The recession has hit everyone in different ways. The next generation of marketing has spawned interesting innovation, new businesses and evolving marketing techniques as talented, well-educated, multi-experienced businesses and professionals look for a way to either make an impact in their current budget-challenged positions, or to find their next career path. In many ways it feels like the Wild West, where new marketing businesses are taking stake in web properties claiming web addresses and then digging for marketing gold.
Success or failure of these initiatives is most likely determined by the value of the content that marketers use as they prospect for the best ways to reach targeted and interested audiences. Technology and user behavior is changing the way audiences consume information and that changes what marketers and companies require from their support agencies. The American Marketing Association, AMA, did a report that studied the three key needs that agencies will need to address for their clients: ideas, interaction, and intelligence topped the list. It stated that “After decades of specialization, none of the traditional types of agencies are well-positioned to deliver on all of these needs.” It goes on to say that “agencies need a framework for how they will listen to the online discussion, identify and connect marketers with participants in the online social community, and build brand experiences that allow for interaction.”
Content and interaction are the keys to audience engagement and that is the gold that marketers are seeking in this digital Wild West. In this Wild West, programs without high-value content and an audience experience based on bi-directional communication merely fool’s gold.
