This is the week that was: Viva Marketing

As the sun in London continues to shine, we are shaking off our post-Olympic blues and hovering our fingers over the ‘go live’ button on a number of big campaigns. But in the mean time we thought we would take a look around the dusty corners of the world wide web and see what we might find. Looks like we were in luck. This is the week that was.

Bad news of the week:

Is that marketing is dead. Well according to Bill Lee from Harvard Business Review anyway. And before you panic it’s not dead. It’s just changing. Bill does have a good point – things are not as easy as they used to be for the CMO. With so many channels to contend with, it’s far harder to grab the attention of the buyer. Bill thinks traditional marketing just doesn’t make sense in the new world order and apparently so too does the CEO community – who believe most CMOs just aren’t up to scratch. So what’s the answer?  Spend more time talking and listening to customers; help bring communities together online; and take advantage of the influencers. Here at Earnest we agree to an extent, but don’t think traditional marketing has quite had its day just yet. What do you reckon?

Marketing strategy of the week:

Goes to Cisco who announced at a recent Content Marketing Strategies conference that the company is now wholeheartedly embracing content marketing.  This all came after the rebirth of its marketing strategy two years ago. Cisco’s strategy follows 9 steps – from being passionate and taking risks, to planning as a team through to nurturing change. Well worth a look and certainly some lessons to learn along the way.

Report of the week:

Is from McKinsey who released its report on the social economy and how to unlock value and productivity through social technologies. Today, 72% of companies use social technologies in some way but many don’t reap all the benefits. McKinsey believes that twice as much potential value lies in using social tools to enhance communications and allow value sharing. All the benefits are there for the taking and this report (yep, all 184 pages of it) will help you on your way.

Disagreement of the week:

Came from the Telegraph – who had a stark difference of opinion to the chaps at McKinsey. In fact, this week Emma Barnett argued that far from embracing social channels, businesses should be turning away from social. Why? Well not only are organisations allegedly still struggling to see a clear ROI from being on Twitter but it is leaving them open to a barrage of uncensored abuse. Negative Tweets about the six largest high street banks in the UK, for example, were seen twice as often as positive ones in the last month. And it seems like they are listening. While 2011 saw a heavy investment in social media, in 2012 the investment figures are declining. But are they concentrating on the wrong things? It seems big brands are measuring success on like and followers, and pumping their money into this when in fact it should be about conversations and value exchange.

 Use of tech of the week:

Gold for this one goes to the Olympics. From the spectacle of the opening ceremony to the madness of the closing, it is fair to say London 2012 was a resounding success. But it was the technology behind it all that kept the wheels turning and the BBC this week pulled together all the technology feats that were behind the games – from the social discussion explosions to the mobile woes for over stretched operators. Fantastic little resource.

Top 10 list of the week:

Our friends at digital agency Hoop pull together some great resources, and this week it found the ten best social media analytics tools. Some very recognisable faces in there and some not so well know. Have a look and most importantly give them a whirl.

Infographic of the week:

Not a big one. But a good one. Put simply it’s how to compose the perfect tweet to make sure the whole world has to see what you have to say (well maybe not the whole world but a good chunk of its population).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there it was. That was the week that was. And we sincerely hope you had a good one.