Digital Marketer of the Future – 4 trends disrupting the way we work

By Melanie McKinney, Marketing Consultant at Carpe Diem Consulting. 

Last week's blog was all about the exponential change that is effecting the Digital Marketer of the Future. This week's blog is all about the 4 trends that are disrupting the way we, as marketers, work. 

1. New customer journey

• Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT)

Before consumers are purchasing, they use the web to talk to peers and find out information about the product or service they are thinking about buying. Find out more here: Zero Moment of Truth. 

• Consideration of Omni-channel rather than Multi-channel.

Multi-channel means different messaging comes from different channels all around the same product / company.

Omni-channel means a unified customer experience that acknowledges the different ways the product is marketed and purchased. All channels need to be fully integrated.

• Mobile landscape shifting rapidly

- In 2013 mobile internet usage will overtake desktop usage
- Australia has 2^nd largest mobile penetration in the world
- 41% use mobile as primary device for accessing social networking sites
- 36% use mobile as primary device for search
- The scariest thing about these facts are that in Australia, people spend 30% of media time on their mobile but the advertising industry is spending only 0.001% of their budget on mobile.

Impact?

• It’s never been more important to understand HOW your customers buy and how that changes your strategy. This effects B2B too – they way your customers buy has changed. You can learn more about this at our How to get on your buyer’s shortlist event, taking place all over Australia.
• It’s never been more important to understand how marketing activity translates into business objectives.

2. Social reengineering

• Social media shouldn’t be about “media” (which media platforms you use), it’s now all about the “social” part.  It is about changing the whole company’s relationship with consumers.
• Australians spend more time on social networks than anywhere else in the world. This creates a huge opportunity for marketers whether you are B2C or B2B. If your company isn’t social, you will miss out on sales.
• Read about the first crowdsourced Nissan Z

Impact?

• Collaboration is essential to make your company social. Cross-functional teams with shared decision-making.
• Marketers should stop trying to “own” social media and get everybody in the business involved. They should manage this process and facilitate this process – not get in the way.

3. Multi-screening  

Multi-tasking is standard.

 

80% use smartphones while:

• watching tv 48%
• using internet 34%
• watching film 29%
• playing video games 16%
• listening to music 46%

 Plus:

• People under 30 years old can do 5.4 things at once
• People who are 40+ can do 1.2 things at once

Impact?

• Are you just promoting your products / services on one screen or are you building multi-screen experiences for the multi-screen consumers? 

5. The Singularity

Ray Kurzweil (The transcendent man): “Technology is progressing at such a rate that it will intersect and surpass the processing power of the human brain”. He predicts this will happen 2029.

Scary stuff? It’s actually happening.

Examples:

• Connected devices - Evrythng
• Smart technology – Start Cap and Outback Steak House birthday chair 
• Wearable technology – Neurowear   

Impact?

• Are you building a culture of experimentation in your company?
• Have you found the right partners?
• Are you ready to fail sometimes?

 Panel pointers 

A few key pieces of advice from the panel experts:

• John Batistich - Director of Marketing - Westfield Group
• Matt James - Managing Director - Mi9 Media
• Niall Mckinney - CEO - The Knowledge Engineers

What skills do people now need?

• Businesses need their teams to collaborate; marketers now need deep technology skills and a large mirage of skill bases including sales, technology, and analytical skills. Matt James.
• Skills are only part of the mix. Test and learn with a sense of urgency and have the ability to take people with you. Encourage curiosity, creativity and imagination – this will allow you to adapt through this change. John Batistich.
• Digital is no longer a department. Data and data scientists are now no longer a small group of geeks – they’ve gone mainstream. John Batistich.

How to find people with this kind of talent?

• Recruit through social networks. There’s been a big change in the way we recruit from recruiting only when we need it to on-going recruitment so we create a talent pool or a talent pipeline. Create relationships now, then when / if a role comes up, you’re ready to go. John Batistich.

How to get your senior management to build this culture?

• Find out who the blockers are and who needs to be convinced – then use doses of fear (to motivate) change. John Batistich.
• Talk to them in their own language – make it highly practical and highly relevant to their business. Don’t talk blue sky and make sure you empathise with their concerns. Overusing fear can disable change too. Niall McKinney.
• Quantify it – can we afford to lose $20M if we miss out on an opportunity? Matt James.

If you work in B2B ICT and you think you / your company needs help addressing some of the issues above, download our related whitepapers on the topic. These are all specifically created for B2B ICT Sales and Marketing staff. You can also use our useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of your content marketing program against the needs of the modern B2B buyer.

To learn more about the new customer journey, come to our How to get on your buyer’s shortlist event, taking place in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne which is aimed specifically at B2B ICT Sales and Marketing Directors. Spaces are limited so register today.