Get your digital out

Surfing my way through mounds of digital marketing campaigns, I’ve lately discovered the reason most organisation’s abandon the concept before their marketer’s become drug dependant. Not that its anything unusual to find mundanity and ordinariness in the marketing tool bag, let’s face it amongst all the very few winning gongs there is a hell of a lot of absolute dross.

Thankfully still sane, I emerged from the confusion to discover all I had learned was what I thought I knew all along – content is king! Obvious? Sure, but not so obvious to thousands of would be marketers out there whose love of buttons leads them to conclude, features equal success.

This mind numbing technology is now being inhabited by a generation of thrill seekers whose main ambition is to invent an ash tray for a motor bike. It reminded me of a sign I once saw in London’s Bird Cage Walk which said, “Do not throw stones at this sign”.

Digital is everything, sexy, absolutely breath taking in its ability to perform, it can make products and better still fashion companies to look as glossy as Goldie Horn’s latest lip job. And the cost? Very little.

However like a bad egg some of it looks fresh on the outside but once you get in it stinks to high heaven.

The management of content and the development of content strategy can ensure your digital marketing doesn’t become a pathetic, impotent car park. Let’s take social media for example. Let’s face it if you don’t have anyone to talk to in your SM channels, it doesn’t matter how awesome your content is. However once you’ve gotten your SM channels nailed you better make bloody sure the content appeals. So here’s just a few things I’ve noted in my journey to another planet.

Not only does content come before social media but without it, the only real use for social media is as a transmitter of dross. You need a plan and if the plan doesn’t fit the audience you don’t have a social media channel. Falling into the trap of having absolutely no plan, no strategy and worse flying by the seat of your pants is easy to do. After all most small business runs its marketing that way and you can get away with it.

You don’t screw around with digital in the same way because everything about it is quicker; the choices; the responses; the complaints; the reactions and wait for it… the criticism. If you want your company to look ordinary, pathetic, misunderstood and out of touch, fly by the seat of your pants – but take a parachute.