Today’s Marketing Realities

I have been in the agency business for over 30 years and during this time I have seen changes but never have I seen the depth of change currently upon us.  Companies, non-profits, big and small, are tightening their advertising and marketing budgets and expressing concern about the economy. Yet at the same time everyone is looking for better ways to get their message out and attract consumers and businesses to their offerings. In other words most everyone is expecting to get more with less.

How Do We Do That?

Getting more for less requires creativity. Creativity comes from both experience and knowledge of how to create market awareness and subsequently revenue. Creativity isn’t cheap and the lack of creativity is even more expensive.  However, creativity can only work if it is applied to:

1. A product or service that has value to a market
2. An organization that understands that getting and keeping your markets “attention” is more than a onetime event or campaign
3. Understanding what message will evoke a response from a specific market
4. Knowing what is the best way to reach at market at the least amount of expense

Today I am seeing companies scrambling to justify any marketing budget. I am also seeing people spending money on one time marketing events that will not and do not produce anything. In others words while looking to get more with less many people are spending money on things that don’t get them anything.

The Cyclone Has Changed Marketing Forever

Agency can no longer simply be creative with advertising campaigns and unique messaging. The supply of money to fuel traditional advertising and marketing is in a downward cycle. In the first six months of this year advertising budgets have gone done $10 Billion in North America alone.  Subsequently any money spent on advertising and marketing is under severe pressure to produce results, measurable results. However, you won’t get any results unless you spend money on the right things and for the right reasons.

Today the right things are about an integrated approach to marketing and advertising. Integrated being using off line messages to pull your market to you online. If you haven’t noticed this thing called social media is disrupting the entire advertising and marketing industry globally. Social media can be very effective for both big and small firms.

Companies as big as Delta Air Lines and small as the Mack brothers’ Mo’ Bettah Steaks are developing content on blogs, social networks such as Facebook and, lately, Twitter, which combines blogging and networking in little bursts of messages called tweets.
Social media has become ubiquitous. Traffic to Facebook is up almost 200 percent over the past year, and Twitter has seen an increase of almost 1,500 percent, according to Nielsen Online, which measures online audiences and consumer-generated media.

“We are evaluating additional opportunities within the networks we are actively using, such as Facebook and YouTube, as well as other networks, such as Twitter, and are developing a comprehensive strategy to enhance our existing efforts,” Delta spokeswoman Susan

Technology research company Forrester Research said almost two-thirds of retailers have invested in the social-media frenzy in some way and another 22 percent plan to get involved in the next year.

Five years ago, just three Global 500 companies were using social media today; the number is close to 200. The companies use networks and blogs to stay closer to customers, for sales, marketing, customer support, recruiting, investor relations and product research.

Have You Been Liberated?

The word liberated implies being set free. Marketing and advertising has been liberated from one dimensional messaging to a multi-dimensional approach that is measurable and produces results when applied correctly.

After spending over 30 years in the advertising and marketing business I feel like my brain has been liberated and now I can really be creative for our clients. At least those who really want to take advantage of the opportunities to accelerate their results from liberated marketing.
Now all I need is clients who also want to be liberated.

Tagged as: Advertising, Agencies, Business to Business, Liberated Marketing, Social Commerce, Social Media, Toronto Marketing Agencies