Unlocking digital marketing disciplines

Recently, the relevance of digital marketing has been highlighted through the current economic recession due to companies and brands turning to digital to achieve the most cost-effective way to achieve return. As a result, marketers are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that not only is it more cost effective to go digital, but also far more measurable, allowing them to see what the real return on investment is.

Many a comment has been made in the media recently in this regard, and it is certainly a global trend.

“Internet ad spend has already eclipsed cinema and direct mail in South Africa, and according to a study done by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK, carried out in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) internet ad spend in the UK will overtake TV in 2009. (www.marketingvox.com)

“These are indications of a worldwide trend of more budgets being shifted online.” - Internet ad spend: don't spread doom and gloom

The problem is that most consumer companies are struggling to know what to do and how. It is easy to run to digital when the shrinking marketing budget no longer allows for TV, print or other more expensive options.

Digital marketing - the strategy

It is however important to get to grips with the fact that digital marketing is far more complex than merely booking placements in online or mobile environments. Strategic thinking behind the plan is imperative and this is because you are dealing with a savvy consumer.

Consider the following:

1. What are the objectives of the campaign? In other words: what are you, or your client, wanting to achieve?
   
2. Who is the target market?
   
3. In which environment are they most likely to be found?
   

It is important to research thoroughly. Traditionally, when you segment a market and identify the potential people you want to be communicating with, there are many aspects that need to be taken into account. This is no different when it comes to digital environments. After all, if the digital era is about the ease of access to information, then you want that information to be relevant, sustainable and appealing...in the right place, and at the right time, and seen by the right people.

Be sure to remember that other factors like the current economic climate also need to be taken into account and can be used as leverage in a skilfully crafted strategic plan.

Strategically planning a campaign is certainly only the beginning of a digital presence.

Always in line with objectives

With digital there are many options and which ones to use all depend on what the initial desired results were. Having a clear objective upfront, dictates all aspects throughout the duration of a campaign.

Once everything is live, campaign managers and planners need to keep a close eye on the campaign results, and continually optimise to improve these.

In a nutshell - the most important aspects of digital marketing are to know where and when to find the target market, understanding how to get their attention, what to measure, how to analyse the data, and what action to take as a result. There are many techniques to ensure a campaign achieves the best possible results against the objectives.

Learn about these techniques and more with digiVOX which has embarked on a series of one-day training workshops in partnership with Bizcommunity.com. The goal of these courses is to provide you and your team with practical strategies and ideas to improve your digital marketing skills as soon as you are back in the office.

Art of digital media planning

The first in the series of workshops is entitled, The Art of Digital Media Planning, and is aimed at those responsible for investing marketing budget into the digital space. To be held in Cape Town on 15 October 2009, the workshop will look at each step of digital media marketing, from strategy through to planning and buying, implementation and results.

Adrian Hewlett, chairman of OPA SA, will provide an overview of the face of the South African online market. Andrea Mitchell will share 12 years of online marketing experience and will cover topics such as setting objectives, compiling the media plan, and reporting. André Britz will cover the steps to produce an effective digital media plan, while Jonathan Allan-Barrett will discuss insights regarding unified messages across all platforms, and how to select the right channel to reach objectives.

For more information, go to www.thestartingline.co.za.