Momentum. Shama Hyder

Customer-driven

      Marketing messages used to be based on what a company wanted to convey about itself. Now they’re based on what a product or service allows customers to convey to others about themselves. And not only that—a modern marketer’s entire strategy is based on the information he gathers about his audience and is customized to fit their preferences.

       Old Paradigm: Focuses on push versus pull marketing

       New Paradigm: Integrates all marketing channels

      Where once marketers would choose between various distinct options—outbound versus inbound, traditional versus digital—now, companies are strategically integrating their marketing methods and channels. Marketers have realized that integration yields a much higher ROI than any single method or medium could ever hope to.

       Old Paradigm: Quantity dictates strategies

       New Paradigm: Quality dictates strategies

      In the old marketing paradigm, frequency of posting was the key to success; quality was secondary. Now, quality is the guiding principle for content, and determines its success in search and social media, as well as with its readers.

       Old Paradigm: Branches out to whatever is new

       New Paradigm: Utilizes relationships to grow

      While it used to be common for businesses to jump on the bandwagon and try every new platform that gained some popularity, novelty does not equal effectiveness, and spreading marketing efforts too thin is never a good idea. Now, smart marketers understand that instead of branching out, looking within can be the key to success. Some of the most effective digital marketing strategies can come from collaboration and integration with partners, customers, and vendors.

       Old Paradigm: Forces old metrics on new platforms

       New Paradigm: Successfully decodes digital data points

      Just as the marketing ecosystem has changed, so have the data points that determine success in the digital arena, and trying to force old push marketing metrics onto these new platforms is just setting yourself up for failure. Understanding how these new digital metrics affect overall goals is a vital part of the new model of marketing.

       Old Paradigm: Uses digital marketing

       New Paradigm: Embraces digital mindset

      Using digital marketing means including digital marketing activities as part of a marketing strategy. Embracing a digital mindset means rethinking your entire approach to marketing. Doing so can mean major change—but it’s the only way to find success in this new ecosystem.

      The old marketing model focused on choosing and pursuing just one marketing methodology—traditional or digital, inbound or outbound, push or pull. But in today’s world, where the line between the two is quickly blurring, that forced choice is one that no longer makes sense. Marketers embracing the new ecosystem recognize that, rather than choosing between options, we have to integrate them strategically.

      Take event marketing, a very traditional marketing method. You invite prospects and customers to your event and hand them swag bags full of marketing messaging—a very “push” approach. But today, throughout the event, those attendees are also active on social media, using your event hashtag on Twitter and other platforms, interacting with other attendees and hopefully your marketing team—a very “pull” approach, as it relies on the willingness of those customers to engage with your message online.

      Your traditional event marketing channel also is no longer limited to just reaching attendees. Simply by collecting some materials from presenters and setting up cameras, you can now have a virtual, digital audience that is downloading speakers’ slide decks, watching live streams of event presentations, and engaging with attendees via social media in real time. What was once a marketing campaign restricted to a single physical space is now a marketing campaign that is global.

      Some companies are even taking event marketing completely digital. SafetyLine is a Canadian SaaS, or Software as a Service, that offers a safety monitoring solution for people who work alone. It ran a campaign in which it threw an online “launch party” for its new website. The digital event mimicked a more traditional in-person event, with presentations in the form of webinars, and even provided attendees with “virtual swag bags” with coupons and e-book downloads.

      One caveat in this new ecosystem is making sure you aren’t running a campaign just because it’s new or different, but rather because that campaign is the best way to meet the particular goal at hand. In SafetyLine’s case, a fully digital event marketing effort made more sense than a physical event, because the main goal of the campaign was to get its email subscriber list to reconnect with the company and take the steps necessary for SafetyLine to become compliant with Canada’s new anti-spam law. It just happened that the team decided a fun new marketing tactic would be the best way to achieve that goal.

      Organizations that follow the old paradigm of marketing let tools dictate their campaigns and strategies. Often, they ask, “What can we do with this new tool?” when they should be asking, “Can this new tool help us with our existing business goals and strategies?”

      SafetyLine’s marketing team realized that a new tool—the ability to host a virtual event marketing campaign with elements that approximated an in-person event—could help it achieve a very specific goal. Voilá! Integrated, strategic digital marketing—a poster child for marketing in the new ecosystem.

      

       » How Your Company Can Embrace the New Ecosystem, Too

      In this book, I’ll be introducing the five essential principles to building marketing momentum in the digital age: agility, customer focus, integration, content curation, and cross-pollination.

      Here’s what to expect from each chapter:

      Chapter 2: 1st Principle of Momentum: Agility Through Analytics—Far from the static marketing campaigns of the past, the new ecosystem demands agile marketing based on analytics. This chapter will show you how to lay the groundwork for agility, introduce the most helpful analytics tools, and demonstrate exactly how to tweak your marketing strategy to drive results.

      Chapter 3: 2nd Principle of Momentum: Customer Focus—The new marketing ecosystem is completely customer-driven, from its reliance on customer engagement and feedback to its focus on customization. But perhaps most importantly, the most successful digital marketing today enables consumer self-expression. This chapter will show you how to craft your marketing strategy to attract your ideal customers and make them into fans for life.

      Chapter 4: 3rd Principle of Momentum: Integration— Marketing today no longer occurs via individual, siloed media. Rather, customers interact with you simultaneously via multiple channels, both physical and digital. This chapter will discuss ways to merge your strategies for individual channels into one cohesive whole.

      Chapter 5: 4th Principle of Momentum: Content Curation—The old model of marketing demanded content in high quantities. The new model focuses on quality and smart content curation—filtering the content you share through your unique brand. This chapter will show you how to become a pro at attracting visitors—and ultimately, customers—with your approach to content.

      Chapter 6: 5th Principle of Momentum: Cross-Pollination—Every resource you have can be harnessed to give your marketing more momentum, and this chapter will show you how. From leveraging relationships with employees, vendors, and partners, to integrating every aspect of your business under the marketing umbrella, you’ll learn how to move from scattered to strategic in your use of the assets available to you.

      The final chapter, Chapter 7: Measuring Marketing ROI in the Digital Age, will focus on how to measure marketing ROI in