It’s the time of the year when the Marketing Optimists’ Club convenes daily and tells how 2011 is the year of (fill in the blank here). There are wonderful predictions that are based on surveys of nameless companies and their so-called executives who break out their crystal balls and give service providers hope that there will be business in 2011.
Today’s version comes from Strongmail via eMarketer. Strongmail (I always think of Homestar Runner’s Strong Bad when I see this name) provides solutions to integrate e-mail and social media so I’ll give you one guess what their survey found. Ding! Ding! Ding! You got it! Both e-mail AND social media will see increased spending in 2011 and will merit more attention than search by a longshot.
Here is the graph, which proves that this prediction is right on the money (because pictures don’t stretch the truth, marketers do!).
I don’t disagree that e-mail and social media are important and deserve attention in marketing budgets. They are both important when used by the right kind of company in the right way. What I always have trouble with is ‘research’ that tells the perfect story for the people who would benefit from that ‘research’ being true. In this case, StrongMail gives it the double whammy by giving a rosy picture to both areas it is concentrated on. Gee, since they already know who these people are I suppose StrongMail is going to see the same growth as these budgets do, right?
As for just how this plan to integrate email and social media plays out, the numbers tell the story of a lot of folks getting ready to get ready as 72% of the respondents range in answers from “We are looking for a way to do this” to “I don’t know what you’re talking about”.
So as it is at the end of every single day as these numbers come out to confirm the relevancy of the research source, we ask you to read and apply with caution.
This prediction season, let us serve as your marketing designated driver. If you drink too much “This Is The Year of ___________” brand Kool-Aid, turn to us here at Marketing Pilgrim. We’ll sober you up by looking at the source of these prognostications. Then we’ll remind you that the only thing that matters is how this applies to your efforts today not whether someone tells you its degree of importance tomorrow.
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