Digital Marketing Strategies To Consider In 2022

In simple terms, they are advertising through digital channels—known as Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing uses the internet to deliver marketing messages via various formats to internet users. The components of digital marketing are:

• Search Advertising
• Social Media Advertising
• Banner Advertising
• Video Advertising
• Paid Digital Classifieds

The Digital Advertising market is segmented into Desktop and Mobile revenues depending on the delivery method, such as desktop computers (incl. notebooks) or mobile devices (smartphones and tablet PCs).

According to Statista, Ad spending in the Digital Advertising market amounts to US$128,545m in 2020. The Digital Advertising market expects to show an ad spending growth of 7.3% in 2021. In the Digital Advertising market, 70% of total ad spending will generate through mobile in 2023. The Digital Advertising market expects to show an ad spending growth of 68% in the mobile segment in 2021.

In today’s world, digital marketing is vital for your business and brand awareness. It seems like every other brand has a website. And if they don’t, they at least have a social media presence or digital ad strategy. Digital content and marketing are so common that consumers now expect and rely on them to learn about brands. To be competitive as a business owner, you’ll need to embrace some aspects of digital marketing. But with the majority of online marketing being self-service, it’s easy to dive right in, and many businesses rush to take advantage of the opportunity. Still, they fail to build out a proper strategy. Being digital to have a presence in these channels is not the solution. Build your entire marketing strategy with shared value in mind. Shared value is when your customer's goals overlap with your business's. The key is to build out a strategy that results from having the following:

• Transformative Impact on Business
• Strong Return on Investment and
• Tremendous effect on Brand–Consumer Relationships, as it enables interactions with customers anywhere.

‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.’

- John Wanamaker

Digital marketing, or, in that matter, advertising, in general, is not the only solution to increase sales or generate revenue. Many factors can affect sales, including changes in environmental, economic, and political climate (e.g., the recent Corona Virus pandemic, recession, or war), demographic and psychographic changes, intensive competitive activities, carry-over effects, poor distribution, poor UX design, improper UX research before developing the product and pricing or selling skills. Not all issues can be resolved by marketing. Understanding the root cause of negative sales is essential before investing money in marketing.

Graphic storytelling is the best marketing strategy in the coming years. This amalgam of interactive content will always win the race in promoting a brand or service to the customers. The interactive story opens the way for new forms of transmedia storytelling via seamless integration from inscriptions and still images to interactive graphs and animation.

Developing engaging customer-centric brands is a fundamental marketing challenge, and often the customer perspective is different from how organizations think they are performing in this area. According to research by Bain and Co., while 80 percent of brands claimed to offer a “superior experience,” customers say that only 8 percent of companies deliver a “superior experience.

Businesses can include visual experiences to dig deeper and enjoy some control over their customers' experiences and interactions with their brands, which are changing the face of digital marketing for better experiences. Investing in visual experience will develop and sustain a positive user experience for your customers.

There are 2.9 billion Digital Consumers worldwide, and every person has a unique digital footprint. No two people genuinely behave the same. But digital is all about personalization. Personalization is tailoring a service or a product to accommodate specific individuals, sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. It is vital to building a meaningful understanding of the different types of connected consumers. But it is almost impossible for brands to personalize advertising or content to an individual cost-effectively. Internet access, mobile usage, and eCommerce participation have all come and gone as factors that define behavior.

The relationship between advertising (or other marcoms tools) and sales (or another outcome such as purchase intentions) is unclear. The response function discovered for one digital campaign may not necessarily apply to the next. There is even more uncertainty if multiple media channels are used. To develop an integrated digital marketing strategy, businesses must have a clear understanding of the following:

• The root cause of declining sales
• The attractiveness and the dynamics of the market within the industry you are in
• Where the product lies in the product life cycle (Introduction, Growth, Maturity, or Decline stage)
• Who is your target audience? How big is the target audience, and how much can you reach? How your customers are using digital technology
• What end goal do you want to achieve through the marketing campaign?
• Which digital channel can best deliver the branded message, either solely or in combination

There isn’t one strategy for all businesses, industries, and products. Every business is different. The focus is on building an accelerated Buyer’s Journey, from when someone lands on your website to when they make a purchase. The buyer’s Journey is the story of the customer’s experience from initial contact through engagement into a long-term relationship. It depicts the stages (awareness, consideration, and decision) that customers go through when interacting with a company, from buying products online or in-store to accessing customer services on the phone to airing grievances on social media. It is used as a tool for creating marketing concepts, customer service ideas, and other projects.

A key benefit to digital retail is that consumers leave many footprints when researching, buying, and reviewing their purchases. It is significant to investigate customer behavior when mapping out the customer journey. Marketers and planners should be well-versed in insights, keyword analysis, and market mix modeling. Digital footprints are valuable in addressing consumer barriers and fuel programmatic buying.

Creating digital content and posting it on digital platforms is not enough. It is essential to measure your content too. And to do that, it is necessary to learn the digital language. The digital world is full of marketing terms. Digital marketing is an umbrella term used to describe any online marketing. The must-know digital times are:

Digital Marketing has an impact on every stage of the Product Life Cycle.

There are several ways to strategize a cohesive digital marketing plan. But today, we will discuss the digital marketing strategy from the product perspective. With the ever-existing complexities and challenges in today’s market scenario, it isn't easy to understand and assess the reach and profitability of their product. As we saw earlier, one of the critical factors to consider while developing an integrated digital marketing strategy is to know is where your product lies in the product life cycle. The product life cycle is a concept that provides a way to trace the stages of the product’s acceptance from its introduction to its decline. As we know, most product life cycle curves portray as bell-shaped, and the four steps are Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. Each stage has its significance, incurred costs, and a specific, specifically defined set of activities to promote the product or service in that particular stage.

Introduction Stage

The introduction or launch stage is a period of slow growth. The entire focus is on building the brand and generating awareness about the product in the market. With Digital Marketing strategies, one can easily create brand awareness within the targeted groups. Digital marketing tools like content marketing, social media promotions, paid banner ads, and other SEO activities help generate brand awareness. During this time, the focus should be on creating a user-friendly and informative website with fresh content related to the product.

Growth Stage

There is a substantial profit improvement at this stage, and product acceptance is visible in the market. Online retail feedback is positive as customers are buying. During this phase, demand for the product rises, and the focus of the marketers is to reap the benefit of the rise for the product. Promote products and services via banner ads, video feeds, blogging, informative articles, PPC campaigns, and social media optimization through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other digital avenues.

 Maturity Stage

There is an intense rivalry for a mature market in this saturation stage. Efforts to attract new populations are limited. There is a battle to retain market share. It is vital to introduce new product variants in the market to elongate this stage and prevent the product from a sharp decline. Implement Highly effective digital marketing strategies such as email marketing, promotion strategy, social media (Facebook or Instagram) users, offering value-added service( such as free consultation, free shipping, free samples), and high-frequency flash banner Ads on the website mobile apps without incurring extra costs.

Decline Stage

It is the final stage in the product life cycle, which occurs for many reasons: new and better products are available in the market, or customer preferences have changed, when the demand for the product slumps, digital marketing campaigns like the call to action (CTA), e.g., "80% off save now" will help you dissolve your remaining inventory if you plan to discontinue the product or service.

Role of Digital Marketing Strategy During a Downturn

Digital marketing has significantly reformed the online landscape. As new technology develops and major disruptors continue to influence digital marketing’s evolution, marketing strategies must continuously grow and evolve to stay relevant. The truth is, in the ever-changing digital landscape, what worked today might not work tomorrow. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on consumer markets worldwide due to the growing number of individuals working from home or unable to leave their homes. In turn, this has placed a tremendous burden on e-commerce retailers’ supply chains and logistical infrastructure. Although the epidemic has significantly impacted the tertiary industry, there will also be some new growth opportunities, including online retailing, healthcare, video games, and logistics.

One of the best examples of a product launch during a recession is Amazon. When the whole world is battling with the COVID-19 epidemic situation and struggling to get a doctor’s appointment or medical care, Amazon has come to the rescue. The company analyzed the situation and grabbed the opportunity to launch a virtual healthcare service. Amazon has recently launched the Amazon care app. Amazon Care provides a mobile application that allows you to access virtual and in-person healthcare services from Oasis Medical. Oasis Medical offers the following services:

• Video Care: Have an in-app visit with a doctor, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse (“clinicians”) for advice, answers, diagnoses, treatment, or referrals.
• Care Chat: In-app text chat connects you to a clinician in moments for health advice.
• Mobile Care: Your Video Care clinician may recommend an in-person assessment or treatment by a registered nurse (a “Mobile Care nurse”). With your approval, the clinician will send a Mobile Care nurse to your home, a designated room on the Amazon campus, or another private location within our service area. The Mobile Care nurse may collect lab samples, perform some onsite testing (such as strep tests), administer conventional vaccines, or perform specific physical examinations.
• Care Courier: During a Video Care visit, your clinician may prescribe your prescription medications. At your request, a Care Courier may deliver specific prescriptions within two hours.

Due to the enormous decline in visiting physical stores throughout the outbreak, many manufacturers turned to the internet to maintain sales, using B2C online platforms, mini-programs on mobile apps, and live streaming. The COVID-19 outbreak has also forced manufacturers to rethink the importance of omnichannel, especially for those industries or manufacturers with a relatively low online penetration rate. Some of the digital strategies pertinent during a downturn or in a recession situation are:

• Update your business on Google my Business, like your business hours, and add a google post explaining how your business is changing due to the downturn situation.
• Focus on customer service and brand reputation management. Small to medium businesses should utilize blogs to create content relevant to their industry and update customers about the company's critical decisions.
• Answer Frequently Asked Questions. There is an opportunity to appear higher in the search engine results page by Adding FAQ schema to your websites and mobile app, which can increase website traffic and click-through rate. Also, by answering questions to your customers, you are gaining brand loyalty and trust.
• Pivot your budget. Buying behavior is going to change for the next few months. Spend your budget wisely on the amount you are spending on PPC or the keywords you are targeting.
• Create a Google Ads Campaign. The best way to reach customers who intend to buy quickly is via google and social media ads. It is now time to push with discounts by the call to action and increasing ad impressions.

The level of connectivity continued to rise since 2020 as more emerging market consumers came online for the first time, thanks to more affordable internet access available through mobile phones. The advent of the mobile internet has been a breakthrough, as it put the world at consumers’ fingertips, with these devices used across all aspects of life. For brands looking to shift their advertising, re-positioning to prioritize social values like safety and security may be a valuable strategy. The worst-hit industries cannot ultimately return to business as usual. Still, affected brands should look to comfort and distract consumers, grow into innovative areas, and work quickly to recoup lost business.

Conclusion

Digital connectivity will continue to change how consumers live, work, play, and shop. In some ways, 2020 will be a pivotal year as parts of the digital economy begin to mature. The arrival of emerging technologies like 5G mobile network connectivity will give way to more advanced use cases. These advancements will continue to up consumer expectations. Consumers will remain king, demanding companies to be forthright about how data is collected and how companies represent information online. In an era of endless choice, the ability to deliver a more meaningful consumer experience will be the key differentiator for companies looking to compete in the digital age.

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Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.