In this course, we have learned about the basic processes in the planning, managing, and evaluating of a digital marketing campaign. I covered a number of topics, such as marketing research, digital asset management, online advertising, search marketing, and social media and influencer marketing. While these tactics can be implemented separately to achieve different goals, they are most effective when working in concert. Most brands today understand the importance of having a digital presence. A brand's digital presence can be a website, a Facebook page, or just a Twitter account. In fact, even businesses without any digital assets have a presence in the digital world, as they will be mentioned and reviewed by customers on various social media platforms. As such, the challenge facing today's brand managers is to develop, maintain, and control their brand's identity and image in the digital world using all channels of communication in a coordinated and consistent effort. In the traditional media era, consumer's exposure to an experience with a brand were typically fragmented. They would see a TV commercial about a product, then a few weeks later they may encounter a different product from the same brand in a supermarket, and then they may drive by a billboard showing the brand and hopefully these pieces of exposure would lead to a purchase. In the digital world however, businesses can't afford to hope that such a disjointed experience and piecemeal approach would yield any real results. There's simply too much content, too many possibilities, and too many distractions online. Today's consumers expect a seamless user experience when using digital media, armed with smart and mobile devices and connected 24/7, digital consumers are spontaneous and expect immediate feedback. If your brand or product is not there when consumers need it, you have missed them, as such the key to a winning digital strategy is to anticipate your consumers' needs. Be there when the right moment is detected and then follow them along with their journey in the digital world to provide useful information and suggestions. Regardless of their final decision, you should stay in touch, maintain a positive relationship, and gently remind them about your presence. What does this strategy remind you of? A good friend, a personal shopper, a trusted tour guide? Well, the answer is all of the above. Digital marketing is not about great salesmanship, or attractive storefront decoration, or deep discounts, or mass advertising. Yes, these tactics are as effective online as they are offline, but what really matters in digital is creating a seamless and pleasant consumer experience by strategically utilizing different communication channels and strategies at different points on the journey. So, how do we achieve this goal? Let's recap and integrate what we have learned so far. First, you need to know who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, who your target consumers are, and what you hope to achieve. Next, you must build and maintain a positive and strong digital presence. This means creating an attractive and user-friendly website, using social media to boost your reputation, and making sure you are listed at the top in all relevant searches. Next, you need to collect intelligence, you can passively observe and analyze consumers' behaviors in the digital world. This means monitoring your website's traffic, analyzing search keywords, and keeping a good record of users' actions and any information that will allow you to reach them later. You can also actively enquirer and seek consumer input and information. For example, you can ask them to fill out a contact form and connect to their social media accounts. Once you build a digital presence and have gathered intelligence or data about your target, it is time to reach them. Targeted online advertising is a great strategy to make your presence known and raise awareness about your brand. You can also use online advertising to bring consumers to your online storefront. But keep in mind, that most consumers don't like to buy from a disorganized and messy store. So, you must make sure the landing point from your online ads is well-designed and easy to navigate. Another way to reach and engage your consumer is by word of mouth. In the digital world, this means social media and influencer marketing, the power of social media to connect billions of people, allow them to easily generate content, and then quickly share information via online social networks is unprecedented in human history. Digital marketers can also leverage digital content to convey their organization's brand message, product, expertise, and creativity. While the immediate return on investment might be hard to measure, content marketing and native advertising are ideal for consumer education and engagement. Sticky and buzzworthy content cannot only generate short-term surges in brand awareness and engagement, but can it also foster long-term brand loyalty and brand advocacy. As mobile and smart devices continue to dominate the new media landscape, consumers are becoming easier to reach but harder to convert. On the one hand, mobile communication tethers the consumers anywhere they go. This gives marketers more opportunities and more ways to reach their targets. On the other hand, the mobile communication experience is inherently individualistic, fragmented, and contextualized. What works for one user at time in one context, can completely backfire at a different time in a different context, making the marketing strategy more difficult to control. Furthermore, the large variation in size, capacity, and features of different mobile devices and mobile apps create additional technological and strategic challenges for marketers and brand managers. Given these unique characteristics, digital marketers should consider mobile media as a context instead of a channel of communication or a strategy. All the brand communication and digital marketing vehicles we have discussed in this course, such as search marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, display marketing, could and should take place in the mobile context. However, technical and strategic adjustments must be made before they can be implemented. More and more experts today are advocating a mobile-first approach in digital marketing. This means that marketers should develop their content and strategy for the mobile context before moving on to other online and offline environments. The success or failure of any digital campaign should be carefully and continuously evaluated. Brand managers and marketers must constantly evaluate all tactics and tools to measure your actual outcome against expected performance. They must then use these insights to further refine and improve upon any future initiatives. It is becoming more and more common for advertisers and marketers to change communication strategies and tactics mid-flight, based on real-time or near real-time performance analysis. In the world of digital marketing and brand communication, there's no end to a campaign. Organizational functions such as customer relations and public relations must be integrated into the digital strategy, they cannot be an afterthought. Brands should be constantly monitored through social media listening, consumer behavior tracking, and other performance indicators. It is also important to look at your efforts across paid, earned, and owned channels on digital as well as traditional media platforms. Finally, a digital strategy should be driven by and stay consistent with an overall strategy, which should in turn be driven by a set of clearly defined business objectives. Business goals are translated into marketing goals. Within the four Ps of marketing: product, place, promotion, and price. And then from these goals comes the marketing strategy. Out of the overall marketing strategy, you get your digital strategy, and then your digital strategy should fit within your traditional strategies and tactics and should not be driven just by digital channels. We are living in the golden age of digital revolution. New media and communication technologies are being developed every single day. The landscape of digital marketing is changing rapidly and constantly. It is critically important for today's digital marketers and brand managers to stay current by understanding the core features and characteristics of these new technologies. However, at the same time, they must not be distracted from their strategic focus by chasing after the newest and coolest of toys. Remember, technologies may come and go, tactics may change, tools can be developed, modified, or abandoned, but the question, what do you want to say to whom via what channels for what purpose? Should always be the core of any strategic communication initiatives.
