Marketing in a connected world
Digital information spans departmental boundaries. Firms need to look outside of traditional silos channels and platforms.
Marketing? Internet Marketing? Digital Marketing?
Digital information touches every aspect of our lives. Access to digital information used to be via computers over the Internet.
When we consider how to market a product or service, it’s becoming meaningless to talk about ‘Internet marketing’ or even separate ‘Marketing’ from Digital Marketing’.
This process can be illustrated by looking at what’s happening with platforms.
What’s happening with platforms?
They are converging. Convergence is a term used to describe a blurring of technology, platforms and channels. It is happening everywhere, and happening fast. Marketers know it, but some are unsure how to react.
Take a typical boardroom in a typical organisation.
“We need a mobile strategy?..”
brief silence, then
“Lets build an an iPhone App..”
Everybody agrees ‘that’s the way things are going and the next mobile app is launched. In reality launching an app needs planning just as any other piece of content you plan to produce and promote. Will it be incentivised how will you promote it and what ultimately does it contribute to your organisation leads? buzz? direct sales?
At this stage its not the platform or the channel that’s important
Some questions that should have been asked.
- What does the app do for our customers?
- Can we achieve the same thing working through a channel e.g. Facebook Places, Foursquare?
- Is a mobile site more accessible?
- Where do we find the data for the app?
- Have we got the technical resource to manage the process end to end?
The same conversations are being had about Social Media. Just replace “mobile strategy” with “social media strategy” and “iPhone” with “Facebook” or “Twitter”
The problem is that devices just aren’t single purpose any more. People play games on their phones, watch movies through their x-box, read the paper on an iPad or watch TV on YouTube. You shouldn’t focus on a platform any more than you can focus soley on a channel.
You can see this crossover effect in Internet Marketing channels now.
What’s happening to internet marketing channels?
Lets step back a little and look at what’s happening now in the ‘Internet Marketing’ world. When we talk about online marketing channels its often been convenient to think in terms of
- SEO and PPC as the way we acquire customers,
- Display advertising for reach and awareness
- Email marketing for retention.
- Social media – the ‘silver bullet’ that applies to everything
We have been getting better at tracking through analytics. This process has proved that the customer journey is rarely made in one channel.
OK so what’s the point?
Content Targeting - Designing engaging content that can be modified so that it can be distributed across different channels. Provide a reason for the customer to access similar content on other devices or networks. Coupons have been very effective at this.
Isn’t this just for big companies?
With more opportunities to access the customer you would think big companies would be overjoyed. Indeed, some big companies are doing very well.
However in our opinion, this new scenario lends itself to small businesses who are crystal clear about
- their offering
- their vertical
- who and where their customers are
- what engages their customers
- when is the best time to engage them
Some big, well run organisations have this dialled. Many don’t, they are slow to react, or they cover so much ground that they cannot target as sharply. Sometimes its simply not worth the extra effort for them, they leave the money on the table.
For example
A local retailer is going to be very interested in serving last minute sale information to people wandering the streets of his town. He will know that his strategy is one that favours local messaging through search or the batch of locally targeted channels such as Yelp, Groupon, Foursquare or Living Social.
Similarly, lifestyle products may succeed if they leverage games, or music streaming channels. Games and music are already consumed socially. The opportunities of viral marketing to these highly engaged ‘tribes’ is a very real one.
Why not talk to us about your content strategy todayThe game was all about how you drive people to your site. It’s still important. Increasingly, its about ‘taking your message (and the till) to the customer’.
Content needs to be specifically designed and distributed to benefit from the favourable trade winds of a connected world.
