Digital marketing strategy: keeping it focused
June 8th, 2011 § 1 Comment
We’ve all experienced in our careers this scenario: The President, CMO, VP Marketing walks in and says “Hey, I saw on TechCrunch the Acmesupersocialinteractive.com presentation, and thought their application would fit perfectly into our marketing program”. Yes, it’s the latest cool thing, full of buzz and attention. But how do you determine if this newest application really might be useful, or not?
The importance of having a well designed digital marketing strategy certainly is to direct and measure your programs and campaigns. But it’s also a resource for determining whether new opportunities or technologies present themselves are applicable — something we tend to forget.
Here are some considerations for when the boss arrives with the newest/latest thing:
- Keep your objectivity. Yes, you designed the digital marketing strategy, and have lots of ownership over that. And your bonus is affected by its success. But try to keep your distance, and approach the process with objectivity.
- Do your research. Dive in and learn as much about the new application/tool/platform as you can. It can be difficult when dealing with start-up or barely out of the box technologies, but try to find what the real information is, not just the official press release version. You should consider:
- How long has the company been in business, and what does its financial structure look like? Is it VC-backed and has sufficient funds to continue operations? Does it have a customer base and growing revenues? You want to be certain that it will be around for as long as you need it.
- What is the real ‘reach’ opportunity from using the new application? Are there subscriber/member/user numbers that can provide a sense of what the real reach potential is? And what does that do to your current programs, either by adding significantly or not?
- Who are their current users and can you get information from them? Any user insights will prove very valuable when assessing a new technology or tool.
- How might it fit into your current digital marketing programs, and what might be the ‘cascading effects’ by adding it? Does it add to what you’re trying to accomplish? And importantly, how might its addition affect existing programs, campaigns or tools?
- And of course cost. What is the cost, not only of the new application or tool, but to its implementation, to other programs and tools, etc?
New applications, tools and technologies are a constant in the digital marketing environment. So having a method and discipline for determining which ones bring opportunity and which ones bring distraction is key. And using your digital marketing strategy as the tool for making that determination will produce a more efficient and effective result.
Early Adopters being replaced with Quick Adopters?
December 8th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Historically, new applications, technologies etc. were at launch the domain of the early adopter, someone who was tech-savvy, a heavy tool user, efficiency driven, and willing to take the time and risk to try something new. But a new wave of “quick adopters” has emerged, those users who are less concerned with having the ultimate performing application than with being able to perform simpler tasks easily and quickly. These quick adopters are more consumer-oriented than technology driven, less concerned with efficiency and more with entertainment and social connecting.
What has changed that has created this new user base? First, the emergence of open source has produced numerous new applications and upgrades to existing software, that have resulted in easy-to-use and more consumer-oriented software. Second, the introduction of new apps, smaller software applications that are single-application centric, performing a single utility rather than a more complex set of functions. This has created easy-to-use, lite versions of tools that can be quickly downloaded and tested. Finally, pricing has changed significantly: no longer an expensive proposition to purchase, free or nearly-free apps have become the norm reducing the cost risk of trying something new that may or may not prove worthwhile.
All of this presents a challenge to the digital marketer attempting to capture the interest and loyalty of a quick adopter. How do you make the your new apps or products ‘sticky’ when the quick adopter is just as likely to abandon your product as not?
