The New Age of Digital Marketing

As marketing enters a new digital age, social media platforms and digital channels are increasingly dominating the strategies of leading companies.These options seem an attractive way of gaining access to a large number of users but it is important to remember they are still largely untested and there is no established best practice.

In order to succeed in this new world, marketers should take the time to understand how social media and digital marketing can best fit into their overall channel strategies.

Successful digital marketing requires careful planning and an understanding that achieving results will be a long process. Some organisations have seen early successes from using social media and others have rushed to follow but have not always achieved the same positive results. Indeed, some companies have ended up with PR disasters on their hands. Gap’s recent rebranding effort and the associated negative response from the online community, is just one example of how this kind of marketing can go wrong. 

Many organizations are currently suffering from an immense spread of people working on digital marketing, without any control of insights being captured across the company. Organisations need to invest sufficient time and resources to develop a long-term, social media strategy that will help customers become truly socially connected with a brand. Ford’s launch of the 2011 Explorer shows the benefits of having clear goals and monitoring progress towards them. Ford secured 30,000 Facebook fans and generated nationwide buzz in the six months before cars went on sale.

The second key factor in successful social marketing is to ensure that there is a truly multi-channel approach. Too many companies have made the mistake of cutting traditional channels too quickly from their strategies. Focusing solely on digital channels is risky. Consumers are inundated with information and so there is no guarantee the message will get through. Instead, marketers need to look at each of their channels and understand how best to optimise a mixed portfolio of options, bearing in mind that each channel operates in different ways. Go Daddy, the world’s largest Internet domain registrar, shows the value of a coordinated, multi-channel approach, by using TV ads they draw consumers to their website to access exclusive online content. Simply joining up campaigns can be a genuine quick win for many companies.

The transition from mass marketing to a one-to-one conversation with customers has long been a goal for marketers. Digital channels can help them achieve this. The experience of JetBlue, which has a Twitter account to deal with customer complaints and queries, shows how establishing a dialogue with customers and using their feedback to drive service improvements delivers real increases in customer satisfaction. This example also underlines that as customer expectations increase they want personalised responses and genuine interaction.

Ultimately achieving success in digital marketing is no different from achieving success through traditional channels – you still need to know your customer.

To find out how PA can help you establish a successful digital marketing strategy, contact us now.