It appears as if campaigns as we know them today are been challenged on all fronts, there are less customers willing to take up offers and the marketing budget has been slashed. So it leaves me wondering how marketing organisations are going to make good on the commitments made in plans.
There is an emerging belief that social media tools are the answer, but a new medium of communicating is not a silver bullet. With any new communication medium, organisations need to understand the capabilities and align those capabilities with the marketing vision.
The challenge that is becoming more evident is what works in traditional mediums is not working in the social media mediums. “Sell more stuff” is not a strategy that resonates in a medium that relies on recommendations between people that are not controlled by the organization trying to sell. Organisations that will succeed in the new medium are going to have to find a way to help customers achieve their goals rather than focus on achieving the organisations goals, such a change in focus will require innovations in the marketing department not seen since event based marketing.
So the challenge for marketing is juggling what they know (traditional marketing) with what they are yet to learn (social media marketing), some big risks need to be taken and some big failures are going to happen, but for those that find the right mix a differentiation will be realised.
How are you going to proceed into the new medium?
Daniel Tehan
www.linkedin.com/in/danieltehan
