ManvsAgency

Digital Marketing is fast becoming the niche of all niche industries: SEO/SEM, E-Mail, Social Media, Content Producers, Digital Strategy/Integration (NGAGE), E-Commerce, B2B, B2C, Analytics and the list goes on and on. Most interesting is that no company within any of these sectors can lay claim to owning even 1% of market share. Throw in the fly-by-night operators and you have the longest of long tail industries.

To make up for lack of girth, agency practitioners sometimes evoke the sly tactic of self-proclamation  -  the infamous expert (social media expert, SEO expert, etc..).  Funny.  You cant be an expert when the industry ecosystem is changing hour by hour, minute-by-minute. Rather than self-proclaimed experts, I gravitiate to true specialists who are simultaneously both intellectual and voyeuristic about the digital space.   Trust me, the voyeurism is essential.

Via the Center for Media Research, a new executive brief by IBM Global Business Services, reports that to compete in the new era of advertising will require a fundamental change in agency capabilities. The study findings show that several trends are raising the bar for consumer-centric marketing: consumer adoption of new distribution formats, a shift in advertiser spending, the digital migration of platforms and the emergence of new capabilities due to game-changing moves by both new entrants and existing players.

The report offers these “implications,” concluding that:

Mass marketing alone is no longer feasible. Reaching these diverse segments requires niche offerings and context via approaches that are tailored for new platforms, new offerings and, new experiences

A strategy of permission-based marketing, tailored by geographic market and segment, can help avoid privacy concerns while providing valuable information about consumers.

Not only do advertisers expect truly innovative, breakthrough campaign alternatives, they also require the ability to analyze campaign results to prove the value of spending.

Key finding – Participants that previously focused on delivering either ROI-driven marketing or brand-oriented advertising to the market can now cater to both sets of objectives 

 You can learn more about this @  IBM Institute for Business Value study.

You can learn about digital strategy and voyerism @ NGAGE