5 Ways to Evolve Digital Marketing in 2015

5 Ways to Evolve Digital Marketing in 2015

Last week I had the honor of kicking off the 54th Annual American Marketing Association — St. Louis Conference.

My opening keynote aimed to educate marketers on emerging trends in digital and social media as well as help brand marketers see the value of developing marketing strategies with the customer in mind.

Today, marketing is not defined by how many people you reach but by how many people you influence.

During my presentation, I referred to 2015 as “The year of the customer”.

Often time’s marketers are faced by pressure internally to support key stakeholders, and their objectives, whether it’s trying to launch a new product or promote a campaign.

While in translation, the customer and their path-to-purchase — which today begins digitally — are left out of the conversation.

Instead, traditional marketing tactics such as: print ads, direct mail campaigns, TV/radio, and outdoor media are put ahead of digital, mobile, and social.

Let me be the first to say that tradition no longer works.

Today’s customer has evolved and they have more accessibility than ever before.

What does this mean to marketers?

Your customer is evolving quicker than you are.

Digital, social, and mobile media is no longer an option — it’s the primary form of communication between you and your customers and those of your competitors.

However, 2015 is NOT about your customers changing — it’s about your brand changing its marketing strategies to meet the needs of your customers.

I don’t want to come off as self-centered but one of my pet peeves is when I tweet to a brand and never get a reply back as a simple courtesy.

Let me ask you this, if you were to walk into a restaurant on a busy Friday night would you expect to seat yourself and cook your own food?

No…

Customers are connected, influential, and they expect that you engage with them — it’s not an option anymore.

After all, what’s the point of being on Twitter if you aren’t going to engage back?

Social media is NOT about advertising; it’s about relationship building.

#RealTalk

Customers don’t want to be sold to, they want to be engaged.

An example is Coca-Cola and their #ShareACoke campaign from last year which drove an over 2% sales increase in a category which has seen decline over the last decade.

When you replace your brand’s iconic logo with the name of your customers and ask them to share it online — that’s engagement. That is putting your customers first.

The challenge for brand marketers today isn’t just how-to keep up with the evolution of the customer but being a storyteller within a media company.

Think of it like this: Brands are media companies, marketers are the producers.

So how do you tell a story that leads customers to buy?

Identify Your Audience

First, you have to be where your customers are. Second, digital marketing isn’t as easy as having a presence on social media. It’s being social too. Content creation is one side of the coin; the other is engagement through dialogue. There is no “one size fits all” in social media, each network works differently and audience demographics vary. Think of social media as a big ocean with several small ponds. Where are the fish swimming? Without a defined channel specific strategy I would urge you to take a step back and analyze which are the right mediums for your brand to engage on.

2. Be Human

People trust people over logos. Consumers are not led to buy from you just because you push nice looking photos on Facebook or Instagram. You need to engage, and by engage I mean actually having direct dialogue, which is what sets Twitter apart from Facebook in my mind. Another aspect of being social is embracing advocates such as your own employee’s. Let’s face it, most employee’s are at least on Facebook and LinkedIn today. With an iPhone, and a social media account, every one of your employees is an extension of your marketing team. Leverage them and develop a culture in which employee’s are encouraged to share brand content. It’s the most influential, and authentic form, of brand storytelling. Your employee’s are your greatest asset.

3. Define the ROI

You want to shift the perception of social media internally and quickly? Help your CMO or CEO get on Twitter if they aren’t already so they can see what your brand — and competitors — are sharing online.

Most executives get that digital is important and it’s not going away yet they aren’t all in and want to know:

How do you measure the ROI of digital marketing and social media?

After selling the value of digital and social at two grocery chains throughout the last 3 years, here’s how I define it:

Consumer engagement (i.e. impressions, clicks, etc.) which lead to conversions, such as: incremental website visits, e-coupon downloads, loyalty card opt-in’s, and e-commerce or POS transactions.

4. Create the Path-to-Purchase

Marketing is not about print circulars, or online ads, it’s about connecting customers with solutions that meet their needs.

An example is Home Depot which uses Instagram to connect with younger audiences, as Millennials are the main demographic on the network, perhaps those same Millennials who are limited financially yet are seeking ways to make home improvements.

In the example below, Home Depot posts pictures of various home improvement ideas while their profile description contains a URL to: http://thd.co/INSTAshop

Once you click on the link, you are taken to a landing page, which contains step-by-step instructions, and you can even buy the products through HomeDepot.com.

5. Use Social Media to Build Loyalty

Customers who are informed, and connected to your brand, are more likely to shop with you. Creating loyalty doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process, which requires listening to what your customers are saying about your brand, and reacting to their sentiment whether it’s good or bad. Oftentimes, customers want to know that you care. Social media is a great vehicle to develop long-lasting consumer loyalty through engaging content that adds value in your target customer’s life and when they have an issue they know that you are there to help. It’s not about you marketing to the customer, as it’s them marketing your brand.

Marketers need to be brand storytellers and content curators — sales is driven by informed, and engaged, loyal consumers

Thank you.

~ Carlos Gil

Follow me on Twitter @CarlosGil83