In spite of the slow penetration of the internet in the lesser-known regions of the country, the Indian population hooked on to the web is all set to explode.

So, as I paint a rosy picture for all of you with this fact, I am forced to take your gaze to a scenario much in contrast to what I speak.

Our country may be shifting gears with digital prowess but the latent shift of marketers with respect to digital is dismal.

As an ex-CMO of many an organization, I have had the privilege of being stumped while working with marketers and clients who are not up to the game.

Here are some of those experiences.

Twitter handle is not a door handle:

Once I really had to explain to my boss what a Twitter handle is!

Oh yes, he was the CMO sadly.

This is rampantly happening across the country. Mostly, the top guys are the most ignorant people in the companies and sadly, they’re the ones signing our paychecks.

The marketing heads are finding it a challenge to educate their immediate bosses about the importance of digital marketing.

Mental gap Vs Generation gap:

Most decision-making heads are from the traditional world, so their acceptance levels for digital transformation remain low.

They do not encourage their juniors to move forward and they are reluctant to push their investment from traditional to digital media.

I am especially talking about mass brands rising from non-metros.

Not finding the right kind of partners:

Sticking to the same old rules of marketing is not going to give you those low-hanging fruits. And you may absolutely forget about the ones far away.

Some brand custodians realize the need to update themselves because competitors are breathing down their necks.

These guys hunt for people.

But they don’t get the right digital partners because they don’t know who the right guys are for their sort of job.

The TOP CXO needs digital training:

Someone needs to teach these top guys because they are pretty much the bottleneck when it comes to digital transformation.

Mostly the top SMEs are extremely digitally challenged; their founders and the top management guys don’t even update their LinkedIn profiles.

Most of them have forgotten their Twitter password; they hardly read blogs or follow any thought leaders online.

They are in love with age-old methods of one-on-one networking. Going around and making their presence felt in the conferences. Yet not learn when they return to their own business the next day.

Training is treated as an expense and not as an investment:

If you send your people to any training sessions, they will learn and come back.

Only to infect your old system with newer digital techniques.

You can move ahead by investing in them or you may choose to perish slowly clinging to the old methods in the new digital era.

Agencies sometimes need training too:

I have realized that your agency is your child who grows with you if you invest in them.

I used to take Mudra (my client servicing) guys to a few of my internal branding & training sessions just to make sure they learn.

And boy, they gave me feedback and results!

Try this: it will help. Treat your agency as a part of your team.

If you help them grow, you grow eventually.

Less reading habit:

People are glued to their social media feeds. But they don’t read.

Nothing wrong with spending time on social media, but there is little or rather no time dedicated to proper reading.

People prefer YouTubing or Googling everything.

This is one habit that you surely must put in the trash can.

Digital /Social marketing is like teen sex:

Everybody talks about it; nobody really knows how to do it.

Everyone thinks everybody is doing it silently, so everybody claims that are doing it too.

This, unfortunately, gives rise to myths about digital.

Things are slowly changing though. People are a little aware now.

But what matters is the right utilization of this animal called DIGITAL in the right manner and take steps to convert visitors into customers and eventually, loyal customers.

nimal called DIGITAL in the right manner and take step converting visitors to customers and eventually, users.

Note: These are completely my own personal views and have no relation to any particular brand or person

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