• by Ann Marie Lane , September 18, 2012

The screaming pace of technology has evolved the role media plays in how people consume and share information from special reports and broadcasts to being intertwined in the fabric of everyday life. Digital and emerging media channels continue to advance and complicate the choices marketers have at their disposal to reach and engage their target audiences but few organizations have turned the change into a way to benefit their success.

A recent study by the CMO Council reported that just 9% of 200 global marketers have a highly evolved, integrated marketing model with a clear, proven evolution path. This is a staggeringly low number, but not surprising when you peel back the layers of how marketers plan today.

To be successful, marketers must understand all the factors that influence targeted consumers and determine the best marketing mix to achieve the greatest return – from strategic planning through to tactical execution. There is no doubt that many CMOs and VPs of Marketing understand the changing marketing landscape and have a vision for more integrated strategies within their organizations. Most, however, are unable to turn this vision into execution because their internal teams, agencies, and vendors are still working in tactical silos.

The path people take to reaching a final conversion – whether it’s signing up for a free trial, watching a demo, or purchasing a product – is influenced in a variety of ways from billboards and TV commercials to mobile apps and Facebook campaigns. The reality is that people consume information offline, online, and, often times, simultaneously. But, marketing departments have not kept pace. Rather than creating an integrated marketing model from the start, companies have taken the path of “throwing bodies at the problem” by adding more specialty agencies or vendors and hiring VPs of Digital or Interactive Marketing. So now, companies have advertising executives, digital media
experts, multiple agencies, marketing software vendors, and much more – each with their own team members – and the only integration, thus far, is equal representation during the decision-making process.

To stay ahead of this trend, CMOs and VPs of Marketing must view digital and emerging media channels in the context of all of their other marketing and understand how offline and online tactics work in tandem to drive the desired outcome. New devices, websites and apps are popping up every month, week and even daily. These technological advancements and the resulting dynamic consumer behavior will only continue to create more marketing choices. Nine out of ten organizations have stated they don’t even have a plan to handle the increasing complexity. Today, offline and online marketing are running in parallel from strategic planning through to tactical execution. If marketers tomorrow don’t have a plan for integrating the two tracks together to create one path from which all marketing decisions are made, then good luck finding another job.

Ann Marie Lane, Director, Communiations, ThinkVine