The evolution of the Web will bring new opportunities. Evolution of Web Technologies Opportunities identified can mainly be characterized as the
With the establishment of the World Wide Web in 1989, autonomous integration of data and services which the Internet increasingly influences the marketing and increase the pre-existing capabilities of Web services, as initiates a trend towards digital technologies that persists well as the creation of new functionalities. until today. The transition from Web 1.0 to Web 3.0 has caused radical changes both in consumer’s lifestyles and Digital Marketing Concept
in the way companies do business. The evolution of the Technological improvements and digital infrastructure internet is classified in three stages as Web 1.0, Web 2.0, have greatly transformed marketing. In parallel with the and Web 3.0. developments in technology and business world, marketing processes have also changed rapidly. The Web 1.0 buying and selling of products and services, entering new Web 1.0 is the term used to refer to the first stage of markets, creating relationships between companies and development on the World Wide Web that was customers or between two or more organizations are characterized by simple static websites. Web 1.0 covers increasingly being on digital platforms. The business one-way websites that enable internet users to obtain landscape is now on digital platforms. Marketers now use information only. At this first stage (1990-2000), internet digital marketing platforms and digital media to reach and users were limited to obtaining content only on the interact with consumers and businesses. The main internet. In this stage, users visit websites and receive the contribution of the Internet, the Web and associated information they want to. In other words, there is no technologies is to enable collaboration and sharing of possibility to contribute to the content or to create content. information and knowledge among people. This Web 1.0 stage is called “read only web”. Digital marketing formerly referred to as e-Marketing or Web 2.0 Internet marketing is at the heart of digital business –
This period (2000-2010), which has different dynamics getting closer to customers and understanding them better, from the past, was defined as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has adding value to products, widening distribution channels emerged as a technology where content is dynamically and boosting sales through running digital marketing shared on social networks, in a read and write structure campaigns using digital media channels such as search and bringing people together. Web 2.0 is the second stage marketing, online advertising and affiliate marketing etc. of development of the Internet, characterized by the It also includes using the web site to facilitate customer change from static web pages to dynamic or user- leads, sales and managing after-sales service. Digital generated content and the growth of social media. Web 2.0 marketing is marketing online through web sites, online is the business revolution in the computer industry caused advertisements, e-Mails, mobile applications. by the move to the internet platform. Digital marketing is a concept that still uses traditional Web 2.0 began when Web users started to radically marketing mix but faster, constantly evolving and based change the way they were using the Web on a day-to-day on high technology. It involves getting close to customers, basis. The major trends that shaped Web 2.0 include understanding them better and maintaining a dialogue with content sharing, creativity, segmentation, social them. It is broader than e-Commerce since it is not limited components, peer to peer sharing of files, easier to transactions between an organization and its communication, networking on various social marketing stakeholders, but includes all processes related to sites, video sharing, and blogging. Web 2.0 websites marketing. Digital marketing can help create a business enable users to create, share, collaborate and communicate which is customer led – where the customer participates, with others. Main features of Web 2.0 allow users to through a constant dialogue, a dynamic dialogue, collectively classify and find dynamic information that expressing interests, requesting products and services, flows two ways between web sites and users by means of suggesting improvements, giving feedback – where evaluation, comments, and reviews. ultimately, the customer drives the business. Digital marketing is the use of digital communication technology Web 3.0 to achieve marketing objectives. The digital technologies Web 3.0 is the next-generation web incorporating high- that enable digital marketing is progressing and will speed connectivity, cross-community interactions and an continue to offer companies opportunities for further intelligent or semantic web where automated applications changing their business activities. can access data from different online services to assist searchers perform complex tasks of supplier selection. In every business, an increasing number of consumers now rely on digital technology. Consumers prefer and Web 3.0 provides an integrated Web experience where the trust in digital technology for researching, evaluating and machine will be able to understand and catalogue data in a purchasing the products and services. In a rapidly manner similar to humans. This will facilitate a world changing digital world, businesses without having a wide data warehouse where any format of data can be consistent strategy for the digital marketing environment, shared and understood by any device over any network.
will inevitably miss the opportunities in the market and • Structuring the specialist digital team and lose their target consumers. Creating a digital marketing integrating into the organisation by changing strategy will help companies to make informed decisions responsibilities elsewhere in the organisation; about the digital marketing environment and ensure • Insourcing vs outsourcing online marketing businesses’ efforts are focused on the elements of digital tactics, i.e. search, affiliate, email marketing, marketing that are most relevant to business. public relations and staff recruitment.
Aims of Digital Marketing Strategy Key Features of Digital Marketing Strategy
The key strategic decisions for digital marketing are in The key features of the digital marketing strategy should: common with traditional marketing strategy decisions. According to Chaffey and Chadwick, the digital marketing • Identify the business and marketing strategy, with strategy has many similarities to the aims of traditional more specific annual business priorities and marketing strategies. Some of these aims are as follows: initiatives. • Use clear objectives for business and brand • Provide a future direction to digital marketing development and the online contribution of leads activities; and sales for the Internet or other digital • Involve analysis of the business’s external channels. environment, internal resources and capabilities • Be consistent with the customers who use and to inform strategy; can be effectively reached through the channel. • Define digital marketing objectives that support • Define a compelling, differential value marketing objectives; proposition for the channel which must be • Select strategic options to achieve digital effectively communicated to customers. marketing objectives and create sustainable • Specify the mix of online and offline differential competitive advantage; communication tools used to attract visitors to the • Include strategy formulation to address typical company website or interact with the brand marketing strategy options such as target through other digital media such as email or markets, positioning and specification of the mobile. marketing mix; • Support the customer journey through the buying • Help identify which strategies not to pursue and process as they select and purchase products which marketing tactics are not suitable to using the digital channel in combination with implement; other channels. • Specify how resources will be deployed and how • Manage the online customer lifecycle through the the organization will be structured to achieve the stages of attracting visitors to the website, strategy. converting them into customers and retention and
Importance of Digital Marketing Strategy growth.
Digital marketing strategies become progressively vital for Benefits of Digital Marketing for Businesses business’s activities, but it is challenging to integrate these Digital based technologies impact businesses in many applications into business strategies and plans. For this ways. The Internet and digital information technologies reason, it is important to evaluate and monitor certain have more to offer than traditional marketing important issues while managing digital marketing environments for communication and marketing strategies. These are: processes. The unique features of digital marketing have
• Gaining buy-in and budget consistent with the potential to change the marketing functions in a more audience media consumption and value dramatic way than was previously possible. New digital generated; marketing processes enable the businesses to save costs, to • Conflicts of ownership and tensions between a be competitive, to improve customer and supplier relationships, business processes, and performance, and to digital marketing team and other teams such as create new business opportunities. They allow businesses traditional marketing, IT, finance and senior to respond better to existing challenges in the global management; business environment and improve the anticipation of • Coordination with different channels in future developments. conjunction with teams managing marketing programs elsewhere in the business; Digital marketing brings significant advantages to • Managing and integrating customer information businesses and customers unlike traditional marketing. about characteristics and behaviours collected The benefits of digital marketing to businesses are as online; follows: • Achieving consistent reporting, review, analysis • Reduction in Costs and follow-up actions of digital marketing results • Ease of Targeting Customers throughout the business;
• Interactivity e-Mail Marketing • Collaboration e-Mail marketing is an effort to create demand and value • Placelessness for the business by distributing interest and value to • Speed customers via e-Mail and strengthening communication • Global Reach and marketing activities by e-Mails. e-Mail offers an • Trackable, Measurable Realtime Results extensive reach, higher measurability, quicker delivery, and easier consumer feedback for a lower cost than any 10 C’s of Digital Marketing other marketing tools (Kinnard, 2001). e-Mail has been
With the widespread use of digital technologies in the used for many years as the oldest digital channel and business world, significant differences have occurred in remains a common method of communication for many ways of doing business. Every business seeking businesses. competitive advantage and market opportunities using Mobile Marketing digital channels should continuously monitor and develop certain key trends while creating their strategies. The 10 Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables C’s of digital marketing that provide a framework for organizations to communicate and engage with their businesses and their marketing processes are as follows: audience in an interactive and relevant manner through and with any mobile device or network (MMA,2009). 1. Customer Mobile marketing has become an effective marketing tool, 2. Corporate culture due to its power and low cost with the widespread use of 3. Convenience the internet. The easy availability of internet connections 4. Competition over mobile phones increases the power of mobile 5. Communications marketing. Nearly three out of four people worldwide use 6. Consistency mobile devices. Besides television and the personal 7. Creative content computer, mobile phones are the third screen. Promoting 8. Customisation the products and services via mobile phones offers great 9. Coordination marketing opportunities. 10. Control Content Marketing Major Components of Digital Marketing Content Marketing is the management of text, rich media, The tools of marketing have changed throughout time audio and video content aimed at engaging customers and parallel to advancement of communication and digital prospects to meet business goals published through print technologies. The newest and fastest-growing channels for and digital media including web and mobile platforms communicating and selling directly to customers are which is repurposed and syndicated to different forms of digital ones. In the face of digital revolution and other web presence such as publisher sites, blogs, social media major changes in the business environment, marketing and comparison sites. Content marketing is a strategic today is both increasingly vital and radically new. marketing approach that enables to create and distribute Advances in digital-based technologies are constantly valuable, relevant and stable content to reach and mobilize changing the dynamics of business and processes. Digital the obviously targeted consumers. marketing plays an important role in the shifting of traditional marketing, along with different consumption Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
patterns and various communication ways. Search engines are comprehensive, easy to use and accessible information tools in the internet world. Search Innovative digital marketing applications, based on Internet engines, as sources of information, enable to find the and digital technologies, support all marketing tasks and closest one to the information sought on sites. Search processes in new ways. Marketing strategies and plans must engines, Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, Yahoo etc., used be designed with these new digital components: to search for information and products on the Internet are Social Media Marketing the most visited websites. The fact that users visit sites Social media is the web-based technology on which that are mostly on the first page in search results has people and communities share, create, discuss and present revealed the importance of the SEO concept. SEO lists their content through interactive platforms. Social media is websites that rank higher in the search results of related an important tool that shifts marketing, along with keywords and aims to reach the maximum number of different consumption patterns and various visitors from search traffic. The purpose of businesses is communication ways. The ability to promptly update, to get high visitor traffic from related keywords. The analyze and share information which is constantly being purpose of SEO is to ensure that the information, products updated with the ease of use of social networking sites - or sales on the sites reach more users. Increasing internet Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and use and the related increasing use of search engines other social networking sites attracted great interest from increase the need for SEO for businesses.
users.