The most effective digital marketing campaigns

Whilst traditional marketing should play an important role in your marketing strategy, digital marketing is essential for any brand to ensure maximum reach. The way consumers use the internet is changing all the time, with mobile devices becoming the primary tool to access the internet, to access social media, online videos and to shop. It is therefore important to incorporate these channels into your marketing strategy.

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So who can we learn from in our digital and modern world? Here are three brands who are setting an example.

Highly successful digital marketing campaigns

As some of the world's largest companies Sainsbury's, McDonalds and Coca Cola are no strangers to the world of digital marketing.

However, purpose of their campaigns is generally to increase brand loyalty rather than increase awareness. They understand that a blend of traditional, physical and digital marketing, targeted across a range of technologies, offers an opportunity to connect with tech-savvy consumers across all the marketing channels they use. We've highlighted below some of their most notable digital marketing campaigns that stand out:

Sainsbury's

For Christmas 2013, Sainsbury's asked crowd-sourcing YouTube sensation, Kevin Macdonald, to create an advert similar to his YouTube film Life in a Day, which has received more than 8 million views since 2011. Kevin delivered a 50-minute heart warming documentary, compiling real-life footage of Christmas Day submitted by members of the public via YouTube.

With no branding or mention of the supermarket throughout and only a credit at the beginning and end of the film, Sainsbury's certainly embraced the hands-off approach. Yet the film cleverly places the supermarket at the heart of real family Christmases.

Sainsbury's also ran a series of trailers alongside traditional food-based adverts, and this campaign was considered a real success. They reported the following results which it attributes directly to the campaign:

• The film received over three million views on YouTube and thousands of comments and shares on social media

• Its best Christmas yet with more than 28 million customer transactions over the seven days before Christmas
• An increase of 10% on online transactions

• Sales of own-brand 'Taste the difference' also rose by 10% over that period

Coca Cola

With the world coming together for the Olympic Games 2012, Coke decided to take advantage of the social values of the Games and target teenage consumers with a campaign called 'Move to the Beat'.

With the help of producer Mark Ronson and singer Katie B, Coke took five Olympic hopefuls and used the sound of their sports to create a song.

The campaign comprised of five elements: a documentary, the song, TV, Beat TV, and a series of mobile apps called 'The Global Beat'.

Overall the campaign yielded some impressive results:

• Mobile and desktop received more than 25 million video views in total

• 1,220 people subscribed to the channel
• It achieved 242 million social media impressions, 39 million on Facebook and 546,000 on YouTube and Beat TV
• Move To The Beat was mentioned 246,000 times on Facebook
• Coca-Cola attracted a further 1.5 million Facebook fans and 21,000 Twitter followers

• The campaign achieved 245 million search impressions, 461,000 clicks and a click through rate of 0.2%

McDonalds

As mentioned above, a key function of marketing campaigns for such visible companies is to enhance trust and loyalty to a brand. McDonalds have developed a number of digital marketing campaigns to achieve this.

McDonalds has struggled to connect with consumers in Australia, with 50% of consumers stating a distrust of the ingredients used by the company. To address these concerns McDonalds launched the Track My Macca mobile app.

The app addresses the issue of food origins. Using a combination of GPS and image recognition software, the app provides a real-time supply chain for the products purchased.

The app has been downloaded 45,000 times in its first month and the digital PR campaign, using social media, received over 600 million impressions.

Tips to develop a successful digital marketing campaign

With so many possible avenues to follow, digital marketing can be overwhelming and confusing. A successful digital marketing campaign should be concise and focus on a few key activities to attract, engage and communicate with potential customers. We recommend that you consider the following three tips when developing your next digital marketing campaign:

1. A consistent message across channels

Take a leaf from the books of the big boys: Coca Cola's guiding principal for marketing is that content needs to be flexible and able to flow across all marketing activity, and that no matter the platforms used - whether social media, mobile devices or TV - there is one idea that links it all together.

2. Optimising searches

Search Engines are a key tool for consumers to find and research products before buying them. Roughly 89% of shoppers use a search engine in this way, and 70% of online purchases start with a search. A blog with original, engaging content regularly will ensure that you rank highly in a search.

3. Using social media

Social media facilitates a conversation between you and your customers. Its ability to create an ongoing discussion about your business and products will help to build awareness, trust and loyalty to your brand.

Select the social media platform most suitable to the brand/use and deliver a focussed campaign to your customers.