Aren’t you exhausted?
Think about the last 10 years of your career as a marketer. I’d be willing to bet that some of it – despite the successes in rapid digital evolution, massive wins in engagement and completely changing the face of actual person to brand engagement – has been spent apologizing for the actual function of marketing and re-explaining what marketing actually DOES for the organization.
With the rise of automation and incredible digital engagements has come an age of unheard-of measurement and revenue boosting results. When John Wanamaker complained about not knowing which half of his ad dollars were wasted, he didn’t have all the tools we have today. Too bad executives outside of Marketing haven’t quite figured out that Wanamaker and his 19th century lament was just that…a 19th century problem. Today, we have 21st century solutions.
Why do we get called to the carpet to hear this same refrain ad nauseum? Why is it that non-CMOs love to replay the Wanamaker-whine as if we are still blind babes in the woods unsure about where, when and how to spark engagement? And can we PLEASE get people to finally understand the difference between spending money on Marketing and wasting money on Advertising???
I digress.
The age of blind brand spending and guessing dressed up as strategy is over. Marketing has firmly taken on the role of growth drivers and engagement leaders. We have abandoned the foolish notion that marketing, and marketing alone, “owns” the customer experience. (Oh, and if you haven’t…seriously…make it your resolution for 2020!) We have embraced the notion that while the entirety of an organization must own, embrace and value the larger holistic customer experience strategy, marketing’s ownership is over orchestrating the moments of engagements. Ensuring that engagements are crafted by anticipating need and connecting moments into the greater experience.
There are a couple amazing paths that have led us here:
- CMOs are powering the growth engine – this shouldn’t come as a big shock. As the C-Suite leader that sits at the intersection of brand and buyer, who is better suited to map and action on growth strategies?
- Creativity is BACK! Marketers used to be shamed for creativity – “the coloring in department”, “the PowerPoint team” – but now, creativity is back in a big way, powered by automation and empowered by a deep understanding of the customer thanks to data and analytics.
- Budgets aren’t just justified; they are proven in revenue – Gone are the days of made up vanity metrics used to justify investment. Modern marketing analytics are tied to revenue and retold in the language of the business.
Yet we still languish in a legacy of broken dreams, failed promises and slashed budgets that can feel like we are back in the age of 2009-levels of marketing-austerity. To be fair, we marketers are probably to blame for our current state of affairs. We continue to talk about marketing as if engagement was a commodity. We keep adding to these martech stacks as if one new arm will suddenly make the Frankenstack beautiful and perfect.
Welcome to the age of authentic marketing. Let’s clarify what I mean by that. Authentic marketing is NOT a riff on influencer marketing or user generated content or just another way of saying “be honest.” It isn’t a call to use “real people” in ads or to promote “real voice” in content. It is about actually getting back to the job of being Marketers. It is about knowing so much about our customers AND our business that we clearly, creatively and consistently communicate when and where opportunity is greatest.
Authentic marketing is a strategy that is based in the facts as delivered by the customer, stays true to the personality, spirit and character of the brand while purposefully developing relationships with customers and industry. It isn’t random. It isn’t a scheme, gimmick or pilot program. It is rooted in bi-directional conversations between the brand and our buyers and leverages trust as its primary currency.
Authentic marketing demands that CMOs and marketing teams unabashedly embrace creativity, content and connection. It releases us from the legacy of the 4P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) of marketing that, if we are being honest, have been out of our grasp for some time now. Authentic marketing re-centers and re-focuses on the 3R’s – Revenue, Relationship and Reputation -- and the actionable strategies marketing must establish to turn each into a revenue driving, sales enabling, brand lifting engagements.
Most of all, Authentic Marketing demands we stop apologizing for being marketers. Yes…we are creative, artistic, fanciful beasts with endless ideas colored by flights of fancy and gut. But we are ALSO the digital transformation leaders establishing purpose-built engagement stacks that deliver rich analytics and robust customer data in an endless stream that pushes growth forward.
We put in the work to be both left and right brain beasts of business. Stop pretending we aren’t!
Oh…and about John Wanamaker…HE WAS A MARKETER. Yes, his bio might say Politician or Businessman, but I argue he was one of the giants of experience design and engagement strategy. He invented the price tag as a way for customers to clearly see prices up front, forever changing the shopping experience with transparency. He reinvented experience again with the first ever “money back guarantee” program and the then unheard-of practice of product returns. He was the FIRST retailer to place a half and then full-page newspaper ad, writing his own copy. Think it is just a coincidence his revenue’s doubled from $4 million to $8 million during the same time he employed the first ever full-time copywriter?
Wanamaker was an experience and marketing GURU! But he was also a believer that happy customers were created by happy employees. He provided free medical care, education, pensions and profit-sharing for his employees. He understood that experience delivery happened on the front lines. He understood that people could BUY anywhere…but loyal customers would always buy at Wanamaker’s. Wanamaker was a MARKETER and I'd be willing to bet he knew EXACTLY which half of his investment was wasted.
So…2020. The Marketing Apology Tour is over. Welcome to the age of Authentic Marketing!
P.S. There is more about Authentic Marketing, including what got us to this age, where it will take us in the next year and why NOW is different. Check it out here.