There is no denying the fact that ‘Digital’ is the latest buzzword that has taken India by storm. With internet penetration walking its steps slowly 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 by a few experiences of marketers and clients who are not up to the game. Here are some of them to talk about.
Twitter handle is not a door handle:
Once I really had to explain to my boss what is a Twitter handle! Oh yes, he was ta CMO sadly. This is rampantly happening across the country.
Mostly the top guys are the most ignorant people in the company and sadly they sign our checks. The marketing heads are facing these challenges to educate their immediate bosses on the importance of digital marketing.
Mental gap Vs Generation gap:
Most decision-making heads are from the traditional world so they still can’t accept fully the digital way of working. So, either they are not encouraging their juniors to move forward or are reluctant to push the budget from the traditional to the digital basket. I am especially talking of mass brands rising from non-metros.
Not finding the right kind of partners:
So, sticking to the same old generation of marketing is not really giving you those low-hanging fruits, forget about the ones far away. And they have realized the need to update themselves because competitors are breathing down their necks.
These guys hunt for people, but they don’t get to partner with them maybe because they don’t know who the right guys for their sort of job are.
The TOP CXO needs digital training:
Someone needs to teach this bunch of people who are pretty much the bottleneck of digital transformations. Mostly the top SMEs are extremely digitally challenged, they don’t even update their LinkedIn profile. Most of them have forgotten their Twitter password, and 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 learning when they return to their own business the next day.
Training is treated as a cost and not an investment is the mentality:
If you send, your people to such training sessions they will learn and come back. Only to infect your old system with newer digital techniques. You can reap the benefits of moving forward by investing in them because knowledge cannot be a cost.
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 inter branding & training sessions just to make sure they learn.
And boy, did they give 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 you-tubing 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 and facts that are not true about digital.
Having said all of this, the scenario is much better than what it used to be a few years ago. People are aware. But what remains is that they utilize this animal called digital in the right manner and take move visitors to customers and eventually, users.
Note: These are completely my own personal views and have no relation with any particular brand or person.
