Digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing in that it involves the use of channels and methods that enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t, typically in real time.
Digital media is so pervasive that consumers have access to information any time and any place they want it. Gone are the days when the messages people got about your products or services came from you and consisted of only what you wanted them to know. Digital media is an ever-growing source of entertainment, news, shopping and social interaction, and consumers are now exposed not just to what your company says about your brand, but what the media, friends, relatives, peers, etc., are saying as well. And they are more likely to believe them than you. People want brands they can trust, companies that know them, communications that are personalized and relevant, and offers tailored to their needs and preferences
Presently successful marketing comes from collecting, analyzing and using data about when and where customers spend their time. In short, data is behavior. Learning from this behavior drives creative messaging and strategic campaigns. Tracking behavior and tapping into the emotional connection through messaging, ads, social, and design makes all the difference in the digital space. In order to truly be optimal, brands need to find the individual creative elements within their ads that perform best for each online ‘purchasing scenario’. Individualized testing and optimization for each demographic, interest, product-type or keyword is now possible, and is imperative to staying successful as a digital marketer
Social sites like Facebook have some of the most specific variables for advertising. Narrow down to age, interests, location, behaviors, political leanings, and more. Test search, display and mobile ads along with your email and social campaigns. Find what really works for your customers and work more efficiently.
As a brand, join in on the engagement. It’s not enough to listen to your audience; respond and interact. Market specifically to individuals who are reaching out and talking about you. Give your audience something to love and share. Have fun with your marketing and open yourself up to build loyalty and connection. Single marketing voices only reach the people already in their networks. To break through, companies and causes will increasingly need to partner with suppliers, brand ambassadors and others to reach more people, more often, team work is vital
As technology and consumer behavior is evolving from now to the next 10 years, the ways of marketing will change tremendously. A few predictions I came across for marketing in the future are; the need for brands to work on a timeline that matches culture, not ad campaigns.
Mobile will enable more personal interactions between brands and people. The number one possession people have is their smartphone and there are more mobile devices than people on the planet. Mobile is the way people interact with friends and brands. The way they look at content is shifting to small screen and successful brands will be able to create a more personalized experience with consumers. Branding is rapidly becoming a two-way conversation as social media has given consumers a voice, which has not been done before. As brands track individual consumer behavior in real-time, they can use it to tailor the experience for that specific person and their specific behaviors on a mass scale.
Transparency is the new key. Consumers expect more information from the brands they use and they expect brands to do well. They want to know who they are and what they stand for. They reward companies that have similar values and ask, “Is the brand good for me and good for society”. Brands have to be more transparent in a genuine and authentic way—to live and demonstrate their values, they need to walk the talk. If they do, they will win both the hearts and the minds of consumers, which builds sales overnight and the brand over time.
Next, there will be a shift from talking at the consumers to making the consumers talk. People don’t necessarily want to be marketed to, so brands should look to create engagement and conversations at every consumer touch point. We aim to make everything we do a catalyst for conversation. In terms of our advertising, we want people to ask, “What’s the product? What’s the music? Who’s the artist? What are others saying about it?” Everything must be about the conversation. We want people love our food, care about our brand, and want to share with others.
Rise of video and video sharing. With the rise of mobile, video is in high demand because people love visual storytelling. This includes short form, long form, snippets, streaming, etc. This shift in consumption shatters some of the conventional marketing models. Brands will become more nimble and will see creative and digital agencies morphing into one as ideas need to be cohesively executed across all channels simultaneously. Content will need to be produced more quickly and efficiently which has big implications for the traditional agencies.
Most branded content will come from consumers. User generated content will far exceed branded content and brands will need to embrace this and accept they aren’t in complete control of their own brand. As such, it’s imperative that brands create a strong identity in the minds and hearts of consumers. All channels are programmatic. Programmatic rightly gets a bad name, but the core idea of marketing channels being accessible via an input like an API is a really important concept. Right now that’s true of the social channels, and increasingly, the rest of the digital marketing channels, but over the next five years we’ll also see traditional channels like radio and television open themselves up to receive marketing assets programmatically.
The complexity of modern marketing is only going to keep increasing. The job of being a marketer in 2015 is much more difficult than it was 20 years ago. The conception of channels, markets, and, importantly, incomes in emerging markets around the world, has made marketing a complex discipline. While this is a big challenge, it’s also a good problem to have, as over the next five years marketers will have an ever-growing customer base who, thanks to the growth of smartphones, they will be able to reach directly. All of this will drive more complexity inside and outside organizations, but, when accompanied by growth, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Technology moves upstream. If you look at how technology has moved through marketing, it started at the edge and has continued to move closer and closer to the actual planning and development of marketing itself. Over the next five years we’ll see technology complete this transition and become a part of the core fabric of marketing itself.
Agencies will become connectors. Brands want to connect with people through artist relationships and artists want brand dollars. Agencies will be the force that brings them together in partnerships that are about more than just pay to play. Good agencies will act like product companies, not service companies. Service companies aspire to a happy customer and a contract renewal. Product companies innovate quickly and offer better value with each iteration. Agencies who get the Silicon Valley fast iteration memo will lead the next generation. Big data will get personal. The revolution that has changed how brands go to market will become personalized and allow individuals to use data to pursue their passions and goals. Products and experiences that help people along on this journey will become a much bigger part of our lives. Marketers who participate in this productively and respectfully will form deeper relationships. Those who intrude will get shut out.
Culture will still be king. People will continue to care more about culture than products, so brands that operate on a cultural level will be the winners of the future as they are of the present. The central issue for a marketer will be winning a battle for cultural relevance. The winners will make marketing as valuable as the product or service him or she is selling. Great marketers will find a brand story that is worth following, and will create chapters to this story that evolve over time. They will embrace brands that evolve.
Creative energy will see a shift away from agencies and towards publishers and platforms. An increasing number of the brightest creative minds will abandon standalone agencies for creative divisions of media companies and tech companies, and in turn, these will become the go-to shops for best-in-class brand services.
