By Ed Pierce, Director of Stakeholder Relations, Inertia Marketing
April 11, 2022
“Digital selling is taking over…are you prepared?” “Identify the existing gaps in the desired sales experience.” “Dealing with scale in a digital-first future.”
As a fleet marketer, you have surely seen the steady stream of alarming online opinions from generalist research firms and one-dimensional product vendors. They start by fearmongering — “Change is coming!” …duh – and offer snake oil salesmen-like promises of technology that can remedy every symptom.
As any fleet marketer knows, the road to a future-proof marketing nirvana is littered with unknowns; unforeseen economic conditions; unavailable application-specific proof, untried integrations with existing technologies, unbudgeted expenses that won’t see the light of day in budget-constrained businesses, and many other reasons the journey can come all undone.
Roll your eyes if you and your team have time in the workday to dream of phantasmagoric illuminations that can actually improve lead generation; resolve sales’ and marketing’s differences about the definition of a MQL or SQL; create an integrated marketing plan from disparate departmental priorities; or convince leadership that the investment in marketing delivers a satisfactory return.
What Thinkers Think Will Help Marketers Succeed
A well-respected research group serving businesses of all stripes postulates that action items for 2022 must include “development of a visual configuration, a virtual customer assistant, a conversational AI for digital commerce, and a single view of the customer.”
Hmmm. Do you have any extra time to draw a visual configuration? Are you ready to meet with the leaders of your company to suggest an investment in conversational AI will improve marketing results?
What Effective Fleet Marketers Do to Succeed
So, what steps are marketers themselves taking in their continued approach to succeed? A recent industry study showed that the leading tactic was “changing communication style and messaging.” In other words, content and delivery of content hold the master key to successful marketing programs. We’ll delve into this next month.
I Am Not a Luddite
Let me assure you that I consistently promote and implement continuous improvement! I am not a Luddite. I look forward to enhanced data collection and analytics achieved with the help of new technology. Any marketer would jump at the chance to make better informed decisions through deeper data dives and more quantifiable insight into buyer personas, effective messaging, marketing mix analytics, and more. However, the value of technology is derived from its application. More on that next month!
This topic might evoke some reaction and even contrary points of view. I’d welcome the opportunity to include your response –supporting or disagreeing with the point of view. An abundance of different experiences and perspectives only make the article richer. Feel free to call me at 484-957-1246 or send an email to me at [email protected]
