'The Future of Digital Marketing 2008' by E-Consultancy reviewed

There is a saying in financial circles that if you put 3 economists and ask them a question you will come out with 4 answers. In the case of marketers the opposite is true. Having spent yesterday at E-consultancy’s Future of Digital Marketing programme, I have concluded that if you put 250 marketers in a room and ask them a question you come out with really only about 4 answers.

The question that everyone was struggling at the event to answer a the event is ‘where next for digital marketing?’. Unsurprisingly, the seminar was buzzing with the sounds of ‘social media’ and web 2.0 but there was very little evidence that this had been implemented in such a way as a)not to attract cynicism and b) to actually generate sales through greater brand visibility. We were treated to a wonderful visual display by a well regarded high street travel agency who were keen to show off their social media credentials that they had created, but I rather felt that they missed the point. All of their content was created by themselves which is hardly very ‘sociable’ is it? If a random stranger brazenly came up to you in the pub and said ‘I want to be your friend and I’m going to tell you why you should like me’, you wouldn’t be very keen. Ian Jindal, Editor in Chief of Internet Retailing and definately the best speaker at the event who answered the brief in his unique robust style, perfectly summed up the common mistake of many companies who enter social media arenas such as facebook and myspace. He likened their approach to digging as many holes as possible in the belief that at some point a potential customer is going to ‘fall in’.