Digital - is not a strategy.
Gareth Turner
A strategic marketing advisor & keynote speaker - working with food and drink brands to get big brand thinking into their marketing | NED | Ex Heineken / Arla Foods / Weetabix.
I've noticed a lot of talk about "digital" recently. It's set to be big. I mean really big. It will change everything we do, everything we watch, buy, or talk about. It will even change the WAY we talk.
Now, depending on your perspective this sounds either amazing or awful. There's rarely a grey area between these polar extremes. But that's exactly where it should be. In the same way that everything else can.
<<soapbox mode on>>
Please, can we stop referring to “digital” as if it’s a strategy?
Digital is not a thing in its own right, it's just a way of doing other stuff. Think about it. How ridiculous would it sound if someone had a job title of "Analogue Marketing Manager" - so why is it that it's ok to say you work in "digital marketing?" You simply work in marketing - get over yourself.
Just because we’re now able to connect with consumers in new ways, it doesn't fundamentally change the rules of the game.
It may offer us new ways of finding our consumers, and of engaging with them in interesting ways. But it doesn’t remove the need to have a brand strategy, positioning, defined target audience and clearly defined objectives.
Digital is simply a relatively new and exciting lens through which we can look at other things. It's all too easy to overcomplicate marketing and there are a lot of charlatans profiteering on the back of self created complexity.
So, please, can we stop referring to “digital” as if it’s a strategy?
<<soapbox mode off>>
Global Head of Content at Diageo
7 年There are countless different elements of digital marketing which should be evaluated and selected individually by marketeers based on the campaign and audience type. To generalise by putting all of these techniques and skills under one title can be a critical error to make when devising your overall strategy. Agree in that a well structured digital plan should always form part of your OVERALL strategy. Equally, a "digitally led strategy" would perhaps be a more suitable term in this discussion as too often the effectiveness of digital is hindered greatly due to being introduced as an afterthought once less suitable, traditional marketing techniques have already shaped the overall campaign and it's mechanics.
Communications Manager UK & ROI at Essity
7 年So, so true.
Digital & Innovation Supply Chain
7 年True I'm considering it as an enabler to carry on the wide strategy!
CMO@BKI | ex-Arla Foods | Brand Value | Consumer Demands | Future Business | ESG | Digital Sales | Change Management
7 年Thanks Gareth - spot on - digital is a technique isnt it - the rest is just marketing anno 2017
A strategic marketing advisor & keynote speaker - working with food and drink brands to get big brand thinking into their marketing | NED | Ex Heineken / Arla Foods / Weetabix.
7 年Thanks for the comments - great to see I'm not alone!