Marketing methods continuingly change with technological advance and consumer behavior. Some assume marketing expenditure is down, even though we know strong brands such as General Mills are spending more. The question on everyone’s mind, is what is the future of advertising?
Tim Leberecht, CNET News, wrote an article titled “The Permanent crisis of marketing”. Leberecht argues that effective marketing is dead. Problems with the expansion of the definition of marketing to include personal branding and online media apparently confuse marketing professionals. In reality, marketing and advertising is simply evolving.
As technology shifts online, mobile, and consumers behaviors change, marketing strategy adjusts. Brands marketing today have a variety of venues and methods to utilize. In-flight and venue based marketing is growing. TV advertisements, though many argue are ineffective today, still compromise the majority of a marketing budget.
Leberecht writes, “Marketing is indeed in an existential crisis as it faces unprecedented challenges to its conventions. But I would argue that it is accompanied by new, unprecedented opportunities. Companies have to radically rethink how they do marketing – marketing can no longer be viewed as a collection of programs, but instead as way of behaving in a networked economy of “market communities.”
Successful brand managers and marketers need to look at a variety of advertising methods. Include social media, targeted media in at new venues, and maintain a bit of the proven tactics simultaneously. It’s the goal of what leberecht calls “radically rethink how they do marketing.”
