Tag Archive for: Marketing

The Importance of Digital Marketing in Business

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Many people still have their doubts about the immense effect that digital marketing can have on a particular product or service. A common caveat of marketing is that its results are not always entirely measurable. We have already discussed the internal struggle organizations have between finance and marketing departments in our article, “Ending the War Between Finance and Marketing Departments in Your Company”, but this issue is a bit different.

Now we are talking about companies that question their marketing strategy altogether. Is digital marketing really that important? Let’s explain why the answer to that question should always be a resounding “Yes!”

Keeping Up With Consumers

One of the biggest benefits of digital marketing is that it allows your business to keep its finger on the pulse of consumer culture. An article from Mashable highlights a recent report stating that there are currently over 3 billion active social media accounts around the world. This means that half of the global population is using social media every single day.

This consumer base is so incredibly large that there is no reason why it should ever be overlooked. Digital marketing strategies are focused around these kind of users, and getting them to purchase products and services of virtually any company. Without such strategies, your business is missing out on truly massive opportunities.

It is also a common misbelief that these avid social media users exclusively consist of tech-savvy millennials, meaning that they are worthless to companies targeting other age groups. This is, of course, completely false.

Use of smartphones and tablets increased in every age grouping between 2015-2016, according to a Nielsen report. This same report states that smartphones reach 85% of all 35-49 year olds, and 60% of all 50+ year olds. Clearly, digital devices are not just for kids. To learn more about marketing specifically to older age groups, please take a look at our article, “How to Reach Senior Citizens Using Digital Marketing”.

Digital marketing can do more than just help you access your target audience. An article by SmartInsights discusses 10 of the biggest reasons why your company needs a digital marketing strategy. Some of the reasons listed are:

  • Provides Direction
  • Integrated Business Strategy
  • Avoids Wasting Money
  • Optimization

Not All Agencies Are Created Equal

When implementing a digital marketing strategy, many companies look to outside professionals at a digital marketing agency. These agencies provide specialized knowledge in all of the major digital mediums and paid online advertising platforms.

CampaignLive released a publication by Brent Trimble detailing the process of choosing such an agency, and what to look for in the very best of them. Trimble highlights many important features of digital marketing.

It is always crucial to remember that there is so much more to digital marketing than social media posts and Google Adwords. Not every business requires much in terms of digital marketing, but typically, those looking into partnering with an agency have more complex wants and needs from their digital campaigns.

Trimble expresses similar opinions as he says, “Impressions, clicks, click-through-rates, starts and stops are easily obtained by basic web analytic platforms like Google Analytics. This is useful information and certainly important, but true data science requires more patience and talent investment.”

In the world of digital marketing, you get what you pay for. Many agencies are primarily driven by the bottom line: profit for themselves. This can leave organizations to wonder which angency is really worth trusting with their future investments. When searching for a credible agency, Trimble suggests that companies focus on the 3 C’s:

  • Consequential: What is the effect that your company will have on this agency? Where do you rank in terms of size when compared to their other clients? This can help you determine how significant your business is to the agency and if you will stand out to them, or if you are just another drop in the bucket.
  • Chemistry: What kind of a relationship do you have with the agency? Sometimes when the numbers and statistics are put aside, you can begin to focus on the feeling that you get from a certain agency. If you cannot say that you would genuinely enjoy working with the agency and its representatives, then it probably will not be a good fit.
  • Case Study: Can they prove that they are up to snuff? Past behavior is the single most important predictor of future behavior. An agency grounded in successful past case studies will likely be able to produce similar results for you and your business.

Onimod Global

Naturally, we would like to use this opportunity to tell you about the digital marketing expertise that we have to offer here at Onimod Global. We strongly believe in the impacts of digital marketing, and that we are a credible agency that is qualified to deliver positive results to a wide variety of clients.

Our approach is based around working closely with your organization on an ongoing basis to adapt and stay ahead of your competition in a dynamic digital marketplace. We combine experienced and knowledgeable talent with world-class technologies to efficiently create digital marketing programs that deliver real results.

Learn more by visiting our website, or scroll through several of our client case studies by clicking HERE.

Ending the War Between Finance and Marketing Departments in Your Company

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There are many important areas of a business. These areas are very familiar with the natural give-and-take between them, but none seem to struggle quite as much as the departments of finance and marketing.

Return on Investment

The goals that the financing department abides by are to save money for the business, and invest money into good opportunities. Most investments have a clear return on investment, but marketing gets a little more tricky than static percentages.

Marketing is a dynamic investment. This means that it is not always easy to put marketing efforts into dollars and percents. Even tools like Google Analytics can fail to express the full return on investment that marketing can bring to an organization.

While many tools like Google Analytics and the Facebook Ad Manager can measure impressions, clicks, and conversions, they still may fall short. For example, a user may see and click on your company’s Facebook ad, but not convert. They may however, convert later by going directly to your site and making a purchase.

Marketing does not get any recognition for this conversion. Instead, it appears to be a wasted impression and click, and a separate organic purchase. This is why individuals with a finance perspective can view marketing and advertising as a waste of money.

Finding a Solution

The first step to solving this problem is creating awareness within your organization. Try to bring a fresh perspective to each department. Help everyone understand that they are not competing against each other, but instead are supposed to be working together to achieve the overall goals of the business.

An article by MarketingWeek.com discussed many of these same issues. They spoke with Zoe Clapp, the CMO of UKTV, who gave great insight into how their company handles this kind of tough situation.

UKTV decided to fully integrate a member of their finance team into the marketing team. This way, the two departments could work together in meeting important objectives.

Clapp spoke positively about the experience by saying, “Rather than us coming to finance blank with this list of ‘here’s what we want to do, give us a chunk of money’, finance had been all the way through the process and we found that really helpful. That made us come to a better and more rounded decision.”

Final Observations

Of course, this solution is not one-size-fits-all. There may be other ways in which your company can overcome these kinds of interdepartmental hurdles.

The major takeaway from this is to remember to maintain good communication. Keep everyone on the same page and in the same boat. You want to absolutely avoid any kind of war between two of your biggest internal departments, and effective communication is the best way to do it.

Read on for more helpful insights by visiting the Onimod Global blog! We are constantly making updates and posting new material that we feel will help our readers become better digital marketers. To visit our blog page click HERE!

The Future of Marketing Leadership

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While some individuals seem to be born with the gift of great leadership, for many others it is a skill that is learned over time. There is no perfect formula to follow when mastering such a skill. In reality, there are many different paths that people can take in becoming an excellent leader.

Most often, this path starts with a journey of self-discovery. Building off of one’s biggest strengths has proven to be very effective in personal growth. Rather than focusing on areas of weakness, it is much more valuable to focus on an individual’s strengths.

As great leaders develop their skill sets and emerge into the modern age of marketing, huge challenges await them. With this type of constantly evolving environment, leaders must learn to evolve as well.

Future leaders that are willing to adapt and experiment with new technologies, methods, and strategies are much more likely to succeed. As humans, we often resist change, but that does not stop it from happening. This ideal will be key to upcoming leaders in the marketing world.

In particular, columnist Colin Lewis believes that the hiring process will be greatly affected by advancements in the advertising industry. He makes a clear argument over the fact that, “new skills are going to be required that we cannot even imagine today, just like we could not imagine a ‘social media manager’ role 10 years ago.”

Of course, we cannot expect every aspect of the job to change. Cornerstone characteristics of today’s marketing industry such as creativity and exceptional communication abilities are not going anywhere. However, Lewis says that for the future marketing leader, these skills will not be enough.

Instead, future leaders will take on all tasks. This includes ones that definitely fall beneath them to lower ranking employees. These leaders will do it all anyway, because they know that all levels of the marketing process are important and hard work always pays off.

8 Companies Doing Social Media Right and What Marketers Can Learn From Them

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Are you reaching your audience on social media the right way? Marketing Land Columnist Jordan Kasteler takes a look at 8 brands you can take a page from. Read more