Ok, that’s a pretty strong title, and this article may be a tad provocative. However, although not being a career marketer, it consistently surprises me at how slow to change, adopt and acclimatise to new approaches, different styles or bold brand changes marketing organisations are! I find it astonishing that many of my peers across industry have failed to adapt their marketing style for the digital age! Again I’m talking primarily B2B (although I’m sure this runs across all industries!).

I often find myself in discussions and debates about the look and feel of a website, the colour of logo or promo page or the text and font of an article. Why? In this highly technical world, we can change pretty much everything in a matter of moments (IT permitting!) “You don’t like the font, no problem let’s make it ‘Krungthep’ then”, “the image is wrong ok, we’ve changed it.”

It’s my belief this procrastination on appearance, look & feel etc. harps back to the days of print media. Remember those days, where once its in the post it’s too late for changes. You’ve printed your 10,000 brochures and are still not sure of the background colour, tough!

In this modern digital world, and with the digital tools that jangle around in it, adaptability is the key to success! Changes can be made on the fly or over a weekend if you prefer. Tests can be run to see exactly which colour or style or brand message etc. your audience prefers or engages with. We need to adopt the approach of TRY-TEST-REVISE and help our organisations move faster and provide greater connection with our customer base.

Now, lets extend this thought a little broader…what about the creation and execution of the digital strategy itself? Maybe a topic for next time.