Digital marketing is the promotion
of products or brands via electronic media.
By using digital marketing channels and methods,
you can analyze your marketing campaigns
to understand what is working and what isn't
- typically in real time.
While the Internet is the channel most closely associated
with digital marketing, other channels are important.
Digital media is everywhere.
Consumers can access information wherever,
whenever and however they want it.
And they are no longer influenced
by just what you say about your brand.
In fact, consumers are more likely to be influenced
by what others say about your brand
The reality is that people prefer
brands that they can trust, companies that know them,
communications that are personalized and relevant,
and offers that are tailored to their anticipated needs
and preferences.
Digital marketing can help you deliver all that,
but there are three main challenges to overcome.
The proliferation of digital channels.
Consumers use multiple channels and a variety
of digital devices with different protocols,
specifications and interfaces.
This makes it hard to manage digital marketing efforts.
Competition is intensifying.
That's because digital channels are relatively cost-effective
compared with traditional media, such as print, making them
within reach of practically every business.
Exploding data volumes.
When consumers use digital channels,
they leave behind a huge trail of data.
Unfortunately, digital data is often not
integrated with data from operations and
business activities.
As a result, many businesses struggle
to find the right data for making the best
strategic and tactical decisions.
Given these challenges, what does it
take to get digital marketing right?
It comes down to three actions: Managing complex customer
relationships across channels - both digital and traditional;
responding to and initiating dynamic customer interactions;
and extracting value from big data
to make better decisions faster.
Knowing your customers is not enough;
you must know them better than anybody else
so you can communicate with them where,
when and how they are most receptive to your message.
To do that successfully, you need a consolidated view
of customer preferences and expectations
across all channels,not just digital.
With this information, you can create
consistent, coordinated customer experiences
that will move customers along in their buying cycle.
The speed and immediacy of digital combined
with the power of advanced analytics
make it possible to measure, monitor and test
campaign performance on- the-fly,
to learn what works and doesn't work.
This helps you improve the customer experience
and marketing ROI.
Too often, marketers can't access or make
use of all the data necessary to get the best insights.
They are often limited to data subsets or samples, which
compromises analytic accuracy.
To make the best decisions, you need access
to all customer data and marketing data
to deliver more real-time, complete customer experiences
in an agile, cost-efficient way.