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Digital marketing needs to clean up its act

(Does) digital marketing need to clean up its act(?)

P&G’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said what many digital marketers have been thinking for some time now. “The days of giving digital marketing a pass are over…It’s time to grow up. It’s time for action.” [We don’t] “want to waste time and money on a crappy media supply chain.”

Almost immediately after reading that, I came across an article, 10 Things I Hate About Digital Marketing by Jerry Daykin. Skeptically, he points out many of the potential pitfalls of digital.

What do you think?

“Digital is all around us and there’s never been a more exciting time in marketing. There’s also never been an easier time to completely waste your advertising budgets. Digital transformation is creating huge new opportunities to reach consumers and drive business objectives. But if you blindly believe everything you read in a marketing headline, or see presented on an event stage, you can easily be led astray.

[You might also like, “What are the Greatest Concerns for Marketers Now?”]

“The digital industry is sadly still full of misinformation, misguided gurus, false perceptions and perhaps even a few deliberate crooks. With so much constant change it’s hard for anyone to keep up. But in general, the traditional rules of marketing all still apply…”

In the same post: “The answer to how much content you need to make is nearly always dependent on how much you can afford to promote to a big enough audience. That’s why content isn’t really king, it’s a democratically elected president which can win hearts & minds only if it has enough of a campaign to get started.”

Read the rest of the post HERE.

February 8, 2017
New music: SOS

Listen to electronic track: “SOS”

Listen to the new melancholy music track – let’s look out for each other out there.

We’ll be back with marketing updates, but let’s take a short break and listen. Enjoy!

Soundcloud:

ReverbNation:

YouTube:

Also listen to Put It Down

Lyrics:

SOS

She was the one who walked alone home almost every night

Who learned to play guitar at home

With braces and an awkward way

Who often wrote songs on her own

But as the years passed by her smile slowly wore away

She seemed to have less confidence in all she did

So when their awful words would last until the day would fade

Her tears would reflect blue light from the screen that said

You’re all alone

And you’re no one

All alone

I’m sending out an SOS

I only hope someone listens

Like an echo from the shore

A wave that sounds no more

Remember the day she didn’t show at all

It was another two before they were called out

So many said, “That, yes they made fun but she seemed alright”

The music stops, it all goes by and they play on

Yes, they’re someone

They’re playing on

Playing on

I’m sending out an SOS

Only hope someone listens

Like an echo from the shore

A wave that sounds no more

She’s sending out an SOS

Only hopes that you listen

An echo from the shore

A wave that sounds no more

January 22, 2017
The Internet: It’s time to talk

On the Internet…

Although this isn’t about digital marketing, we all play in the same sandbox. Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute, has a few thoughts about how we can make the internet a better place for everyone.

ColorBlind Images / Getty Images

The internet is broken. Starting from scratch, here’s how I’d fix it

My big idea is that we have to fix the internet. After forty years, it is corroding, both itself and us. It is still a marvelous and miraculous invention. However, there are bugs in the foundation, bats in the belfry, and trolls in the basement.

This is not a technophobic rant. I am not dissing the Internet for rewiring our brains to give us the twitchy attention span of Donald Trump on Twitter. Or pontificating about how we have to log off and smell the flowers. Qualms about new technologies will always exist (ever since Plato fretted that the technology of writing would threaten memorization and oratory). I love the internet and all of its digital offshoots. What I bemoan is its decline.

There is a bug in its original design. It at first seemed like a feature but has gradually, and now rapidly, been exploited by hackers and trolls and malevolent actors. Its packets are encoded with the address of their destination but not of their authentic origin. With a circuit-switched network, you can track or trace back the origins of the information, but that’s not true with the packet-switched design of the internet.

Read the rest HERE

January 6, 2017
Marketing Challenges: What are the greatest concerns for marketers?

I guessed number one of the marketing challenges correctly. See if you agree with this Hubspot post – updated to reflect recent business marketing research.
7 of the Top Marketing Challenges Marketers Face Today

Every marketer faces different challenges. Although we typically share similar goals, some teams are stuck on hiring top talent, while others are having trouble finding the right technology for their needs.

[Also, read, “Want to Create a Fantastic Social Media Proposal?”]

Whatever the case may be, there’s always at least one area that you can stand to improve. In other words, there’s always room to optimize the various components of your strategy and turn your marketing into an even more effective revenue generator.

Curious about what kinds of obstacles other marketers are up against?

To learn more about the challenges marketers face today, download the free 2016 State of Inbound report here.

We polled thousands of marketers on the challenges they face, as well as the tactics they’ve used to meet those challenges head-on. Here are some of the most common challenges marketers reported struggling with … and their solutions.

The Most Common Marketing Problems We Face, According to the 2016 State of Inbound Report

According to our report, generating traffic and leads and proving ROI are the leading challenges marketers face. Here’s a look at this year’s data:

Image Credit: The 2016 State of Inbound Report

Let’s go through each of these top challenges and how marketers can address them.

Read the rest HERE

Written by Lindsay Kolowich | @lkolow

December 10, 2016
Social Media: Boost your career

Remember the post, Social media: Is it time to quit? – here’s an interesting response:
Hayden Maynard, nytimes.com

Don’t Quit Social. Put It to Work for Your Career Instead.

As director of digital communications and social media at the career site Monster, I read, “Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It,” with great interest. The author argues that social is harmful for careers. It is too much of a distraction and doesn’t provide a valuable return on investment professionally.

As someone who spends the majority of his work time on social helping people find careers they’ll love, I disagree with his assessment. I believe that you should not quit social — and that doing so will actually damage your career.

Understandably, you might be questioning my motives. “Hey, this guy does social for a living, so clearly he’s got a vested stake in this matter.” Well, you’re right. But let’s start with the point that I’m not the only one who makes a career doing this. Just one platform, Facebook, has created more than 4.5 million social media industry jobs globally, according to a study conducted by Deloitte. Talk about literal career benefits. The number of people in the creative industries, advertising and more who make a living on social is probably much higher…

Read the rest HERE.

December 4, 2016