Have you ever heard of a TV marketer?
Maybe a print marketer?
At least an out-door hoarding marketer?
Then why do you keep seeing 'digital marketers' everywhere you turn?
Short Answer: They are mythical creatures. They are neither digital nor are they marketers.
Long Answer: Read on.
Digital Is But An Execution Avenue
Brand Strategy, Marketing Objectives and Execution Tactics are all equally important for a brand and by extension a business to succeed. They are multipliers. Even if one of them is nullified, the result is a complete zero.
In execution, a good creative is half the job. The choice of medium is the rest of it. At best, digital makes up a 5th, of the half, of a third of your brand.
I concede that this value classification isn't mandatory for all categories and the reality will change by how 'digital' a business is. Even then, even if digital was your brand's only medium of choice, it would make it a half of a third. Not more. That's 16.5%.
Is that the importance you're giving your digital activation? Think about it.
The Peril of going 'Digital First'
Your marketing objective should define the role digital plays in the larger scheme of your brand. It is critical to understand your consumer's journey so you are clear about what you aim to achieve through your digital investments.
The peril of starting with digital is that you limit the scope of your brand and you reject all other communication avenues even before having tried them.
Digital is the only medium where the platform owners - Meta, Google, etc.- define how you measure the worth of your money spent on their platform. There is little tangible benefit beyond the vanity of you spending your money to prove to the platform how you're living up to their expectations like a cute little lap dog.
Always think brand out and not digital out. Digital is but a means to communicate to your audience.
Marketing Is a Specialization
Everybody who watches a movie thinks they can do a better job. Everybody who watches advertisements thinks they can do a better job, or at least has a point of view on how advertising ought to be done. That does not make them an expert.
Marketing is a specialisation, and one needs to be trained in marketing to be declared a marketer. A wide majority of 'digital marketers' are trained in handling the software system of ad placement. They are drunk high on the self-serving 'jargon' taught to them by the various platforms that christened them so, just to spend YOUR money.
This is what has led to the bastardization of brand building, with businesses ignoring long-term objectives of building band salience and focussing instead on short-term funnel filling, lead generation and conversion even before they build a brand. The proposed short-term success can be alluring, but you must resist it for not just the sake of your brand but also your business as a whole.
Conclusion
Treat you brand with respect. Set in place an overarching strategy first. Then clearly define your marketing objectives. And then, only then, decide how you want to use digital as a part of your communication strategy.
Some brands might need an overarching digital focus. That’s fine. But that should be a result of your Consumer Journey mapping and not because a digital marketer said so.
