2014 is already shaping up to be a big year in the digital world. There’s no doubt that awareness of the importance of digital output for businesses is growing at an exponential rate, and there’s going to be greater focus and clarity to the efforts of most companies digitally speaking during the rest of the year. Of course, this means that as a business, you have to refocus, and make sure you’re making the right decisions online, because those decisions and actions are going to be more important than ever before. People expect more from companies online these days, so it’s important to deliver. Thankfully, as our understanding grows of what people expect, it’s easier to isolate a suitable online behaviour type to suit your business. With our greater understanding of the web and how it works with business, we’re now able to talk easily about three specific marketing methodologies which can help your business.
Digital Branders
Digital branders tend to be companies such as retail, with a strong focus on growing brand awareness and popularity through deep levels of engagement. Linear advertising holds no use for a company moving in this direction, because their goal is all about making connections with people that already use, or hopefully in the future might use or interact with their brand. This type of online behaviour is all about increasing awareness, building trust, drawing in new customers and building loyalty.
Demand Generators
Demand generators are a different breed entirely. The idea behind this online practice is to source buyers, leads, make sales or find new clients. It is all about the numbers and the overall focus is conversions in the shortest number of steps possible. A company operating a demand generator online policy will look to convert with as little effort as possible. All of their online visibility, from their social media pages to the specific layout of the web pages will be about improving sales, cutting flab and driving towards the financial end goal. Quite naturally there’s still an importance to use things like content to engage with their potential customers, the overall target is always to improve their efficiency and drive towards sales and conversions.
Product Innovators
Product innovators are the types of company who harness the power of digital marketing to try to find new digital ideas, offerings, products and platforms. They use digital marketing to develop their thoughts and ideas, and rely on the relationships they build up with online users to discover whether their new ideas will work.
Customer Experience Designers
A lot of people right now are also talking about customer experience designers as a suitable model for some types of businesses on the net. This methodology is for companies who want to change the way they have been interacting online, by hitting customers in all areas of the web. They look to engage with web users in a variety of different ways, cultivating long lasting relationships which will benefit their brand, their sales and presumably secure their success for many years to come. As far as we’re concerned, this cannot be considered a methodology you can choose. Frankly, whether you feel your company should be acting as product innovators, demand generators or as digital branders, it’s imperative that every company does everything they can to improve their customer experiences. It’s simple business protocol, whether online or not.