Influence of Digitalization on Marketing : Part II

This is the continuation of first part of the series. A company can only be successful if it pursues clearly defined goals. The term goal is a desired result for the future. To be able to define a goal, it has to be analyzed where you are and where you want to go (e.g. increasing sales, increasing market share, increasing customer satisfaction). These goals can be pursued and implemented through various marketing strategies. The main goal of marketing is to know and understand its customers so well (market research) that the product is tailored to them (market segmentation) and “sells itself” (market psychology). The company goals and marketing goals can be differentiated according to different categories. For example, a differentiation in quantitative and qualitative as well as short-term and long-term goals is possible.

 

Marketing strategies

 

Before marketing can plan its approach, a strategy should be defined in the first step. This strategy drives the marketing goal and thus the future marketing activities. A distinction is made between strategic and operational marketing goals. Strategic marketing goals pursue long-term goals and are decided at the top management level. Examples of this are opening up new markets or new target groups. Operative marketing goals, on the other hand, are rather short-term oriented and are determined, followed and implemented at the middle management level. They are subordinate to the strategic objective. To be able to measure your results, companies also divide marketing goals into quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative marketing goals can be identified and evaluated using numbers. These include growth, profit or sales targets, which can be determined based on key figures or absolute values ​​such as profit and loss, costs and earnings or sales. In contrast, there are qualitative goals, which are both difficult to formulate and measure, because, for example, identifying customer satisfaction, i.e. feelings about a product, with numbers is extremely complicated. The qualitative goals include image, customer satisfaction or level of awareness. Surveys are a means of measuring these goals.

In the digital age, companies are in constant global competition. This is because the internet and the associated digitization have made markets much more transparent. For this reason, companies are now preparing digital strategies. You can already see this from the redistribution of budget funds. This is also borne out by the study by “Who delivers what?”, The result of which is that the marketing budget is increasingly being allocated to digital channels. In last 10 years, companies increased their budget for keyword advertising by 19 percent and reduced the budget for trade fairs, outdoor advertising, print advertising and other classic marketing channels. Such figures make it clear that companies are already geared towards achieving their goals using digital means. However, this also implies that they oppose new technologies and the associated processes.

A marketing strategy therefore affects not only the marketing department, but the entire company. Concrete marketing strategies and marketing plans are implemented with the Marketing Mix tool (also called “four P” of marketing).

 

Customer requirement

 

Digitalization has driven various business areas through innovative technologies and methods, which has also increased the importance of digital marketing. Customer requirements have also become more complex and the demands placed on marketing techniques have increased. Requirements for digital marketing include, among other things, target group-oriented addresses, easy findability of information via various channels, visualization of the information and creativity as well as uniqueness to reproduce them. If you want to draw attention to yourself in the digital age, you need a professional, customer-friendly website and should be active in the field of social media marketing. Search engine marketing such as SEO and SEM also plays an important role. A new trend in the field of digital marketing is the decision-making power of the customer, who is now much more enlightened by the technologies and sources that are possible for him, which in turn has become possible due to the easier access to information. Those who have information can make more conscious and precise decisions. As a result, customers are no longer subject to the asymmetrical information relationship as strongly as at times without Google.

The only decisive factor for success in digital marketing is customer benefit. Customers expect not only that everything is available online, but also that it is available around the clock. Customer requirements are becoming more complex, companies have to be faster, stronger and more productive. The way to do this is to act digitally.

 

Customer acquisition

 

Customer acquisition is about entrepreneurial measures that lead a non-customer to a first contract. Customer loyalty then deals with measures that bind active customers to the company as sustainably as possible. At this point we enter the area of ​​online marketing. The term online marketing is generally viewed as the marketing of a product, company or brand on the Internet. The goals here can be to achieve a high level of awareness, to arouse sympathy for the company or to increase the customer’s willingness to buy the respective product/service. These goals are also factors that companies are trying to improve with digital marketing. More and more people no longer live with, but on the Internet, communicate there and organize themselves via social media.

She sees this as a great opportunity to place and offer target-group-specific content faster and more flexibly. The occasional internet use increased. The users spend most of their time on the Internet with communication platforms. This starts with simple e-mail writing and reading and ends with distinctive sizes such as Facebook or WhatsApp. This drastic development in the digital field shows that the correct online placement of a company, its products or services is becoming increasingly important and can thus lead to increased sales, awareness or sales. For many companies, online marketing is the most used medium for customer acquisition.

To be continued in next part.

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