One of my former colleagues works at a great ad agency…one that is new to the digital game, but trying their hardest to build a digital practice that will be as rich in capabilities as the offline side of their business. As the man in charge of making the digital dream happen, he gets a great deal of support from the agency, but still regularly runs up against the same roadblock. In his words, “it’s really hard to focus energies on digital among a group of people whose greatest enthusiasm – and deepest understanding – surrounds creating a brilliant TV spot.”
Digital isn’t new. BUT, even the best marketers – especially those who are still growing into their digital clothes – are still mastering the hows, how-tos, and how muches of digital marketing . The rules of thumb are not yet second nature, and few have committed the practices of digital marketing to muscle memory. Look no further than the findings from our recent Digital Marketing Spend Survey. We begin our discussion of where digital marketing dollars are going by talking about how big marketing budgets are, how much of that budget is allocated to digital, and what portion is being carved off for advertising. These numbers may feel basic, but the question of “how much should I spend” comes up every day, as digital marketers work to plan and allocate their digital budgets.
The infographic we published from this research is one that is worth printing and posting, or sharing and pinning, en route to checking-in against where you stack up against the CMO’s path we describe. How do you compare, spend wise? Are you finding savings from your digital activities, and can you describe for others in your organizations what those savings enable you to do? How do your investment priorities compare, and as you tackle these projects, who is doing the heavy lifting for you? Perhaps, if you haven’t already, it’s time to bring in outside help to expedite your efforts, help you find some process or cost efficiencies, or optimize en route to better results. Finally, how does your leadership stack up? As digital marketing continues to build dotted line relationships between marketing and IT, are you among the many seeing the need for more oversight at the top?
There are companies and industries who are leading the way, and their budgeting and priorities are pointing us to the areas where digital has the potential to change how business is done. Then there are other companies, for whom the newness of digital still feels uncomfortable in the face of “favorite jeans” print or TV. One company I know, in a moment of weakness during a recent campaign, pulled their digital spend to focus on print, and when the magazine came, found 38 paid ad placements or editorial insertions of their product. Not surprisingly, questions about inefficiency started to leak into conversations that followed. I would recommend to them, and to others, to take a minute to walk the path of our CMO. Are you following her closely, walking alongside, or have you off-roaded into the woods? If you’re off-roading, is it because you believe you’ve found a better way, or are you legitimately off course? Let us know. As the infographic says, the digital sphere is always evolving. Perhaps you’ve laying the breadcrumbs for our CMO’s next path. Or perhaps it’s time to get out the map.
