Digital marketing has completely transformed the way we as marketers strategise, operate and implement a marketing plan. With the rise of digital it has created a whole new range of marketing opportunities which make you wonder whether TV & magazines are even relevant anymore!
A Delouitte Consumer Survey* on media consumption showed the top preferred entertainment activity in households is browsing the internet (overtaking TV watching). And while TV watching is still in the top three for entertainment (driven by Baby Boomers+), 60% of people said that they multitask on another device while watching TV ads.
So how has the rise of digital marketing changed the landscape for marketers?
The Consumer Journey (Now AKA The Digital Funnel!)
Understanding the consumer journey is not a new phenomenon to marketers and has always been an integral part of any good marketing strategy and plan. However, the ability to understand this more thoroughly and control it, is now a marketer’s dream.
Following one of the most known marketing funnels; Awareness, Interest, Desire & Action (AIDA) prior to digital marketing, a marketer could only hope that their message would touch their consumer at each part of this journey. Now with digital marketing we can pinpoint and target our consumers at each stage in the funnel, serve them the correct messaging for that point in time and then support it with data analytics & tracking to prove it or improve it! Which brings me to my next point.
Data Is King
One of the biggest missing opportunities prior to digital marketing, was high quality data (research) that understood how your customer interacted with your brand and messaging, while trying to prove a strong ROI. Think about it – you produce an outdoor billboard campaign, how do you really know how many of your consumers saw this, what did they think of the message anddid it really make them go and purchase your product? Now in the digital world, we can understand all of the above behaviour, supported with solid data – I would go as far as saying this would be one of the biggest game changers digital has bought to marketers and businesses alike.
With all digital media platforms, we can now understand exactly how many people saw the ad and if the ad had a call to action, how many people clicked through and then how they engaged on your website/landing page. This now gives marketers much more precise and high-quality analytics to be able to tweak and optimise marketing plans and if their messaging and content isn’t working – we can change it within the day or the hour for that matter!
Content Content Content
Although you can change content in a matter of seconds, creating content is not so quick and easy – and is probably the biggest contributor in holding up any great marketing plan. Before digital, creating a TV ad would take between 2-8 weeks (depending on budget and approval processes!) and you would likely use this for the next 1-2 years in your marketing plan. However now with digital, consumers are much more particular in what they watch, ad fatigue happens a lot quicker and consumers want variety and authenticity (but that’s another topic in itself!) – so imagine launching a new TVC, magazine article and billboard campaign every single week! That’s a lot of work for one marketing team, but that is basically what the digital world has done – increased the amount and need for quality, engaging content and so for marketers it is important – more than ever – to align with agency partners that can help you deliver this high demand of quality content.
Influencers
5 years ago, the word influencer may not have even existed! Now it is probably one of the most used terms in marketing – ‘influencer’ is the new ‘celebrity’. The great thing about the rise of influencers is it is a lot more affordable and accessible for marketers to align with. Rather than paying extreme amounts of money for celebrity endorsement, marketers can now easily align with authentic and relevant influencers to their consumers. It is a benefit for everyone – for brands it is another touch point for their consumers, it provides more content to amplify through their social channels and if chosen correctly brings trust and authenticity to your brand. As an agency we have seen firsthand how the impact of a well-chosen influencer / partnership can impact a brand and see the results digitally overnight.
We have just touched the surface on some of the key changes digital has bought to marketers. It is without a doubt that digital has created a whole new world for marketing departments, allowing more opportunity to target specifically, to be relevant and engaging all while now being able to prove its ROI. On the flip side it has also put a whole lot more pressure on marketers to ensure they are constantly agile, keeping on top of the plethora of analytics to make the right choices and still keeping up to date with all the latest changes and trends in this digital world. Most companies can’t do it alone! So if you need help with your marketing and digital strategy and want to work with an agency that takes the time to understand your consumer, their journey and how to implement this into a great marketing strategy get in touch with us today.
