Digital world, a challenge for marketeers

The world is fast becoming digital. People are consuming digital content on a daily basis. Although the impact of digitisation is not new, the digital economy is entering a new age that presents unprecedented challenges for all businesses.

Digital tools are invading the business environment, provoking significant changes in the way we work, communicate and sell.

This has given rise to new opportunities and challenges and has triggered the digital transformation of enterprises.

Digital marketing has become so strategic, not only because of its rapid growth but also because it is essentially the future of marketing.

Soon all other traditional marketing forms will disappear as digital marketing will replace them altogether. While some generations will no doubt lament the loss of newspapers, books and old fashioned communication methods, the new generations which have grown up with internet and mobile phones are already embracing the brave new world of digital consumption.

Opportunities

Modern marketing, as it responds to the overwhelming tentacles of the exploding digital economy, now needs the important element of design thinking.

Today, with the rapid growth of content marketing, modern marketing professionals have to think about creating and designing the digital interaction experiences surrounding content.

In essence, we are undergoing a digital transformation in markets, business models and buying behaviour as the new forces of the digital economy reshape businesses.

The new speed of business is increasing the risks of organisations being caught flat-footed as digital shifts are made.

The modern marketeer must not only be innovative in his or her development of content and brand, but also in how to actually reach – and connect – with customers in multiple ways in the complex modern environment.

Balance

Gone are the days when a brand communication campaign could rely solely on print, television and radio. Today’s marketeer must determine the right mix of media to deliver content that will best secure prospective customer attention among the technology blitz of the web, mobile devices and social media – which didn’t even exist a few years ago.

The modern landscape presents a challenge, to say the least. The marketeer is now charged with being an expert across constantly changing media, while still flexing his or her creative talents.

Marketeers are also charged with using technology to measure, monitor and automate marketing campaigns and functions.

Modern marketing has become a balancing act of creativity versus technology. Modern marketeers clearly have their work cut out for them, as technology presents new opportunities and challenges to campaign strategy and execution and to data analytics and automation processes.

Overall, the innovative designs, creative content and hybrid of delivery strategies produced daily by integrated marketing teams make even the most intimidating technology challenge worth a trial.

The digital age has arrived and it’s time for those who have not yet adapted to the new way of marketing to open themselves to the new way of interaction.

If you’re not devoting enough resources to digital marketing or you’re using an ad-hoc approach with no clearly defined strategies, then your competitors will eat your digital lunch.