Your Move – It’s Time to Change

Why Marketing is Accountable

Craig Agranoff remembers marketing’s good old days. The thing is that he’s not quite sure if the memories feel like they were yesterday. The pandemic has changed all of that. Today’s chaos-charged environment continues to blur the lines for everything and everyone, especially marketers, whose “new normal” presents persistent challenges to navigate.

It is an interesting world, for sure, one that Agranoff says is pushing brands to find innovative ways to cut through today’s extremely noisy climate. He has spent a career surfing through how change can force companies to alter their perspectives. As an award-winning contributor for ABC and CBS news, he covered the ever-evolving technology beat. And as a serial entrepreneur, he still canvasses technology and marketing worlds, including serving as co-founder of web and digital marketing company Gripd.com.

What Agranoff sees out there is challenging his perspective. Take a recent survey by the World Federation of Advertisers, which shows more than 80% of large advertisers are deferring their advertising campaigns. Nearly 60% say they already have decreased their budgets “somewhat” or “greatly”.

But as any good marketer will tell you, pardon the cliche, hope springs eternal. “Today’s new marketing landscape is filled with new and innovative tools arming a smart marketer with a variety of ways to reach and interact with a potential customer,” Agranoff says. “At our fingertips, we have access to data and marketing automation techniques that makes targeting and messaging more precise than ever before.”

This keen approach is what Agranoff believes will push marketers to new levels of gamesmanship, using a bevy of technological acumen, analytical skills and creativity. He says today’s marketers have access to a multitude of cool techniques, including things like eye-tracking software, neuromarketing methods (a tad bit creepy) and deep analytics to help parlay their message across to even the most ADHD of viewers.

“With an average of about a three-second attention span, most consumers will be hard to reach with generic messages,” Agranoff says. “Creativity is key, as it has always been. But given the tools an innovative marketer uses, there is no excuse not to target each potential demographic or age with their own advertisements.”

Despite the new playing field, the rules of the game have changed. Good marketing is like a magnet that can attract the right prospects. Proficient marketers can create sales funnels, lead prospects along the sales process and educate them about everything and anything related to their brand. That still remains marketing’s biggest secret weapon.

“Always understand who your audience is before you start marketing to them,” Agranoff says. “This will save you financially and mentally. Finding the right audience also prevents extra negative comments from appearing.”

One of the companies Agranoff cites as a forerunner for its innovative way of thinking is One Solution Dental Implants. After the shutdown forced the dental industry down from in-person consultations, One Solution immediately pivoted to Zoom and Skype consultations. Once One Solution was able to re-open, the team changed its messaging and TV commercials, putting an emphasis on its improved cleaning protocols.

This article appears in the January/February 2021 issue of Connect magazine published by NextPage, which can be found online here. If you would like a free print subscription to Connect, please click here.