According to Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP in New York claims that brands are not spending enough online because people who run their agencies are too old and resistant to change

It’s true; there is a real lack of understanding of e-marketing and online marketing, so why would a company invest their media budget into an area they know little about?  In fact Sorrell goes on to say that brands only invest around 13% of their total marketing budget despite the rapid increase in digital media.  He continues ‘The people who run agencies tend to be of an older vintage – to put it politely,” said Sorrell. “They tend to be resistant to change and want to spend the last three to four years of their careers travelling around the world rather than dealing with fundamental strategic issues on a daily basis.’

However not all marketing agencies are too old and resistant to change.  There are many agencies that now specialise in digital and online marketing and young marketing agencies which offer a more integrated approach to marketing by offering products and services across offline and online.  A good, young, new integrated marketing agency will keep their finger firmly on the marketing pulse and will take a more consultative approach with clients to help educate them and advise about what marketing activities will work for them and what won’t.  With clients more focused on cost than ever before the shift from more traditional forms of media to digital and online media provides clients with more quantifiable and measurable results and greater ROI.   

In turn better client product and service education from marketing agencies will lead to greater opportunity for innovation, product confidence and media budget investment.  Maybe with greater client investment Sorrell’s claims of digital media budgets increasing to more than 20% but 2015 are to be believed. 

If more marketing agencies adopt a more consultative client approach then maybe we will see the sharp decline in the ‘old agency’ mentality.

It’s no secret that the popularity of direct mail and printed promotional collateral traditionally delivered by post to existing and new prospect customers has reduced in favour of digital and electronic marketing.  E-marketing is the new darling of marketing as it provides more cost effective, interactive and measurable solutions for many businesses.

During October’s postal strike has seen companies trying innovative new digital methods to reach out to their customers.  For example we have seen a rapid increase in Marketing agencies across the North West reaching out to their clients to encourage them to adopt promotional emails rather than postal direct mail during the strike and on 23rd October Marketing magazine ‘Campaign’ decided to beat the postal strike and produce a digital version of its magazine which it emailed out to readers rather than printing and sending out through the post.�

So where does this leave the future of the already declining world of direct mail?  While some now view direct mail as a refreshing change to receiving hundreds of promotional emails a week and having a greater chance of reaching the decision makers desk, it does bring into question whether the postal service can be viewed as a reliable distribution channel for businesses.   Further postal strikes could lead to a loss in confidence and we can expect to see many businesses experiment with forms of digital and e-marketing as a reliable and cost effective alternative.

Basically the key benefits for employing an interim marketer is that they can make decisions quickly, can implement change and move on with little involvement in a business’s politics.   The interim marketer also helps a business by reducing its overall overheads and marketing headcount.

But what about small to medium sized businesses (SME’s) who make up 98% of UK businesses who need marketing to help grow their business?  With the average daily fee for an interim marketer at £600 a day and placements running anything from a month to over a year this would be an extremely costly process for the SME.

Isn’t is also possible that small to medium sized businesses could follow the interim marketer model by using small creative marketing agencies and consultants who can work on very short term projects at a much lower cost?