Where the bloody hell are you? - July Issue 2009

Many marketers today have fallen into a habit of using the same traditional channels year in year out because that's what they've always done. But as consumers flock to the online space and engage with media through a myriad of digital channels I have to ask where the bloody hell are all the marketers and why are they so reluctant to follow their customers?

It's widely accepted that measuring the success and results of traditional marketing channels can be a challenge. Attributing a true percentage of sales to a specific TV or print campaign is a very imperfect science. The famous words of department store mogul John Wanamaker in the early 1900's when he said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" is testament to this. A recent Australian study amazingly found that marketers believed television and print were relatively ineffective marketing channels but still continued to use them in their marketing strategies.

Everyone in the marketing industry seems to have an opinion about digital. Publicly they say they love digital, they go to conferences about it and sit on panels at digital marketing events yet, when it comes to actually taking the plunge not many are willing to do it.

Millions of advertising dollars are going into the same traditional channels year after year because that's what has always been done in the past. Many marketers are finding it hard to build up the courage to drop a traditional channel that's been in their marketing strategy since way back, in exchange for trying new digital direction.

Some complain that stakeholder buy in is hard to obtain. Most higher level marketers have built their careers around using traditional channels and are reluctant to try out new ideas and channels for fear that they're just passing fads.

Regardless of the reasons, the simple fact remains that consumers are flocking to the digital space. According to Nielsen Online consumers are spending more time online consuming media and advertising than actually watching TV. They search for information about products and services online, they engage with brands through social media and they evaluate products, services and brand experiences online.

This is where marketers need to be too.

Marketers acknowledge that the online space is where consumers are concentrating their brand experiences but are reluctant to peel away from using traditional channels. Why? It's time to wake up and smell the roses. Failing to do so will mean that many marketers will miss out on a piece of a really big pie.

We tirelessly sing its praises. Digital is measurable. Sales can be directly attributed to a single campaign. The creative is more flexible and engaging etc.. If stakeholder buy-in is such an issue then put your money where your mouth is. Build a test case, take it to management and get them to buy into the process if not the leap of faith by lleveraging the hard data available from a digital test. One word of caution though….make sure you have enough budget in your test to show effective results.

The other fundamental factor is that you don't need to forsake all other channels and invest everything into digital to get a return. At this month's ADMA Forum conference I spoke with a lot of marketers who have taken advantage of big TV budget cuts due to the Global Financial Crisis by refocusing some of that budget into digital.

Digital channels are engaging, cost effective, measurable and will drive a higher marketing ROI for a business than many traditional channels. It provides marketers with the ability to communicate with their customers at the right time with the right message allowing them to build stronger relationships that yield a higher lifetime value.

The use of traditional channels is by no means becoming obsolete; however digital channels are becoming more relevant and should therefore be appropriately reflected in marketing strategies. I have no doubt that if John Wanamaker was alive in today's digital age he would be one very excited marketer.