Gone are the days when brands relied on billboard ads or fought for TV spots. Today, it’s all about digital.
(Source: Freepik.com)
Like all other industries, the world of advertising and marketing has undergone a facelift thanks to the rise of digital. Marketing products and services has never been the same thanks to the pervasiveness of the Internet, the omnipresence of smartphones and devices, and the endless forms of display.
If you have any relation to the world of media or communication, you would know that SEO and SEM are buzzwords popping up everywhere. Include those to the battalion of terms like social media optimization, data-driven marketing, content automation… For those of us making our first foray into marketing, it can be tricky trying to wrap our heads around those phrases much less distinguish between their nuances.
Instead of understanding digital marketing through its convoluted terms, it would be much more fruitful to identify the ways in which they differ from traditional, or “old-school” marketing. Author and chief executive officer of SmartInsights.com Dave Chaffey has distilled the entire concept of digital marketing down to five major Ds of digital.
- Digital devices
First, the advancement of technology has helped us pocket the coolest digital devices. Touchscreen is no longer considered state-of-the-art but an expectation, and we have the world literally at our fingertips. Smartphone ownership has jumped in the span of two years for both developing and developed countries, according to the Pew Research Centre. This means that businesses have all these new touch points to reach out to their audience.
- Digital platforms
Couple this with the rise of digital platforms, and businesses have a way to interact with their audience. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as other services like Google and YouTube, give consumers a voice. Communication is now no longer a flow point from Point A to Point B but instead an enriching exchange, ongoing and flourishing. Business are now having conversations with their audience.
In the world of marketing, it’s all about knowing what your customer wants and providing them that.
- Digital media
Enter digital media — various earned, owned and paid communication channels that help reach and engage audiences. A quick differentiation of the types of media; earned media refers to publicity gained through promotional efforts while paid media is putting media dollars behind an ad so it gets served to relevant audiences. Owned media, on the other hand, is simply media that belongs to the business, such as blogs or websites.
- Digital data
The biggest thing that digital has brought to the table of marketing is digital data. Now that every click-through can provide insight into the audience profile, consumer preference and even interactions with the business, businesses who leverage on digital are provided with a cesspool of extremely valuable data. This data is used to their advantage, whether to alter content, power ad serving, or improve targeting.
- Digital technology
Finally, digital technology provides new ways to entertain, surprise and gain the interest of consumers. Ice-cream giant Ben & Jerry’s has just created a Facebook AR filter that challenges users to catch virtual marshmallows in their mouth, while and Mercedes recently released a 360-degree video ad on a virtual drive where users were able to look around the interior of the car from the comfort of the passenger seat. These new ways in which technology provides a more immersive experience for users is a fun and engaging area for businesses to explore.
Marketing is simply the selling of products or services to an audience. The rise of digital has definitely changed the game. But businesses should be mindful that jumping on the bandwagon without a proper digital strategy, or only doing things are cutting-edge without selling the product won’t help them in the long run. After all, it’s business, baby.
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