With the Advent of Digital Technology, has Marketing and Sales Changed?
Before the introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web 20+ years ago, it took sales and marketing organizations years of dedication, energy and usually quite a few mistakes before they had learned enough about their customers to attract and keep them engaged. Today, too often I hear companies saying that, “with the right digital presence, we can fast track our customer engagement process, run some analytics, figure out what they want, then deliver on that. Doing this, we can’t help but be successful”. This is a good description of “reactionary marketing”. Ask yourself, “Was IBM, Microsoft, Apple, EBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook or Ubur, reactive or proactive in their approach?” The answer of course is proactive – with an excellent ability and drive to listen to their customers.
These companies have one thing in common. They know who they are and who their market is. Today more than ever, companies need to understand their strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, competition, opportunities, supply chains, market trends, technology advances, etc., etc.,etc.. Digital marketing cannot replace business basics and should not be expected to do so.
If one agrees with Marshall McLuhan that the “medium is the message” and that, not just the content changes our opinions and perspectives, but that the medium in itself does as well, then adopting a digital presence is key. We just need to keep in mind that it may not be the panacea many believe or hoped it would be. To underestimate the importance of a digital footprint may, at best, limit a company’s success or, at worst, kill it. To overstate and overinvest in a digital Go to Market strategy may be just as disastrous.
I recently had an invitation to the 2015 Toronto Indy and can truly say, I had an absolute blast. Pun intended. Watching the race and taking part in the pre-race and race activities, I was struck by how sales and marketing has not changed all that much in the last 20 years – especially in the B2B space. Yes, the digital age has changed how we gather and disseminate information. However, people still buy from people, and to assume that a web page on someone’s smart phone can convey as strong a message as a well-timed face-to-face conversation, may over-simplify the buying process.
So to answer the question “With the advent of digital technology, has Marketing and Sales changed?”, with a “no” would be naïve. To answer “yes” would be an understatement. The answer is, it will change your company as much as you want it to. The challenge is what do you want your company to look like?
