Digital sure to stay ahead of the game

30 October 2008

I found it puzzling that the Wall Street Journal ran an article two weeks ago reporting that marketers will be cutting back on digital media.

There has often been the concern that in a downturn, with companies slashing budgets, digital spend would be the part of marketing budgets most affected as they were newest area for marketers. However, I’d argue that the biggest value of marketing is to exploit the areas others are shying from, to ensure you’re affecting customers to act.

Furthermore, in tough times there is no other medium that responds as well to being cost-effective, measurable and delivering tangible results to support the real question facing CMOs today, which is all about presenting a strong business case and a clear rate of return for any marketing initiative, be it acquisition, retention or brand building activity.

Sapient recently carried out a pan-European survey of more than 500 marketers that found the overall level of digital marketing activities is expected to increase by up to 45% over the next 12 months, pushing it to account for almost a third of all marketing activities. We also found that 70% of marketers want their agency to use pull interactions, such as online communities, rather than traditional push campaigns.

In the current climate, people are nervous of what they can’t measure. While it’s essential to keep the core skills of creativity, knowledge of brands and a deep understanding of consumer audiences, pushing for a digital slant will help any company stay ahead of the game with measurable results.