I’ve never felt very comfortable with the label ‘Digital Marketer.’ And to reflect this, I’ve been describing myself as “A Marketer in a Digital World” for about 5 years now, a badge I have worn with pride.
But even this is starting to feel a little behind the times. The world is certainly digital, with every aspect of brand engagement being reshaped in some way, but the impact of this revolution is now so profound, so complete, that the d-word increasingly seems superfluous and redundant.
Perhaps a better label for what we do would be a return to the delightfully succinct “marketing”. After all, when everything we do, whether we plan it or not, ends up having some impact in digital channels, surely everything is digital?
Show me your marketing activity that’s not digitally connected today and I’ll show you where you’re wasting money.
“But what about TV ads, what about my outdoor posters and radio ads?,” I hear you cry. “None of those are really digital, are they?”
That’s true. Some of the channels we choose, for very good reason, are not inherently digital. But the effect they have on our customers almost invariably is. Your billboard ads can be as conventional as you like. Heck, don’t even put your website URL on there if you don’t want to. But they cease being analogue and are reborn as digital entities the first time someone walks past, takes a photo, and comments on your oddball decision to leave out the URL. And from that moment on, the impact of your advertising campaign may have to be measured across any number of digital channels, not solely in the number of people who may have walked past.
You see, traditional marketing can now morph instantly into something digital. And there’s nothing you can do about it. So here’s to the marketers. Those post-digital pioneers who understand the enormity of the new forces shaping our world and seize the opportunity with both hands.
This post was written by Allister Frost, A Marketer in a Fast-Changing World