Even 10 years ago—back at the dawn of the networked economy—it was clear that marketing would have to change.
In May 1996, for example, the chief scientist at a major technology firm was interviewed by Fast Company magazine. Asked what was different about doing business online, he said: “For one thing—and this is only a slight overstatement—you can fire your vice-president of marketing.”
He continued: “The Internet style is to put something up and let other people examine it—no hype, no hoopla, no advertising—unless it’s substantive… It’s no-obligation marketing. And it creates a different kind of customer—a much more committed customer.”
It has not quite turned out that way. Yes, the Internet has made the market more democratic and, yes, the price and quality of many things we buy has become far more transparent. But, one of the defining realities of what BT is calling the digital networked economy is that actually reaching customers and helping them make decisions is no longer an easy matter. Gone, for example, are the days when the US tuned into three television networks and marketers from General Motors Corp. and Proctor and Gamble Co. preached to the American nation in the breaks.
Illustration : Malay Karmakar / Mint
Peter Fisk, managing director of brand strategy and valuation firm
Brand Finance Plc., says this means that marketing matters now, more than ever. He argues that today’s markets are incredibly complex. Competitive intensity has tripled in most industry sectors and product lifecycles have reduced by 70% over the last decade.
As Fisk observes, the noise of our new markets is deafening. “We are bombarded with at least 1,500 commercial stimuli every day,” says Fisk, who estimates that young people today are likely to have seen around 150,000 different ads by their 18th birthday. And, while “we surf through 300 channels of television, dispersing our lifestyle patterns and destroying the predictability that advertisers used to rely on”, 75% of us now turn to personal recommendation rather than anything marketers might tell us.
Which begs the question—what is an ambitious marketing director to do? Here are a few pointers for surviving—and thriving—in marketing in the digital networked economy:
Look at the world through your customers’ eyes
The first thing to do is to acknowledge the source of the problem—fragmented markets and the proliferation of media and channels. Admit that the old world is dead. Only then can you try to look at the world as your customers do.
We live in a world where oversupply is commonplace. In many markets, too many goods are chasing too few customers. And when it comes to digital products and services, every vendor has an unlimited supply. The result is that the customer is king.