E-marketing is the New *it*

Survey reveals CMO marketing mindsets

If you’ve been following me on twitter, you’ll note that time and time again, for the last two months straight, a consistent message I share with my followers is beyond crystal clear: the economic climate is shrinking advertising and marketing budgets; marketing money shifts towards digital.

Marketing Vox reports that two-thirds (65 percent) of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and marketing execs say their ad budgets will decrease because of the troubled economy, but more of their money will go toward digital/interactive marketing than before, according to a survey (pdf) from Epsilon, writes MarketingCharts.

An increase in digital marketing monies, efforts and focus also means a decrease in traditional marketing spend. In fact, the same survey cites a 59% decrease in traditional marketing programs like print and/or outdoor advertisements, direct mailings and telemarketing.

While the shift towards digital marketing should not be primarily influenced by economic factors, it is a no-brainer to see why ultimately CMOs are now moving in this direction. E-marketing efforts are far more trackable than traditional ones. And in an economy-challenged climate, CMOs are under far more pressure than before to account for every single marketing dollar invested.

The Epsilon’s survey’s key findings include:

• Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42 percent of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.
• Blogs were the second-most-popular emerging channel, with 35 percent of marketers expressing desire to use them and 19 percent already using them.
• Almost one-third of CMOs mentioned podcasting as an area of interest, with 31 percent interested in adding it to their marketing mix and 18 percent already having done so.
• 29 percent are interested in Mobile Devices (phones/PDAs) and 22 percent have added them to their marketing mix.

“In this economic climate, marketing executives are seeking accountability and measurable results,” said Mike Iaccarino, CEO of Epsilon. Data-driven marketing is an increasingly important component of corporate marketing campaigns as senior marketers employ sophisticated segmentation strategies to recruit and retain customers.”

Marketing Misfit commentary (CMO’s … what’s up???)

I have absolutely no idea why so many CMO’s have refrained from capitalizing on the full potential of their e-marketing programs and campaigns for so long. Why, I wonder, would they have waited until the economy soured to then show more interest in blogging, social networking and other e-marketing efforts? That’s like waiting until the day of a hurricane to make hurricane preparations. I would have thought that with all the cost efficiencies, accountability and trackable measures e-marketing efforts produce that e-marketing of any kind of would have had more prominence with CMOs by now, way before the bleak economic downturn.

I suppose we should be “grateful” that many CMO’s are coming to their e-marketing senses, no matter WHAT made them finally come around. This is not to say that CMOs weren’t open to e-marketing or weren’t already deploying e-marketing initiatives. But the findings of this survey are startling; I find it hard to believe so many CMOs weren’t already knee deep, rather than toe deep, in e-marketing efforts. It leaves me scratching my marketing misfit head wondering what all those six figure CMO salaries are for, exactly?

Maybe it’s just me but aren’t you disturbed to see the survey findings indicate that “almost one-third of CMOs mentioned podcasting as an area of interest, with 31 percent interested in adding it to their marketing mix and 18 percent already having done so.” Podcasting has been around for a while now and podcasts have proven their effectiveness as part of a marketing strategy, when integrated and promoted correctly. So why, then, are CMOs sitting in their corner offices only *considering* podcasting as merely an “area of interest?” Man, if this is how they feel about podcasting, you have to question how they feel about social networking, mobile marketing and video blogging!

So what gives? Helloooo…. CMOs if you are out there, can we please get jiggy with it? What will it take for CMOs earning six figures to stop being interested and start, like Nike would say, just doing it? E-marketing *is* the new frontier for marketing and there is absolutely no turning back. With every single passing second, marketing programs and campaigns are becoming more and more entrenched in social networking, the blogosphere and podcasts, mobile, web sites, landing pages and other corners of the vastly successful e-marketing space. You can choose to ignore me but you cannot ignore the trends, which lean heavily in the e-marketing direction. Why else are print advertsing budgets steadily withering away like ashes in the wind?

Look … any CMO not presently immersed deeply in leading, initiating and deploying e-marketing programs is just begging for a demotion, that’s my take. The time for considerations, sitting in the sidelines and marketing wallflowers is o-v-e-r. As Morgan Freeman’s Joe Clark character tells the music teacher in the movie Lean on Me: “You do know what cancelled means, don’t you Ms. Elliot? It means finished, final, over!” Morgan, I couldn’t have said it better my friend.

Don’t even THINK about cutting back your marketing

Notice in all the info shared above, not *once* has it been said that economic downturn = cut back marketing. The Epsilon study also found that though CMOs are facing tough challenges in the current economic climate, 94 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement, “A tough economic period is precisely the time when marketing plays a key role.”

Whew! That’s surely one good thing about the CMO input collected from this survey. So often, when there are rumors of a recession, the first thing many businesses start to scrutinize are marketing expenditures. This is a sure sign of, in my opinion, “marketing immaturity” where businesses who attack, reduce or eliminate their marketing budgets simply just don’t get marketing. They see marketing as an expenditure rather than as an investment.

No one who understands the vital importance marketing plays in their business — and especially so in times of declining market conditions — would opt to scale back their promotional efforts. This kind of action is ironically quite counter-productive and counter-intuitive because sales of any kind, especially during times of economic hardship, need all the marketing help they can get. These times also provide businesses and organizations alike an excellent opportunity to reposition or re-energize their marketing messaging, fine tuning it to become more competitive and noteworthy.

Rather than obliterate your marketing, make smart adjustments

I’ve seen it way too often: marketing dollars gone down the tube on stupid marketing stuff that generates less than zero of a return. I’ve seen print advertisements costing thousands yield a response so silent, crickets can be heard in the background. I’ve seen hundreds and thousands of dollars go to waste on a poorly executed direct mailing, costing the company money in postage, design and production. Please marketers … if you must make changes in your marketing budget, please let it be your non-ROI marketing efforts in the traditional marketing arena.

Rather than cut marketing programs out entirely, why not — as the trends indicate — shift those marketing dollars towards digital? Were you thinking about placing a fancy 4-color ad? Why not rethink the ad, perhaps downsizing it some (or not doing it entirely) and invest some of the saved dollars on building a series of niche landing pages combined with some PPC/SEM campaigns? Shift, shift, shift. Were you thinking of placing large billboard signage in key markets? Did you plan to attend six industry trade shows? Why not reposition a bit? You can adjust your out-of-home advertising efforts, cut back on one or two industry trade shows and use those monies to expand your e-marketing efforts.

No, I am not saying traditional marketing is ineffective. What I am saying is that more and more, traditional marketing is becoming ineffective without having a strong e-marketing component associated with it. So when you think you don’t have enough marketing dollars to launch a social media or online advertising campaign, think again…because you do. You just have to be willing to let a few things go, shift some of the dollars here and there and voila, you have the capital needed to really do some very targeted, cool and fun things online, as you should.