Are marketers reluctant to go on the pull?

We’ve all read countless columns identifying – and usually bemoaning – the shift from push to pull marketing. Yet few of them have sought to quantify the swing from brand-led to consumer-led communications. Is the mass market really wearing the trousers and, if so, how tight is the belt?
Not so long ago, the volumes offered by TV advertising were irresistible to many brands, which splashed out a large proportion of their budgets on the mass creative appeal of the small screen. Now we live in an age where measurable returns have become a boardroom bargaining chip for marketers asking CFOs and CEOs to loosen their purse strings. Caveat emptor: winning share of eyeball isn’t the same as capturing consumers’ hearts and minds.
We recently completed a dual survey of 1,000 UK-based consumers and 200 marketers, examining the gap in their perceptions about how technology is changing the relationship between brands and their target markets. It appears most of the marketing respondents were unaware how far the pendulum has swung. While 82% of consumers believe they are in control of their relationships with brands (‘in control’ meaning they feel they receive communications only when they want them and through their preferred channels), marketers thought that figure would be just 30%.
Furthermore, only a quarter of respondents think the marketing they receive from brands in various sectors is appropriate to them. So even if there is still a case for leading the horse to water, making it drink seems harder than ever.
One perhaps surprising statistic from the survey is that 71% of customers rate mail as an appropriate channel through which to reach them. Even among prospects this only fell to 57%. Email alone fared better among customers, while it was also the second choice of prospects. Acceptance of marketing via SMS, mobile and social media tumbled to single figures. As a weapon of choice, direct mail seems to have a keen edge. To make it work, you need to have accurate, clean data and cutting-edge, multichannel consumer insight at your disposal.
There are exceptions to this emerging paradigm. Some brands and their agencies still produce great push marketing; Comparethemarket’s cuddly mascot Aleksandr Orlov can attest to that. But according to the consumer responses to our poll, technology is clearly habit-forming, and it’s a bad habit for marketers to misuse it.
Marketers: get ready for, and prepare a response to, consumer control. It could be here to stay now people have brands in the palms of their hands.

Ian McCawley is a marketing consultant at Acxiom