Global digitalisation is affecting the vast majority of businesses, industries and ways of working.
It is and has become easier to work with people in other places, locations and countries by setting up a videoconference, for example. You can collaborate on a shared screen even if you are on two different continents.
It has become easier to share information quickly and widely through social media or via a blog post.
More information about more people can be collected more easily and, most importantly, it has become easier to process the information collected through greater computing power and even AI to gain new insights.
The next part of digitalisation is that things will be able to communicate with where you might get a text message from your fridge when the milk is out.
To give some perspective on this shift, it has been less than 30 years since the first provider in Sweden was able to offer internet access to individuals.
Digital marketing vs physical marketing
Digital marketing is just as it sounds digital and is done via computers, phones tablets etc.
This is in contrast to physical marketing, which can be categorised into, for example, trade fairs, newspaper advertisements, posters on buses, etc.There is and has been a shift from physical marketing to digital marketing. There are many reasons why this is happening. The main reason is that more people are spending more time in front of screens than they did in the past. According to a 2016 eMarketer survey, the average mobile user spends 4 hours and 5 minutes on their phone per day!
As a marketer, you want to be seen and be where your target audience is, so the obvious conclusion is that you should be seen digitally.
Measurement and results of digital marketing
In addition to the fact that people are spending more and more time in front of screens and in digital media, there is also a practical feature that makes digital marketing more appealing to marketers than traditional marketing. It's that digital marketing is easier to measure!
Take the following example where you as a marketer are going to promote a pen. You have the option to advertise in a newspaper ad or using Google Ads and Facebook. In the case that you buy an ad in a newspaper, you have no real control over how many people will be exposed to your ad. While there may be statistics that XX number of people per day read that newspaper, you don't know how many people actually see your ad in the top right corner of page 3. Is it 10% of the people who read or is it 70% of the people who read the paper?
Then how do you measure the success of that ad? You can probably see how many people bought the pen on the day the ad was in the paper and compare it to any other day. But there are lots of error factors in that statistic.
If you were to advertise through Google Ads or Facebook instead, you will pay for exactly as many clicks or exposures as you actually want to pay for, no more and no less.
You can also accurately measure how many exposures you have on your ads, how many people have clicked on your ad, and beyond that, how many people have actually made a purchase of the pen from there.
It suddenly becomes much easier to measure the Return On Investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts.
Digital marketing enables agile marketing
Modern digital marketing creates opportunities for you to be agile and fast-paced in your marketing.
When 3D printers arrived, they allowed manufacturers and inventors to produce new prototypes on the day to test and evaluate how the prototypes worked in practice. This process could be continuously repeated to find small improvements, and the cost of each prototype was also much lower than the alternative of using a manufacturer who would have to set up an entire production line to produce one copy of something.
Similarly, digital marketing has allowed you to quickly change, delete or add an ad. You also have the ability to base your decision on data. Is the ad or campaign delivering against the goal you set?
If it doesn't deliver on its objectives, you have the opportunity to evaluate and improve. This can also be done on a small scale. You can set up a campaign for one day with a limited budget and then quickly evaluate it. If the campaign is working well, you can just expand the campaign and get a bigger return. It's AGILE!
Marketing going forward will be more results-driven and more agile
Marketing in the digital era will become more and more agile, and those who don't spend time optimising and evaluating their campaigns risk falling behind competitors and losing profitability.
Need help with digital marketing but don't know how to choose a marketing partner?
Download our guide on how to think about choosing a digital partner. Remember, one company does not fit all. Not even Contitude.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE TO CHOOSING A DIGITAL PARTNER.
If you want help to become more results-driven and more agile in your digital marketing, contact us at Contitude through the link below.
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