3 Reasons why marketing in Australia frustrates me (sometimes)
I assume that if you’re reading this post, you’re a marketer - and you’re probably on the other side of the world.
Being a marketer today means you have to be an early adopter and be at the forefront of the technolical and consumer trends.
Besides the TV commercials in Australia that are mostly informative and bland with nothing really disruptive or funny, the mediums we use to target Australians can be very limited, which I call boring.
So with my eyes wide open and my fingers tapping on the laptop looking at the screen writing on the platform that most Australians probably have never even heard of YET, you’d be surprised how slow things are here in the land down under.
1. Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter just became well-known, popular, and considered by brands and agencies last year
Yes, last year — 2013.
I remember being in an international marketing competition, L’Oreal Brandstorm, in 2012 trying very hard to convince my team members that we should definitely use Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram and put our focus on social media and not print magazines especially because our target audience is females aged 16-40 who take care of themselves and live a healthy lifestyle.
To me, I was already looking forward to the day Pinterest going IPO since 2011. As soon as I discovered Pinterest, signed up before it was even launched to the public, I foresaw how it was going to be used heavily in retail.
Nope. L’Oreal Australia didn’t get it. They didn’t get how Hashtags work (but I guess that’s why brands hire agencies to do the communication work for them). My team members didn’t get it. My marketing teacher didn’t get it.
It fustrated me how social media was never really a part of the equation. Even though it all started in 2007 and I was in university from 2008-2012, Integrated Marketing Communication course was all about TVC.
2. Social TV never really took off
Sitting in meetings after meetings listening to production films and all sorts of media companies trying to pitch to the strategy team at OMD, one of the biggest media agencies in the world, it was exciting to see the changes and the disruptive technologies that were coming into Australia. Zeebox just launched its product in Australia. It already took off in London. Twitter started to be integrated into TV shows like Australian Idols, So You Think You Can Dance, Masterchef, and My Kitchen Rules. I was very excited about social TV. But I guess with the size of the market here compared to the US, we will never have things like Netflix. Zeebox never really took off. None of my friends (except those working in media and advertising) really uses Twitter. No one I know actually tweets to join the conversation about a TV show.
I just wish there were more toys aka media channels for me to play with when coming up with strategy and campaign ideas for clients. These fun things just don’t get enough scale for the big brands.
3. US-Centric Platforms will probably never really reach the tipping point in Australia
Yes, I’m talking about platforms like Reddit, Quora, Medium, Flipboard, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
They are so good to use to reach the US audience. But they will never reach the tipping point in Australia. The surprising fact is Australia has one of the highest penetration rates of smartphone in the world (approx 70%). SMEs have just started to realize that they need to engage with their fans on Facebook. Only a fraction of them is on Instagam. Let alone the use of blogs and social bookmarking sites.
I find this year a wake-up call for the Australian market that the world has changed. You can no longer advertise or market your brands and businesses the way you used to. Corporate firms and SMEs start to see the value of blogging and social media marketing. Although they are still clinging to the stigma of instantly converting those leads into sales. The value in blogging and social media marketing is not in the conversion. I believe it is in brand building. Brand building creates trust, a sense of community, and brand loyalty. And that…turns those leads into customers who become long-term brand advocates that are loyal to you for life and speak about you without you having to shout and send noises everywhere.
This is why I now love working with tech startups and why I’m building my own brand online. Because they target the global audience. And that’s what excites me. Why stay local, when you can scale global?
For more about me and my work in Australia, visit Branducation.co.
Connect with me @BrandMentalist.
