Not Your Mother’s Marketing – How to be Successful in a Digital World

If you’ve ever wondered where the day went, a good guess might be that it went to staring at a screen. A better guess might be that it went to staring at your smartphone. On average, Americans spend over 7 hours a day staring at a screen, with smartphones and television topping the list over tablets and computers (Epstein, 2014). Data shows that Americans spend over 2 and a half hours a day looking at their smartphone (Epstein, 2014). It is estimated that by 2017 over 2.6 billion people in the world will own a smartphone (Statista.com, 2016) and these smartphone users will most likely use them to check their preferred social media sites (something we Americans currently do over 17 times a day) (Chang, 2015).

These staggering stats are just a few that make an argument for companies to spend more time, more energy, and more money on their digital marketing strategies. Opposed to traditional marketing, digital marketing includes any means where marketing content is accessed electronically. Similar to traditional marketing, digital marketing has goals of building brand loyalty, promoting brands, and ultimately increasing brand value (Benitez, 2016).

To make a digital marketing campaign successful, companies need to commit to it. They can increase their chance of success by learning from others who have spent a considerable amount of time researching and improving their own digital strategies.

Below is a list of common tips from marketing gurus that can help with the creation and implementation of a successful digital strategy.

1- Go Social

Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook (2013), explains how important social media is to your digital campaign. Research has shown that all forms of digital marketing techniques have been struggling to resonate with consumers – that is, unless they include some aspect of social media (Vaynerchuk, 2013).

2- Integrate, Integrate, Integrate

Consistent with Vaynerchuk’s advice, businesses should integrate their campaign media. While content should be specific to each platform and retain the native attributes of each site (Vaynerchuk, 2013), there should also be a consistent message, tone, and look that is evident throughout. Consumers should be able to easily move from one platform to another, for example, showing or telling consumers how they can interact with you on your website, by text, or on facebook at the end of an email or television commercial, (Tammeorg, 2016).

3- Go mobile

This one’s a no brainer. From the stats above as evidence, your content must be easily accessed on mobile devices. Still need more stats? Mobile coupons are used 10 times more often than print coupons and when consumers (48% of them) come across websites that aren’t “mobile friendly”, they think the businesses that run them don’t “care about their business” at all (Tammeorg, 2016).

4- Research

With the high level of consumer choice that’s involved in digital marketing (fast-forwarding through commercials, marking email as spam, unfollowing on facebook), it’s imperative to provide value to the consumer (Vaynerchuk, 2013). You must research what your consumers are looking for (which will probably be different for each digital method) and fulfill that specific need (Stringfellow, 2016). This could be news or entertainment, or maybe its incentives (Tammeorg, 2016). If you don’t take the time to research what it is your consumer needs, you will waste resources giving them something else (Stringfellow, 2016).

You should research where your audience is and what time of day they’re most perceptive to different content (Stringfellow, 2016). You should test out different ideas, like using photos vs. gifs vs. videos. Utilize analytics and in-page tracking to help you figure it out (Gerber, 2016).

Getting your digital strategy right might take time. Be consistent with your campaign schedule and don’t give up. Use your research to make changes as you go, focusing on giving consumers a personal experience that adapts to their environment (Stringfellow, 2016). Eventually you’ll get results far beyond those available in print.

References:

Benitez, J. (2016, March 10). 5 Essential Tools for a Winning Digital Marketing Campaign. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/5-essential-tools-winning-digital-marketing-campaign-01479080#QbATgf21q6yXw0od.97

Chang, L. (2015, June 13). Americans spend an alarming amount of time checking social media on their phones. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/informate-report-social-media-smartphone-use/

Gerber, S. (2016, March 8). 15 essential skills all digital marketing hires must have. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://mashable.com/2016/03/08/15-skills-digital-marketers/#TwXmv.yYAuq3

Epstein, Z. (2014, May 29). Horrifying chart reveals how much time we spend staring at screens each day. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://bgr.com/2014/05/29/smartphone-computer-usage-study-chart/

Topic: Smartphones. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/topics/840/smartphones/

Stringfellow, A. (2016, March 8). Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan: Tips from 33 Marketers. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://www.docurated.com/all-things-productivity/strategic-b2b-marketing-plan

Tammeorg, B. (2016, March 11). Successful Mobile Marketing Campaigns: Tips for Small Businesses. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/03/successful-mobile-marketing-campaigns-tips-small-businesses.html

Vaynerchuk, G. (2013). Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to tell your story in a noisy, social world.

What is digital marketing? (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/marketing/digital-marketing.html