Digital First – The Norm
Year 2007
Digital marketing started becoming a buzzword in the later part of the last decade. The ability to create a website and optimize it on Google search started driving technology savvy brands and brands looking for business in other geos where any other source of marketing wasn’t even an option.
Year 2009
Next came performance marketing wherein brands started to look for generating leads on digital. The ability to be able to measure every new lead that came made it the medium of choice for one and all. From real estate to insurance to education, CPL became the name of the game and analytics the guiding force behind all.
Year 2012
Next came the era of social media where brands started measuring the metrics of fan base leading to a rat race.
Year 2014
When you have a crowd, the party must start and hence the evolution of engagement and interaction on social media. Brands started to look at this as the medium where they can connect with the millennials. Contests, awards for engagement and interaction became the key.
Year 2015
We evolved into a 360 degree digital marketing industry in 2015, wherein brands started looking at how to leverage digital for their offline campaigns. Digital started talking the same language as what the brand was doing elsewhere. What started as a medium to reach out to the millennials evolved into a medium used by more people than newspapers (second only to TV).
Year 2017
2017 is going to turn a new leaf into this evolution. Brands are going to move into a digital first approach. The consumers today are a different breed all together. Their choices, actions and behaviors are governed by the digital world. Yes, they are distracted but they are also perceptive, mysterious, indefinable and proudly self-absorbed. CMOs in 2017 will have to pull up their socks and start thinking the digital manifestations of their marketing activities (even if the CMO himself comes from a 25 year mainline experience). And in doing so, they will start adopting ‘Digital First’ strategy.
- A celebrity will be selected based on their online reach and engagement. Their contract will have specific digital deliverables.
- Brands will start sparing a thought or two about the digital manifestations of their TV ads before conceptualizing and producing.
- Outdoor advertisements will be used for providing a call for action which leads customers to online.
- Same will be true for newspapers, radio and all other mediums.
‘What reaction will this ad garner on social media?’ – this will become the fulcrum of every decision taken in the brand marketing war room.
Excited? Share your thoughts and predictions of the evolutions of digital marketing in 2017 and lets connect.
