Marketing in the Round Infographic
Today, Gini Dietrich and I launch Marketing in the Round in Chicago with a virtual (1 ET) U-Stream book bomb and a live (5 CT) networking event! Read Gini’s post here about how the book happened.
Immersed in the era of visual media, what better way to start the day than with an infographic of statistics used in the book (also available directly on Flickr and Scribd). The RAD Campaign designed infographic demonstrates how today’s online marketing conversation, actual business expenditures, and business selection of tactics are not in synch.
Before we get into deeper analysis, some housekeeping (or skip ahead): Please join Gini and me at 1 EST for our online launch, and see if we can make our goals on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Gini will serve me a chocolate pie in the face if we do… Messy!!!
We also have a Radian6 webinar this Thursday at 2 ET, as well Boston, NYC, Washington, DC and KC events in June and July, and plenty of great content coming your way on other sites.
In addition, Gini and I are offering a deal for those that want us to speak at their event, company or town. If you buy 600 books this week and cover our travel, we will come speak for you the week of July 9 or on June 19 (east coast only). The primary condition is that both Gini and I must be able to get to your city via a direct flight. She lives in Chicago, I live in Washington, DC. The only black-out date is July 11. If you’d like to learn more, email me at geoffliving @ geofflivingston .com.
What the Marketing in the Round Infographic Tells Us
Since the last era of integrated communications during the 90s, we’ve seen two economic crashes and the rise of social (and now mobile) media. As a result, marketing departments have retreated to become siloed with different disciplines strategizing and executing programs autonomously. The result is less effective communications across the board.
The market research cited in the infographic demonstrates that as much hype and discussion as there has been with social media, it has not entered the core of marketing strategy. Another recent study showed that 74% of business-to-business organizations had not implemented a social media strategy yet as of 2011, and 35% of these same businesses don’t see social as important (see analysis here). This data doesn’t even factor in the emerging mobile media boom.
Further, given the experiences discussed in the book and on our own, the overfocus on social media conversation betrays several marketing realities:
- Social media represents a very small percentage of the overall marketing expenditure
- Direct mail and purchased media (ads) by far represent the greatest expenditure in a company
- While we the online marketing blogging community talk about social incessantly, half of the CMOs in the marketplace haven’t figured out how to bring the discipline into the fold.
We know that most organizations delegate social and mobile to a department such as the advertising, PR, interactive or customer service department. Many still treat “new” media like a sandbox. And most departments act autonomously of each other, loosely organized in marketing and communications departments reporting to a CMO or VP. This siloed approach to marketing is just the tip of the iceberg.
Organizational failure to understand the customer experience stymies corporate communications.
Customers don’t consume one form of media or another. They don’t go home and Facebook for three hours. They’re watching TV, reading magazines, and yes, using their laptops, tablets and phones. Perhaps they listen to music or the radio in the background. When they go to work radio dominates, or podcasts, or ebooks. If they ride the train to work, likely media consumption includes smartphone Internet use, reading, listening to music/books/podcasts, and looking at ads at the station. At work, there is the rich online media world, email and trade media, and yes, possibly TV.
The customer experience with brands is multifaceted. It surpasses singular media and information types.
Further, the customer’s interaction with brands is one of relevance. When you need to buy a car, auto brands dramatically increase in relevance. But unless you are an enthusiast, automobile brands matter much less to you 98% of the time. Impact is momentary.
The incredibly complex customer experience — one that is bombarded with corporate messaging at every turn — demands more from marketing departments that want to perform on an optimal level. This is the raison d’etre for Marketing in the Round.