Grounded In Reality

I’m at day 2 of Ad Age’s Digital Marketing Conference. In a room filled with media executives, advertisers and agency reps, the majority of the conversation surprisingly hasn’t been about paid media. It’s been about the rise of conversational marketing and the importance of facilitating and nurturing customer dialogue.

Tom Nicholson of design firm Icon Nicholson made the point that online marketing is moving away from shooting arrows at people and more about providing services and experiences that enable customers to voice opinions, share stories and make informed purchasing decisions. As he put it, “the future of marketing is customer service.”

During a panel titled “Making Social Media and Marketing Work,” Jim Nail of TNS Media/Cymfony polled the audience on which marketing discipline should “own” social media. The results:

• 53% said Marketing
• 5% said PR/Communications
• 9% said Customer Service
• 33% said some new division that hasn’t been created yet

This isn’t surprising considering that the majority of people here come from the marketing/advertising side of the fence. Several conference panelists acknowledged that ownership shouldn’t be narrowed to one discipline. Creative agencies design exceptional content, but they aren’t equipped to monitor, fuel and sustain online conversations with consumers. PR agencies, however, are uniquely suited to build relationships and interact directly with the public online. My personal bias aside, I agree that a blended approach is necessary.

The bottom line is that conversational marketing needs to be a long-term commitment for marketers. It can’t happen in a limited, quick-hit fashion. And it shouldn’t be viewed as just another channel to exploit and wrap an ad campaign around. At last year’s Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference, many attendees were still reacting to social media topics with questions about risk, metrics, conversion and ROI. I’m not seeing that here today. My sense is that the majority of marketers and agencies in attendance “get it” and are moving beyond experimentation to making social media a central component in the mix.