3 Myths About Digital Marketing Strategies

Before digital marketing, an unhappy customer might have told six friends about their experience. After digital marketing? That unhappy customer could tell over 6,000 people. Insights like these are why it’s so important to debunk myths related to digital marketing, and instead focus on effective and measurable strategies that create the most value for your customers.

Transcript

Oftentimes, people have some misconception about digital marketing.

For example, on one extreme, people think digital marketing is totally different from the traditional offline strategy. On the other hand, the other extreme views think that no, no, no, no, the digital marketing is just a simple extension of a conventional marketing strategy – so just happening on the internet. So both views are not quite right. We will revisit those misconceptions and try to address them.

The most common misconception is that digital marketing’s only aim is to sell. It is not about selling a product or service, but more about creating the value by meeting what customer needs and wants. Once a firm creates a value for their target customer then they are entitled to capture some portion of the value they created, which is the capturing the value.

Think about how to create the value. There are several ways, even without selling a product. Built on the digitalization and big data, companies now can create a value by customizing the shopper’s experience. In other words, firms can analyze customers’ behavior and tailor its next interaction accordingly. By doing that, even without directly urging them to buy the product all the time, the value added to content or digital activity will translate into brand loyalty and, ultimately, sales.

Digital marketing is new marketing, totally different from offline marketing. No, it is still part of a firm’s overall strategy. The basic principles are the same.

You should convey the message to the right audience, and this message about how you create value for your customer should be the same, whether it’s online or offline. Both online/offline can be used for both brand building and the direct response, such as customer attraction or increasing sales. So, the bottom line is that digital marketing is still marketing. The big difference, however, is in the details.

Digital marketing is a mere extension of conventional marketing, just on the internet. No, it is not just a simple extension of conventional marketing. It is still new phenomenon. It has its own tools, approaches, which are not available to the conventional setting. We have to recognize the power from the unique set of digital levers. Those digital levers allow more integrated and context-relevant interaction with the customer.

They also provide greater measurability of marketing activities, which is not possible in offline marketing. So now, in digital marketing, we have an exact ROI of our particular marketing activities.

This use of social media and viral marketing has a different scale of effects. Think about it: If you make a customer unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make a customer unhappy on the internet, they can each tell 6,000. So, the scale we are talking about is completely different. The effects of this viral marketing are huge.

Online and offline marketing, they are both part of a firm’s marketing strategy, but not just a simple extension of conventional marketing; there are so many new things that’s possible and only in digital marketing.