The Biggest Lies That Digital Marketers Tell Themselves

SAMUEL SCOTT

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS – LOGZ.IO

COLUMNIST, THE PROMOTION FIX – THE DRUM

GLOBAL MARKETING SPEAKER

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Lie #1

“Advertising is Dead”

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“Advertising is Dead”

"You're seeing the end of the era of mass marketing. Nobody can afford it anymore, and consumers are overloaded with messages."

Jim Nail, principal analyst at Forrester Research, to the New York Times

2004:

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“The post-advertising age is under way.”

Bob Garfield in Ad Age

2009:

“Advertising is Dead”

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“Advertising is Dead”

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Advertising is NOT Dead

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Lie #2

“Content marketing is the only marketing left!” – Seth Godin

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“We honestly believe that outbound marketing is dead.”

The Hubspot Blog, October 2011

2011:

So-Called “Content Marketing”

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So-Called “Content Marketing”

The Promotion Mix

Promotion

Advertising Direct Marketing

Public Relations

Sales Promotion

Personal Selling SEO

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So-Called “Content Marketing”

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Promotion

Advertising

Content

Channel

Direct Marketing

Content

Channel

Public Relations

Content

Channel

Sales Promotion

Content

Channel

Personal Selling

Content

Channel

SEO

Content

Channel

“Content marketing” just refers to all of this:

So-Called “Content Marketing”

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So-Called “Content Marketing”

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So-Called “Content Marketing”

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So-Called “Content Marketing”

-- Hubspot Blog Topic Generator

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Lie #3

“People want to engage with brands on social media!”

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“Social Media Marketing” is Useless

Do this experiment.

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“Social Media Marketing” is Useless

Coca-Cola has 23 million users in the UK

Coca-Cola has 2.5 million Facebook followers in the UK – 11% of users

Organic posts will be seen by 11% of followers -- only 275,000 people, or 1.20% of all users

“Engagement” from 0.22% of followers – only 5,500 people, or 0.02% of all users

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“80 million Americans will eat at least one Oreo this year, meaning the Super Bowl Twitter campaign reached less than 1% of its target market. Still impressed?

– Mark Ritson

“Social Media Marketing” is Useless

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“Social Media Marketing” is Useless

”Pepsi Refresh” in 2010

Moved millions in ad spend from TV to social media

Decrease of 5% in market share

Lost $350 million

#3 brand – behind Diet Coke

See Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman

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“Social Media Marketing” is Not a “Thing”

Promotion

Advertising

Content

Channel

Direct Marketing

Content

Channel

Public Relations

Content

Channel

Sales Promotion

Content

Channel

Personal Selling

Content

Channel

SEO

Content

Channel

“Social media” is just a collection of channels over which these things can be done:

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“Social Media Marketing” is Useless

2.3 billion people are active social media users.

What do you think that these billions of people want?

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Lie #4

“TV is dead!”

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TV is NOT Dead

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TV is NOT Dead

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TV is NOT Dead

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TV is NOT Dead

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So…….

Why Do MarketersMake Bad Assumptions?

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Why the Buzzwords?

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The Echo Chamber…

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…Leads to Bad Marketing…

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Social Media is One Example

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Go Back to the PastWhen Going Into the Future

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The Internet and mobile:

1. Are just new sets of communications channels

2. Simply allow for new formats of marketing collateral

Market Over Online & Offline Channels

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Promotion

Advertising

Content

Channel

Direct Marketing

Content

Channel

Public Relations

Content

Channel

Sales Promotion

Content

Channel

Personal Selling

Content

Channel

SEO

Content

Channel

Market Over Online & Offline Channels

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Resources

The Drum: My Promotion Fix columns

My TechCrunch columns: Everything the Tech World Says About Marketing is Wrong and How Google Analytics Ruined Marketing

My Amazon.com list of traditional marketing books to read

My marketing speaker page and blog

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – RSS and e-mail list

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Go raibh maith agat!

Samuel ScottDirector of Marketing and Communications, Logz.io

samuel@logz.io@samueljscottFacebook and LinkedInRSS and e-mail list

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