We live in a Digital Era, an Era where information is of easy access and flows quickly on the web, a Social Media Era, of new words and acronyms, of mass empowerment, in which Marketing assumes a new form, complementing the traditional to the digital, the Offline to the Online.
Is in this scenario that Digital Marketing imposes itself. But after all, what is Digital Marketing and what is its function?
At first place is required enlight, that Traditional Marketing does not disappear and change to the digital, instead of that, Digital Marketing, appears as an extension of Traditional Marketing, being necessary a Marketing strategy that makes the connection between offline and online, in the end, it will be those that will transmit the strategy, communication and positioning bases, from the brand with the online. One of the points where the two Marketing strands coexist is for instance, ROPO (Research Online, Buy Ofline), this kind of behavior is usual to see on footwear companies, where the consumer chooses to go to the physical store, to trying the product and purchase it, Nevertheless, this kind of behaviour were increasingly being mitigated, thanks to more imersive technologies, like augmented reality, which allows for instance, that the customer look at the product like if this was in his hand.
Another of the changes of Marketing on the Digital, maybe one of the most important, is the way how adapts it to the new communication challenges on customer relation. If in Consumer Marketing (2.0) and the Human Marketing (3.0) the word of mouth assumed an important role in the way how the consumer transmitted the message sent from the brand, on Digital Marketing (4.0) the word of mouth, or advocacy, became so to speak, a fundamental pillar of recognition and trust by the consumer to brands.
A Nielsen study made in 2015, reveals that 83% of the inquired on 60 countries trust in their friends and family as the most trustworthy source of publicity and 66% give attention to the opinions of others, published online. This scenario is representative of how important is the way how companies transmit its messages, alerting them, for the necessity of being true and transparent, because only then will create true brand promoters and followers.
At last but not the least, is the role that the YWN (Young, Women and net citizens), represent for the companies Marketing strategy, if in the old days the Marketing strategies were defined having a specific target, on digital these specificities should be directed to the YWN. But what are the YWN? The YWN are the consumers for which the brand messages should be communicated in digital.
- The youngs establish trends, they are early adopters having a great influence over adults;
- The Women are those that more do online research about products, being particularly involved in the buying process;
- The Net Citizens are those that follow and defend the brands which they like, they are brand evangelizers.
In short, and answering to the question made above, we can define Digital Marketing as a way of confirmation of the consumers community, which allows the character clarification and brand coding, at establishing a closer relationship with the customer, encouraging the action (buying) and advocacy (brand promotion) and co-creation (product development in collaboration with the customer), promoting results.
However is necessary highlight that for the Digital Marketing fulfilled its function is necessary that exists a bridge between offline and online, bridge that, established by Traditional Marketing, and it translates itself on the 5 A’s (Attention, Attraction, Advice, Action and Advocacy). The “Attention and Attraction” are more connected with Traditional Marketing and “Action and Advocacy” more connected to Digital Marketing, being the “Advise” as common responsibility.
