Not surprisingly, the growth of channel and device choices (aka - social media and mobile marketing) was ranked #1 by 41% of the respondents. We certainly find this is true of our clients' marketing options as well. With so many different social media channels to consider and so many different mobile marketing strategies and apps to pursue, it is often difficult to determine how and when to use these new marketing tools.
The H+A Team was talking about this survey after our Monday morning staff meeting and we started chatting about the various characteristics of companies when it comes to adopting new technologies. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
The Firebrand: This is the company that always wants to be at the forefront of adopting new marketing technologies and techniques. They are the ‘early adoptors’ and are anxious to incorporate whatever new ‘thing‘ comes down the pike. However, many of these Firebrands are so anxious to be the first and the fastest that they don’t always use the best long-term strategies and/or fully integrate the new techniques into their existing MarCom programs. The results are often less than they hoped for and pretty soon they are off chasing the next “bright & shiny” thing.
The Ostrich: We’ve all dealt with these companies - they stick their head in the sand and say that the new technology or technique is not proven and could just be a fad. Moreover, it may not be right for their company for a variety of reasons that they pull out of the vault and dust-off for any new thing that is suggested. They search for negative publicity about the new ‘thing’ and are quick to point out that it appears this new ‘thing’ may not be as great as everyone thinks it is.
The Procrastinator: They recognize that the new technology may have some potential but they can’t seem to move it to the top of their priorities and/or get the bosses' attention. These folks usually morph into “The Ostrich”.
The Tom Brady: This is the company that has its act together. Like the All Pro quarterback Tom Brady, they work well with all their key teammates to develop an integrated game plan and then use it to pick apart the competition. They aren’t afraid to try new things but their game plan is based on carefully researching the competition, always integrating the new ‘things’ as part of the tried-and-true game plan and constantly adapting the game plan as conditions change.
It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a multi-millionaire, married to a super-model and is cover-boy handsome.