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It's an every day story for me, People still do not understand how any thing Digital works and keep on insisting on using ground marketing strategies via Digital strategy, whilst there is a correlation to a certain degree, the two are very different in their own respective ways. I believe when it comes to understanding all things Digital, the number is actually more like 1/60th. The companies are particularly to blame here as they tend to hire people without adequate experience of Digital Marketing, the expectations the people have are so unrealistic that sometimes it hurts me inwards just to tear them down and see the disappointment on their face when they get a reality check. I always educate my clients if there is a need to do so, I never jump into anything without making sure the person on the other end knows exactly what is supposed to happen and all the pros, cons and risk involved. I find people in European countries more aware of Digital Marketing than those in the ME and Asia. There are so many big projects that I had to decline due to the fact the clients had absolutely no idea how Digital Marketing/SEO worked but was keen on doing things his/her way. Another problem is that I feel more people are just interested in making a quick buck than to give value to their client, this in turn gives the impression that Digital does not work, there were several clients who came to me after they had their run ins with what I coin the term "Digital Quacks" and very surprised when an assessment of their strategies came out with numerous flaws. So whilst you cannot impress everyone out there, I always do my best to give value to the client.
Market is mixed with trained and amateur peoples and for doing business properly we need professional trained peoples as well as customer .
You are too optimistic with the 1/6 number, the reality is closer to 1/60. The issue though is that the decision makers are all older and probably outside of digital marketing spheres. Also there is very little real evidence of the success of digital marketing as far as delivering volumes is concerned, yet the markets grow. As the field matures, so will the practitioners. Too early to worry yet.
Definitely people are coming in as managers without any knowledge or background of digital marketing by just having required education degree theoretically without having any experience of how to use it. Digital marketing strategy helps in promoting your brand by reaching various customers. Hence digital media to be handled by trained professionals.
I definitely think that's an alarming number! However, we need to consider that the older people in the marketing workforce make a lot of decisions and they are the ones who are not comfortable with the digital part. Then ofcourse there are those who are comfortable with the digitization and still don't work first hand on it because they have somebody else doing it for them due to their rank! Hence, the figures quoted here might be relative and open to interpretations. Lastly, it's never too late to learn new skills and I don't see any reason why the seniors can't catch up on the digital tips and tricks :-)
