Marketing forever changing: good luck marketers

We’ve all heard the cliché: the arrival of the internet changed marketing forever. But perhaps more correctly, the internet has made it so marketing is forever changing. Some brands like Nike and Apple have embraced this paradigm wholeheartedly, evolving every step of the way to maximize their growth potential and harness various aspects of the internet’s power to create user communities that champion and promote their products/brands, while those who were too comfortable with the ways of the past bit the dust.

Some, like Antony Young in his 2010 book titled Brand Media Strategy: Integrated Communication Planning in the Digital Era, attribute the changed game to two major online phenomenon: Google and Facebook. Targeted advertising on the web has helped brands reach their potential clientele with pinpoint accuracy and metrics. This is true, but one part of the equation I believe could continue to change things: the rise of readily-available in-network user reviews on the internet.

Gone are the days of romanticized advertising where brands are the only voice speaking about their products. “About six in 10 (59%) online shoppers say user-generated customer product reviews have a significant or good impact on their buying behavior,” (MarketingCharts Staff, 2011). With the looming introduction of Facebook Graph Search, this figure is bound to rise, along with the trust/credence that potential customers put into these reviews because the reviewers are part of potential customers’ social networks.

And that may only be a small speck of change in what is now becoming a dynamic online marketing environment where those who get too comfortable fall behind very quickly. A user article recently shared on LinkedIn titled “9 marketing strategies you must stop using now” preached against strategies that were championed by Young and his likes in 2010 as game changers, like keyword-based SEO, saying they are now obsolete and counterintuitive. It’s crazy how fast things are changing. The skills we are developing today as marketers could be worthless in just a few years. It’s almost a crapshoot for us communication professionals trying to navigate our career journeys through unchartered waters.

Marketing professionals who were reaching the pinnacle of success just two years ago trying to target users through search engines and other keyword methods, are now refocusing their efforts on working with users to build online communities and guide the development of viral media. They know they need to facilitate the creation of genuine, positive online reviews as a part of integrated marketing communication efforts.

And this is only a small piece of the pie, as Kitchen and Burgmann said in their 2010 academic article titled “Integrated Marketing Communication.” Brands need to use as many tools/touchpoints as possible to reach their audiences. And with the way the internet is going, these touchpoints are going to infinitely grow as time wears on. Will brands be able to keep up with all the modes of advertising, or will they try to play it safe and perhaps fall behind? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, it’s going to be one heck of a ride for us marketing/communication professionals. Good luck.

Zeyad Maasarani

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References

Kitchen, P. & Burgmann, I. (2010). Integrated marketing communication. Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Lewis, K. (2013, February 4). 9 marketing strategies you must stop using – now. IMediaConnection.com. Retrieved on February 10, 2013 from: http://www.imediaconnection.com/article_full.aspx?id=33546&buffer_share=8778c

MarketingCharts Staff (2011, September 1). Customer reviews affect 6 in 10 online shoppers. MarketingCharts.com. Retrieved on February 10, 2013 from: http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/customer-reviews-affect-6-in-10-online-shoppers-19019/

Young, A. (2010). Brand media strategy: Integrated communications planning in the digital era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters 2 and 3.