by
Partner

What is the future of advertising agencies?

Forrester is publishing research concerning the trends that will drive advertising and marketing agencies in the future. Forrester’s Interactive Marketing Analyst Sean Corcoran interviewed 60 agency leaders, clients, and media in preparing the study. He provided a sneak peak of the findings at an MITX-sponsored event in Boston recently. While the research is focused primarily on advertising agencies, it has great relevancy for B2B marketers. The following are some of his key points (with my comments in italics):

It’s a new world defined by technology and consumer control

  • Consumers have complex relationships with the media
  • Consumers trust other consumers more than brands
  • WOM reigns again
  • 3.5 million brand conversations happen every day, all of them in public

 

B2B purchasing has moved from a seller- to a buyer-controlled process. Search and social media have created much more complex relationships with customers and clients.

Consumers hate most advertising

  • Only 5% agree with claims
  • 50% say brands don’t live up to advertising promises
  • 67% say there is too much advertising

B2B buyers are relying upon peers and opinion leaders to influence and validate their decisions as skepticism grows around product performance.

Adaptive marketing is the new model

  • Everything is powered by digital
  • Real-time response, as in political advertising, is the future of marketing
  • It’s all about pull, not push
  • Addressability is here (versioning customization, options)
  • Intelligence and analytics will drive everything

Database marketing enables message customization for highly relevant, personalized customer interaction. Web-based technologies permit real-time response for those desiring product/service content. Web-based analytics offer immediate measurement and intelligence gathering.

Media needs to combine paid, owned, and earned

  • Paid: for scale, speed, and reach
  • Owned: for content, relationships, listening, and co-creation
  • Earned:  social, WOM, PR, bloggers, influencers, thought leaders

The B2B media mix is becoming much more complex. Inbound media (i.e. search, blogs, social) is becoming just as important to attract B2B buyers as outbound media (i.e. advertising, e-mail)

Successful marketers will move well beyond campaigns

  • Build campaigns, plus platforms
  • Stop thinking in terms of audience and think about communities of participants
  • Undo unbundling
  • Embrace and master new technologies quickly

B2B marketers must begin thinking about strategies, marketing processes, and communities of interest as well as traditional tactics and audiences.

Marketers will look for three things

  • Ideas
  • Interaction
  • Intelligence (analytics)

The B2B agencies of tomorrow must understand and integrate the new marketing technologies and platforms that will drive brand relationships, demand creation, and sales conversion. The application and interpretation of analytics will be critical to ensure business success.