Welcome to the Digital Marketing Inner Circle

I was reading an interesting post by Karin von Abrams that reported on the “Future of Digital Marketing” conference, presented by Econsultancy, in London. Of course those who regularly read my blog know that I have always been a proponent of Digital Marketing being the future… or at least seeing a big chunk of spend moving towards this medium.

Case in point, the chart (below) from eMarketer suggest that already we are seeing the movement towards Digital growing.

Moreover, Karen said in her post that few speakers were prepared to predict the future. But speakers and delegates seemed to share a sense that within a few years, one or two genuinely new technologies will burst on the scene. But most “innovations” in marketing will be new applications of technologies already available, such as using Google Earth more to provide local context for travel destinations online, or using augmented-reality programs in mobile phones to display full product and price information for items viewed in the physical world.

Some interesting tips that came out at the event:

• Website optimization. Know what’s working, and fix what’s not. Ease of use for consumers is increasingly important. Make sure navigation and content are efficient and up to date, and remove dead links.
• Consistent, end-to-end branding.
• Ensure your products, services and USP are crystal clear to consumers.
• Make simple, clear calls to action.
• Set deadlines and keep them. Work backward from where you want your business to be in six months to establish marketing plans. If you can’t see reaching the goal you set, rethink the goal.
• Concentrate on home markets first. Get those right before rolling out elsewhere.
• Search: It may not be sexy, but it remains “the lifeblood of marketing.”
• Don’t average cost-per-click data over entire campaigns. To see underlying patterns, you need to get granular.
• Make your money go further. Assess the media you own (content assets, Website and so on), the media you buy and the media exposure you earn (mentions in major newspapers or industry news sources, for example). Maximizing coverage of your owned and bought media in the press can multiply your exposure many-fold.

Now for those of us in China, the tips above could just as well have been meant for us, all but for a couple of key areas. Firstly, I would suggest Search is not the lifeblood in China (I wish it was) … we still see media buying as the Digital Marketing norm. Secondly, Web Analytics and the general move towards measurements/metrics is very embryonic. It will definitely happen (I would say the trend has now started) and when it becomes more mature, we will see more effort by Marketers being made on ROI type activities.

Further Karen’s post highlighted the importance for Marketers to get beyond the predictable and deliver (to the client) an unexpected, higher-value consumer experience—aka “magic.” The tips were:

• Think high value, not high volume.
• Avoid fake personalization. If you claim to act on your customers’ declared interests, make sure it shows. Tailor content to your site visitors and the recipients of your e-mail campaigns.
• Empower your advocates, and provide tools they can use to spread the word.
• Cool tools are best, such as iPhone applications or widgets that make key activities portable, easily accessible—and fun.
• Use an element of surprise to spark excitement and interest. If you run a travel site, delivering one unexpected, intriguing option in an otherwise predictable list of hotels in Florida can remind users of something often forgotten these days: Serendipity is central to the online experience.

For these points, I would say they would fit into Chinese digital marketing landscape right now. These are Web 2.0 type guidelines and for this area I would be bold and say China is a world leader in this area of marketing (I know I will get some interesting comments because of this statement).

Anyway, thanks Karen for your informative post on the event in London. It reflected some of the trends at I have put forward is/will happen here in China.