An open letter to marketing

Marketing, you have become distracted; you’ve lost your focus. Somewhere along the way you lost sight of your roots and abandoned your heritage. You have forgotten that content is king, communication is personal and your audience has issues and needs other than your own. They really don’t care about your goals; it is all about them. Selfish, isn’t it?

You have been seduced by technology and automation. It’s understandable, and it’s not entirely your fault. We all listen attentively to the promise of tech. We wait anxiously for the next digital release and the new road-map to success. So does your management team.

Marketing, your distracted relationship with technology and automation at the expense of message and story will not end well. Laura Ramos in 2013 most eloquently captured this issue in a blog post at Forrester:

“Once upon a time, there was a little marketer with a big problem. Her sales executives said, ‘We need more leads.’ So she bought a big new shiny marketing automation engine . . . Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but I’m sure we all know the end of the story. The marketing engine didn’t live up to expectations because data and content didn’t come in the box.”

I’m waiting for the culmination day when I receive the marketing automation email that simply tells me to fill in the registration form. No exchange offered, nothing of value for me, just the naked opportunity to give up my email, phone and address information and wait for the telemarketer to call.

Enchanting and powerful as technology is, it will remain a tool and not the solution. To believe it has all the answers marketing requires is both naive and doomed to failure. But there is hope. Every pendulum swings both ways and ultimately settles into a balanced state.

Marketing is ultimately about communication, persuasion, and audience experience and success is measured in terms of customer acquisition and retention. It begins with a compelling message and content that delivers unique differentiation that your audience cares about. These basic building blocks do not come in a box; they are inherently human, emotional and memorable. The technology and applications are important tools for the digital age, but they are the mechanics, devoid of vision and empathy. Even the technology vendors realize this. We all need to dig deeper.