Digital Marketing and Opportunities to Organisations - Essay Example

Digital marketing presents opportunities and challenges to organisations Introduction Marketing in the new age technological world informs as well asempowers the customer and drives sales. With information technology as a tool to market organization’s products, customer interaction is enabled, which creates many opportunities as well as challenges for the organization. With digitization, marketing strategies change and innovative ways of marketing a product can be implemented. However, the success of these innovative approaches may not be predictable always as the market becomes more dynamic. Nature of digital marketing Deciding to go digital has a tremendous impact on the very nature of business as it affects how an organization does business in future, including the way it connects with its stakeholders, particularly customers. Digital marketing plans take a facelift from conventional marketing plans as the digital tool brings its set of opportunities and challenges for the organization. Digitally enabled market may be in its embryonic form but it has the potential to make the markets more competitive. On the one hand, adopting the digital tool may make business faster or easier, but, on the other hand, it can make markets more competitive and complex, with the suppliers and customers whom the business serves becoming competitors (Grannell, 2011). Marketing strategies Marketing strategies, although present, may need to be all-encompassing, which poses a serious challenge to the organization. It can also create issues to the customer as the reliability of information may be challenged. However, it creates a dynamic environment where customers can increasingly interact with other customers and also share user experience. This also can create a challenge to the organization as it may result in higher demand for quality and value. It is seen that digital marketing brings both qualitative and quantitative change to marketing and the market itself undergoes drastic change (Martin & Todorov, 2010; Grannell, 2011). Digital marketing can enable increased communication between the different stakeholders to result in decreased time to produce the product. It also helps bring out customized products through increased communication and collaboration with the customers and suppliers. Investments can be maximized to drive the business in the new digital age as digitization gives global access to the business. Information-technology-enabled digitization has enabled a ‘global grid’ that offers free communication, network of users, globalization, online connectivity, scalability of small businesses and universal digitization. Digitization has also enabled evolution of new business models that increasingly focus on market capitalization and stakeholder value creation (Wind & Mahajan, 2012). Furthermore, digital marketing needs innovative strategies that cater to the real-time information needs of the customer, and there is a level of uncertainty in the strategic approach of any business in this regard. Agility and flexibility of marketing strategies become keys to an organization’s success. Information available from customers and different stakeholders needs to be handled efficiently to help the organization gain a competitive advantage. An organizational framework for marketing strategy needs to be developed to leverage the dynamic opportunities that the new age technology provides. This framework should be able to help the organization respond fast to the ever-changing market preferences at the right time. As quality is considered to be able to provide the right service to the right customer at the right time, the vast amount of information available through communication and collaboration should be leveraged to develop effective and innovative marketing strategies. The framework should be able to help develop integrated cross-functional solutions for customization, strategic alliances with a global perspective and enable time competitiveness (Wind & Mahajan, 2012). While new age media like the internet and mobile offer extensive reach, managing the information created through the use of these technologies can be difficult. As information is pushed and pulled, there needs to be an efficient marketing strategy to manage the information along with effective reporting strategies. Success of digital marketing strategies for now is measured by the level of response from the customer based on which decisions are made (Jain & Pagani, 2010). Standardization of marketing strategies and processing of the huge amount of data is also a challenge for digital marketers. Personalization, convergence, engagement and integration can also be a challenge, owing to the complex web of data and customers. However, culture may play a negative role in leveraging the true essence of digital marketing as customization to local culture can be cumbersome and may not be possible at all times and for all products (Hollis & Fitch, 2009). Branding For an organization to create a brand for itself, digital marketing is seen to open new avenues for communication and customer engagement. What customers do in real-time is becoming an important criterion as organizations tend to compete not only in providing quality services or products but also in how they can best provide their services to enrich customer experience. Real-time communication through the use of digital tools is in fact providing an opportunity to the business, but successful leverage of the information provided by the digital media is important if an organization has to succeed in this new age. For branding and, ultimately, customer loyalty, businesses need to strike a balance regarding frequency of communication with the customer, and it also needs to be considered that customers have the ultimate power for decision-making and can also be unforgiving if the organization’s marketing is not balanced (Martin & Todorov, 2010; Wind & Mahajan, 2012). Social media marketing has gained importance as it enables implementing such a framework for marketing strategy. National Geographic has built its brand online through social media by advertising and communicating with the customers to provide customized solutions. Redbook too used social media with traditional channels to conduct its National Happy Hour Program, which included events at the customer’s home. Brand reputation can be at stake as customers interact with each other and share user experiences about a product or service (Kinsman & Botelho, 2011). However, there needs to be a wise mix of both traditional and new age media for marketing and advertising if an organization has to succeed, and the organization can find it challenging to decide this mix of media for its marketing. While traditional media can be time-consuming and difficult, new age media can be complex and dynamic. End-to-end marketing systems can help organizations leverage technology for competitive advantage, but it is easier said than done. Although such systems can aid in efficient decision-making, design and implementation of such a system is difficult and time-consuming (Jain & Pagani, 2010). In spite of the world becoming homogenous and brands becoming more global, cultural differences do exist and play an important role in the success of any marketing strategy. Customers’ values, beliefs, behaviours and habits play an important role in determining how they respond to marketing. Individual brand perceptions and brand positioning also influence response of customers. The level of bonding between the customer and product or organization plays a key role in how the customer responds to the marketing efforts through new tools. The strength of the brand also is an important consideration in measuring the level of its marketing strategy’s success in the market. The organizations that have successfully taken advantage of the differences in preferences in the global arena have been counted as successful, with their marketing strategies considered to be efficient and effective for new age media (Hollis & Fitch, 2009). Successful organizations that have leveraged the potential of new age media have successfully devised marketing strategies that aim to manage the disruptive media and the information they provide to offer constructive solutions to customer satisfaction. Strategies like integrating technology into customers’ lifestyle until it more or less becomes a utility that the customer cannot do away with have been yielding results like in the case of internet and email. Building robust platforms to connect with the customers and enhance engagement to constantly innovate and improve has become a strategic requirement to utilize digital media effectively for competitive advantage (Hollis & Fitch, 2009). Conclusion Internet and mobile technologies have thrown open both opportunities and challenges to businesses globally. Vast amounts of information about customers and their preferences is available for processing and it is up to the organizations how they utilize the information to effectively serve their customers. While customers may increasingly become more choosy and demanding, the systems required to enable digital media marketing also requires to be more robust, integrated and customized, with communication being more personalized. While the opportunities for digital marketing do exist, there are challenges which can be addressed to successfully leverage digital technology marketing for competitive advantage. Standardization of marketing strategies, introduction of innovative strategies, interweaving technology into customer’s lifestyle, integrating and providing greater connectivity and personalizing content can help organizations handle the complex but useful medium of digital marketing. Reference list Grannell, C 2011, ‘A whole new world’, Marketing: Digital Future, March, pp.58-59. Hollis, N & Fetch, D 2009, ‘Is global brand marketing as rewarding as it first appears?’ Journal of Sponsorship, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 206-214. Jain, A & Pagani, L 2010, ‘Digital Marketing – Opportunities abound for the CPG industry’, retrieved 15 September 2012, Kinsman, M & Botelho, S 2011, ‘Frontiers: social media marketing’, Folio, retrieved 15 September 2012, Martin, K & Todorov, I 2010, ‘How will digital platforms be harnessed in 2010, and how will they change the way people interact with brands?’ Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol. 10, no 2, pp. 61‐66. Wind, J & Mahajan, V 2012, ‘The challenge of digital marketing’, retrieved 15 September 2012, Read More