Earlier this week, Marketo, the provider of a leading cloud-based marketing software platform, celebrated the 1,000th post on their blog. Reaching the important milestone in the company’s publication was cause for celebration, which they did by looking back at their very first blog post from August 8, 2006. But more than simply taking a nostalgic look back, Marketo took the time to see how the marketing environment has changed in just the nearly seven years since launching their blog.
Despite the quick-changing nature of marketing, the article found three areas where the industry has remained consistent:
Customers don’t want to be interrupted (and they’re more empowered than ever)
By now, saying that the Internet and social media have changed the sales environment is not only an understatement, but a broken record. And as a result, Marketo believes that as marketers, it’s our job to adapt. “The only sure way to break through is to become more engaging.”
There are no more mass channels (consumers expect personalized conversations)
Consumers expect companies to keep seamless track of their purchasing history, communication preferences, and desires, and they demand that companies use that information to create individual, personalized conversations. And consumers are quick to tune out any mass communication that’s not immediately relevant to them.
Marketing can’t get away with not being accountable (fortunately CMOs can prove impact)
Ever since the economic shift of 2008, companies are taking long, hard looks at every expense and the ROI of the spend. Fortunately, many of the tools and resources of modern marketing offer marketing teams the ability to offer detailed analytics and data on the department’s impact on revenue and pipeline movement. As an added benefit, many marketing departments are now seen as a core part of the business/executive/leadership team, and not the “arts and crafts” center.
Not surprising, however, are the many ways that marketing has changed in less than a decade:
- The rise of content marketing
- The social media revolution
- The explosion in mobile
- Innovation in cloud-based marketing solutions (marketing automation and CRM systems)
Lastly, the article points out one last important change in the world of marketing: the growing similarities between business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. According to the article, “While we’ve seen tremendous growth in business-to-business (B2B) marketing over the last seven years, the core principles of modern marketing – relevant and engaging messages, multi-channel conversations, and powerful analytics – apply just as well to business-to-consumer (B2C) companies.”
What do you think? Are B2B and B2C tactics growing increasingly similar? And what has been, in your experience, the most significant change in marketing in the last ten years?
