Becoming digital is quite a challenge

I've been to a couple of briefings this week that reinforce the need for businesses to undergo a major transformation and, as research firm Forrester puts it, become 'digital at the core', and heard how much of a culture change is required.

First up came a press briefing from Sitecore - which claims to be "the global leader in customer experience management ... [delivering] highly relevant content and personalised digital experiences that delight audiences." It released the results of a survey of Australian and New Zealand businesses 'The Role and Use of Personalization', saying, "Personalisation is a common practice among Australian and New Zealand marketers, but it's a practice that remains simplistic and which is largely limited to email." In this case by personalisation they mean simply addressing an email "Dear Stuart" - that hardly qualifies.

Yet survey respondents reported significantly improved results from even a modest level of personalisation, for example those that used the target market's previous purchase history achieved significantly better results.

Personalisation is just one example of leveraging digital technology in marketing. If the Sitecore survey is to be believed, Australian companies aren't doing too well at it. If they are struggling with personalisation then switching marketing from traditional channels to digital channels will be a real challenge, it takes the exploitation of digital technology in marketing to a whole new level.

But if the results of a survey by Adobe, also released this week, are any indication getting to grips with digital marketing pays good dividends.

Adobe released the results of the Adobe Digital Index Best of the Best Benchmark for Australia and New Zealand, with Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst, Adobe Digital Index, saying, “For conversion rates alone, the ‘best of the best’ websites in industries that sell online deliver nearly double the average conversion rate. They are proving that making a commitment to digital excellence can result in a significant increase in revenue.”  But, she said, success at digital marketing required a culture change. When I asked if that was really the case, John Travis Adobe's VP brand marketing, gave a very compelling answer.

Adobe is a company that claims to spend 75 percent of its marketing budget on digital but Travis came from the 'old world' of pre-digital marketing and had make his own transformation to digital. This is what he said.

"You have to change the entire culture. I was taught, and many marketers are taught, around the culture of 'the campaign'. You're going to invest time and money to make sure everything is perfect. You plan for five or six months and then you run the campaign for maybe three months. All the processes were built around that campaign structure.

"And now with digital marketing I'm changing my campaign day-to-day. For example, a year ago we had built a whole campaign around Photoshop and one of the features was this antiblur technology that enables you to deblur a photograph. We just put it out there but it became a phenomenon and within a week we changed our campaign. We created new advertising.

"So now I review my plan every week. We test and we iterate. That is completely different. And the other thing is relationships. Because, to make digital work I have to be [really close] with my IT department and [really close] with the e-commerce department and the sales team. Ten years ago I probably would have spoken to IT once a year. Now I am meeting the head of IT the team once a week.

"That is a culture shift. We didn't speak the same language. We had to learn how to work together and that is the talent we look for now. When I'm hiring I am looking for team builders. It is critical we have to get along with and cooperate with and to talk these other teams."

Digital marketing, he said, was becoming increasingly sophisticated "We are always testing new layouts. Sometimes that requires coding. I need IT right there. I need them to understand my goal and they need to be there with me and they have to sign up to the same goals that I have."

So that is just the change involved when one area of an organisation, marketing, becoming truly digital. And I wonder if all companies fully appreciate the culture change involved.

Take Qantas for example. Mumbrella reported today that Qantas is understood to have lost 40 percent of its broader marketing team in the recent savage round of job losses, with the carrier flagging a more concerted focus on digital marketing strategies going forward."

If Travis's comments are any guide that focus won't come easily.