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Conventional marketing is what companies like ConAgra Foods excel at.  The process evolved out of necessity.  If you're going to spend millions of dollars broadcasting (literally) the message out to your audience, the strategy and message both have to be right.  You work extensively on strategy.  You research, and research, and research until you believe you understand the sweet spot where brand strength and consumer desire meet.  Next you're working on message development.  You research and research and research to develop and test messages and creative treatments prior to a big launch where you get the message out at scale with big dollar spends.  Later (much later) you look back and see how you did.

As a digital marketer,  you might think I shun conventional marketing....no way.  Digital marketers ignore conventional marketing at their peril.  One of the greatest things about being a digital marketer at ConAgra Foods is that I've been able to learn from the experience of the expert conventional marketers in the company.  Conventional marketing knowledge is critical for effective digital marketing.  Without it here's what can happen:  All the "little insights" and "little strategies" are not connected to a big insight and strategy.  That's not a good thing.

So here's the deal...  Unconventional marketing rocks.  It really leverages the strengths of digital marketing including flexibility, rapid implementation, and the ability to immediately, precisely measure results.  The rapid interations you can create and learn from with digital are incredibly valuable and can accelerate success.  I've believed in rapid iteration and the necessity of many "small bites" in a marketing program for a long time.  I even recently blogged about how cool Seth Godin's point was in his "One Swell Foop" post.  BUT make sure your digital work is all aligned with a sound BIG strategy that is based in solid, well-researched consumer insights.  If you don't apply some conventional thinking to your unconventional marketing process, you may find yourself following flawed little strategies moving quickly through multiple iterations to nowhere.  That doesn't do anyone any good.