Digital Lifescapes

The role of a typical Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at a technology, media or telecommunications company is very challenging -- especially if they're skilled in the practices from the bygone era of legacy mass-media marketing. Many struggle to adapt to the needs of today's forward-thinking interactive online marketing environment. According to the latest global CMO survey by Heidrick & Struggles and Forrester Research , CMOs need to contribute to substantive business strategy, but many need to raise their marketing technology IQ first -- so that they can become more credible as leaders in their organization, and clearly demonstrate that they're not obsolete. Based on a survey of nearly 200 global marketing leaders, the market study attempted to measure CMOs' influence within their organization, their business objectives, and their skills and competencies necessary to survive in a rapidly changing realm of digital marketing. Unskilled in Meaningful Business Str...

Measuring the performance and resulting impact of a marketing organization has always been difficult -- particularly where the primary metrics tend to be quantitative, and few are qualitative. Today, most marketers would like to demonstrate meaningful online influence as their key performance indicator (KPI). But when capturing that metric proves to be elusive, they attempt to refocus their monitoring efforts on target stakeholder engagement. By far, the more common outcome that's reported, however, tends to be counting activity-oriented or event-oriented metrics (clicks, impressions, etc.). eMarketer reports that companies now realize that amassing fans and followers is not the ultimate goal of social media marketing. Yet the challenge remains -- how to measure marketing success that a chief executive would gladly reward. Data from the August 2011 Chief Marketer “2011 Social Marketing Survey” found that only 26 percent of marketing professionals saw amassing total follow...

eMarketer reports that the Web and its meritocracy for content publishing has put more power into the hands of consumers and business buyers. They can easily conduct their own product research, get advice and read reviews from peers, and share their own perspective. According to a market study by marketing services company Alterian, this apparent transformation has led to increasing public skepticism and cynicism of many traditional marketing practices. Rather than simply trusting experts or putting faith in brands, Internet users expect to do their own research and comparison shopping using many different "more trustworthy" sources. Nearly every respondent to Alterian's survey did their own research and comparisons before a purchase at least sometimes, and 71 percent said they looked for as many information sources as possible to verify their findings. Friends and family were most likely to be trusted for advice, while advertisements and other carefully crafted...

According to the latest eMarketer assessment, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and social media marketing are not a logical mix. CPG companies tend to focus on attempting to reach a passive "mass audience" of docile consumers -- while social media is more focused on actively engaging independent-thinking people. "By looking at social media as a way to listen to consumers, respond to their needs and create ongoing dialogue -- instead of as another way to advertise to them -- CPG companies can reinvigorate their marketing and create new bonds with consumers," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst. The CPG industry is turning its attention toward online advertising, but remains firmly committed to traditional media. Spending on social network advertising represents only a small fraction of the total investment going to that channel, according to Nielsen AdRelevance. Still, the Nielsen figures represent only image-based ad spending, and do not inc...

In its latest market assessment, eMarketer predicts an 8.2 percent decline in U.S. total media advertising spending in 2009, after a 3.6 percent decrease last year. However, some channels continue to grow -- including word-of-mouth marketing. According to PQ Media, much this growth is due to the rise of new media channels, such as blogs, social networks and other social media sites. The research firm also found that U.S. word-of-mouth marketing spending on online communities increased 26.6 percent in 2008 to $119 million. After 37.6 percent compound annual growth from 2003 to 2008, PQ Media predicts total U.S. word-of-mouth marketing spending will continue growing. They estimate an increase of 14.5 percent compounded annually between 2008 and 2013. Total word-of-mouth marketing spending for 2009 is estimated at more than $1.7 billion, a 10.2 percent year-over-year increase. Consumer goods firms were the biggest spenders on word-of-mouth marketing in 2008, with a 17.4 share of the tota...

Recommendations by friends and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of purchase influence globally, according to the latest Nielsen market study. The Nielsen survey, the largest of its kind, shows that nine in every ten Internet consumers worldwide (90 percent) trust recommendations from people they know, while seven in every ten (70 percent) trust total stranger opinions posted online. However, in this new age of consumer influence, advertisers may be encouraged by the fact that brand websites -- the most trusted form of advertising -- are trusted by as many people (70 percent) as consumer opinions posted online. "The explosion in consumer-generated media (CGM) over the last couple of years means consumer's reliance on word-of-mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don't, has increased significantly," says Jonathan Carson, at Nielsen. The Trust in Advertising element of the survey was firs...

Current business information has always been important to executives. In the past, they read newspapers and trade magazines for information on trends and developments. Not any more. Times have changed, and so has the source of buying-cycle influence. According to the "Rise of the Digital C-Suite" study from Forbes Insights and Google, the Internet has become the most valuable information resource -- by far -- for U.S. executives. Online ranked ahead of at-home and at-work contacts, personal networks, trade publications and outside consultants as an information resource. Newspapers and magazines trailed way behind. When it comes to locating business information online, search engines were rated higher than other digital tools, such as blogs, social networking sites and subscription search services. Although, ironically, the search results may lead executives to influential blog content that's typically ranked highly by Google and other search engines. The most important ty...

Having just read Paul Gillin's latest book entitled " Secrets of Social Media Marketing " I'm reflecting on the future of the marketing profession, relative to my own past and recent experiences. In praise of the book's contents, Larry Weber says "Paul Gillin has written a master map for enterprises to succeed in the era of customer conversation and customer control." In contrast I believe, and with all due respect to Mr. Weber, while it's apparent that much of what is applied as the fundamental principles of marketing doesn't work today -- and is proven to be ineffectual, in so many ways -- the path to success is currently unclear for many marketers. Granted, that assessment must be very unsettling to anyone approving the marketing budget for their organization. No matter, it would be foolish to deny the results of the body of knowledge and associated case studies that Paul Gillin compiled to outline the themes in his book. Embracing c...

Visited by over two-thirds of the global online population, member communities -- which includes both social networks and blogs -- has become the fourth most popular online category, ahead of personal email. It is growing twice as fast as any of the other four largest sectors (search, portals, PC software and email), according to the latest Nielsen market study. About 67 percent of the global online population already accesses member community sites, and their increasing adoption show no sign of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large. According to the Nielsen report, Facebook is visited monthly by three in every 10 people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social networking use. However, Orkut in Brazil has the largest domestic online reach (70 percent) of any social network in these markets. The report provides insights into the changing size and composition of the global social n...

Marketers of technology products and services have good reason to explore social media marketing techniques. Now eMarketer reports that corporations are finding that blogs can be instrumental tools for building solid relationships and gaining meaningful influence with their customers. Clearly, blogs are increasingly popular with both online consumers and people involved in business related procurement. According to an August 2008 study by BuzzLogic and JupiterResearch, there has been 300 percent growth rate in monthly blog readership over the past four years. In fact, nearly one-half of the online population reported reading blogs. The study also found that blogs have more impact on purchasing decisions than social networks. One-quarter of readers said they trust ads on a blog, as opposed to 19 percent who trust advertising on social networks. In addition, 40 percent of blog readers -- and 50 percent of frequent blog readers -- have proactively taken an action after viewing an ad mess...