Why marketing needs to embrace the digital revolution

The digital revolution has had an enormous impact on every facet of the business sector—in particular, marketing. The internet has radically altered the way consumers shop for and purchase their goods. Where once direct marketing strategies such as billboards, flyers and television advertisements were king, cultivating a broad online presence is now key.

A straightforward marketing campaign is no longer enough. As Mark Randall, Director of Marketing and Sales at Bulletproof, notes, ‘advertising is no longer a one way street’. Consumers are increasingly interacting with external websites before they approach a business, whether it is online or in a storefront. Therefore, the digital world must be incorporated into day-to-day marketing operations for your business to continue appealing to its target customers. This now includes having a presence on blogs and social media sites, and ensuring your products and services achieve positive reviews. Comparison is a crucial part of digital consumption, and businesses must become involved in it.

The difficulties associated with changing your marketing focus can be hard to justify on this argument alone. After all, traditional marketing still has a significant impact. However, there are a number of other benefits associated with transporting your marketing department into the digital realm.

Streamlined processes

Incorporating digital technology into a marketing department will have a substantial effect on the development and delivery process. Simple tasks like the distribution of promotional emails can be automated and monitored for effectiveness. The time lost between the creation of a campaign and its implementation can be significantly reduced through the use of technologies such as the Cloud and design programs with inbuilt, easy-to-use campaign templates.

This provides digital-focused businesses with significant benefits, as marketing campaigns become faster and more targeted, while also saving precious man-hours that could be put to more efficient use.

Flexibility

A streamlined, automated marketing system that can be held in the palm of your hand offers new levels of flexibility for businesses. Randall notes his company’s use of Cloud systems to allow Network Ten to scale their strategies around key events. As a result, the network has been able to maximise bursts of consumer interest as it develops, and respond to slumps accordingly.

Digital-focused campaigns allow businesses to change or enhance their marketing strategies in a rapid, simplified manner, which allows them to more appropriately respond to changes in unpredictable markets. Businesses who embrace this technology experience much more freedom than previously available through traditional methods.

Data collection

An increasingly important part of marketing is the use of digital data to understand the way consumers purchase goods and services. This can be used to implement a more responsive campaign, or even salvage an ineffective one. Digital processes offer an enormous amount of data for businesses that are willing and able to interpret it. Big data and programming interfaces that communicate with each other (otherwise known as Application Programming Interfaces) are providing businesses with an unimaginable insight into consumer behaviour, which has the potential to revolutionise campaigns.  

Learn more about RMIT’s online Master of Marketing program, which focuses on developing the strategic skills to plan, direct, implement and monitor an organisation’s digital marketing efforts. Speak to one of our Student Enrolment Advisors today on 1300 701 171.