Ages ago I wrote a blog suggesting that digital marketing did not yet mean shopper marketing. Back then digital marketing was all about getting positive word-of-mouth whilst shopper marketing was about delivering the best experience in-store and both were very, very different to consumer marketing.
But since I wrote that commentary the world has changed somewhat: mobile makes constant communication a reality; it’s now well-accepted that an awesome digital campaign is not measured in ‘likes’ but in buys and retail has become ‘omnichannel’. Today it’s increasingly difficult to draw hard lines between behaviors of consumers and shoppers and it’s impossible to ignore the role of digital in influencing both.
Companies have also changed since I wrote my original article. Most consumer goods businesses we work with have invested in headcount to build shopper and digital teams. However, these teams often seem to be treated as entirely separate entities from the consumer marketing team and that, to me, is a mistake.
Consumer marketing and shopper marketing should not be separated
A marketer’s mission is to drive the consumption brand. This is done by tapping into consumer’s needs and desires, unlocking consumption occasions and constantly enhancing the usage experience. But no product can be consumed unless it is first bought by a shopper. This means that the requirement to change consumer behavior is inextricably linked to the need to change shopper behavior. Separating the process of developing consumer strategies and shopper strategies increases the probability that the link between the two will be broken leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies.
Digital is media not marketing
I don’t get why ‘digital marketing’ needs to be a separate school of marketing. I see clearly the value of being able to direct highly targeted communication and the major benefits of measurability; I fully get the complexity of honing content to ensure the right messages reach the right people at the right times and I understand that there are a bunch of skills required to make this work brilliantly that I don’t have.
BUT this is just as true in traditional advertising.
I don’t call advertising “marketing” because I recognize advertising as a tool that marketers use to get results. So I’m confused as to why digital needs to be a separate function of Marketing and as to why it needs to be separate from traditional consumer marketing or to shopper marketing. To me digital tools are equally valuable in marketing to consumers as they are in marketing to shoppers, so surely treating digital as a separate discipline will ultimately also lead to incoherence too, won’t it?
Consumer, shopper and digital are all “Marketing”
I hope that it won’t be very long before the terms ‘consumer marketing’, ‘shopper marketing’ and ‘digital marketing’ cease to exist. Traditional consumer goods marketing is changing to take on a broader view of the discipline that recognizes that modern consumer brands must market not just to consumers, but also to shoppers and to retailers. None of these tasks is possible without the use of digital platforms.
Each of these tasks is of equal importance and all require both strategic consistency and executional specialization to be successful. However the requirement for executional specialization should not determine the structure of the marketing organization. As the world becomes more inter-connected, marketing strategies and organizations must also become more integrated. In short consumer, shopper and digital marketing must all become “Marketing”.
Integrating consumer, shopper and digital marketing
When Mike Anthony and I wrote our book “The Shopper Marketing Revolution”, our hope was to create a model that effectively integrates consumer, shopper and customer marketing. Perhaps it’s time we wrote a new edition to reflect the changes that have happened since we finalized the text early last year. However, I still believe that marketers that can clearly define which consumers they are targeting, what shopper behavior they want to create and where that behavior can be created have a fighting chance of creating a truly effective marketing mix which will drive financial returns.
I believe what’s now essential is that organizations embrace the ideas that consumer marketing and shopper marketing are simply “Marketing” and that digital is part of the marketing process. CMO’s should recognize that their teams are responsible for the ‘total marketing’ of their brands and that requirement for specialist capability does not necessitate the creation of organizational silos.
If you feel the same way (or if you passionately disagree!), please do share your thoughts here.