What Does Digital Marketing Entail Right Now?

There’s quite a bit of confusion about the term "digital marketing transformation."

A digital transformation has swept across the enterprise in general, not just the marketing department. This transformation has come in waves. The first wave focused on automating internal processes to make them more efficient; for example, forms went from being online to being paperless, which saves time and money. 

“A digital transformation has swept across the enterprise in waves.”

The second wave of digital transformation centered upon digitising relationships with customers. For instance, the purchasing process moved online as opposed to being based on having to fill out forms to buy products. Yet, there was still something missing. 

That’s where we are today – in the third wave of digital transformation. This wave is all about positioning the vendor as a solution provider that will solve customers’ problems, rather than just a vendor. 

“Today, we’re in the third wave of the digital transformation, which is about positioning yourself as a solution provider.”

What does that mean for marketers? The first step to positioning your firm as a solution provider is to understand what your customers really need. That involves gaining a deep comprehension of their pain points. With that information in hand, analyse it carefully so you can learn more about your customers to serve them better.

Your Action Plan

• Better understand customer needs by surveying your customers to comprehend what their pain points are.
• Analyse that information with built-in tools that allow you to gain valuable insights about your customers.

Where Is the Digital Marketing Transformation Headed?

Now that we’re moving into the third wave of digital (and digital marketing) transformation, what does the future hold? 

According to experts, the next phase will be better digital channel management. Digital channel management isn’t about who manages each marketing channel; rather, it’s about how those channels are working together. If your marketing channels aren’t integrated, you won’t get the full picture. 

“The next phase of digital marketing transformation is better digital channel management.”

The first step in digital channel management is developing a strong funnel. Your funnel should draw people in when they’re primed to buy, then entice them to continue with their journey toward purchase with content marketing, social media strategies, and SEO. 

Technology is indispensable to integrating digital channels. A digital marketing platform like Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows you to track a customer across multiple channels so that you can attract the right customer when that person is ready to buy, and you can later determine which channels were the most effective. 

“Digital marketing platforms allow you to track customers across multiple channels.”

Your Action Plan 

• Create and nurture leads using trackable multichannel campaigns.
• Personalise buyer experiences with configurable templates, reusable content blocks, design tools, and videos

How to Craft a Strategy to Stay on the Cutting Edge of Digital Marketing

Your future marketing strategy must be built on a deep knowledge of your customer and his or her experience. Strive to understand who your customer is, what he or she is looking for, and what steps he or she normally takes to reach that goal. 

A second, crucial ingredient of any digital marketing transformation strategy is establishing what success looks like. This involves creating metrics and benchmarks to determine how you’re doing and where you should be.

“Marketing strategies will be built on a deep knowledge of the customer and his or her experience.”

Digital marketing transformation cannot succeed in the face of data silos and fragmentation, though. Using a single digital platform will make your strategy easier to carry out as it cuts down on the number of moving pieces that you’ll need to control. It will also present a unified view of all of your activities and their results. 

A digital marketing platform like Microsoft Dynamics 365 also enables you to automate marketing activities, so that you can focus on creating a funnel that will draw customers in (and keep them captivated). Automation saves time and money; it cuts down on costly errors that either alienate customers or prevents your marketing message from missing the mark completely. 

“Digital marketing transformation can’t succeed when data silos exist.”

Your Action Plan

• Gain deep knowledge of your customer and his or her experience through historical data and predictive analytics.
• Create realistic metrics and benchmarks to determine when you’ve reached success.
• Choose a digital marketing platform that allows you to automate marketing activities and provide a single version of the truth.

Why Choose Enlighten?

Enlighten has over 20 years of experience in creating digital worlds for our customers. We specialise in website design, mobile app development, custom development, digital workplaces, data, and AI. 

Our talented team works closely with customers to understand what they need. We actively encourage collaboration and knowledge dissemination within our client's project teams and project environment. For a project to be truly successful, knowledge sharing and collaborative environments are powerful instruments. For more information about how we can help you with your digital marketing transformation, please contact us today and check out the additional resources below.

Additional Resources:

• Digital Marketing Transformation: A Revolution of Strategy and Execution: This article provides a definition of digital marketing transformation and how organisations can embrace it.
• What Is Digital Marketing Transformation? This article outlines a five-step process to achieving a digital marketing transformation. 
• Digital Marketing Transformation – The Customer Leads the Dance: This article describes the essential role of customer experience in a digital marketing transformation.