Today’s businesses need digital marketing strategy to improve
sales substantially and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. This
strategy is a road map to coordinate digital marketing efforts with other
marketing tools such as TV, radio, and newspapers to attain greater results
such as sales growth, global brand recognition, and wider market penetration
etc. The objectives of digital marketing strategies are to acquire, convert, and
retain customers as well as increase value for them. Search engine optimization
(SEO), websites and blogs, social media, videos, email lists, affiliate
marketing etc. are tools of digital marketing strategy. These tools provide
interactive channels to allow digital communication and ecommerce. Websites and
blogs on the internet have become channels of communication for many
businesses, especially in B2B (business-to-business) markets, where they are an
essential means of customer communication for many firms. Search marketing,
which includes search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising, is an important way to drive visitors to businesses’ websites. Today,
email marketing is a key tool of the internet marketing strategy. It can be
used in customer acquisition programs, but is especially important in customer
retention campaigns. Social media channels include the networks on which people
communicate and platforms which allow construction of communities that support
content and communications. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are three of the
largest networks.
In the above diagram, digital marketing strategy is
well explained by Esotech. It incorporates SWOT and competitor’s analysis and
with the help of corporate mission and vision digital marketing tools SEO, PPC,
and social media are used to acquire, convert, and retain customers.
Though internet was used earlier by universities and
military, the history of digital marketing started in 1983 when mass email was
produced by Compuserve. Early HTML language version and web browsers became
available around 1993 which allowed common people to access web. In 1995
Amazon, one of the largest online businesses today, was established and other
companies realized the potential of online commerce. Launch of Google in 2003
helped the search engine marketing that enabled consumers to search for desired
products and online businesses. The convenience of consumers in online
marketing reached to new levels when in 2007 smart phones and applications made
online purchasing possible from hand held phones. Innovation of digital social
media networks like Facebook in 2010 became a new milestone in online
networking and marketing. Today, new technologies have placed digital marketing
channels among the top marketing strategies.
Strategy planning is important for digital marketing
activities because one aspect of strategy affects other. Alignment in online
and offline channels is critical to achieve objectives of overall marketing
campaign, maximize return on investment (ROI), and higher profits. A digital
marketing strategy helps development of products with strong consumer demand
that results increased profits. It makes possible for sellers to establish
competitive prices for online sales of products since internet allows consumers
to access and compare so many products at competitive prices. It also
facilitates sales and consumers’ convenience improves when they connect to sellers
through easier ways like hand held phones and devices. The cost of
transportation also reduces when digital marketing strategies establish
effective distribution channels. Improvement in brand image and recognition is
direct result of improved customer relationship management and communication
which become possible due to effective strategy mix of digital marketing tools.
Amazon is an excellent example of digital marketing
strategy success. For the last several years, it has successfully implemented
tools of digital marketing to improve customer experience by providing easy-to-use functionality, fast
and reliable fulfillment, timely customer service, feature rich content, and a
trusted transaction environment. Personalization of website pages,
customer reviews, notifications and recommendations, search function, wish
lists, free shipping, secure payment system, delivery date estimate, inventory
availability information etc. are the features which improved customer loyalty
and repeat purchase. Any new and existing business may learn from Amazon’s
digital marketing strategy as a guide while optimizing unique features of their
business to create competitive advantage.
Following
are some digital marketing strategies that any business may adopt.
- Create accounts on social media and frequently launch interesting material. Also, blogs must be updated consistently.
- Perform social listening using website. It is important to know what questions people are asking and where are content gaps.
- Publish well written SEO articles on website to come up on the initial pages of an internet search. SEO articles should have as many keywords as possible and should be of high quality. Purchase email lists and send frequent email blasts to update customers.
- Create interesting videos about products and business. Launch these videos on different platforms to draw consumers’ interest.
- Align and launch digital marketing campaigns at the same time of TV and print media campaigns.
References:
- Roberts, M.L., Zahay, D. (2013), Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
- Stokes, Rob., The Minds of Quirk, eMarketing: The essential guide to marketing in a digital world (5th ed.). Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd.
- 10 reasons you need a digital marketing strategy. Written by Dave Chaffey. Retrieved September 29, 2015 from http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/digital-strategy-development/10-reasons-for-digital-marketing-strategy/
- When This Company Followed The Same Simple Marketing Strategy As Amazon And Apple, It Beat The Odds. Written by Mark Fidelman. Retrieved September 30, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2015/06/10/when-this-company-followed-the-same-simple-marketing-strategy-as-amazon-and-apple-it-beat-the-odds/
- Digital Marketing Strategy Development. Retrieved September 29, 2015 from https://esotech.com/visualize/strategy/digital-marketing-strategy-development/
Shazia Karrar
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