e’re wrestling with an explosion of ever-shifting touchpoints and channels where we have to connect with our audience. To call the social media landscape fragmented is like saying Sybil was, um, slightly unbalanced.
Across this kaleidoscope of touchpoints, we’re responsible an explosion of content — “content” being the catch-all word for, well, the majority of what marketing produces. And according to the latest research from the CMI, our biggest challenge is churning out MORE content, faster. Followed closely by the challenge of producing content that isn’t complete crap. No tension between those objectives, right?
We have to deliver this content — and more than just content, but functional customer experiences — across an explosion of different devices. There’s the desktop, the smartphone, the tablet, the phablet. I can’t believe I just said the word “phablet.” And just wait until the Internet of Things goes mainstream. We even have to think about how people will use combinations of these devices at the same time!
We’re now faced with an explosion of technologies to help us execute all these content and experience opportunities on all these devices in all these touchpoints, but this “help” requires us to navigate a dizzying array of different solutions. And while people talk about consolidation in marketing technology, the in-flow of new marketing technology start-ups is still greatly outpacing the out-flow of acquisitions or less graceful departures from the market.
In turn, all of these technologies are generating an explosion of data that truly boggles the mind. According to a recent estimate from Google, we’ve generated 90% of all data in the entire history of the world in just the past two years. 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day. And it’s only accelerating. Somewhere in all that, we’re told there’s a pony, and it’s marketing’s job to find it.
All of this is leading to an explosion of new ideas. Or, if you prefer to think of it as simply your head exploding, believe me, I’d understand. You have ideas. Your agencies have ideas. Your software vendors have ideas. If you can tell your agencies and your software vendors apart, that is. Your summer intern has ideas. It’s quite possible that the summer intern has the best ideas. Heck, every time your CEO touches one of his or her five different devices a new idea comes your way.