Responsibility dial in Marketing

There are some clear facts in life.

We (humans) are social animals. We love stories. We love feeling passionate about something. We love to buy into something. We all want to belong.

#marketing (including branding) as a function was born to enable all of this. Its core function was to create that story i.e the core fabric that customers would love to get wrapped around, to belong and to feel passionate about. And where this story wasn't possible, $$ value always did the trick.

The world of technology evolved and slowly our sphere of influence was growing. There was more to be said, to be written, to be consumed and to be shared. Soon enough, thanks to #socialmedia , every human has ended up having a story or many stories to share and have crafted their art of influence to become an #influencer . Sharing stories has made us happy (for most part)

If given a chance we (humans) would love to influence. We are ok being influenced but we might not want to be called out on being influenced - difference is subtle.

Soon enough, there was a lot being said and shared, a lot of people getting influenced which led to both bad outcomes and good outcomes. Important people in government noticed and rules, policies around ads, content, social platforms were enacted. Then some of the big incidents happened which showed the extent to which some organizations had gone to use data to influence. The whole world woke up to the notion of power of data to influence and how Big Tech was becoming too big, too rich with data, too rich with $$.

We (humans) want to be in control (given a chance), we might not express it or might be afraid of it but we generally want it.

The world of user identifiers/pseudo identifiers, #digitalprivacy and express consent was born. Soon enough the most often clicked button was "Accept All". Less than .01% of us have ever potentially gone through the tedious work of managing cookie preferences and making strategic choices. But, the cost of not doing it right can be exorbitant (loss of brand reputation, monetary fines) etc.

Some countries, continents, states have taken a lead in getting bills passed to regulate all that needs to be regulated to protect consumer privacy. Others are considering it. What we don't understand completely can sometimes be uncomfortable and scary. We feel the need to regulate/govern it with good intentions (mostly).

As humans, we seek to create comforts. We don't actively go around seeking discomfort. At the same time we do like control which means we like boundaries.

Human preferences and likes/dislikes have evolved considerably over the last few years. The core principles that define all of us might be the same but we have a million times more shades (variances) of the same with added nuances. This makes the job of marketing even harder and it requires a new kind of skill-set to be built in marketers and the ecosystem that supports them.

There are a lot of eyes on marketing, especially when it comes to legal and regulatory bodies. Data has been fueling marketing's ability to do great work. And the underbelly of data is very often in a blackbox that sits with big tech partners. They are great at what they do and are the first ones to really understand the laws. But, in this equation it is very important as advertisers for us to know what we don't know. So, that armed with this information we can understand what we need to do toabide by the laws. Marketing has always been responsible (mostly, i think so) but these laws just make it more official. So, really make sure to understand the digital aspects of the platforms that need to work well to help you drive results.

• Digital marketing operates within a lot of regulatory guidelines and laws that govern customer data and digital privacy. Know the core aspects of the laws and how they translate into your responsibility as a digital marketer
• A lot of digital marketing is reaching back to prospects - understand Tag Management Platforms, Pixels and how they work
• Reaching out to net new prospects is about using native targeting criteria within platforms or buying audience lists coupled with using your existing customer exclusion audience - Understand very clearly what data is used to build that native targeting criteria. Does it abide by the various laws in your country? Are you required to make any changes on your end to abide by the laws?
• Digital campaign measurement requires pixels to be implemented on your site, applications. It will also require web analytics platforms to help you measure performance. Understand how they work, so you can make sure that you are abiding by all the rules/regs.

Long story short, marketing has the power to influence and now the responsibility dial has really been turned into hyper mode. So, don't just look for people who know the platform, also look for people who can learn the responsibility angle very well and be super creative in those boundaries.

And the privacy angle is new and gaining momentum, so you need people who will figure it out.