If CMOs Are Unhappy With Digital, It’s Their Own Fault

April 21, 2009 · Comments

Jason Falls

Jason Falls

Jason Falls

According to an article in AdWeek and a survey conducted by recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles, chief marketing officers are unhappy with their digital strategies. H&S polled 111 senior marketing executives at firms with $1 billion or more in annual revenues to come up with the “kinda sucks” prerogative. This essentially means they polled people who are used to spending a LOT of money on advertising who think the web space under-serves.

Apples to oranges.

Apples & Oranges - They Don't Compare
Image by TheBusyBrain via Flickr

And it’s not just the fact that digital activation is intrinsically different than traditional advertising. It’s that the entire focus and purpose of it are genetically divergent.

Traditional advertising is about a one-way line of communications. Brands blast messages to the masses in hopes a certain percentage of them buy … or recall … or think happy thoughts of them. Digital communications has now become a world more focused on conversation and engagement rather than the delivery of messaging. These are long-haul propositions.

Consumers will not trust your brand after one week of providing engaging content or compelling online material. They won’t trust your brand after one month, either. But hold down the fort for three, six or nine months, without suddenly shifting behavior or strategy, and you will start to see the growth in your investment online.

CMOs are unhappy because their attention spans are as abbreviated as their consumer’s. They want instant results, quick fixes and here and now solutions. Social media, and, similarly, online communications, is not only not an instant fix for genetic brand problems, but requires an investment of both time and resources to be played out consistently.

Simply put, CMOs should have been investing the time and attention into a long-term relationship with their customers well before the economy sagged and digital became more fiscally responsible. As such, they aren’t getting the residual benefit from creating an ongoing relationship with their most ardent fans. They see digital as a “campaign” or a short-term solution. It is … if the agency just wants to pacify the client. If you’re doing a good job for and with your client, however, you are building a digital behavior, not campaign, that proves over time that your brand can be counted on for compelling content and customer service that adds value to the online time spent by its fans.

My guess is the 111 senior marketing executives surveyed are dissatisfied because they’ve only focused on digital for three or four months. Stay the course, don’t rip and flip just because your quarter-to-quarter numbers don’t show dramatic increases and see how satisfied you are in December 2009 (one year after the original survey).

Of course, that is assuming those brands are doing it right online in the first place.

Am I wrong? Should marketing executives expect faster turnarounds and returns on their digital investments? How and why? And how slow is too slow for marketing managers you know? The comments are yours.

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Tagged as: advertising, digital strategy, Marketing, online advertising, online marketing, return on investment, ROI, Social Media, social media marketing

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  • Carl
    Yea, you know, social media. Whatever. You do what you like to do I do what I like to do. I'm gonna go play the commodore 64. Mine still works.
  • Carl
    Wasting time. Wasting time. This site kinda sucks but here I am, wasting time.

    Carl, from Aqua Teen Hunger Force
  • Mark Van Baale
    Jason, I definitely agree with your thoughts on how easy it is for CMO's or anyone for that matter in advertising or marketing to easily dismiss social media if they don't see immediate results. I am a marketer myself and I work on direct mail campaigns, but what is interesting and odd about me is that I would much rather connect and interact with customers through ongoing relationships and then if they are ready to hear about the products my company sells, then I would be willing to hear their needs and help them out. Unfortuately, most everyone else in my department feels we need to push one-way communications, but I am trying to encourage two-way interaction with our customers. It has been a tough battle, but I keep pressing on. Maybe someday, I will break through that wall. :)
  • Digital is much more about truely measurable ( instant) accountability and there is the crux of the problem. Digital is revealing about managment and demands more management. Its no wonder most managers are not pleased as maost have gone their entire careers without a light being shined on their efforts.

    Welcome to the real world.
  • I hear what you're saying, but the fact still exists that while you can measure the numbers quickly in the digital space, the point here is that you can't move them overnight. It takes a long term commitment to engaging your customers to make 1,000 visitors 10,000. But you're right. The metrics are holding us to a higher standard and making management nervous. Media metrics have probably been as brutal all these years. There just weren't effective ways to measure them like digital provides.

    Thanks for chiming in, RW.
  • Hey Jason - I loved this post. I read it twice and think you should have a gospel choir singing along behind you while you read it aloud. Thanks for the passion.
  • Thanks Chris. Unfortunately, when a choir is in the room, I normally keep my mouth shut. Afraid of lightning. Heh.

    Thanks for saying so, though.
  • Management wants everything yesterday?

    The more things change, the more they remain the same..... :/
  • Yep. Tis true.

    Thanks Barbara.
  • GerardB
    Spot on. Much of this impatience is also a result of CMO's excessive focus on an elusive social media ROI and a lack of faith. Either you believe in the power of talking and engaging with your consumers or you don't. It is more about experience, intuition, and faith than it is about metrics, research, and quantitative metrics.

    Paraphrasing something I heard recently, digital (and social media) is not a campaign it is a commitment. So while CMOs and large companies dither over digital campaigns or how digital ROI isn't as strong as their traditional and tried advertising and marketing strategies and tactics, companies who "believe" (like Zappos and Comcast) get the upper hand.
  • Great points Gerard. I agree that the digital space now is not a campaign-oriented effort. It's a relationship with your consumers. And you don't build relationships in a quarter.

    Great points. Thanks for chiming in.
  • Jason,

    You have a point but CMO impatience is not unique to digital. The same characteristics can be seen in customer communication programs using direct mail. The results curve looks like a hockey stick; not much change for a period of time and then wham, positive results start to compound and up shoots the curve. In my experience these programs often fall victim to CMO impatience before they have had time to be successful. When they can run their course I've seen 20% ROI and better, but it takes time.

    The other issue that CMOs must deal with is metrics that are out of sync with objectives. They launch a campaign designed to create demand (awareness and intent to purchase) using digital channels (display, social media) and then use demand fulfillment metrics (CTR, CPC, CPL) to assess the effort. When the results don't compare favorably to Search, a demand fulfillment channel, the effort is judged a failure.

    James
  • Bravo James. Excellent points and wonderful addition to the conversation. Thank you for that. I'll be interested to see what the other commentors say as well. Much appreciated.
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