Digital marketing, formerly known as...

Have you heard about the next big thing?  There’s a buzz around it. Companies are trying to embrace it. Experts are being hired. Laggards are getting fired. Departments are being reorganized. New companies are emerging daily claiming to be experts on it. Digital marketing.

But… here’s some news. It’s not new. In fact, the whole strategy behind digital marketing has been around for a long time.  CTA (call to action), CRM (customer relationship management), conversion, testing — all of this has been around for years. What was it called? "Direct Marketing." 

What's new? The platform. 

“The Internet is really about highly specialized information highly specialized targeting.”
                                                     — Eric Schmidt

With the advent of the World Wide Web came social networking platforms provides new funnesl for messaging — Social Media and eMarketing. It is new in that it’s a new vehicle for brands to reach out to customers and build brand awareness, loyalty and even create brand zealots. But the best practices are not new.

From a Direct Marketing vet… yes, I dare admit it, the more I read, the more I smile, as the principles I’ve learned throughout my career still hold true for social media:

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• Have a clear and prominent call to action (CTA).
  
• Make the content quick and easy to read.
  
• Keep messages relevant and succinct.
  
• Engage your audience with knowledge — If you’re too promotional I'm not going to listen. 
  
• If you tout "you are THE best" the stats better back you up.
  
• Be unique while still being relevant.
  
• Incentivize me to spread the word — “U2's "Invisible" 2013 Superbowl promotion raised over $3,144,477.” 
  
• Never make assumptions about your customers. In September U2 and iTunes pissed off a lot of people by assuming EVERYONE wanted their latest album "Songs of Innocence".
• Don’t ask for too much personal information.
• Be careful what you do with the information you have. Whether it's "big brother", "big business" or "big government" no one likes to feel as if they are being spied on.
• Be cognizant of where, when and how you engage with your customer.
  
• Give them something to take away so they feel either educated or entertained and just maybe they'll start to think of you as a thought leader.

I’m intrigued with this now extremely mainstream ever changing vehicle of marketing. Just like TV didn’t replace radio, the Internet is not going to completely replace other communication vehicles. How could it? If everyone is talking to you at the same time in the same manner, would you listen? The person that would stand out is the one doing it in a different way. A way a consumer can relate to.

                           “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information 
                                     and different kinds, but more openly and with more people — 
                                and that social norm is just something that has evolved over time”
                                                                                                      — Mark Zuckerberg

Guttenberg invented and streamlined the way publishing happened making it more pervasive and mainstream. No longer did one have to wait for a hand written transcript, publications could now be mass-produced and got out to more people faster; well at least as fast as a a horse could cross countries and ships could cross the Atlantic. 

Fast forward >> Overnight Delivery >> Fax >> E-mail >> and now the Internet has given way to Social Media. All ‘new’ ways to reach your customer quickly and efficiently while expanding your reach to prospects.

                           “What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy
                                is the content of your advertising, not it's form.”
                                                                                                        — David Ogilvy

I must admit I was skeptical about Digital Marketing and even somewhat resistant… but look at me, here I am "blogging". The reality of connecting to your customers is not new. Digital marketing is a revolutionary delivery vehicle offering up new possibilities that still work most effectively when traditional best practices of direct marketing are followed. – “New and Improved Direct Marketing” if you will.