The digital landscape has undergone massive changes over the past few decades. New modes of technology have increased the need for innovative marketing techniques, and with each new mode that hits the digital marketing industry, ingenious methods of marketing and content discovery must be developed to maintain a competitive edge.
We have gone from an era in which appealing graphics are enough to grasp the attention of consumers to a generation that prefers storytelling and engagement among all other forms of marketing. In fact, if your brand doesn’t have a story, you’re missing out on the most valuable asset you can possibly own.
Keeping Up With Today’s Evolving Digital Landscape
Let’s explore how the latest digital transformations are impacting content discovery and monetization. More importantly, let’s discuss how your traditional business model needs to evolve to maintain an aggressive edge in today’s digital marketing landscape.
It’s a Team Effort
It’s time to move past the assumption that a professional marketer is some type of magician who can magically expand your company’s brand awareness and increase sales revenue overnight. A true digital marketer is going to be a technologist who excels in creative thinking and uses rich data to not only meet the current needs of customers but anticipates their future needs as well. This marketer is going to put together a team, or possibly even an entire department, to handle your marketing needs. You may even find it’s best to outsource your digital marketing needs to an agency that specializes in digital advertising.
Executing the Concept of Meeting Your Customer’s Needs
One of the most common mistakes made in digital marketing is simply developing the concept of meeting customer’s current and future needs. It’s one thing to understand that you need to meet their needs. It’s an entirely different thing to actually turn this concept into a reality.
Effective digital marketing takes into account the behaviors of your customers. More so, it analyzes these behaviors and uses data production to create actionable steps, typically in the form of targeted content discovery marketing strategies. These strategies need to accomplish the following three goals:
- Pinpoint the future needs of an individual customer
- Make it easier for the customer to have this need met
- Create a personalized experience in meeting this need
How can you accomplish the three goals listed above? It’s simple yet complex at the same time. You must implement software and tools that collect digital data on each customer you serve. This data needs to be deeply analyzed to enhance the customer’s experience when coming into contact with your brand. You will also use this data to expand your brand awareness to customers who are in need of your product but don’t yet realize they are in need of it.
Some of the most popular tools and software programs being used today to collect and analyze customer data include:
- Mahindra COMVIVA provides extremely valuable customer value management services
- Fulcrum, ideal for collecting field data on Android and iOS devices
- Swarm, perfect for collecting real-time data by easily integrating with your current POS system
Using Consumer Behaviors to Enhance Content Discovery
Have you ever searched for something on the internet only to discover the internet knew what you were searching for better than you did? This is what true content discovery is all about. And thanks to evolutions in the digital marketing industry, it is now easier than ever to enhance the end-user’s experience when searching for content.
Did you know 83 percent of consumers admit they look online for something new to watch at least three times a month? With so many people looking for something to watch, this becomes a large opportunity for you to take advantage of. By using consumer behavior data to suggest shows and videos they will WANT to click on, you can easily integrate your brand into video ads.
And while you may think other companies have become distinguished in being able to meet consumers’ video-watching needs, statistics show 62 percent of people still struggle with finding something to watch. This means there is still a high probability that you can effectively use consumer data to conveniently meet their needs.
How can you use the latest evolutions to enhance content discovery for your customers? It starts with taking advantage of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and metadata, all of which translate into a colossal powerhouse when combined in the correct manner. If you have yet to integrate these elements into your digital marketing campaign, it’s time you do.
The more you use analytics to get to know your customers, the better you will get at determining where they are coming from (blog, social media platform, etc.), and the better you will get at streamlining content that meets their needs.
It’s All About the Application Program Interfaces (APIs)
Digital transformations continue to showcase the need for agility. We are seeing time and time again that new digital technologies need various avenues of viability, and because of this, APIs have become highly-favored over single-use platforms. Instead of hopping on a single platform that performs a limited number of functions, it makes much more sense to tie together all of your platforms so they can integrate and sync with one another; this is how data becomes rich. More so, APIs allow for platforms to scale and flex as needed. When it comes to creating the best user experience in relation to content discovery, APIs are a trend that is sure to last and should be viewed as an essential to effective digital marketing.
The Takeaway
All marketing campaigns should be created with goals but no end-point. A marketing campaign that provides the highest return on investment is going to be one that is ongoing. Most importantly, it is going to mature as technologies become more advanced and it will scale as changes take place in the digital marketing landscape.
