A modern marketing manifesto

Many of us have held the opinion for some time that the arrival of the new wave of social media would force massive changes in communications and marketing and even change the structure of organisations themselves. And so it has. The role of digital marketers in organisations has grown up fast, as marketing’s influence over technology strategy has also grown. Some companies now have chief digital officers. Others have CMOs that play an increasingly pivotal role in deciding technology strategy. So, where does this all leave marketing as a discipline? Is it now a digital profession, or digitally influenced or a strategic influencer of digital strategy?

Well, UK-based digital knowledge provider Econsultancy has set out a Manifesto for the Modern Marketer in an effort to appropriately position marketing in an increasingly digital world. Marketers and their CEOs alike would do well to read it. It will undoubtedly trigger some feelings of déjà vu for long term Spot On blog readers, as well as participants at our conferences and workshops – because Econsultancy’s Manifesto speaks sense and talks directly to many of the challenges Spot On and others in the digital marketing ecosystem have been banging on about for years.

Those challenges to organisations, their brands and traditional marketing disciplines are part of the set of changes that are being wreaked by the turbulence of Internet-speed communications and media. The evolution of new ways of doing things, of approaching things and viewing results that has been necessitated by Web technologies has all been fascinating to watch and difficult to quantify.

Econsultancy has had a good hard think about what the Internet and its associated technologies and cultural changes mean for the profession of marketing and for companies that employ marketers. The result of which neatly, and brilliantly, encapsulates these into a single, elegant document which spells out the role of marketing for the digital age.

The role of marketing has never been so important to companies and the consumer has never been so influential on the way brands act and are perceived by the market. The days of buying influence through disruptive and assertive media are gone – today’s marketers need to use information intelligently, communicate effectively and act conversationally for sure. But those marketers also need to be C-suite players with influence over companies that recognise values of transparency, accountability and truthfulness.

So, hats off to Ashley Friedlein and his team. Set down on paper, it all makes perfect sense. As a clarion-call for marketers struggling with the transition from one-way communications to a totally 360 degree world, it’s compelling stuff.

How you communicate this important set of messages to the boardroom is quite another issue – but we’d start by taking your CXOs  for a day out somewhere quiet and asking them to look at the business with fresh eyes. This is a led process – one we have managed for many organisations – and it is always a massive eye-opener that results in organisational change to some degree as a result of the workshop. Trying it with a view to sharing some of the challenges and opportunities CXOs (and customers) believe the business faces because of the influence of the Web would be a really strong start to a journey we strongly believe every company will have to take. The question is whether yours will be a leader, a follower or even a victim.

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