Categories: Articles

Digital Marketing Is The Clear Winner

That’s not a statement, but rather fact if you believe the just-released, 2009 Media Survey Results & Analysis.

According to the eMarketer news item, Media Dollars Shift to Digital in Downturn (published September 16th, 2009): "While a majority of respondents said they would hold budgets for each medium except print steady in 2009 compared with 2008, digital was still the clear winner. Budgets were more likely to be cut than increased for traditional media such as TV, radio and direct mail, but more respondents said they would up their investments in e-mail marketing, search and interactive than said spending would be reduced."

It’s interesting to read that they’re not talking about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or any of the more "Social Media" types of channels. By the looks of this news item, Marketers are going to be hunkering down deep into web analytics and pushing their CRM systems to go digital.

How telling of a quote is this?…

"E-mail marketing was the channel most likely to see an increase in spending in 2009, and print was the biggest loser. The across-the-board shift from traditional to digital media is no surprise–it represents a general reallocation of marketing budgets to newer media channels."

What this really means is that 2009 and 2010 are going to very interesting years for both brands and agencies. Those who have digital competencies are going to have to up their game when it comes to real, tangible and measurable programs (time to get even more serious about brand strategy and ROI), while the more traditional agencies are going to have to realign their structure if they want to continue to post record profits. Whichever side of the fence you’re on, there are going to be both challenges and opportunities.

My personal prediction?

We’re going to start seeing more and more pure-play Digital Marketing agencies become lead as agency of record, and we’re going to a whole lot of action on the acquisition front from traditional agencies and the major networks. Regardless of that, as the Digital Marketing component moves the needle and takes on more of the overall advertising budgets, the big question still remains: who is going to do all of this work? There simply is not enough Digital Marketers who have the skill, talent and experience to deliver all of these programs. As an industry, we’re going to have to band together, head out the colleges and universities and get the word out that being a Digital Marketer is not only a great career move, but a profitable and a smart one. On top of that, we’re going to have to help our current teams to get much smarter and more acquainted with tools like Google Analytics and email marketing systems (even though that sounds so very 2006).

Who is with me?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.