry health and positive business outcomes for brands.
What’s being discussed in day-to-day marketing meetings is often topics such as ‘How do we use data to drive insights?’ ‘How do we remain omnipresent to the relevant consumer, at the relevant time, with the relevant message in our fragmented landscape?’ ‘How do we better understand our consumer journey?’ ‘How do we measure success and drive ROI?’ ‘How do we make sure our agency is transparent?’ Notice how viewability, fraud and brand safety aren’t among the top concerns?
So, you may ask: what would I do differently if I could wave my magic wand?
For me, the biggest recommendation to current brand marketers is simply to be a bit more vulnerable and honest (easier said than done I know!). Fess up to your knowledge gap and stop fearing the technology world.
I’d encourage marketers to get much more curious and disciplined in the time they set aside to read/learn/meet experts in the space, to accelerate knowledge gap closure.
Consumer journeys and the marketing ecosystem are now incredibly large and complex, and it’s unwise to rely solely on your agency partners to be your source of advice and education.
Discover who the best players are and invite them in – they would welcome this with open arms and be invaluable in guiding you through the uncertainty! Just be careful not to pick bottom feeders who will hard sell you to death and you’ll be tempted to blame me for encouraging you!
And I strongly believe that agencies have a key role to play here as well. Agencies need to become true partners in this space to facilitate a direct relationship between suppliers and clients. No more keeping your cards close to your chest to maintain control. You lost control some time ago and it’s a good thing. The three parties working together is the way of the future, to create alignment and collective focus on real business outcomes that matter.
These things work both ways. On the other side of the divide, I’d encourage martech providers to bring it all back down to earth – simple language, clear benefits, live examples and proof of effectiveness. The real cut-through is to demonstrate clearly how you can solve real business problems. Assume nothing and avoid the temptation to sell your kit for a quick win!
With the martech industry beginning to mature, consolidation will occur and the quality players will rise to the top – they’ll have few reservations about ‘lifting the hood’ as the substance will match the story…almost. Let’s face it, it’s unreasonable to ask marketers to trust technology that relies on a degree of mystery. Offering them a chance to understand the problem your tech is solving and how it is solved, will reassure them and create confidence and trust.
There’s so much noise, spin and jargon in the martech and adtech space (I’m still trying to understand the difference), but it’s not impenetrable. In my first 100 days, I’ve done a huge amount of reading and already am starting to see the wood for the trees. Even more encouraging, is some of the amazing work that is being done to better understand consumer journeys and drive real business outcomes around key metrics such as new customer acquisition, life time value and churn management.
Connecting the dots more closely between brand marketers, agencies and martech suppliers is a great thing, a necessary thing and the good news is it takes very little effort.
Jodie Koning recently became APAC marketing director for RadiumOne. She was previously senior marketing manager at Blackmores and prior to that national marketing director at Australian Radio Network
I had to google RadiumOne.. cue the digital kool-aid
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Well done. The beginning of understanding is to utter the three words: I don’t know.
Either most people in marketing roles have no marketing experience or knowledge – and/or most people in marketing roles don’t have a science-based marketing philosophy or ideology, so end up backing the latest fad / trend / iceberg.
Either way, learning and development is desperately needed in this industry, and the first step is to acknowledge that most people who have marketing on their business cards are woefully ill-equipped for the role they have, so resort to subjectivity as a measure of effectiveness, and the role of marketing as the growth engine of business suffers completely.
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So why not ask us who have been in this technology area since day one to help?
“I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting I have sat for years in meetings pretending to know what various digital experts were saying, only to exit promptly and seek out Google to find out WTF they were talking about.”
That sentence alone speaks volumes. If you need a “translator” ask if you can supply one at the next meeting. We can’t all be expected to know everything, and doing it in the way of the above sentence is only going to make you look really stupid at SOME point in time!
Any number of freelance tech journos would love to earn an extra $ by acting in this capacity – me included. We understand the tech and our job IS to communicate it after all!
Is this such a radical idea?
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Saying ‘I don’t understand’ is the first step to the best advertising and communications with any stakeholder. There’s no such thing as a dumb question.
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The comparison of a model T Ford and a 747 cockpit is an apple and an orange, but I get the point. The problem with the analogy is that a skilled 747 pilot may well be able to drive a Ford Model T, and a Ford Model T driver (not an easy car to drive by the way) may well be able to fly a 747.
No cooperative work can ever be done, unless all concerned are reading from the same pages, too many people are determined to pretend that they know more than they do, and afraid to ask any questions for fear of showing a perceived weakness. Mr Trump is a good example.
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Wanted to not like this due to the headline and liberal use of martech … but read it and it’s pretty accurate and self aware.
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why pay someone when you can google it instead. you’ve been disrupted
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That’s a brave piece, with some brave admissions, written with great insight and intelligence. Now off to Google martech, and wonder why we never had maradio, marpress, maroutdoor or marmainstream.
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As I said, you risk looking really stupid at some time in the future. And Google is always right? Ha! Good luck with that!
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The problem is most of the martech sales and account management don’t understand it either. A lot of it is the emperors new clothes. A lot of the stuff the vendors spout is BS. So think you don’t know? Neither do those saying it most of the time.
I have a decent tech background – better than most marketers. I was being pitched to the other day and was told something that, best of my knowledge, simply isn’t possible. I asked how they got that data. Silence. “Well need to find out for you”. Still waiting to hear. It’s all BS.
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Great piece.
Industry needs more self awareness, fake it til you make it should not be the mantra. Be comfortable not being the smartest in the room, ask questions if you don’t know and be up front about your strengths and weaknesses.
Can see the alignment in how you’ve landed at RadiumOne
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What an honest piece. Good on you for lifting the lid on an industry that hides behind jargon.
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