Digital Marketing. Annmarie Hanlon

Sixty Seconds® – Degrees of Separation

       Use your mobile phone to log in to LinkedIn and look at the Vice Chancellor of your university.

       How many degrees of separation are there between you and the VC?

       Who in the class has fewest degrees of separation between themselves and the VC?

      2.6 We're all digital now

      As digital consumers our lives have become surrounded by online tools, technology and systems – from the moment we wake until the day is over. Can you imagine a world without Wi-Fi?

      Governments and businesses are harnessing digital technology too. The European Union publishes an annual Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and keeps a scorecard of where European countries feature in terms of available connectivity, digital skills, use of internet by citizens, integration of digital technology by businesses and digital public services (European Commission, 2017).

      And now the digital genie is out of the bottle it's difficult to give up our online lives. As digital consumers, even if we adopt greater liquid consumption we're unlikely to give up second screening and showrooming.

      Further Exercises

      1 Working in small groups, identify all online and offline steps in the customer journey for (a) a food delivery app that you access via your mobile phone or (b) a local coffee shop. Analyse where there are any possible difficulties and make recommendations to address these issues.

      2 Imagine you are responsible for introducing a new technology into university. This could be a new payment system or a new library access system or something else. Considering the users, identify three objections you are likely to encounter. Write robust responses to all the objections that could be used across social media. Prepare a promotional one-page website to explain the new system.

      3 Working in small groups, prepare a plan to complain about poor service from a well-known brand. What steps are needed to gain attention from the brand? Be aware that any comments that are untrue or malicious could result in legal action.

      Summary

      This chapter has explored:

       Digital consumers and the concepts of hedonism and utilitarian consumption.

       How the technology acceptance model can be applied to the introduction of new apps, devices and systems.

       How changing digital behaviour from consumer power to prosumers, second screening to liquid consumption, affects marketing.

       The key factors in constructing a customer journey have been addressed, with many examples of the different terminology.

Part 2 Digital Marketing Tools