VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Warning: The humor of the video is DEFINITELY lost reading the transcript, so basically it's here for SEO value.

Please don't actually read the transcript... watch the video!

‍Hey, it’s PPC Kirk and welcome to another episode of The Marketing MilliMoment where we take a look at random marketing stuff with a healthy does of stupid dad jokes, puns, and bad video... edits.

Today we’ll be discussing Digital Marketing’s relationship with Marketing.

What is digital marketing? (nobody ever asks… HOW is digital marketing).

I like how Marketo defines it: “At a high level, digital marketing refers to advertising delivered through digital channels such as search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. Using these online media channels, digital marketing is the method by which companies endorse goods, services, and brands.”

‍Digital marketing is a subset of marketing. I mean, technically, most digital marketing is actually digital advertising, which is really a subset of advertising, which is then a subset of marketing (carry the 1, over the 4, loop the tail around and tie the knot).

On the other hand, I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how we need to drop the “digital” and just refer to it as marketing at this point.

If you spend any time on Twitter at all these days, you can usually find someone making the case that the word digital should be dropped from the word digital marketing since “that’s marketing in 2020 & Beyond.”

I just don’t buy that. Here’s the problem with that, “Math” Yes, that’s right. “Math” Or as my friends in the UK say “Mathsssss”

I did some research and, while, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, (guys, the earth might be flat)... the number I came up with is that businesses on average spend a little over half of their marketing budget on digital channels.

That’s impressive, 2020 was obviously a key digital year *cough COVID*and the number jumped higher than expected, which means over half of a company’s budget on average is going towards digital channels.

Half! Wowzers. Wowwwy. Half. Dang, 50 some percent. That’s not nothing. Half!

But let’s take a closer gander at this.

50% isn’t a throw away number. Even 55%. Let’s bring back the cookies!

If I told you that cookie I just gave you, that you’re happily munching on, if I told you that cookie had 55% chocolate chips... but I used rabbit poop pellets for the other 45%, would you shrug your shoulders because, heck, 55% is enough to call it a majority so darn the 45 percentage of poop and thank you sir may I have another?

Marketing doesn’t equal Digital Marketing, not by a long shot.

Direct mail is still a thing. Non-digital Billboards are still a thing. NON-connected TV is still a thing. Radio is still a thing. Bus benches are still a thing. Taxi cab placards are still a thing. The smelly dude waving the sign around on the street corner. He’s still a thing too!

I’m all about digital marketing, heck I’m a digital marketer. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves by killing off everything non-digital.

Which is a perfect segue into a related concern here...

When we chat with other digital marketers online (or listen to people in charge of digital ad products), and talk to our digital clients, and get them their digital customers, it’s easy for us to ignore and downplay non-digital channels because many non-digital channels are still at work in an area of the country we don’t necessarily think about, but that buys a LOT of crap. I’m talking about the Flyover states.

You know who still listens to radio ads?

Bob the builder on his way to the next work site still listens to radio ads.

You know who still reads that direct mailer?

Grandma betty, that’s who.

We digital marketers on Twitter, TikTok and Clubhouse too easily forget (dare I say, scoff at) the giant, massive humongous group of people in the middle of the country at the expense of keeping up with the coastals.

There’s nothing wrong with the coasts, as this is where much of our tech and innovation comes from.

But, if you’re a small business targeting people in the flyover states, you may need to ignore the best practices people on Twitter, figure out where your target audience ACTUALLY is, and then do whatever you can to stand out to them in that medium.  

So, all that to say, as you think about Digital Marketing. Don’t forget, that it’s simply a subset of a broader work we are doing, that ties in with what marketers have been doing for centuries.

And remaining open to that will allow us to better learn our craft and move forward.I’m PPCKirk, this has been another Marketing MilliMoment, and may the auctions be ever in your favor.