Fact:  Only 24% of U.S. marketers consider their firms to be “digitally savvy”. –eMarketer

Last December, the Wall Street Journal coined the term ‘marketing technopologist’ to describe a new breed of marketers who will bring together the strengths of business, technology and social interaction.  This person will combine the diverse skills and backgrounds of a marketer, technologist, and social anthropologist to study how digital advances are changing culture and media.  As a result, we will see the rise of a digital marketer; someone who will be as comfortable talking about new technology as they reviewing creative with their agency.  This marketing technopologist will understand not just what Twitter is, but why it might be a fundamental shift in how consumers seek out customer service from brands.  They will be able to talk about the importance of Facebook Connect, Open ID and social graphs, while also looking at how to apply those tools to their business.  In other words, marketing technopologists will be able to look beyond the “shiny objects” of technology and grasp the implications of cultural shifts for communication and connection as it relates to their brands.

The smart marketing and branding professionals need to begin embracing this inevitable transition today, rather than waiting for it to be commonplace tomorrow.

One of the easiest places to start is by looking at the impact of sharing tools such as ShareThis through the eyes of a marketing technopologist.

For starters, a sharing tool is very technology driven with words like plug-in, API, platform, and analytics often used in the same sentence.  But at the same time, the essence of a sharing tool like ShareThis is anchored in social interactions among people.  After all, a person communicating with other people is one of the foundations of our culture and society.  Thus, a sharing tool is simply a piece of technology that makes this social interaction easier and quicker.

Now that leads us to the final part, the marketing in marketing technopologist.  You understand the technology and you understand how it impacts social interaction, but do you understand the implications on marketing and your brand building activities?

Consider the case of a typical beauty brand.  After gathering deep consumer insights about how your shopper behaves online, you come to the conclusion that you need to offer beauty tips, tricks and how-to videos instead of just a boring product website.  You call up your interactive agency and they get to work on creating a beautiful site for your brand filled all kinds of enriching content.  You have videos from top make-up artists how to get just the right look.  There are articles on the latest fashion trends and what colors will be popular this season.  And you even have product reviews from consumer themselves talking about how your products last longer than competition.  It is a truly remarkable site with everything your target consumer would ever want.

But will they ever see it?

In the old world of marketing, in order to get people to this new site, you would have invested money in banner ads, emails to your existing database and maybe even a call-to-web on your TV spot or print ad.  But in the new world of marketing, you can use a powerful force to help spread the world… your consumers themselves.  Doing so is as simple as making your content social.  In other words, all you have to do is make it easy for a person to tell their friends about something interesting.  Don’t force them to copy your URL and then go to the email to send it out.  Most consumers won’t take the time to do so…and that is if they even remember to share it.  Instead, add a social element to your content with the simple integration of sharing tool like ShareThis.  Not only will you make it easier for a person to market for you, but you will also jog their memory to do so.  When a person sees that ShareThis button, it triggers them to think about sharing it with their friends on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger or even email.

This is just a small example of how a brand manager can start acting like a marketing technopologist today.  By combining marketing, technology and social insight, you are able to create a competitive advantage for your brand.  You just need to have the guts to embrace the transition today.

This post was originally on the Share This blog as a guest post.

My buddy Kevin Dugan was looking to stir the pot on Friday when he asked Tim Schigel (CEO of Share This) and me what we thought about the recent Ad Age article “Marketing Chiefs: Think Like a Start-up.”  Since I’m always up for a little healthy debate, I thought I would answer in a post vs the 140 characters of Twitter.

At first glance, I agree wholeheartedly with the article and the premise that brands need to start thinking like a start-up.  In fact, I’ve often said that “Brand Managers need to start acting like a VC” by placing bets with their marketing.   In this new marketplace, you need to spread ten marketing bets across the table in order to succeed more often than you fail.  And on that note, I have no real issue with the five basic strategies that article recommends for brands.  I would even go as far to say that point #4 is must listen to advice:

1. Tell consumers why your product is important.
2. Sweat the samll stuff to maximize teh customer experience.
3. Create leverage with every move.
4. Bo bold.  Be fearless.
5. Embrace the inevitable

But with that I said, I think the author tripped up with two seriously misleading statements.

“To survive in this new-world disorder, brands will have to dig deeper, move faster and execute perfectly the first time, every time.  Just like a start-up“: Agreed that the heart of a start-up is moving faster than the next guy…especially the big brand.

But what start-up executes perfectly the first time, every time?!?

It’s not about getting it right the first time because no one is perfect.  Instead it is about having a mentality of failing fast and fixing the mistakes.  That is what Big Brands need to learn from start-ups.  We operate in a world of ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…maybe fire.  A start-up is aim, fire, adjust… aim, fire, adjust.

“Consumers aren’t in the mood to be amused; they want to be reassured“: Really?  Then how did the “Free Doritos” ad in this year’s Super Bowl get the #1 spot in the USA Today Ad Meter?  Yes things are tough in the economy right now… no one can argue that.  But when times are tough, it does not mean we should retreat into our homes and stop laughing.  In fact, maybe we need a little more laughter instead of the constant reminder of doom and gloom.  Maybe we need more brands trying to bring a smile to our face instead of talking about how bad it is out there.  And on that note, lets all promise to never use the words “Depression 2.0″ ever again like they did in this article.   I’m serious… stop it before it starts.

So what do you think?  Did the author of “Think Like a Start-up” get the heart of the message right but miss the point in his details?