Going Digital to Stay Relevant
Whether we’re ready or not, our world is transforming and to stay relevant you have to look at how people are interacting with one another. We can’t deny the importance and usage of smartphones and all devices with internet technology. Almost 4.6 billion people were active internet users as of April 2020, which is almost 60% of the population. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/)
When I first started my career I had a full 360-degree marketing role in an international FMCG company, we were just touching on digital platforms, and going digital simply meant having a website. We can see today and with experience recruiting in this particular space, marketing and going digital has now grown arms and legs with extensive positions in the digital space (content marketing, growth marketing, social media, EDM, SEO, SEM, e-commerce, etc) – and is now a key tool for businesses to reach, track and understand their audience.
Traditional marketing is lost in all the media buying options with the rise of mobile, digital, and social technologies. There was a time expensive advertising was the king of marketing tactics and channels through TV and print media, but now brands are responding to new expectations from customers by providing relevant content through the entire purchase decision-making process.
Sophisticated marketers are finding the marketing avenues that offer them greater levels of control, while advertising is staying at a costly price even with it becoming less effective. The phrase ‘Content is King’ may be cliché, but the truth is content marketing is the key to inform and entertain while offering utility for when people decide they want it, versus being forced upon it. Marketers are faced with the challenge of finding new ways to reach their customers in a more subtle way that makes them feel engaged and positive, instead of more direct and assertive sales strategies. Marketing now collaborates with IT and product teams to create content based on the way people live, what they do, and where they are doing it.
Going digital means taking your business to a wider audience and can further drive that face-to-face interaction. Producing high-quality digital content and communicating actively with your customer base, can increase reach and lead to a great deal of awareness even across the other side of the world. The internet connects us all, and businesses can certainly use it to connect with customers with smart and targeted content.
