insideKENT Magazine Issue 42 - September 2015 | Page 145
BUSINESS
GOOD OLD-FASHIONED DIGITAL MARKETING
BY LUKE QUILTER
Digital has not been good for marketing, and let me explain why…
Marketing, or at least good marketing, is built on
top of a solid understanding of your customer.
The customer is, and always should be at the
heart of any marketing activity you do as a
business, as ultimately your ability to understand
customer needs and meeting them are what
makes a business successful or not. Digital has
revolutionised how businesses approach their
marketing – and not always for the better.
I have been in digital marketing for a while now
and have seen the industry emerge and totally
change how businesses approach things. Some
businesses have really gained from this revolution
and some have yet to understand it. Companies
have made a number of mistakes during this
digital age; here are some I have observed...
Some companies wanted to be first to the table.
It generally is a good thing to be the innovator,
but sadly there was too much haste, not enough
thought. The line of thinking was more 'how can
I use this technology?', rather than 'would my
customer benefit from us using it?'. The core
marketing principles were forgotten as companies
scrambled to get on social media, send emails
and run PPC. It has been an era of 'use the
technology' rather than 'help your customer with
technology'.
Some businesses saw digital as a broadcast
channel. Digital has allowed mass communication
at the click of a button for a lot less than direct
mail. Companies excited about the prospect of
reaching more customers for less cost got carried
away. Click…and off they went. Millions of emails
sent weekly, often daily, to the full database. Just
because digital allows it, it doesn’t mean you
should do it!
Google is amazing. I love it. However the early
versions of its algorithm were also hugely
detrimental to the core values of marketing. Google
rewarded the most techy person in the room, not
the smartest, most customer-focussed person.
Search marketing went through a phase of being
run by techies not marketers. You don’t put your
IT department in charge of your customer
communications – it is just dangerous for all
concerned!
Fortunately, these times are a-changing, and the
last 12 months have seen some really interesting
changes in the sector. Changes that have set
digital marketing back on track, I am pleased to
say. Google no longer just rewards technical
loopholes; its latest algorithms have been created
to try and reward the people who actually try and
understand their customers' needs and deliver
useful relevant information on the site and via
social media channels. There are still technical
requirements of course, but Google has gone to
great lengths to discourage and even penalise
those who try and manipulate the system and
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