This last week of global economic turmoil will once again put pressure on digital marketers aiming to get a return on their interactive campaigns.
If there was pressure before on marketing budgets to capture new customers online, and maintain an ongoing relationship, it will only increase in the wake of the Wall St meltdown.
Accountability, proof of a return on investment and ensuring you have the right web-based tools to track the success of your interactive marketing campaign will increasingly become a vital part of the online marketing armoury.
Some companies will hasten the transition to full-blown digital marketing, while the others will be left behind. I expect marketing budgets will tighten in the short term, then the digital space will lift off again as companies realize they need to be in the interactive game in order to survive.
In the recent weeks we have seen a flurry of stories about how the global economic uncertainty will change the way marketers operate. Some have argued it will simply accelerate the push for more funds to be diverted online.
Analyst firm Frost and Sullivan recently predicted online marketing revenue to grow by 24 percent in Australia to $481.4 million in 2008.
However, despite the rosy growth forecast, there will be increasing pressure on marketers to create systems and structures to support digital campaigns that allow them to respond to customer trends immediately.
The reality today is that markets move fast, consumer preferences and business fads change quickly, and companies need to find out immediately if their web-based creative campaigns are getting traction online.
A digital marketing campaign has to go beyond the initial click that a potential customer makes to enter your website. It has to engage the prospect in a relevant and personalized fashion, in order to establish a relationship.
This requires a powerful mix of creative and technical elements – the creative to hook the customer in an emotional manner, and the technical capability to ensure that the creative is different (using flash-based creative).
The technical smarts of your online marketing campaign must also include the ability to capture and monitor each individual’s interaction with your web campaign in order for you to work out what part of your online offer is compelling.
A lot of people believe that a potential customer’s click of the mouse completes the role of a digital agency’s role in driving traffic to a site – but it’s only the beginning.
The new model of engaging customers is where the creative components and message develops the lead, and the back-end lead generation tools capture the interactions thatallow you to start building the relationship. Lead generation can be applied to a corporate or product website, into integrated Internet video and direct mail, through blogs, RSS feeds, or any part of the website.
Creating multiple formats and communication touch points is the key to digital success. Real time tracking and tracing of every interaction between you and your customers in the digital space is what will give you the ability to convert communication into real sales leads.
Because of the proliferation of digital campaigns, companies need to do more to break through with a clear message and use video, audio, and flash-based creative elements to enhance the impact of their digital offering. They are in stiff competition with rivals who are pouring more money into their interactive presence and gaining higher-value customers through more sophisticated and engaging web functions and tools.
Many companies in the business market sell complex and often detailed solutions and services, whether they are in the health, financial services, and FMCG sector. Those players that have really thought about how to engage customers in an emotional and intuitive manner will win in the long-term.
What will ultimately make or break a campaign, especially in challenging economic times, will be the ability of companies to track and respond to customer interactions with your digital offering. Your digital offering had better not be a static website. If companies can isolate what has struck a chord with customers, such as an online video, they can continue to enhance and improve that particular element of the digital offering.
The final part of your success equation, however, lies in the back-end engine that provides you with the data and real-time lead generation reports that allow you to qualify new leads and follow-up with other digital communication with that prospect. Having a fancy creative website is only the start – being able to capture that data and act on it is the key. With millions, billions of eyeballs online everyday looking for something to captivate them, the opportunity is there for digital marketers to build new businesses. Monetizing those customers is the crucial element, and with Wall St on the brink and wallets being tightened everywhere, maximising your digital campaigns suddenly becomes more important.
