Poll position: The boss doesn't get it
Published: May 07, 2009
Regional - A frustration with the boss's lack of understanding of online advertising is what is likely holding back marketers in APAC from spending up big on the medium, even though they themselves understand its power, according to a marketing-interactive.com reader poll.
Of the more than 300 people who answered the poll question "What is stopping marketers in Asia spending more budget on online advertising?" the highest votes, 36%, said it was because "The bosses don't believe it works".
Around 20% said they were waiting to see case studies that proved it really worked, while, interestingly, 15% who completed the poll said they felt it was too hard to measure results.
A further 8.6% said there were too many choices, while 10% were yet to be convinced themselves that it even worked.
There were also some interesting comments from those who selected the "other" choice and elected to enter their own answer these included that marketers "don't understand and don't feel safe to ask", to the downright scathing: "marketers are too lazy and reluctant to try new media" as well as the opposite argument "agencies aren't doing their jobs".
Other suggested answers included:
"Not educated enough on the power of online"
"Don't want to learn new things"
"Not aware of the available technology out there"
"Status Quo is easy and won't challenge the bosses"
"Most marketers are offline in the background and don't understand the potential benefits"
"No vision"
"Used to traditional mediums"
Got another reason or just want to comment - drop your comment in below.
I was very interested to read the eventual results of this poll, and they are, among other things, as frustrating and discouraging as I thought they would be.
What I am struggling to comprehend is that this is the same argument I was having with marketers in 2002! It was somewhat understandable then, but this is 2009, and Digital Marketing isn't the 'mysterious' new 'fad' that it was then. It is a viable, cost effective, tried, tested, and true means to target customers online.
It's so *easy* to track and analyze results frequently, modify campaigns on the go as you do, and gauge immediate ROI results.
I find it inconceivable that a majority of people's bosses "don't believe it works", and with the prevailing attitude in Hong Kong seeming to be 'If my competitors aren't doing it, why should we?", I can't really see how businesses and brands expect to innovate, connect with their audience, or push their brands effectively into an increasingly competitive online arena.
If your customers are online, and I guarantee you a vast percentage of them are, then why aren't YOU? Understanding who they are, where they go, and what they do while they are there doesn't take a lot of time, and isn't rocket science. You just need to connect with the right companies that know what they are doing and TRUST them to do their job.
Digital marketing has evolved beyond recognition from the command and control dynasty of 2002 comprising essentially of banners, cutesy flash microsites and the infant gah-gahs of Google PPC.
I think everyone who doesn't live in a cave will be well aware of the wild rise of the unbridled consumer republic in the past 3-5 years. Yes Twitter is only twee, and less than siz months into its meteoric rise from Indie to mainstream fame.
"Bosses", or whatever we chose to call them, are obviously giddied by a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem that has effectively turned their command centres upside down - a global contagion that flattens and spits on all sense of beauracracy, one where small groups of individuals can rip the brand innards of the biggest corporations to shreds through innocuous word-of-mouse acts.
In a field infested with snake-oil artists spinning air castles of ROI, even the best digital experts admit how hard it is to stay on the surface of the waves of unrelenting change let alone surf it, it is not surprising that "bosses" hold a cautiously optimistic stance.
Humility is the stuff of great leadership. Thus I wonder why this much ado about nothing about bosses who "don't get it". Show me someone who doesn't always go into digital forays with highly measured steps of respect for the unknown and eyes wide open, and I'll show you a reckless serial liar, or a bubbled infused startup dreamer.