Marketing & Advertising Automation – evolving from their roots.
Marketing automation really had its foundation laid with the advertising agency media planning & buying processes in the 1980s. Briefly, agencies typically hired a “Media Director” or outsourced the processes of media research, planning and buying (including negotiating rates and frequencies) that became the underpinning of the Relevance X Frequency philosophy of brand management, marketing and advertising.
Public Relations didn’t buy anything but it played a vital companion role in creating and sustaining a thought leadership positions for management and for individual business units (IBU). The PR team also broke corporate, product and service news and were typically the face of new-product launches.
Media directors, planners and buyers were often a diverse group, usually females, coming from business, media and retail backgrounds and careers. They often honed their skills on the fly and sometimes in crisis situations – most “crises” related to retail special, limited-time offers, seasonal sales or dumping outdated products. The media either loved or hated them.
Client Marketing Directors, VPs of Sales, COOs and Presidents build sales plans and forecasts (and their annual bonuses) upon approved marketing and advertising budgets & spends . . . and the predictable timing of key media placements (broadcast & print). They saw the value of nailing down (automating) the media plan early so that other messaging, channels and events could be planned and coordinated for optimal results. The processes were mostly successful even with limited technology resources and working through limited media choices. More on Marketing Automation in the next post.
About Post Author
