Marketing is Resetting. It’s Time to Reclaim Strategy.
What is the current state of marketing? The simplest response may be that it depends who you ask and the day and time you ask. Ask 10 people and you may get 10 different answers. Emotions may range from excited and optimistic to flat-out burnout. And responses on technical state may skew more towards tech, personalization, or even a shift to in-person experiences.
Today, there are over 6.5 million marketing professionals around the world managing an average of 8-10 foundational channels and with thousands of tools available at their disposal. Marketing disciplines and roles range from specialists, generalists, creatives, digital marketers, CMOs, and even self-proclaimed marketers because of the accessibility to marketing output.
To say that marketing is going through yet another wave of transformation would be an understatement, but I also think to some extent, it's an overstatement.
History will show that marketing evolved as channel distribution increased. When the newspaper became available, the way words and images came together was more important than ever. Cue design and copy commingling. Then came radio, TV, Video, Web, Streaming. And within each channel, came different technical marketing roles to support and optimize it.
For some, this is the most fun time to play — double and triple dipping in sandboxes thanks to tech tools that help provide content at scale. For those who crave depth, meaning, and friction during their creative process, the time may feel difficult. For those who relentlessly chase data, being able to personalize a message to a specific persona feels like a dream come true.
But even then, how marketers feel about the change is just one part of the equation and may be just that. And it can vary based on exposure, experience, role, personal beliefs, the company you work for, and even the content you consume — essentially, which echo chamber you're in as well.
As consumers of our own success — and I'll speak for myself here — I'm personally in the kitchen cooking while overly stuffed.
We're all part of the marketing and sales funnel we’re trying to master as we search to bring in and integrate the best solution (or tool) for what we set out to accomplish, whether for our teams, our company, or our day-to-day work. We have to understand the tools, pilot them, and integrate them successfully.
Marketing IS resetting. And in a BIG way. And that’s why it’s now more important than ever to reclaim strategy.
Distribution has increased.
Data is now more accessible and has paved the way for personalization.
Tech tools in marketing have plateaued as new tech was introduced and some tech was purged.
The way work is executed is efficient and exponentially expedited while being served at volume.
And how consumer behavior changes over the course of 5–10 years with the reset will soon be determined. But consumer loyalty is on the decline.
So what do you do with all the noise, hype, and information?
Anchor yourself to the one thing that holds the test of time: strategy. And, reclaim it.
Understand business objectives, find what matters to your customers, where they hang out, create messages, funnels, and community around that, and distribute accordingly. The inner workings of the technology are essential, but marketing strategy sets the stage. In the simplest way to explain this, how you consistently and cohesively communicate your value, is now more important than ever.
I like to say I sell clarity-as-a-service. Because, I could message a service one hundred ways, recommend endless tools, give you tips and “hacks”, but without a clear direction of what we’re setting out to accomplish, and understanding of our customers, and a true purpose to build customer lifetime value–everything becomes packaged (and re-packaged) noise.
If this resonated, let's talk. At Blackmore Consulting, we help marketing leaders and business owners reclaim marketing strategy and clarity while staying ahead with tech.
Sources:
https://www.ama.org/marketing-industry-stats-and-information/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-blog-marketing-industry-trends-report
