Are you tired of reading about AI? Me too.
There’s a whole world of marketing disruption and opportunity to talk about, so let’s put GPT on pause for a moment and consider the State of the Nation and the 10 biggest marketing challenges.
One of the best parts of my job is interacting with business leaders of all types. I get a broad, global perspective of marketing issues from the very largest companies to solopreneurs and startups. And I certainly hear some common themes when it comes to the biggest marketing challenges.
Surprisingly, they have nothing to do with AI, at least not directly. Here’s what’s going on in the world from my perspective. These are NOT in any particular order.
1) Awareness
OK, I lied. This one IS in order — probably the biggest challenge we face today.
Marketers create customers. And to create customers, we must create awareness for our products. Rising above the noise to earn attention has never been more challenging. Media channels are fragmented and, as we see with TikTok, tentative!
Consumers have become their own streaming media entities. How do we get into those earbuds? And then you have AI swarming the media landscape. Sheesh. Marketing is hard. This is the time for audacity!
2) From big campaigns to small acts of cultural relevance
A few years ago, Pepsi announced that the big brand “bonfires” were over. Brands had to connect to moments of cultural relevance. At the time, I wondered what that meant. But it became clear as brands became part of music, sports, fashion and leaned into emerging consumer signals.
Certainly, that is the direction of the marketing world right now, as brands try to capitalize on memes and trends instead of planning massive campaigns months in advance. A focus on cultural relevance requires an obsession with …
3) The Need for Speed
At 8:48 p.m. on February 03, 2013, a milestone event occurred that changed the face of marketing forever. The power went out at the Super Bowl. and in 10 minutes, Oreo launched an ad:
I remember being at a Super Bowl party — there was a gasp in the room when the commercial ended. How did they do that?
The ad transcended all norms of advertising. The brilliance lay not only in the imagery but in the blazing speed of execution. This wasn’t a meticulously planned campaign — it was marketing at the speed of culture. The ad wasn’t just broadcast on TV; it also became a social media viral sensation and the company’s all-time most tweeted content. It was a global showcase of the potential of real-time marketing.
In the TikTok Era, a brand might have an hour to be relevant. There’s no time for planning or measurement. Many brands live in a reaction culture. This has massive implications for creative, resources, and legal approvals!
If the need for speed hasn’t transformed your marketing department, it will soon.
4) The Disconnected Customer
Many people, especially those under the age of 25, experience their entire media world by themselves through earbuds. They binge music, video, movies, and podcasts in an ad-free streaming environment. They play their games and socialize in Discord groups. They’re not visible to brands, and they don’t see the brands either, at least not like they used to.
A few years ago, I wrote a book about one solution to this dilemma: Belonging to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy. I was absolutely right about this trend. As I am writing this post, I’m attending the global thought leadership conference SXSW. The sessions on brands and communities are so hot that they had to create extra sessions. In the current marketing environment, this might be a hotter topic than AI.
Community is certainly one of the few options to earn your way past those earbuds!
5) Adjusting the marketing/advertising infrastructure
Quiz time.
You know without a doubt that word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is the purest, most trusted form of marketing, right? It’s been around forever … but how much of your budget is devoted to WOMM? My guess is: ZERO.
How about brand community? How about experiential marketing? Also, probably zero.
There are lots of marketing options beyond Facebook ads and SEO but we’ve stayed in the familiar marketing trenches. If you have a contract with an ad agency they are probably resisting alternative forms of marketing because, well, they’re not ads. There is a legacy infrastructure in place that keeps us less effective and boring.
6) Navigating a world where one person can alter brand strategy
Life used to be so easy. A brand was what we said it was. Today, a brand is what we tell each other. And that can spin out of control.
The problem with our social media world today isn’t a matter of free speech, it’s a matter of amplification. A hundred years ago, if somebody spread a conspiracy theory, it would be unlikely to get any further than the boundaries of a neighborhood. But today, false information and deep fakes can reach millions if it comes from an influencer.
Our favorite brands have spent decades and millions of dollars building consumer connections. And all that can be ruined by somebody who is out to get you. It is certainly a weird world where our hard-earned brand marketing can be tarnished in a single post.
7) Activating influencer marketing
I was sitting at a table of brand managers, and one of them said, “Influencers are everything.” That’s a profound statement. But if you’ve followed this post so far, you can see how influencers fit into this new marketing world.
Influencers have massive, loyal audiences, and their message can cut through the earbud blockade. They can be counted on to react with speed, in the moment. In fact, day-to-day relevance is what makes them great. They are more than trusted — Their biggest fans consider them family.
I’ve been following the influencer marketing trend since its beginning, and I think the momentum will pick up going forward. While this is mainstream media for the biggest brands, most companies are just getting started.
8) Talent Acquisition and Skill Gaps
The rapid evolution of digital/influencer/meme marketing requires new skills in AI, analytics, and content creation. Finding and retaining top talent is increasingly difficult. Something I hear all the time: “There is no shortage of marketing jobs. There is a shortage of the right skills for those jobs.”
9) Proving ROI and Justifying Budgets
Marketing teams face increasing pressure to demonstrate clear ROI on campaigns. With long sales cycles and brand-building efforts, attributing revenue directly to marketing initiatives has always been challenging.
I think this is the greatest source of marketing stress. Your boss expects marketing to be coin-operated. Put coins in, get more coins out. But customers don’t operate that way and they don’t care about your quarterly revenue goals. Marketing takes patience and that is not a popular trait these days.
10) Global de-population
I bet you didn’t see that one coming. But this mega-trend will put a lot of pressure on marketers and their brands.
The global birthrate is nowhere near the replacement average of 2.1 births per family. In the U.S., for example, the rate is about 1.4 births per family. Almost every business depends on population growth for incremental annual sales gains. However, the population will inexorably decline in most developed nations, which has massive implications for sales and marketing.
The latest UN numbers show that 2040 will be the peak population on earth, just 15 years away. So, it’s coming at us quickly.
Well, on that happy note, I’ll conclude this post on non-AI marketing issues. You might be thinking, “Whew … that’s a lot.” But that’s exactly why I love marketing. It’s a field that is endlessly changing and endlessly fascinating.
I love solving hard problems and marketing has no lack of them!
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Image courtesy Mid Journey
