Marketing as a tool has gone through phenomenal changes in view of the technological advances that has made consumers connect to the digital world at all times, the advent and success of Facebook & subsequently other digital tools (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) created a marketing spectrum that is amplified on a daily basis.
The key to create and sustain a constant image in the minds of the consumers; companies are more focused on the digital world’s marketing & promotional strategies to establish the key product benefits and most importantly create an emotive connect with the consumers.
Since all the activities that a consumer’s do is connected interactively to the digitized world, from shopping, to booking a holiday or a taxi, listening to music, news or sports etc, it is imperative that the brand’s presence pose an impact to sustain a competitive advantage and most importantly sustain a business with profitability.
The fact that people have shifted towards digital and online world can be gauged from the numbers i.e. less than 1% of retail revenue in 1998 to $1.5 trillion in 2014 in B2C e-commerce trade worldwide (Jin Oh, 2015).
The time spent by consumers on mobile and other digitally connected tools have been increasing as seen in the table, reason being consumers are attached with their device’s all day long and have a constant peek out of habit thus making the content very significant (Appendix 1).
The digital marketing stats from last year illustrates that almost every brand has a presence in the digital world, but not every brand is able to covert the data collected into successful insights.
A report shared by Robert Allen (2015), on smart insights, illustrates the pointers that, one third businesses are planning a digital plan and most importantly content marketing generated 3 times the lead as opposed to traditional marketing techniques.
How brands and companies are marketing in the digital world can be understood from the facts & stats shared by CMO Council (2015), 95% of brands tweet and 48% brands reply to 1 tweet a day.
Another stats shared showed that 39% of marketers wants to allocate more budgets to digital marketing and focus on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and also Instagram as the preferred choice of digital channels.
For both the consumers and brands the key essence is experience, the successful brands such as Starbucks, Oreo etc create an engaging and aligned brand experience, that is compatible on all tools at all times i.e. computers, laptop, iPads, mobile, tablets whether be at home, while travelling, shopping, travelling to name a few.
It is imperative to share some illustration of successful and effective digital and content marketing of some brands of repute, with 93% brands focusing on demand and brand building on content marketing and approximately 87% buyers influenced by brands content (Mangiaforte & Papandrea, 2015).
Denny’s use food humor as the content aspect to connect with the consumers (Appendix 2), General electric uses photography and creativity to create an impact on the users (Appendix 3), Cheerios connects with both the primary and secondary consumers i.e. parents and kids to create a lasting impact for the brand (Appendix 4).
Coke is the leader when it comes to creative and viral campaigns with it share a coke campaign a massive success worldwide (Appendix 5), it is important to create a digital marketing campaign that connects with a global audience, though it depends on the brand, still the YouTube effect makes the brand an instant hit with a global audience.
Digital Marketing is the way forward for all brands to establish effective live contact with consumers at all times and create new segments through interactivity and engagement digitally.
References
CMO Council. (2015). Facts and Stats. Internet Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=internet-marketing
Lauren Mangiaforte & Dawn Papandrea. (2015).The Top 32 Most Influential Content Marketing Brands. NewsCred. Retrieved from blog.newscred.com/the-top-25-most-influential-content-marketing-brands-of-2014/?page=thankyou
Robert, Allen (2015, Nov 24). Digital Marketing Stats from 2015: The Good, the Bad and the Intriguing. Smart Insights. Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/internet-marketing-statistics/2015-digital-marketing-stats-the-good-the-bad-and-the-intriguing/
Soo Jin Oh (2015, June 18). Buyer Behavior Trends Driving The Digital Shift Toward Mobile. Marketing Land. Retrieved from http://marketingland.com/buyer-behavior-trends-driving-digital-shift-mobile-132039
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Appendix
Marketing Land (Soo Jin Oh, 2015)
Denny’s (NewsCred, 2015)
General Electric (NewsCred, 2015)
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Cheerios (Newscred, 2015)
Coke (Newscred, 2015)
