Olivia: Alright Jackson, if you had to describe 'digital marketing' in one word, what would it be? Jackson: Overwhelming. Or maybe… 'expensive-mistakes-I-can't-afford-to-make'? That’s technically five words, but it feels more accurate. Olivia: Perfect. Because the book we're diving into today argues that the biggest mistake is the term 'digital marketing' itself. Jackson: Hold on, the term itself is the mistake? How can that be? It’s an entire industry. Olivia: Exactly. We're talking about Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing by Simon Kingsnorth. And his central argument, which is so refreshing, is that the moment you put the word 'digital' in front of 'marketing,' you've already lost. You've created a silo. Jackson: Okay, that's a bold claim. Who is this guy to declare an entire industry's name obsolete? Olivia: That’s the fascinating part. This isn't some academic theorist. Simon Kingsnorth has been in the trenches for over two decades. He’s been the Global Head of Digital Marketing at Citi Bank and has consulted for giants like Vodafone and Asda. This book is born from seeing, firsthand, how massive companies with huge budgets get it wrong, over and over again. It's so well-regarded for its practical, no-nonsense approach that it's used in professional certifications. Jackson: I like that. So this is a view from the inside, from someone who has seen where the bodies are buried, metaphorically speaking. He’s not just talking theory; he’s talking about what actually works and what spectacularly fails in the real world. Olivia: Precisely. And his first point of order is to dismantle this idea that 'digital' is some separate, magical kingdom ruled by tech wizards. He argues it’s the very thing that’s holding businesses back.

Jackson: I have to push back a little there, Olivia. For most people, digital marketing is a specialized thing. It’s SEO, Google Ads, social media management. The person who understands Google's algorithm is not the same person designing the product or handling public relations. They seem like very different jobs. Olivia: They are different jobs, but Kingsnorth's point is that they can't operate in different universes. If they do, you don't just get inefficiency; you get catastrophe. And he provides some incredible, almost painful, examples. Let’s talk about the British Gas Twitter Q&A disaster. Jackson: Oh, I think I remember hearing about this. It was a train wreck, right? Olivia: A glorious, slow-motion train wreck in 140 characters or less. So, picture this: British Gas, a major UK energy provider, decides it's a great day to announce a hefty 9.2% price hike for its customers. Jackson: A bold move. Customers love price hikes. Olivia: They love them. And on that very same day, their social media team, likely operating in a completely separate silo, decides to host a live Q&A on Twitter with the hashtag #AskBG. They thought they were being open and transparent. Jackson: Oh no. I can see where this is going. It’s like scheduling a 'Meet the Captain' event on the Titanic right after hitting the iceberg. Olivia: Exactly. The public, now furious about their upcoming energy bills, descended on that hashtag with the fire of a thousand suns. It wasn't a Q&A; it was a public flogging. The questions were things like, "I can't afford to heat my home, but I have a spare jumper. Can you advise on the best way to burn it to get the most heat?" It was brutal, relentless, and utterly humiliating for the brand. Jackson: Wow. And the social media team was just left there to take the heat, completely blindsided. Olivia: Completely. Now, here's the core insight from Kingsnorth's perspective. Was that a social media failure? Jackson: Well, yeah. But now that you frame it this way… it wasn't, was it? The social media team executed their plan. The failure was that the company's right hand—the pricing department—and its left hand—the communications department—were in different time zones. Olivia: You've hit it. It was a business strategy failure. It was a failure of integration. The 'digital' team was sent into a warzone without a map because the generals in another department had already launched the attack. Kingsnorth argues this happens constantly, just in less dramatic ways. A company launches a new product, but the SEO team only finds out a week before launch, so there's no organic traffic. The customer service team gets slammed with questions about a promotion the marketing team is running because the messaging was unclear. Jackson: It’s like every department is a different musician playing their own sheet music, and they're all wondering why the audience thinks it sounds like noise. The problem isn't the individual musician; it's the absence of a conductor and a single, unified score. Olivia: That’s the perfect analogy. The book's first, most powerful message is that you need one score. Your digital strategy is your business strategy. It must be informed by your company's vision, its culture, its brand, and its customer-centricity—or lack thereof. You can't just bolt on a 'digital' team and hope for the best. Jackson: Okay, I'm sold on the problem. The silo is the enemy. But that leads to an even bigger, more overwhelming question. If it's all connected, how do you even begin to build a strategy that big? Where do you start?

Olivia: And that brings us to the second, and arguably most practical, core idea in the book. Kingsnorth frames it as the difference between being an architect and being a bricklayer. Jackson: An architect and a bricklayer. I like that. Let me guess: most of us are running around being bricklayers. Olivia: We're all frantic bricklayers! We're obsessed with the bricks: "Should we use the SEO brick? Or the TikTok brick? Is the Facebook Ads brick still good?" We're arguing about the tools without ever looking at the blueprint. The architect, on the other hand, doesn't touch a single brick until they have a complete, detailed plan for the entire building. That plan is the strategy. Jackson: So what does that blueprint look like in the marketing world? It sounds abstract. Olivia: It's actually the most concrete thing of all. It starts with your core business vision and your deepest understanding of your customer. And there's no better story to illustrate this than the one about Zappos, the online shoe retailer. Jackson: The company famous for its customer service, right? Olivia: Famous is an understatement. They built an empire on it. Their core strategy, their architectural blueprint, wasn't "sell shoes online." It was, "Deliver WOW through service." Every decision flowed from that. The story goes that a customer service rep was on the phone with a woman who needed to return a pair of shoes. During the call, the rep learned that the customer's mother had just passed away. Jackson: Oh, that's heavy. Olivia: Right. Now, a typical, non-integrated company would have a script: "Process the return, offer a coupon, end the call." That's the bricklayer's move. But this Zappos rep, empowered by the company's architectural blueprint, did something else. After the call, she, on her own initiative, sent the customer a bouquet of flowers and a sympathy card from the Zappos team. Jackson: Wow. That’s… not a scalable marketing tactic. You can't put 'send flowers to grieving customers' in a budget line item. Olivia: You absolutely can't! And that's the entire point. It wasn't a tactic. It was an outcome of the strategy. The blueprint wasn't "increase customer retention by 5%." The blueprint was "create real, human, emotional connections." The employee didn't need to ask for permission; she was simply acting as an agent of the core strategy. That customer, as you can imagine, became a Zappos evangelist for life. Jackson: I see it now. The architect drew a plan that said, "This house must feel like a warm, caring home." The bricklayer then knew they could use materials and techniques that create that feeling, even if they were unconventional. A different company's blueprint might be "Build the cheapest, most efficient structure possible," and their bricklayers would use totally different methods. Olivia: Exactly. And you see this with other giants too. Think about Netflix. Their strategy wasn't "make some TV shows." It was "use data to become the indispensable center of entertainment." That's why they invested billions in original content like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. They weren't just throwing money at shows; they were executing a data-driven strategy to own the customer relationship, making it impossible for you to leave. The content is the tactic; owning the audience is the strategy. Jackson: So the bricklayer asks, "What should I post on Instagram today?" The architect asks, "What is the fundamental value we are promising our customers, and how can Instagram become one of a dozen tools to help us deliver on that promise?" Olivia: You've got it. It completely flips the script. You stop chasing shiny new channels and start by defining your mission. The planning process Kingsnorth lays out is rigorous: it involves defining your vision, your goals, your specific objectives—which should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based—and only then do you get to the strategies and action plans. Jackson: It feels like it requires a lot more patience. The pressure, especially in a small business, is to do something now. To run an ad, to get a post out. To just lay some bricks and hope a wall appears. Olivia: It does require patience. But Kingsnorth's argument is that laying bricks without a plan isn't just inefficient; it's how you end up with a crooked, unstable building that collapses on you—like it did for British Gas on Twitter. The time you spend being an architect is the most valuable investment you can make.

Jackson: This really reframes everything. The whole game changes. You stop asking, "What should our next Facebook post be?" and you start asking, "What is our core business vision, and how can Facebook, as a tool, help us achieve it?" The tool serves the mission, not the other way around. Olivia: That is the absolute heart of it. The channel is a servant, not the master. And the shift from bricklayer to architect is the single biggest leap a marketer or a business owner can make. It’s the difference between being reactive and being intentional. Jackson: It moves you from being a cost center—"how much did we spend on ads?"—to being a value driver—"how did our strategy move the needle on our core business goals?" Olivia: Exactly. And Kingsnorth's challenge to every reader, and to us, is to pick one digital activity you're doing right now—one email campaign, one social media account, one ad spend—and ask: "What core business goal does this actually serve?" If you can't answer that in one clear, compelling sentence, you might be a bricklayer without a blueprint. Jackson: That's a powerful and slightly terrifying homework assignment. I feel like a lot of us would come up short on that one. We'd love to hear what you discover. Find us on our social channels and share one 'brick' you're re-evaluating after this. Let's build better blueprints together. Olivia: I love that. It's about building something that lasts, not just something that's busy. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.