As the new digital customer shifts their time from traditional media to digital media and their product research from brick-and-mortar channels to online, marketers know that it is important to master the art of digital marketing.

RLA_01Ninety-seven per cent of marketers surveyed in an informal poll by Delvinia agreed with the statement, “Digital should be a core competency of a marketer.” Nevertheless, marketers are overwhelmed by the number of digital marketing tactics and techniques available and the pace of change in the digital space. Before being able to master one technique, another arises or their customers’ online behaviour and preferences change.

Within this context, marketers feel the need to chase the latest shiny object and find the fastest way to get something in market, including acting in silos. This resulted in the reactive digital marketing era that was characterized by fragmentation, weak return on investment and pressure to keep feeding the content monster that the online channel is. Sound familiar?

To help improve digital ROI for our clients, Delvinia offers services such as our digital marketing workshops and the creation of a digital ecosystem strategy and roadmap. For example, Delvinia created SickKids Foundation’s Digital Ecosystem Strategy and Roadmap in collaboration with the client stakeholders. Though we have not fully implemented the long-term roadmap, SickKids Foundation has already experienced a 650-per cent increase in online donation volume based on the effort so far. The accomplishments were further recognized with the winning of the W3 Gold Award in the Health Care Services category recently.

Both the digital marketing workshop and the digital ecosystem strategy work Delvinia conducted are built on three principles:

1)     RLA_02 Media Working Together

As we know, the digital marketing tools in a marketers’ toolkit can be broken down into paid, owned and earned media. For maximum effect, all three categories of digital tools need to work hand-in-hand together – paid media’s power alley is in driving traffic; owned media is in engaging and converting; while earned media help fill in the gaps.

Delvinia’s clients often inquire about how to distribute their budgets across these three categories. We advise our clients that the goal of digital marketing is to build equity and momentum with your owned and earned media and the distribution of budget should be based on the context of their owned and earned media state. In other words, if you have few assets and momentum in your owned and paid categories, you will need to rely more on paid media to build momentum. As you build momentum, you can decrease reliance on paid media – the most expensive form of digital marketing tactics.RLA_image2

2)      Move Towards the Market of One (and Data is Your Natural Resource)

The marketing industry is moving towards the market of one through leveraging the two key capabilities of the digital channel – deep engagement and customer data collection. With the ability to cost-effectively collect customer preferences and behavioural data today, brands can now provide increasingly relevant, targeted marketing messages and offers to their customers.

In the age where customers are bombarded with brand messages and offers, it is imperative to be relevant and targeted. Brands that fall behind on this aspect will be filtered out by today’s customers – customers that have now become very savvy at filtering out noise. In turn, these brands will suffer from a decline in marketing effectiveness based on their existing way of marketing.

3)     Digital Ecosystem Image Build an Integrated, Cohesive Digital Ecosystem

The new, digital customer researches their purchases online through multiple sources and a brand’s website is only one of the touchpoints. With this new customer behavior in mind, brands need to look at the total digital ecosystem and define the role of each digital touchpoint – website, email, social media, mobile, and content marketing – in enticing the customer down the path to purchase and in building engagement and loyalty.

Through numerous client initiatives, Delvinia has proven time and again that an integrated, cohesive digital ecosystem approach provides superior ROI for your digital channel. This is because a digital ecosystem approach offers focus for your digital activities and removes redundancy in your digital investment – do more with less so to speak. Furthermore, today’s customers expect a consistent, seamless customer experience across your channels and digital touchpoints – something that can only be accomplished by looking at the digital channel holistically.