Have you noticed how much the evolution of today’s buyer has changed the makeup of today’s marketing departments? Today’s buyer is more educated, more self-reliant and more active on social networks than ever. Correspondingly, today’s marketing content must be more helpful, more transparent and more human than ever.
With those higher demands have come role changes for almost everyone in the marketing department. Consider a few examples:
Role #1: Email Marketer
Old responsibilities: Send out one-off, batch-and-blast emails.
New responsibilities: Connect series of messages into complex automated campaigns using business rules and individuals’ past behaviors; own or be part of a multichannel messaging strategy (mobile, social, email).
Role #2: Media & Analyst Relations Specialist
Old responsibilities: Ensure positive coverage in print publications, analyst reports, etc.
New responsibilities: Craft a strategy that connects the company/brand message with critical social channels and influencers to build its social audience; respond to social critiques and stream helpful social PR snippets; become the postmaster for demand-generation-oriented social content snacks … plus all their old responsibilities.
Role #3: Content Creator
Old responsibilities: Craft inward-focused content such as catalogs, how-to guides, thought leadership pieces, etc.
New responsibilities: Partner with other experts on content; create content that builds off other social content; repackage content for distribution in video, blogs, Slideshare, etc.; embed social-sharing calls to action within content.
Role #4: Database Marketer
Old responsibilities: Query and pull data from various disparate systems and upload lists for the email marketer to send to.
New responsibilities: Manage the central marketing database and ensure that all channels (Web, social, email, mobile) and systems (CRM) are feeding marketing relevant data tied to each individual.
These types of changes are occurring across marketing departments as organizations grapple with their strategy for social media. How can marketing departments keep pace with these new responsibilities, maintain alignment within the department and deliver a consistent voice and message across today’s myriad communication channels—all while delivering a more rewarding experience for customers and prospects?
Becoming more automated is the answer. And marketing automation is the only technology poised to serve all these marketing groups and help you deliver the timely, relevant, personalized communications that today’s buyers prefer in whatever channel they wish to engage.
For more related insights, don’t miss the presentation I did with Silverpop Vice President of Industry Relations Loren McDonald at last year’s Dreamforce event, complete with real-world examples and tactics for driving revenue in today’s multichannel marketing world: