Marketing departments have received a wake-up call. Their target groups have split into atoms, and segments are no longer homogenous. B2B is fusing with B2C thanks to social media. Old media is no longer as effective as we previously thought, and marketing budgets must be readjusted. Everything must be measured and documented.
Marketing activities that were once based on experience, intuition and gut feeling are now just empty arguments that meet the skepticism of top management. Does the marketing department have a handle on what it’s doing? Is the marketing budget being managed rationally?
Adapting to the new reality requires truly streamlined marketing departments. The internet has transformed people’s habits when it comes to entertainment, dialogue, online communities, information searches and purchasing goods and services.
One thing is certain: effective marketing is interactive marketing. The traditional print media industry, with its falling readership, is disintegrating across the board. Those who have seen the warning signs are now trying to restructure their businesses to adapt to the digital reality. The same applies to forward thinking marketing reps and visionary members of the management who can prove that interactive, digital marketing has a much greater effect than advertising via the older, traditional media.
Should the advertising agency continue to be the lead agency when a majority of the company’s marketing initiatives have moved to the web? And should media agencies still command the entire media budget?