Categories: Articles

eMarketing – Can We Please Kill This Term?

Last week I had many discussions with Michael Seaton over at Scotiabank (full disclosure: Scotiabank is a client of Twist Image) during the CMA – Canadian Marketing Association – National Conference and Trade Show. One day, we both went off on a tangent that the term “eMarketing” just doesn’t cut it anymore. The “e” in “eMarketing” stands for electronic. Yuck.
I think I’m about to go off on a binge to insure that we replace the current nomenclature of “eMarketing” with “Digital Marketing.” If it doesn’t make a difference to you, I’m cool with that, but it makes a difference to me.
Digital is new, electronic is old. When I think of electronic, I think about ColecoVision. When I think digital, I see horizons beyond the computer monitor. I see mobility, interactive signs and kiosques. I see people working on ultra-portable laptops through wi-fi recording Podcasts with Skype calls between people in different countries and breaking all notions of traditional broadcasting.
This is the brave new world of marketing and it is digital – not electronic. Unless you think the future involves Texas Instrument solar-powered calculators… then yes, it’s still electronic.
We’re still stuck in the minutia of five terms when it comes to New Marketing (this is my favorite description, but my fear is that people shy away from anything “new”):
1. Interactive Marketing.
2. Internet Marketing.
3. Digital Marketing.
4. eMarketing.
5. Online Marketing.
My vote is for Digital Marketing. You?

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.