In light of the many analyses and predictions that social media will see many budget reductions during this deep economic recession, I’ve begun to take a look at what practitioners should do to help stave off heavy cuts brought on by axe wielding marketing executives looking to stay on familiar ground with what they perceive works. If we don’t begin to develop solid business cases as to the value of social media, we’ll find ourselves (and what we do) devalued, done in-house by non-practitioners, or by traditional agencies that will being going out of their way to undercut us because they don’t want to lose business.
I’m mostly looking at this from a bird’s eye view for the industry as a whole as opposed to an on the ground viewpoint in which we can’t see the forest for the trees.
1) We need to recognize reality.
That’s right. We need to recognize that this is going to be a deep, deep recession. One’s that’s going to last for a long time. Recessions have major ramifications on how consumers spend their income, how companies formulate their budgets, and, perhaps most importantly, how marketing is viewed. In a recession, marketing is often viewed as an expense…not an investment. Companies often get “selfish” when it comes to marketing, where the most important thing is immediate cash flow from sales. A company may forget that people, especially in hard times want VALUE when they spend their money.
Decision makers often want to work with “proven” models that they’re familiar with. And these models will often be pushed by their traditional agencies because those agencies provide these services. Of course, proven may not – or may no longer mean effective – but at least it has been done before and for the decision makers, it’s best to stick with what is familiar.
We also need to understand that, business is business and business can be ruthless. Traditional agencies – ones that we may be working alongside or subcontracted through may think nothing of undercutting us by devaluing the concept of social media to their clients or by trying to learn some basics through observing our work, and then summarily dismiss us as they bring these capabilities in house on some level.
2) We need to embrace outward integration and recongize that traditional marketing still very much has a primary role.
No, traditional is not dead. Traditional agencies (both advertising and PR) and their services are still very much needed. Needed to introduce and position products, to work with the media, to explain features and benefits. People still watch TV, listen to the radio, and yes, read magazines.
Companies that provide these services are often the ones that have the ear of potential clients. They may often be the gatekeepers.
So there are two major points here. One is that we can’t afford to dismiss traditional type stuff as being “so 20th Century“. The end user – the consumer – will be getting the information they seek on products from various sources. That’s reality.
The second point is the most important. We need to understand and preach integration. Social media may not be for every business. Or, more realistically, the emphasis placed upon social media will vary depending on the client’s needs and the industry they are in. In practically every case social media will be only PART of the equation. That’s reality.
Therefore, we MUST learn how to best integrate what we do with what the traditional types do. Both online and offline. In an economy such as today’s, we can’t afford to offer a haphazard slew of services that isn’t tied into their overall marketing picture. Meaning everyone…the ad agency, their PR firm, their SEO firm, their website company.
This means we’ll have to ask clients if we could have access to and then get to know these other companies. What they’re about. How to best integrate everything. It blows me away when I hear of an ad agency that is running a marketing campaign that doesn’t know who the PR firm is. That has to stop. We have to insist on it. Otherwise, we me be looked upon as the least important part of the puzzle, the “kids” of the group.
Sure there are risks doing this, but the rewards will be greater. We’ll be putting ourselves at the same table as our cohorts, establishing our presence. And the client will be infinitely better served by having a mostly seemless marketing team.
In the long run, this is how we need to look at things as well. We are, to use a cliche, solution providers. Not just blogging consultants or Facebook adherents or Twitter experts.
3) We need to embrace inward integration and become strategic driven as opposed to offing a slew of tactics.
Having a slew of tactics is one thing. It’s another thing to be able to understand a client’s needs enough to meld them together to offer strategic solutions for clients. It may sound like a cliche, but what clients really want are solutions. Many of them may not know where to start. It should be up to us to show them the way.
Now in defense of social media strategists, many clients and potential clients are so lost on this stuff that it may be best to offer tactical capabilites at first. But we have to soon get beyond this. John Bell of Ogilvy writes in Digital Influence Mapping Project:
Many social media purists resist the discipline of strategy and marketing as if the fundmentals of strategy were the problem. They may resist or they may just not know how to create it. Tactics like blogger outreach, viral video online and the dreaded facebook application come tumbling out. Strategy and how you get there is as fundamental and necessary as architectural plans to building.
Understanding that we must offer strategic thinking to our clients means that we understand the so-called big picture…and not just our client’s needs, but the industry that they happen to be in. And it also means that we’ll need to understand what their current and potential clients and customers are about. This will enable us to better apply our services to our clients needs. That’s an essential business concept. Each client will receive a customized, crafted plan. Thinking primarily tactically means we often will be applying things haphazardly, simply because we have a particular offering that they may (or may not) need.
Customized plans mean that we really need to make the effort to understand our clients, their business needs and goals and their culture.
In other words, we can’t be thrilled to offer them the capability of offering them a Facebook app if they don’t need one.
4) We need to think how we position our services to provide immeidate, tangible ROI to budget cutting executives.
This is especially important now. Companies are cutting back marketing budgets and social media may be a juicy target becuase of the ignorance and fear factor.
Companies are going to suffer during this recession. They’ll have needs. Generating sales leads. Maintaining customer loyalty. Social media can play a roll.
You know what? This is a whole other post I should work on.
5) We have to stop the hype and anti-traditionalist banter. And the cockiness that sometimes comes with it. It harms us. And it ain’t true. (Mostly)
Engage or die. Traditional advertising is dead. Marketing messages are a thing of the past. The people formerly called the audience.
Please. All hype. All wrong. Ladies and gentleman, this is a transformation. An evolution. One that is bringing about substantial change. But the change isn’t absolute nor is it complete. People may not want every brand to try to “engage” them. They want to buy something and be left alone. It may at times in fact be good to use traditional channels to get the word out to the masses. It may serve as a perfect introductory method for a product. And it may take marketing messages to inform them…the audience that they are.
We need to stop the shrill “change or die/nothing will ever be the same” mantras. Yes, change is happening, but we need to remember that we are pioneers and early adopters. Not eveyone has a Facebook profile or a Twitter presence. Most people don’t religiously read blogs.
Will some companies suffer because they choose not to use social media? Ignore it? Miss opportunities? Definitely. But we have to continually prove ourselves in several industry categories before we can be taken as seriously as other forms of marketing disciplines. As we see, social media is often one of the first things being cut. That doens’t surprise me. It may not be the wisest decision, but it’s what to be expected during a recession.
This sometimes blind belief in what we do isn’t shared by a key constituency of ours – the marketing decsion makers that we’re trying to get business from. They may hear us and groan and roll their eyes. They may be sick and tired of hearing about Web 2.0.
6) We have to stop the cockiness. It’s amateurish and unprofessional.
Here’s an (ahem) brilliant commentby a determined fellow on Adam Ostrow’s article in Mashable, Data: What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing? The 15% he is referring to our those who don’t quite see social media as an effecitve means of customer engagement.
The unwashed 15% are the same that still believe that traditional big-budget SEM and static websites are worthwhile investments. Sometimes all it takes is for a proof-of-concept social media portal to hit a Google PR6 ranking in under a month using core social media tactics before they take notice. Then you hit them across the head with customer engagement numbers vs. their SEM budget returns and then you see the weeping.
Love the subtlety. The sense of modesty. That will go over well in a meeting with a marketing exec. Or the web team that build that static site. Or the SEM people. I mean the guy’s attitude even shows disdain for other forms of digital marketing. It shows me he has no idea that the marketing decision maker may (unwisely) be choosing to cut that proof-of-concept social media portal form the budget. It shows me that he has no idea of the concept of integration of marketing…as if all consumers are the same and the only way needed to market to them is through his brilliant solutions.
I usually don’t call out people like this, but I had too.
We’re in for some tough times. As a whole, and as marketers, and as social media strategists. We have to prepare ourselves to work through this as we establish ourselves, our companies, our industry.
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