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Who Doesn’t Believe Offline and Online Marketing Are Merging?

Authors: Steve Olenski Steve Olenski
Posted Under: Digital Marketing
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Stat of the Month

This particular post is a bit of an anomaly. See, I am writing this with just two percent of CMOs/marketers in mind. That may sound odd—why would I write something aimed at only two percent of anything?

I get that. I understand why you would question that logic. I questioned it myself before deciding to take this approach for this particular piece. I did so because I felt compelled to direct this squarely at you: the two percent of marketers who don’t think that offline and online marketing are merging.

And just where do these two-percenters come from?

They come from the report, “CMO Spend Survey 2015-2016: Digital Marketing Comes of Age.” Results were released late last year after Gartner surveyed over 330 organizations on their 2015 marketing budgets and 2016 expectations. Here’s where those two-percenters come from:

Gartner digital marketing survey

Now do you see them?

If Online and Offline Aren’t Merging, Then What?

Since I cannot ask the two-percenters these questions in person (as much as I would like to), I’ll have to settle for asking them here, rhetorically—unless, of course, someone out there wants to take a stab at answering on their behalf.

Two-percenters, why would you possibly believe that offline and online marketing are not merging?  Do you not think that they should? What possible benefit can come from them NOT merging?

Do you not employ ANY online marketing currently that would then explain why it won’t merge with offline?

What color is the sky in your world?

Okay, perhaps that last question was a bit harsh—my apologies. But it boggles mind that in 2016, this could still be a mindset of a CMO.

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But Maybe I’m Missing Something

Let me take a step back and take a different look at all this. Maybe, just maybe, the two-percenters are those marketers who don’t know how to merge offline and online. Maybe, just maybe, the two-percenters are those marketers who don’t have the right technology to merge offline and online.

You think that could be it? Maybe I will try and convince myself that is, in fact, the reason why the two-percenters are who they are. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. At least that way it will help me make sense of all this and, yes, sleep better at night.

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