The implications of a digital world for marketing; the good, the bad, and the future
The way we go about daily life has changed with incredible speed in recent years as a result of the development of digital technology. The Internet in particular has changed countless industries, but few as drastically as marketing. The ease of shopping online has stolen our hearts and our wallets, with mobile ecommerce increasing a colossal 213% from $1.5 trillion to $3.2 trillion between 2013 and 2017. With our attention firmly turned away from traditional advertising platforms such as TV and print and grasped by our devices, the marketing industry has had to adapt to using online platforms to engage customers and generate sales. So where exactly is the world of marketing at in 2017, what does the future hold, and is all this change good or bad?
The Good
The power shift
For the first time the power lies not only in the hands of the big businesses with the big bucks. Where before only companies with a huge budget could reach a large audience, social media has provided a far more level playing field in which everyone has access to a huge market online. Joe Wicks, known as “The Body Coach” is a perfect example of who has made it huge, at very little cost, through online presence. Secondly, consumers are now more in control than ever. 81% of people now visit impartial review sites, blogs and YouTube channels to discern whether a product will meet their need long before they part with their hard earned cash. This ability to be ultimately informed before making a purchase means companies need to put that extra work in to ensure their product not only gets our attention, but really does perform…because if it doesn’t, we’ll know about it!
Analytics Tactics
Marketing analytics provide advertisers with data which gives them invaluable insights into consumer journeys, allows them to check whether content is generating real traffic and driving purchases, to tweak campaigns in real time, and ultimately gives them all the info they need to increase ROI. In theory, all this means that advertisers almost never have to shoot in the dark.
A whole new world
Though the benefits of all this data are plentiful, the core of marketing creative and intuitive. The Internet provides a whole new world of ways for advertisers to captivate an audience, and AirBnB provide the perfect example. Their “Floating House” campaign, in which they sent a house floating down the Thames reached an impressive 19 million on social media and ushered 73500 people to their site.
The Bad
The death of privacy
One of the biggest problems associated with digital marketing is the questionable ethics of information sharing. In 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg controversially commented that people have become so comfortable sharing information with both friends and strangers online that privacy can no longer be considered a social norm. Facebook in particular has been repeatedly accused of chipping away at users’ privacy, using systems like Beacon which allow users’ online activity to be tracked without permission, in order to target advertising based on demographic information, lifestyle and interests.
The woe of the marketer
By the time I click publish on this article, some of the information here will even be obsolete — such is the pace of the digital marketing industry. As a result of this, marketers report low confidence in their investments being worthwhile, and in their ability to keep up with the constantly moving target and the need to be at the forefront of trends and innovative technology. Despite increasing pressure to show return on their marketing spend only 9% expressed confidence in their marketing strategies actually working.
Ignoring the noise
According to a 2013 study by Infolinks, 86% of consumers suffer from “ad blindness” — a subconscious or conscious ability to overlook anything that looks like an advert. This is a problem for advertisers since it means money spent on ads ignored by users is wasted. Where traditional advertising platforms such as television commercials capitalize on the fact they have our undivided attention for that moment, an overwhelming amount of ad clutter vies for our attention on every web page, so our receptiveness continues to decrease.
The Future
Safety and privacy for consumers
The need for cyber security is much wider than the marketing industry. Unfortunately, it seems that it might be the case that even thoughts and ideas we never put into our mobile devices can’t be considered private. Voice controlled assistants like IOS’s Siri and Internet of things devices such as smart fridges, thermostats and lights are constantly listening out for a command, meaning we can’t be sure what is preventing these companies from listening to our every conversation. At present, data protection legislation is still being debated; complicated even further for the UK by Brexit, but going forward clear and enforceable laws are absolutely necessary.
An efficient advertising ecosystem
In order for there to be any transparency for digital marketers, and investments to be worthwhile, the supply chain must be streamlined. What are currently opaque fees which consume a disproportionate amount of each advertising pound should become reasonable charges which return maximum value to marketers through KPI’s, to creators through monetization of content, and to consumers through user experience.
User friendly advertising
Fortunately for advertisers there are plenty of ways to combat online ad fatigue. A recent trend is towards user-friendly advertising designed to engage consumers by being less blatant and intrusive, and instead aiming to inspire, connect, and start a conversation. One example of this is the growing use of “Influencers” — spokespeople such as beauty bloggers who have a ready-made, self-made community of trusting followers based authentic relationships with their audience. An example of this is L’Oreal’s “Beauty Squad”, made up of five beauty bloggers. By paying these influencers to speak about their brand and product, L’Oreal reach millions of relevant potential customers, via a spokesperson whose character they know, and opinion they trust and value.
Personal Thoughts
As a twenty-something born smack bang into the middle of a generation termed “Millenials” I naively embarked upon the Digital Society course thinking that by this birthright I would sail through, resting on my digital-native laurels. In reality, I have been astounded by how much was new to me and how it has contributed to my development; particularly in terms of adding diversity to my academic skill set and in deciding upon a career path.
The topics I have chosen for my assignments demonstrate that I am particularly interested in popular culture, music, and marketing, and this course has taught me that it isn’t unreasonable to imagine a career in which the three are combined since they are all so heavily reliant on digital technology. Through the research that I did for my Pecha Kucha presentation on the music industry, I have been inspired to pursue a career in music marketing. As a psychology undergraduate, it is important for me to begin tailoring my CV towards this career and this course has provided me with invaluable skills that I would not have had if I had taken Psychology modules alone, not only from the content but from practical experiences such as the opportunity to attend coding with DigiLab. Even the platforms through which the sessions have been delivered — using Medium and Padlet — have developed my awareness of the breadth of tools available for learning and collaborating online. I have been using this updated CV to start contacting digital media agencies with the hope of gaining some work experience in the sector.
I have particularly enjoyed the assignments, and having the opportunity to decide exactly the theme I wanted to focus on for each one meant that the process of researching and writing was so much more interesting and inspiring than the work I am used to. Further to this I have really enjoyed having a context in which to practice writing in an engaging, non-academic style suitable for an online audience. This has inspired me to make more of an effort to establish a purposeful online presence. Like most other people, I exist on Facebook and Instagram but admittedly I am somewhat of a “lurker” — a delightful term to describe a member of an internet community who scrolls and observes like there’s no tomorrow, but doesn’t actively participate much. I have never felt much desire to “blog” in the personal diary-like sense, but I feel as though this course has given me adequate training that I could begin a process of sharing about topics which take my interest online. The benefits of this would not only be in my personal enjoyment, but in my employability in music marketing — since a huge factor in selecting a strong candidate is likely to be evidence of insight into the sector, and an ability to both understand the digital sector and create content engage an online audience.
