Mental Models for Digital Marketing

Kapil Bhatia
3 min readJan 23, 2023

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Digital marketing is a rapidly evolving field, and staying on top of the latest trends and strategies can be a challenge. To succeed in digital marketing, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of the underlying principles and mental models that drive success. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the top mental models for digital marketing and how you can apply them to improve your campaigns.

  1. The Customer Journey

The customer journey is the process that customers go through when interacting with a brand. Understanding this journey is crucial for creating effective digital marketing campaigns. The customer journey typically includes stages such as awareness, consideration, and conversion, and each stage requires a different approach. By understanding the customer journey, you can create targeted campaigns that speak to customers at each stage of the process.

2. The AIDA Model

The AIDA model stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action, and it is a useful framework for creating compelling marketing messages. The model suggests that to be effective, a marketing message must first grab the customer’s attention, then generate interest, create desire, and finally, prompt the customer to take action. To apply the AIDA model, consider the headlines, images, and calls-to-action you use in your marketing campaigns and ensure that they align with the model.

3. The Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In digital marketing, this principle can be applied by focusing on the 20% of your campaigns that are driving the most results, and scaling them up, while cutting back on the campaigns that aren’t performing well. This can help you maximize your marketing efforts and get the most out of your budget.

4. The Law of Diminishing Returns

The Law of Diminishing Returns states that as an input increases, the resulting output will eventually decrease. This principle applies to digital marketing in that there is a point at which increasing your marketing efforts will no longer yield the same results. To apply this mental model, consider the point at which your marketing efforts are no longer yielding significant returns and consider cutting back or reallocating your budget.

5. The Long Tail

The Long Tail is a concept that describes the phenomenon of niche products and services becoming increasingly popular. In digital marketing, this mental model can be applied by targeting niche audiences and creating tailored campaigns for them. By focusing on niche markets, you can differentiate your brand and reach customers that your competitors may not be targeting.

In conclusion, mental models are a powerful tool for digital marketing success. By understanding and applying the customer journey, AIDA model, Pareto principle, Law of Diminishing Returns and The Long Tail, you can improve your campaigns, reach more customers, and drive better results. Remember that these are general models and should be adapted to your specific business and goals.

The author works in the Marketing and Technology consulting space. He also mentors students and working professionals at RMIT university in Digital Marketing and Analytics.

Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter

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Kapil Bhatia

Growth Frameworks & Strategy, Digital Marketing, Technology Consulting| UX | Lead Digital Mentor @RMIT | Alum @HSBC @Macquarie | Ex-Agency founder