Don’t get left on the digital scrapheap – business warned

Ian Fenwick, in shirt and tie, smiling, leaning forward slightly, with hands in pockets.
Digital marketing authority, Ian Fenwick, is coming to Brisbane.

Simply throwing money at digital marketing could be costing Australian businesses millions of dollars and still get them left behind.

This digi-mantra will form the platform of an executive education workshop to be presented by world-leading authority, Ian Fenwick.

Dr Fenwick will be in Brisbane in August for ‘The Essential Workshop in New Media and Digital Marketing’, to be hosted by Griffith Business School.

Video: Ian Fenwick on digial marketing

With Australia reportedly spending more on digital advertising per internet user than any other country in the world, he has questioned how strategic and systematic their approach has been here.

“I wonder how much of that is simply throwing money at digital; taking what’s been done in traditional media and spewing it out onto the web so they can tick the box that says ‘I’m doing digital’. Digital doesn’t work like that.”

Ian Fenwick is Professor of Marketing at Sasin Graduate Institute ofBusiness Administration (Bangkok and Phuket),Thailand’s first internationally-accredited businessschool. He is also Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholarat Schulich School of Business, Toronto; and Visiting Professor at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

His expert knowledge around digital marketing is sought after by business groups in Asia, Europe and North America where he regularly leads seminars and delivers keynote addresses.

He is co-author of DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing, one of the first books to chronicle the dramatic shift inthe world’s attention from traditional to digital media.

“The digital consumer doesn’t behave like the traditional media consumer,” he says. “We don’t do the same online that we do offline. We treat the interaction differently. We have different expectations. Digital consumers are empowered, knowledgeable, and above all active.Digital media are, by and large, participatory media. Customers expect to participate, and they expect something useful.

“Simplistic marketing ideas of traditional media won’t play well in the digital space as many marketers have found to their cost.”

Dr Fenwick believes a gap is emerging separating companies that get digital and those that do not. It is reflected on the bottom line, by financial performance.

“The business that gets digital not only commits resources but it also does the right things, in creative ways, with those resources.

“They systematically organise digital across the corporation, and they internalise digital as a cornerstone of corporate mission and business models.

“At the other end are those that have hardly started. They have a website, probably several different websites, and spend some money on search ads and maybe they have someone write a blog.

“But that’s it. There’s no co-ordinated digital presence. These guys are suffering.”

Dr Fenwick will lead a two-day workshop at the Griffith University Graduate Centre at South Bank on August 7-8.

John Miles, Director, Market Development, Griffith Business School says the seminar is a great opportunity for businesses in Queensland. “Participants will not just get themselves up to speed with digital marketing and how it influences their business,” he says. “They will hear from a world leader in this sector and learn how to restructure the way they do their digital business so they can keep ahead of the game.”

Registration for the two days costs $1495 (full rate) or $995 (early bird). Further details here or contact John Miles at 0403 623 152.