GETTING BACK TO BASICS SERIES
9 WAYS DIGITAL HAS CHANGED BUSINESSES!
We are a society driven by digital technology. Such is its impact that there are countries where citizens don’t have running water, but own smartphones. Digital marketing has an incredible influence on people’s interactions, work, purchases and life habits.
As such, companies today need to have a firm grasp on how to utilise the digital universe to maximise their brand awareness and impact. In this blog, we look at 9 of the biggest ways that digital marketing has changed and keeps changing the way businesses and brands operate.
1. CONSTANT COMMUNICATION
One–on-one messaging and private chat groups are on fire right now. Facebook messenger has 900 million global users, and studies have shown that teenagers now spend more time on messaging apps than they do on actual social networks. To tap into this burgeoning market, savvy companies are introducing methods of connecting with, and marketing to, potential clients through these kinds of applications.
2) Content Overload
Just how much content is distributed via social media and messaging apps? The answer is huge, so huge that it has been given the term content shock. Every 60 seconds 3.3 million people make a Facebook post, and 29 million messages are distributed via Whatsapp.
That means businesses have their work cut out, as traditional marketing platforms decrease in
effectiveness and online becomes the primary means of marketing.
3) Droves of Data
Modern technology allows marketers to gain a tremendous amount of knowledge about their customers. However, companies need to know how, where and when to use that data. Some of the best ways to achieve this are:
- Knowing which metrics are most important to company success – the key to getting impact from data is knowing what your organisation wants to get from it.
- Knowing which customer channels are going to pay off – the array of technologies and channels is such that a business needs to focus on the ones that their customer engage with in a meaningful way. Likes and comments may seem important but what really matters is engagement that builds a relationship between a customer and a brand.
- Having employees with the analytic skills to process data – all the data in the world is useless without the skills in-house to know what to do with it. Insights from data are what can drive a business and help them understand the behavior and pain points of a consumer.
- Creating content that is personalised and customer focused – The colossal amount of data in cyberspace makes it hard for any brand to make a real impact. The key is knowing who the target audience is and creating content that grabs their attention and encourages them to engage.
4) Demands Transparency
In today’s digital world, customers want to know about the companies they interact with and purchase from. In order to build loyalty brands need to be transparent and demonstrate their personality online and the company’s ethos. This is particularly relevant when it comes to food products with consumers wanting to know exactly what’s in the things they eat.
A study by Label Insight only 12% of consumers trust companies when it comes to packaging and look for information on the product elsewhere although 67% believe it’s up to the brand to provide them with his information.
5) Fosters Intimacy
Businesses can learn an enormous amount about potential customers based on data they can gather. The smart companies are using this data to create extremely personal marketing messages, and customers are eating it up.
Personalisation a powerful tool, as 85% of users are more
likely to buy a product if the message is personalised and supported by social.
6) A New Breed of Influencers
Social media and video outlets like YouTube have enabled ’regular’ people to become incredibly influential. Companies no longer need to hire celebrities to endorse their products in order to get millions of people interested in their product or service.
This has created interaction between the brand and the audience far beyond standard product placement. Young people are a bit bored of advertising,” stated Philip Hartmann, Head of Content at Coca-Cola Germany.
7) Playing Catch-Up
Digital technology changes at an incredibly fast pace; often overnight. Relentless in its pace, these changes require employees across departments to be agile, work collaboratively and most importantly keep up to date with development so they have the skills to adapt and use these changes to the company’s advantage.
Continuing education provided as and when employees need it is a great way to achieve this. By upskilling a workforce in the latest and most relevant technologies, strategies and techniques, employees can be proactive in knowing what is coming down the line and understand how their brand can use these changes to their advantage.
8) Encourage Innovation
This new landscape has forced brands to be innovative using new ways to reach out and engage with their customers. In the face of disrupters, many sectors have had to be creative and take initiatives that enable them to compete. Take the financial sector for examples, faced with stiff competition from PayPal and Google Wallet, financial institutions needed new ways to engage with and influence customers.
9) Made Brands More Human
Due to its popularity and influence, social media marketing should be front and center on any company’s marketing strategy as customers need to trust and understand the company they are buying from.
One of best examples of a company that has got this concept down to an art is Apple. Strategic marketing ensures that brand awareness rules supreme among their users, and it’s so effective that Apple has millions of people supporting their products before they are even released!
They achieve this by using live streamed events resulting in hordes of devoted customers that feel like they are part of the brand’s journey and as such when Apple launches a new product they have a committed and attentive audience.
In conclusion, the bottom line is that if a brand wants to be successful now and in the foreseeable future, they need to invest in a kind of “cultural radar” by keeping abreast of evolving technology and platforms along with investing in audience tools that can understand the customer and interpret relevant data to form informative insights. Those brands that can adopt and adapt will surge ahead of their competitors.