Marketing needs marketing: Modern challenges call for answers
“Why should I study marketing when I’m already using social media and Google Ads to promote my business?” I got this question from a mentee on LinkedIn’s Career Advice mentoring program. She was a college student of Biology without any previous learning experience in marketing communications. Nevertheless, she was a digital native, a Gen Z, who used “tablets, stylus and smart boards in school instead of chalk and marker,” as she said. Her favorite school project was video editing and starting a YouTube channel. Mine was to study with friends for an upcoming exam. We discussed beyond the typical “how to get a job” or “what else to do to strengthen my resume.” It was mutually rewarding talking to a young person (neither friend nor student) and exchanging thoughts and views.
I study Generation Z since 2010 as I want to understand how they learn, talk, work, get entertained, create jobs, and make a living. They are probably the fastest generation of self-made millionaires in history. Among their many behavioral characteristics, Digital Natives seek three things: 1. Instant gratification, 2. Public approval, and 3. Social entertainment. Digital Natives can be impatient and creative professionals with a strong sense of entitlement. Older generations accuse them of being quitters, unsatisfied, superficial, and melodramatic. Gen Z grew up more sheltered than any other generation because their parents felt they were protecting them from all kinds of danger. Although they look ambitious, they are not entirely focused on career, at least in the terms defined by previous generations. Digital Natives are digitally social but physically anti-social. They earn to spend and not to save. Digital Natives aim at combining work, life, community involvement, and self-development. They are flexible with time, job sharing, and remote working. Digital Natives set different priorities than us and are capable of achieving on their terms. Overall, they are an exciting generation. Don’t you think?
Marketing Evolution
A catchy advertisement on mass media was enough to drive sales in the 60s. Mom and dad would watch the ad before buying the product labeled “as seen on TV.” In the 90s, marketers were already launching campaigns, conceptualizing the importance of the strong message that builds brands. People loved the concept of branding, and Nike’s “just do it” became the motto for a whole generation of entrepreneurs. Today, things are complicated. Modern marketers who launch campaigns with catchy advertising messages without considering other factors will eventually fail. Why?
Two reasons:
1. Brands are different. They are not based on an ad message telling people what to do. Modern brands offer a digital experience inviting consumers to join. They shape people’s realities and provide solutions to real-life situations. As soon as the brand develops a new understanding, both digital and traditional marketing tools invite consumers to join. This unique digital experience demands new strategies that bring social, mobile, and local marketing closer. In other words, today’s marketers are like good hosts at a big party with guests. They have to organize the party, ensuring its success and leaving no guests complaining. Brand reputation matters more than brand recall.
2. Consumers are different too. Modern consumers are elusive, tech-savvy, content-oriented, omnichannel shoppers, collaborators, and social sharers. Consumers are digital storytellers, just like marketers. With the rapid proliferation of social media and mobile devices, consumers have strengthened their position as valid opinion leaders. Who is stronger anymore? A newspaper that sells 1,000 issues a day or a Twitter user with millions of followers? Imagine a young college student, back in 1995, working part-time for an electronics retail store. He takes his job seriously and gives his best to serve every customer. His high quality of customer service is appreciated by a gentleman who kindly sends a letter to the young salesman’s supervisor, thanking him and the company for their dedication to excellence. Today, the same customer would have done things differently. As we are all witnessing the age of digital consumers, our story’s customer would post his positive review on the company’s Facebook page, tweet with a relevant hashtag to his Twitter followers, give thumbs up on the product’s YouTube channel, mention his new gadget on Instagram, write on his blog, leave a review on Yelp or Google Reviews, and so on.
What has changed over the last 20 years?
Social media has changed how people communicate, stay informed, get entertained, and do business. Nowadays, consumers feel more important than the brand. They understand that their voice is enough to affect other people’s decision-making process. They produce content anywhere, at any moment, and to anyone. Nothing is private anymore. Reviews, either positive or negative, are to be shared. Social networking sites are the modern megaphones of messages. At the same time, consumers use them to share their stories in far-reaching and widely public and digital avenues. Consumers do not simply consume or love brands; they breathe them.
As consumers are rapidly moving between channels and platforms, marketers find it challenging to implement an integrated marketing strategy. In today’s highly cluttered digital marketing environment, marketers need to comprehend a new breed of consumers. Smartphones are empowering consumers and transforming shopping and recreational behaviors. Shopping used to be fun. Now it is much more than that. It is a game with immediate rewards and a chance to get in touch with friends and followers. Inevitably, marketing is becoming Phygital — physical and digital work together, simultaneously and interdependently. As connected devices and mobile data become more affordable, people will ubiquitously connect through mobile applications such as WhatsApp, Zoom, and Messenger to connect, promote, and criticize.
The Social, Local, and Mobile Landscape
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are growing as human communication channels to allow brands and consumers to engage in public discussions. As social media becomes the main source of information, communication, and entertainment, marketers will be discovering highways of business opportunities.
The rapid proliferation of advanced smartphones and other mobile devices allowed people to exchange information by pinpointing consumers’ location and providing them on their mobile devices with location-specific advertisements. The integration of mobile advertising with location-based services is what characterizes location-based advertising.
Wireless networks have become superfast and ubiquitous. Mobile marketing can provide consumers with personalized information based on their location and the time of receipt. To use simple words, consumers are more attached to their phones than their personal computers, providing marketers with new tools and opportunities to fish where the fish are. Today everybody has a voice. Consumers have their voice, brands reply, and followers react.
Marketing Revisited
Advertising blooms from the early existence of humanity, as people influence each other, using any means they have. Until recently, brands relied heavily on traditional marketing tools such as television ads, print ads, brochures, posters, and radio ads to communicate with their target markets. With the development of online platforms, brands communicate directly with their consumers seeking immediate and accurate feedback.
The desire of every business or brand is primarily to approach new customers. Then, to progressively build relationships with them, and finally, convert them to loyal customers. For that purpose, digital marketing has distinct differences from traditional marketing. In digital marketing, the achievement of acquisition, conversion, and retention may be fulfilled in multiple ways. Marketers are the tour guides in the customer journey. They should understand the communication touchpoints and know when and how to speak.
It makes no sense to shout for attention when nobody is ready to listen. It’s like going outside a school and try to sell stocks! Nobody likes the party crashers (well, almost nobody)! We used to say that a marketing plan needs to master the 4Ps: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Today, we need to know what people (not only customers) think about issues that go beyond our brand and market. The modern marketer needs to be a business person, a sociologist, a good writer, a strategist, a scientist, and above all, a competent listener.
