Digital Marketing Talent Crisis

There is a Digital Talent Crisis happening according to a recent article by Shane Steele of Yahoo.  Shane discusses if the media and advertising industry is going to fully recover and grow in the future we must invest in talent. That begs the question, where is the talent coming from, particularly with the skills and experience needed to keep up with the radical pace of change in the digital age?

There is new digital education program called Boulder Digital Works (http://bdw.colorado.edu), a school with the ambition to produce the world’s best digital creative, business, and technology talent. BDW was formed by the University of Colorado in partnership with MDC Partners, Microsoft, and a number of other companies to address what its founders saw as a pressing need for digital talent and leadership in their own businesses. Their goal – build a digital boot camp to groom educated workers and leaders who move comfortably and intelligently across the disciplines of technology, creative, and business.

Upon reviewing job posting for digital marketing positions the confusion also lies with hiring agencies, managers and companies.  Digital marketing evolves daily with new technologies and transformations including how customers/prospects utilize and adopt the technologies.  Example would be that of eCommerce how years ago people were skeptical and did not trust this process.  Well, times have changed and the numbers of online sales continues to rise. 

Do current digital marketing professionals know how to build trust, create navigation that leads customers to conversion, or how to even drive customers to their sites and so on...

According to BDW they refer to this type of talent profile as “T-Shaped Talent,” or an “Integrated Digital Thinker.” It means that no matter what your specialty (base of the T), be it copywriting, media planning or flash design, in order to be most effective in the workplace today, employees must complement their subject matter expertise with a broad and holistic understanding of how digital technology impacts their business (top of the T). In other words, today’s talent must be fluent in at least one language but also literate in many.

Proctor & Gamble launches direct to consumers eCommerce store

This comes as No surprise that another manufacturer (P&G) is adopting the direct to consumer business model by launching their own eCommerce store http://www.pgestore.com/   P&G's e-store comes as other package-goods marketers are also ramping up e-commerce efforts.  The store is currently in beta but has a fully integrated marketing campaign that includes a heavy dose of Social Media. 

According to Advertising Age, for the latest venture, P&G is adding touches such as product ratings, shopper feedback forums for users to share tips and links to its Facebook brand fan pages, through which consumers can buy products directly.  Did I just here, Social Shopping?  The e-store is meant to be a "living learning lab" for e-commerce capabilities, the company said in a statement. Online retailing has been a high priority for P&G Chairman-CEO Bob McDonald since he took the company's top job last year.  While P&G today gets less than 1% of sales online, or $500 million, Mr. McDonald has said he sees no reason the company can't increase such sales tenfold.

Manufacturers direct to consumer eCommerce

This business model strategy was attempted during the first big dot.com wave but fizzled out with lack of proper technology platforms and tools in addition to bitterness from retailers/dealers.  But now the wave is back (Increase in number of manufacturers request to WCN Group for eCommerce strategy solutions).  *Interesting to note that manufacturers that I had discussions with several years ago who were resistant to ecommerce are now the ones frantically calling. 

Manufacturers who adopt the eCommerce business model will find success this time around because the tipping point for shopping online has been reached (customers are confident).  Ecommerce platforms are universal and most notably, the social media and social shopping (experience) aspect.  Customer will not have to leave their comfort zone in order to shop and purchase products.  As an example, they can stay on Facebook, ask their friends what to buy and for a review, than click and purchase.  It is that easy!

Dairy Queen uses Experiential Marketing with National Road Show

Dairy Queen is celebrating its 25th anniversary of its Blizzard with an Integrated Marketing campaign that will include TV spots, mobile, retail, experiential road show and limited edition Oreo Blizzard cookies.  The limited-edition Oreo Blizzard boxes began appearing in all of Oreo's retail channels, including grocery chains and mass retailers like Walmart and Target in April.

Dairy Queen unveiled a custom-designed Blizzard®mobile that will roll out to 25 cities across the U.S. and Canada, distributing more than 75,000 free new Mini Blizzards, about half the size of a small 12 oz. Blizzard, which will be available in DQ® restaurants in August. The tour, which kicked off in New York on April 8 and 9, will be a high energy celebration around the Blizzardmobile that includes activities, games, music, a chance to win prizes and giveaways of the free Minis.

The entire world can connect with the Blizzardmobile by tracking it online at Facebook.com/DairyQueen through photos, videos and blog posts. A complete list of future tour stops and dates is also available on Facebook. Visitors online will also find a series of webisodes starring Blizzard’s first family the Blizzmanns. The webisodes trace the Blizzmanns’ life on the road chasing the Blizzardmobile complete with sing-a-longs, teenage crushes, a run-in with the police and make-up lessons from disgruntled clowns.
In addition, Dairy Queen is hosting several other activities online including photo and video contests. The celebrations and contests will be promoted on Facebook.com/DairyQueen, Twitter.com/DairyQueen and blog.DairyQueen.com.
 
The Blizzard Mobile tour also ties in with DQ's ongoing, cause-related support program for Children's Miracle Network of children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada, bringing an element of further goodwill for DQ and Oreo as its sponsor.

The King of Social Media, Facebook, Facts & Myths 2010

***Facts, Myths and Images provided by Mashable via onlineschools.org

Facebook and the use of social media is talked about everywhere we go from TV commercials, billboards, Starbucks and even my parents (who are retired).

Did you know that it takes over 10,000 servers to support Facebooks infrastructure!

Digital Marketing spend rising in 2010

According to a survey by digital firm Datran Media, marketers are expecting improved ad revenues and increased digital spending. 

The company's fourth annual report, which examined the marketing and budgeting priorities of digital marketers, found that 73.6% of respondents believe advertising revenues will increase in 2010.
Marketers are also planning to spend more money on online channels, which they see as effective and measurable, according to the study. The survey found that 93.6% of respondents will increase their budget for digital marketing channels this year, and 72.8% will use audience measurement tools to assess the success of their digital efforts.