Ask the Wright brothers about digital marketing
Mplanet's Digital Marketing Lab kicked off here today (Monday) in Orlando. Sitting in on some of the sessions, I felt a bit like people interested in flying must have felt in talking to the Wright brothers not long after they got their first fragile aircraft into the sky. It’s all so new, who can tell where it will end up?
It's been a long road from that first flight to today's jets. No one speaking with Orville or Wilbur likely could have imagined a 747. Digital marketing still has a long way to go as well before it gets to the point of being an established marketing discipline.
For now, experimentation is still the rule and anyone looking for a book of best practices is likely out of luck, noted Julie Fleischer, a VP with digital agency Digitas. There is "no single formula for digital. The best thing you can do when it comes to digital marketing is question everything," she told a workshop at the digital lab.
Digital marketing requires a mindset change for marketers, she added. "It’s not 'where are the consumers and how do I reach them,’" but rather what do consumers need and "how can I give it to them" where and how they want it, she said.
Fleischer also advised marketers to stop thinking about trying to make the perfect viral video. Instead, make videos that reflect your company’s culture--and consumers will decide if they're interesting enough to spread them virally.
Mplanet blogger Toby Bloomberg, president of Bloomberg Marketing and author of the Diva Marketing blog, talked about how digital marketing is just a new version of something her grandmother would do if she got a stale cookie form the local bakery.
Her grandmother would go to the bakery and complain about it in front of all the other customers, spreading negative word-of-mouth unless the baker made good on the bad cookie.
Digital marketing extends that ability to say good and ill about companies across the Web, but the concept is still the same, Bloomberg noted---consumes shape other consumers' perceptions about your brand. Marketers need to keep that top-of-mind as they move into the digital world.
It's been a long road from that first flight to today's jets. No one speaking with Orville or Wilbur likely could have imagined a 747. Digital marketing still has a long way to go as well before it gets to the point of being an established marketing discipline.
For now, experimentation is still the rule and anyone looking for a book of best practices is likely out of luck, noted Julie Fleischer, a VP with digital agency Digitas. There is "no single formula for digital. The best thing you can do when it comes to digital marketing is question everything," she told a workshop at the digital lab.
Digital marketing requires a mindset change for marketers, she added. "It’s not 'where are the consumers and how do I reach them,’" but rather what do consumers need and "how can I give it to them" where and how they want it, she said.
Fleischer also advised marketers to stop thinking about trying to make the perfect viral video. Instead, make videos that reflect your company’s culture--and consumers will decide if they're interesting enough to spread them virally.
Mplanet blogger Toby Bloomberg, president of Bloomberg Marketing and author of the Diva Marketing blog, talked about how digital marketing is just a new version of something her grandmother would do if she got a stale cookie form the local bakery.
Her grandmother would go to the bakery and complain about it in front of all the other customers, spreading negative word-of-mouth unless the baker made good on the bad cookie.
Digital marketing extends that ability to say good and ill about companies across the Web, but the concept is still the same, Bloomberg noted---consumes shape other consumers' perceptions about your brand. Marketers need to keep that top-of-mind as they move into the digital world.
Posted by John Frank on January 26, 2009 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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