Which digital marketing trends Major companies are focusing on?

Which digital marketing trends Major companies are focusing on?

Digital marketing is quite new for many companies. Small companies sometimes focus their development on non-effective digital strategies or simply does not know how to start. Lack of information and expertise in this domain can drive to a fail to translate the business objectives into an effective marketing strategy.

Fortunately, the online marketing blog recently published a study on the current trends in digital marketing by analysing major brands companies’ strategies. This study also show the future opportunities these companies see, which could allow you to have a more informed opinion on the direction your company should take.

To make this study, several Marketing leaders working in Xerox, EMC or Ebay have been interviewed.

Many strategies and technical language is employed but the actors agreed on three key combined objectives you need to focus on to run a successful company.

·      Use of customer experience:

Optimise the use made of digital media by the customer to integrate him. Work on the relevance of your content and the path which is taken.

This process need a knowledge of your customers wants and needs which often needs the customer identity knowledge. Optimize the path the customer takes to get the content or to pay for a product or service is crucial. He will not come back if he does not like your media or if it is less convenient than your competitor. Moreover, content is the raw material of your digital media, if it works well there is no point if there is nothing inside. Improving the experience also goes with multi and cross channels media. Many companies are today focusing their efforts on optimising digital strategies for mobile devices, which are becoming more important than internet for computer.

·      Use of Data informed marketing :

Data is compulsory to build the customer profile and provide the perfect customer experience.

Big data is there mentioned. The companies are trying to reach more and more performance in data processing to have a personalized offer or optimize the customer journey.

There are many ways to capture data. One strategy from the article is the massive online presence and multi channels campaigns which are mainly used by big companies with important budgets. Tracking is now used by everyone but has to be handle carefully and the new European legislation (GDPR which will be implemented in 2018) could lead you to big fines if you do not respect data protection. However, this is a good and efficient way to collect data.

For all companies at different scales, data is very useful and you need it to get an improved audience segmentation. But the data is pointless if you cannot analyse it. One trend is to use marketing automation connected directly to your CRM to enhance the speed of data processing.

·      Use of Internal Social / Employee Social Advocacy

Today’s companies are not only focusing on making a customer pay. They understood that the customer need to visit, come back and recommend a media to capture maximum value from it. Some strategies involved are the implementation of scoring. Earned media and influencers are ways to reach many clients by satisfying and making them recommend you to their friends and within their community. Endorsement, sponsoring and backlinks are very important as well. Social media is also used to create brand advocates in order to either defend you or praise you tirelessly, which is actually a much more effective strategy compared to the classic advertising.

Digital marketing strategies are today unavoidable for companies. For many people, it is a tool you need to survive, for others it is the only way to remain competitive. Digital transition is not complete and some trends will come and leave, others are still not implemented.

However, to accomplish your goals you need people with skills and knowledge in the digital field. Major brands are all looking for talents to reach these strategies. You can simply copy existing strategies to your market or, even better, you can be an innovation driver and achieve a competitive advantage.

Source : Online Marketing Blog: Poll Results: Digital Marketing Priorities for Major Brands in 2016. Newstex Trade & Industry Blogs, Chatham: Newstex. Oct 6, 2015.