In the constantly changing landscape of digital marketing, there needs to be a goal or measurement to show what successful campaigns or efforts look like to your company.
That's the question on many of our minds as we forge through the first quarter of a year that's jam-packed with lofty marketing goals. Although it's nothing new, digital marketing has become a major game changer for both brands and consumers. Now that we are completely accustomed to digital technologies that were once trendy (email, mobile, social, e-commerce, etc.), "digital" has become the norm for traditional marketing. And given the consumer's adoption of all things digital, I must say, "traditional" has never looked so good.
Digital marketing is a huge win for global brands. Campaigns based on digital technologies provide quantifiable results like none before, and the multi-channel world opens up endless possibilities for executing complex marketing strategies. But how can sophisticated marketers keep pace with the onslaught of digital marketing technology? Where will it take us next? And how can marketing teams use digital channels to edge out competitors?
The pace of change in digital marketing can be quite overwhelming. To keep up, digital marketers need to look at their strategies and find ways to mimic this pace. In many cases, that means we need to adopt a more short-term perspective. Digital marketers have inherited planning methods from bygone days of planning for non-digital channels (perhaps direct mail). Plans were drafted a year in advance. Digital marketing success requires a different approach: agility.
Marketing agility focuses on adaptive plans and development, allows for quick changes or improvements, and encourages these quick changes and a snapshot understanding of results. This model allows marketers to adapt to unpredictable consumer behavior. If an agile strategy gives you the shivers, consider just a portion of your strategy. See if you can actually plan to be more adaptive as your target market needs change. Then, slowly show results that will encourage an agile planning strategy that can be rolled out across the marketing organization for all of your upcoming digital marketing initiatives.