Many companies are waking up to the idea that they must start using digital marketing. Many of them may already be using it – sort of – because they are aware of Facebook, Twitter, email newsletters and the like.
There are many reasons why companies have not progressed within digital marketing, but the most obvious, and controversial, reason is that the key players, the decision makers, even those that are responsible for its implementation, don’t understand it.
The trouble is, you need to start thinking outside the world of conventional marketing. Not necessarily the foundations, as they are always good, otherwise your marketing will just fall down, but many of the concepts of the top layers have flown out of the window, superseded by another way of thinking.
The old ideas aren’t working any more: how you communicate to your customers (look at us, we’ve been around for 50 years and have so much experience, aren’t we great!), advertising (banging on about the wonderful technology that went towards creating your product), hierarchy of importance (always put the company logo at the top?), self awareness (don’t assume everybody knows you or what your product is), and how should your customer find you (the size or even absence of contact details).
And then there is that mad scrap to start using digital marketing just because it’s there, but without any rhyme or reason behind the action. Great, you’re on Twitter, but what’s the point if you’re not tweeting. Great, you’re on Facebook, but what’s on your Facebook page, if you’ve got one. Great, you’ve got a QR code, but does it have to go to your homepage? And then there’s the basic element of digital marketing, the website…
Websites have changed dramatically. They have taken on a completely new dimension that has passed many companies by. Gone is the idea of an online brochure, somewhere on the web that shows what your company is and what it does. That was so last century. It’s time to move on from Web1.0.
Digital marketing requires action. It requires work from both sides, customer as well as company, in equal measures. It needs interaction, and a good reason for doing so. There must be incentives for this ‘give and take’ on the internet, or it will just fall down flat. Digital marketing opens such a huge amount of opportunities that was never available before, infinite rapidity of communication, research, concepts and interaction.
America has taken this storm with a vengeance, the UK is just starting to cotton on, Europe is only just opening its eyes. And as for the Far East – you’d be amazed! Digital marketing is a phenomenon that moves so fast, if you blink at the wrong time you’ve probably missed it, but that is no reason not to make an effort towards incorporating it into your business.
But this harps back to the beginning of this post – many are doing it wrong because they don’t understand it. In spite of the urgency, it’s worth investing in finding out a bit about it before launching headlong in. The internet is a wealth of information, all you’ve got to do is to know where to tap into it and you will learn. And going back to the old marketing foundations, plan your objectives, strategies and tactics and measure and monitor your results, and you’ll start to see a difference.
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