This has been a great course right from the beginning and I
must say that I have enjoyed every part of it.
The course started with the
definition of digital marketing and then the use of story-telling in marketing,
a critical look at digital marketing, devices and channels, customer journeys,
data and privacy, analytical tools, Web Observatory and Gamification.
There are a lot of excellent things about the course but I
want to limit my reflection to the main ones. My understanding is that digital
marketing is the use of digital channels to communicate with
customers/consumers, instead of the traditional method, which mainly relied on
tangible items such as business cards, newspapers, magazines, TVs, brochures
and logo for branding of products and services etc. The main digital channels
today used by digital marketing are the internet and social media. Google
dominates the digital marketing sphere with its Google search engine and tools such AdWords, Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Trends etc.
More people, especially young people are using mobile phones. As a result, it is becoming
the most popular communicating device. For example, according to a report by
Smart Insight, “Mobile digital media time in the US is now significantly higher
at 51% compared to desktop (42%)”, which shows the central role that mobile is
playing in digital marketing.
Two lessons stood out for me and these are story –
telling and customer journey. First, on the use of story -telling in marketing,
we met Steve Killick, a
psychologist and storyteller who explained how to use story - telling to
engage customers emotionally. This was a new thing to me and a very exciting
one indeed. We also met Howard Scott, formerly of the National Trust, who explained how story -telling is
being used in their digital marketing at the National Trust to engage
customers. Then, we met meet Alan Rae, founder of Plants4presents who also gave us some useful tips on
how to use story - telling in our marketing, having applied this to his business which started as an online business.
We were also given
the opportunity to listen to a fantastic BBC Radio 4’s ‘You and
Yours’ programme, which gave different
perspectives on how people shop both online and offline. We learnt that offline
shopping still has a big part to play in the way people shop today, as
businesses are adopting innovative ways to deepen the customer experience by integrating
both their offline and online shops so that they function as one, instead of
working separately. The radio interviews also demonstrated the importance of
demographic and psychographic segmentation in determining customer journeys, as
young people follow what their favourite celebrities do and prefer to shop
online, always checking online for what is trendy.
The pinnacle for me
was the digital transformation at the National Trust. It was fascinating to see
that a non-commercial organisation is pioneering digital transformation. Their
philosophy is simple – “Making marketing relevant and personal”. They thought me
about the POST communication strategy - People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology.
Their strategy is simple - Content, Devices and Relevance and having Central Repository that feeds the rest of the channels as appropriate. They have thought
me about how it is beneficial to have a simple strategy. Simplicity works
because it is easy to understand and implement. In addition, customers like
simplicity because they can engage with it. It is a winning formula because nobody
wants something that is difficult to understand and deal with. They have also taught me that though this development in marketing may be about
technology, technology is not their main focus. They see technology as the enabler to deliver relevant contents to
people, their main focus.
One more thing, Lisa was great. She is a great interviewer.
I do not know whether she has ever thought of a second career as a journalist! Her
interviewing skills added clarity and another enjoyable dimension to the course. In addition, the interactions of the mentors also deserve mention. Their interactions added
another flair to the enjoyment of the course.
No comments:
Post a Comment