The old standards in SEO, social media campaigns, email marketing, content marketing etc. were kept at such levels that only focused on how many clicks does your website get. Site visits are definite propellants to get leads, however, lead conversions and retention were never the target of these traditional methods of digital marketing. So, rather than these hackneyed ways of marketing, businesses are now focusing on increasing ROI through a more customer centric approach towards marketing that is actually helping them gain benefits.
This form of marketing isn’t just limited to the superfluous, over the top campaigns that are increasingly becoming repetitive and repellant, but aim at understanding the psyche of the customers and how businesses can evolve within that sphere.
Digital marketing needs as much of strategizing and planning as other modes of marketing do. The strategy development for digital marketing is an extensive task that will require deeper market research and developing such tools that are driving the company sales in the current climate. Most of the biggest names in the market are now keeping CMOs at the helm of everything that is happening in the digital marketing front of these companies; with an extended team only looking after online marketing.
A lot of companies follow a particular framework to strategize their online marketing strategy. Forbes has presented a digital 4.0 marketing model that is based upon what needs to be done on the digital marketing front currently. All these frameworks include some common tools that every business person must know before forming a plan for the online marketing.
1.Multichannel marketing- A single channel can never suffice in case of marketing. While, Facebook and Google are winners when it comes to running successful campaigns, companies miss out on a lot of potential customers by restricting their channels. Through diversifying channels for marketing, companies are able to reach buyers that their competitors are leaving out on.
2.Accessibility- With user experience in focus, companies are trying to find ways in which they can make their websites easily accessible to the customers. Researches show that consumers have shown inclination of responding better to the sites that are easily accessible to them. To put it simply, any tool that helps in the accessibility will propel your sales.
3.Customer interaction- The websites now cannot be just informational, they need to be interactive. While, the creative aspect of the website plays a huge role in how a company is perceived, its interactive features are helping the companies retain their customers.
4.Knowing your audience- With more than 90% of the population having access to the internet, a single strategy that targets whole of your audience can prove to be highly insufficient and a waste of resources. Companies are now employing data analytics and AI in order to understand the behavioral patterns of their audience. Customizing their websites to suit the differing personal choices of consumers have been immensely fruitful.
5.Recognizing the disruptions in marketing strategies- experimenting and innovating are the keys to business transformations. To say that a single online marketing strategy will be able to surge your sales overnight will be a disillusion that a lot of marketing agencies will try to make you fall prey to. The approach to online marketing must also be problem solving. There will be many disruptions in the marketing techniques such as accessibility, customer engagement etc. A successful marketing strategy will require a constant check on such factors.
6. Effective content- Content marketing has emerged as a major game changer in the digital marketing scenario. Consumers are showing an increased tendency towards going for content that is not promotional or generic, but can give them genuine facts and figures on how they can benefit from these companies. This doesn’t just include blog posts, but also encompasses videos from buyers, case studies etc.