You can identify a digital native wherever they go. And it’s no longer through the ‘geek’ stereotype. It’s now simply through the jargon and buzz words they use. Digital natives glibly use marketing terminology, however how many truly understand the fundamentals of marketing? Some traditional marketers feel the definition of marketing has been compromised through generalised terminology and that Google Analytics are to blame. Creative Imagineering explores this view.
Marketing is marketing
Let’s talk terminology: Facebook is a channel; content marketing is a tactic and social media marketing is a collection of 
channels. Other semantics bandied about include: ‘social media marketing, content marketing and Facebook marketing’. Whether it’s traditional or digital marketing – the fundamentals remain a constant. It has always been about first having a strategy . Then the creation of a relevant message (content). And finally the selection of the most effective method of communicating (online or offline channel) the message to an audience. This process should always be informed by understanding your target market. This understanding is garnered through research insights. The strategy, message and target market are always the underpin that informs the channel. And not the other way around.
An example used by Samuel Scott in the article from TechCrunch.com is as follows:
If a digital marketer creates a video and spreads it on Facebook, this is what he is doing:
Strategy = Advertising (one of the elements of the traditional Promotion Mix)
Content = The video itself
Channel = Facebook
Is Google Analytics ruining Marketing?
In Scott’s opinion many digital marketers have ignored the fundamentals of marketing, since the advent of Google Analytics in 
2005. They favour digital channels, even though these may be delivering lower returns than traditional channels. They tend to think ‘direct responses’ are the only Return on Investment (ROI) metric. You need activity to drive an audience response. The channel itself cannot be the only reliable metric.
While Google Analytics (GA) is currently the most reliable measurement tool, it has limited insights. It can tell us which channels are performing best. It can tell us where the traffic is coming from. What it cannot reveal is what drives the conversion of the customer to press ‘buy’. The intelligence provided by GA is not sophisticated enough yet, to be the sole measurement tool.The danger of this over-reliance of GA as your primary tool of marketing analysis is that the marketer may be applying faulty metrics to the wrong marketing strategies. Some feel it’s the advent of Google Analytics that’s led to poor assumptions and a mix-up of terminology. Google has undoubtedly transformed the marketing industry. However, the introduction and widespread adoption of GA, with ‘traffic-only’ analytics such as: direct, organic search, social, referral, paid search, email and display, has driven marketers to shift their focus from the strategy to the channel. And I tend to agree.
Where analytics work for marketing
On the other hand here’s a great article that quotes a few examples of brands leveraging data leading to business wins. Using available data can guide marketers to act more nimbly to improve the customer experience in real time. If marketers can track trends in consumer behaviour and in competitive activity, this is also insightful to changing tactics and even strategy. These companies are using more sophisticated data visualization tools that are likely to provide more intelligence than the limited insights of Google Analytics.
What is a digital marketing expert?
In my opinion I think ‘digital marketers’ are lacking a foundation in the purist principles of Marketing. A case in point is when Mark Ritson, a marketing professor and columnist, was asked to follow 25 expert Marketers on Twitter. He decided to ‘cyber stalk’ them. His investigation revealed that only four had any formal Marketing training. They were experts in one area of marketing – communications. Skills were being touted using conceptual terms like, ‘traffic’, ‘content’, ‘lead conversion’ and ‘digital marketing’.
When I studied Marketing (yes back in the 80’s) communications was just one element of the Marketing Mix – the ‘P’ for ‘Promotion’. And within the Promotion Mix there are further sub-activities: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity. So ‘digital marketing’ aka ‘communications’ is only a small percentage of the full ambit of Marketing. This could explain the narrowing definition and the gravitation towards digital only.
Mark Ritson feels quite strongly: “I think before you become an expert/ninja/guru/visionary in marketing you should learn the discipline. I think before you start creating new rules and insights you should know what the existing ones are. I think before you explain how marketing is changing you should understand what it was before you started announcing the change. I think you need a qualification to be qualified.”
Experienced marketing integration
Social media and online as channels, cannot operate in a vacuum. They should be underpinned by a broader bigger-picture 
strategy that takes a multi-channel approach. Digital has a magical multiplication effect through its shareability. It can amplify a message across a large engaged audience at a cost-effective rate. It’s a great multi-channel to drive engagement, build brand communities and to implement strategy. However, these ‘campaigns’ must be augmented through consistent brand-building using other promotional activities, such as Public Relations, Activations and strategic Communications. In my opinion this is where the digital native may lack dimension.
Don’t get me wrong, all marketers should be digitally savvy, otherwise they will be caught behind the digital curve. This playground evolves at the speed of sound. However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the value and insight that traditional marketing brings to the brand. You have a winning formula if you complement this foundation with a sound and integrated understanding of ‘new-age’ digital tools.
Creative Imagineering is a team of #girlgeeks who are all close to forty or fifty, with a wealth of marketing expertise and integrated digital skills. We can take your brand to another level. Find out more about our #girlgeeks.