Most people know that Internet marketing is a good option for companies regardless of the economic
climate. I say most people that is unless you are referring to the highest levels of leadership and management in most companies. When there is little or limited knowledge of Internet marketing including social media at the highest levels of a company there will be trouble.
Consistently I encounter business owners, CMO’s and high level marketing professionals who are either ignorant of Internet marketing’s options or naive to the impact that Internet marketing will have on their organization. I still find it hard to believe but it happens with great regularity. I wonder how this is possible but then I move to the more important question: How can this organization get through, around or past this knowledge gap at the top to experience the real opportunity that Internet marketing offers to them?
If you are experiencing this there are a few things you can do to break through quickly.
- Educate yourself – This has an impact on two fronts. Either you become the Internet marketing champion in your organization and lead the charge past the executive level ignorance OR you prepare yourself to look better in the job market. If your company is not getting on board with Internet marketing then you are hurting your chances in the job market by not being current.
- Prepare a competitive analysis – Nothing makes the board room jump faster and higher than evidence that one of your competitors is cleaning your clock. Research the latest information on what people do and how they buy using the Internet then apply it to your industry. Then turn it into a final line item that shows money lost by not being in the game. Again, if this doesn’t work at least you are helping yourself
- Bring in fresh minds – Warning. This is written by a consultant so you may find it skewed. Regardless, I just find it smart. Find the money to have a professional assess the past, present and future of the Internet for your company and industry as a whole. You will be better for it.
- Assess the task – If it looks like you are fighting a losing battle and there is little hope to get through to the powers that be then seriously consider if you should be working where you are working. Your career could follow the same path that the company is taking if there is not any move to the future. Study up and find ways to be current despite your company’s condition.
FT Takeaway: if the highest levels of your company are not on board with Internet marketing in a real sense then you need to make a decision. Either you stay and fight the good fight to get them on board or you educate yourself and prepare the resume.
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They don’t know because they don’t want to know. They don’t get it and they don’t like it. They don’t like it because you don’t need an MBA to become an online marketer (and are probably better off if you don’t). They don’t like it because they can’t can’t control it. They don’t like it because the segments of business they understand (catalogs, newspapers, magazines, tv/radio) are dinosaurs facing extinction while new media continues to grab eyeballs and show profits even when the rest of the business is bleeding red. It must be a sad and terrible thing to realize you are going the way of the dodo and even worst to not have the good graces to get out of the way of the new species.
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