Getting beneath the buzz of digital communications strategies

By Sally Saville Hodge

It’s kind of hard these days to escape how much digital communications have permeated our lives.

Newscasters happily chirp: “Follow us on Twitter!” With-it seniors talk about how they have “friended” their kids on Facebook just to know what they’re doing, while their kids talk about blocking them from all but the most mundane conversations. We go online to research our purchases and make the buy. We eagerly await Groupon’s deal of the day’s arrival in our inbox. Snail mail’s dead; long live e-mail!

As marketers, it’s our job to demonstrate how to make the most of the opportunities and challenges that lie within all these new channels. Our charge: Not just to build awareness but, importantly, to help them build their businesses.

It would seem, however, that we communicators are pretty much talking to ourselves with all our articles, blog posts, presentations, what have you. There’s a lot of noise in our circles. But apparently, it’s not getting out to the people who need to hear. At least, in the small businesses arena, that is.

Citibank recently released a survey of small business executives (100 or fewer employees) that underscores the need for us to broaden our audience. It showed:

• 81 percent hadn’t explored social media.
• 47 percent see no value to Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn for their businesses.
• Nearly 40 percent of their businesses have no website.
• 62 percent don’t utilize e-mail marketing to promote their business.
• 84 percent haven’t engaged in e-commerce.

How embarrassing is it to have been throwing a party that’s gone unattended by the most important guests?

The small business market is important to smaller agencies like mine. Those of us who believe that digital strategies can help our clients succeed need to do a better job of demonstrating why. Here’s how we should be thinking about this:

First, there are a lot of social media hacks out there. Businesses should be aware of the difference between professionals who truly understand the digital space and those who are really book (or article) smart. A campaign that is poorly designed is going to render lackluster results, and further delay broader adoption.

Second, just because you can set up a Facebook page, should you? We need to do better at understanding the total business and making a case for how digital strategies align with business goals and objectives and stand to move the organization forward on its growth path. Practical and relevant cases are important, as is an eye to more significant metrics than “impressions.”

Third, we need to be mindful of small business financial resources, and how that might fuel executives’ skepticism. This means we professionals would be better off starting small, measuring the results, and constantly fine-tuning to ensure the payoff’s there before venturing deeper into the waters.

Finally, I also believe that the flexibility to offer “value added” services is an important differentiator for smaller agencies, and one that gives us far more latitude with our clients to experiment. All within reason, of course. If we worry a bit less about the hours and more about solidifying relationships, we can set up a win/win situation in proving out the value of integrating digital and traditional strategies.

Technology advances have created exciting possibilities to connect more widely and deeply with various audiences. But the buzz is so loud that it may be distracting those who might benefit the most from the practical realities beneath it.