This is an actual, non-edited picture we took of a donut shop close to my house in Denver, Colorado. Aside from the unintentional change in the nature of this store’s offerings as their lights came on at night, this image provides an opportunity to discuss how the nature of corporate marketing has changed. Today, it is critical to make sure that your marketing program utilizes expertise across ALL the relevant engagement channels. Otherwise, you too may wind up with lama nuts.
As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends to help our clients increase their marketing success. At this year’s 2013 Online Marketing Summit, the audience was an even mix of corporate Marketing Directors and experts from digital agencies.
Read our article: Current Marketing Trends – The Evolving Role of Marketing Director
The world of a successful corporate Marketing Director has changed or is changing (depending upon your company’s speed of evolution) dramatically. In the 1960s, the era of hit TV show Mad Men, advertising and marketing was pretty straight forward. All a Marketing Director had to really understand was:
- TV (3 networks that went off the air each night)
- Radio (far less channels per market than we have today)
- Print ads (far fewer publications)
- Yellow Pages (the ultimate in local marketing?)
Today, the world of marketing and advertising is far more complex. Not only is each medium far more complicated, but the sheer number of relevant factors, channels and systems it takes to create a successful marketing plan is not able to be effectively implemented by a smaller marketing department. The expertise required includes:
- Brand Strategy Development & Management
- Copyrighting
- Brand Imagery Planning
- Photography
- Video Concept Planning
- Video Production
- Website User Interface Expertise
- Website User Experience Expertise
- Website Front-End Programming
- Website Back-End Programming
- Internal Company Cultural Expertise
- Internal Company Culture Management
- Print Ad Production
- Search Engine Optimization
- Paid Search Engine Marketing
- Email Marketing Expertise
- Mobile Marketing Expertise
- Extensive CRM / ERP Software Knowledge
- Big Data Analytics Expertise
And this is really just the tip of the iceberg. The net impact of this ever-growing complexity in marketing, is that all successful corporate marketing departments must rely on outside expertise, in the form of digital agencies, to ensure that they have the skills necessary to compete in today’s environment. It is simply not cost effective to hire all this expertise in-house, on a full-time basis. The necessary skills are far too specialized. Nor is it reasonable to expect a marketing team of a handful of people to learn and keep up with these new, ever-changing skills.
So now, the next big challenge is integration. It is difficult enough to keep a message meaningful and on-brand with all the different opinions from within a single company. How can you get multiple different vendors (website, burst email, direct mail, social media, etc..) to all understand your message and create an integrated program that maximizes the effectiveness of your marketing and the constraints of your budget? This has become how most marketing directors spend their day.
Our answer at Webolutions is to ensure that we are the only digital partner that our clients need. Our experienced team has been meticulously selected for their years of experience and expertise in the skills outlined above. We have then developed systems and processes to integrate the delivery of our programs in a way that is not possible, if it had to be done across multiple, different vendors. It is truly a fully integrated approach. This allows our clients the ability to broaden their expertise, yet maintain the synergy and integrated efficiencies they need to achieve their marketing goals.
Read our article: Current Marketing Trends – Humanize Your Business
How to Use This Information
Conduct a fair audit of your marketing efforts. Are you utilizing all the latest channels and testing your results to choose the right approaches? Are you conducting A/B testing of your communications? Do you show up on page one of Google? Are you generating positive 3rd party reviews? Are you creating an amazing experience around your brand? Is your entire company engaged with your vision? Do you have a measurable existing customer engagement plan? Evaluate your internal team’s expertise in these channels and programs. Determine the external expertise you may have hired in these channels. Do you need some additional help to ensure that your business continues be competitive and lead?
If you would like some help applying these concepts, call Webolutions at 303-300-2640. We believe in making a difference in people’s lives. We would be happy to provide you with a complimentary one-on-one marketing consultation to help get the ball rolling for you.
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