How do your customers learn about your products? Did you place ads or use a strategic marketing plan to inform customers or rely more on great service to keep the customers you already have? There are many strategies that work, but one thing is now clear, any modern marketing plan needs to include digital marketing.

Why has digital become so important in the relationship with customers? Take a look around. How are your customers communicating with their friends and family today? They are online anywhere 24/7 and using tools such as WhatsApp and Skype to send messages and social networks to publish thoughts and ideas. The way that people communicate and source information has been transformed by digital technologies in the past decade, so it should be no surprise that marketing and customer development strategies need to also adapt to this new reality.

Look at the advertising market for an example of how much the world has changed. Almost 20% of all spending by companies globally on advertising goes to just Facebook and Google. This duopoly is also set to expand rapidly because in the past four years they have captured two thirds of all growth in advertising spending. The deputy editor of The Economist magazine has predicted that all print advertising will be dead by 2025.

Times are changing fast and this can be disconcerting for brands that have had a long relationship with customers, but it’s possible to break down the change into various areas you can focus on separately:

  • Digital audience: where is your audience? Which devices or networks are they really using?
  • App development: can you offer a better customer experience by designing an app that creates an amazing interface between the customer and your brand?
  • Web design and social media: how are you utilising the web and social networks to facilitate communication with customers?
  • Omni-channel: how are you bringing all these channels together so that customers always feel that they have a great experience regardless of which digital (or physical) channels they are using?

All these changes extend into the strategic change in the way that customers interact with brands today. Your marketing, sales, and customer service processes need to be aligned to achieve the best possible customer satisfaction results.

If you are considering how to plan your own customer-centric digital marketing strategy, then please click here for ideas on how Webhelp can assist you.

Are you a customer centric organization? Are you seeing the benefits from your digital strategy? Leave a comment below and let me know, or get in touch on LinkedIn.