More than ever marketers are looking for innovative ways to cut costs. Gone are the days of bottomless pockets of cash where any idea could be tested and re-tested. Upper management is demanding instant impact, with little to no money down.
The brand marketing industry is transforming, my generation of marketers and PR executives are becoming more creative, more frugal for less money. Yet, at the same time we are becoming more impactful. We can no longer rely on long-lead market conditions or quarterly reports by analysts to track our results, there needs to be instant impact on the market with a track-able metric to follow.
Those that will thrive in this market are trimming overhead and expanding their creative, low-cost marketing programs. Social networks are in, and high-cost TV and Event Sponsorships are out.
By engaging audiences online we can show in real-time how campaigns are making real changes in consumer perception and buying habits. Now all we need is for those that have made a living off of traditional TV, Print, Billboard and Radio to incorporate metrics driven calls to action so that we can make those channels track-able as well.
I wonder what would happen if we started, industry wide, using short-codes to track the impact of TV advertising.
I know one thing, it would at least be better than what we have now...