Spotlight \ Shifting Trends:
The Transformation of Traditional Marketing
By: Lisa Horwich @ Pallas Research
“Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation.” Milan Kundera
Many of the ‘traditional’ marketing functions are undergoing transformations that have a significant impact on how marketers perform their jobs. These changes are manifesting themselves in multiple arenas that we will explore in this and future issues of DMI.
We invite you, the reader, to engage and come with us on this journey to learn what are the key areas to watch, how to make sense of the transformative changes and, finally, understand your role in this new marketing economy.
From the agency side, we have seen more agencies closing, many agencies becoming specialists vs. generalists (think ‘best of breed’ rather than ‘all things to all people’), and many consolidations that indicate a general disruption to the status quo. This fundamental shift in how agencies operate are forcing marketing vendors to think more strategically on how to position their services.
This change is even more prevalent in the world of customer insights. Market research is often performed under compressed timeframes, smaller budgets or, sometimes overlooked in the rush to get the new product, campaign or redesign out into the market to satisfy corporate deadlines and competitive threats. Mass consolidation is the norm, with few independent mid-sized agencies left.
Social Media is experiencing its own transformation with a higher bar expected for creative content and laser focus on the ‘algorithm.’ This issue of DMI will introduce you to Josh Dirks @ Project Bionic – a leading Social Media agency. In future issues, we will explore the topic of Social Media with more in-depth interviews with Josh, bringing you a unique perspective to the changes he’s seen over the years since he founded Project Bionic.
And, no discussion about marketing transformation would be complete without a nod to the impact that technology has on the discipline. The now infamous prediction of CMO’s outspending CIO’s on technology by Gartner came fairly true in 2017. While spending has declined somewhat over the past year, marketing departments are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence and machine learning to take their personalized marketing campaigns to a whole new level. In addition, the role of Big Data and the immediacy of analytics continue to drive increases in CMO reliance on technology.
What does this mean for those of us who live and breathe within the marketing umbrella?
We need to recognize that companies are bringing more of traditionally outsourced functions in-house with agency managers, media buyers and researchers now all part of the corporate marketing team. Third-party vendors are more often relegated to executional roles, thereby increasing the commoditization of marketing services.
In addition, with increased technology budgets comes increased scrutiny on the ‘ROI’ of marketing activities and accountability for technology utilization. And, finally, consumers are becoming even more protective of their privacy, making it harder for marketers to create the authentic, personalized experience consumers crave.
DMI’s role in this new marketing economy
DMI is a collective of industry professionals who are obsessed with understanding the changes in our world. Our respective backgrounds range from branding gurus, marketing services leaders and social media experts to research strategists and ‘martech’ innovators.
We plan to cover topics related to transformative changes within different industries and marketing disciplines – hopefully keeping the discussion relevant for all of us who realize it’s not ‘business as usual’ anymore.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa specializes in sophisticated, strategic market research and competitive intelligence. With over 15 years of marketing experience, including communications/brand management and product marketing, Lisa uncovers the ‘why’ behind data helping companies get the information they need to make smart decisions. Lisa specializes in business-to-business research helping companies understand their customers’ point of view through data analysis, focus groups and in-depth interviews.
