Digital marketing: are you making the most of it?

Digital marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of advertising today. 

However, to keep pace with digital’s huge influence on Kenyan media habits, advertisers must do more than
simply extend their offline campaigns into the digital marketing space. Digital is driving exciting new levels
of engagement between brands and consumers and reshaping media consumption across both old and new
channels. 

Research shows that Kenyans are becoming 'multi-screen multi-taskers', for example, watching TV and
going online at the same time. To be truly effective, a brand must incorporate digital marketing strategically
into their marketing mix.

Why Digital Advertising

Advertising online is now an essential element of a successful marketing strategy: responsive, versatile,
capable both of building brand awareness and engagement and driving response and purchase behaviour.
 
Given the well-established benefits of advertising online, it should be no surprise that 15% of worldwide ad
budgets*are now spent this way. In fact, it rather begs the question how much of the remaining 85% could
be better spent in the digital space.
 
Advertising online is often seen as the greatest direct response strategy ever invented. And it is. But that’s
only part of the story.
 
Online advertising campaigns can:
 Target consumers at any point in the purchase funnel, with a level of interactivity that today’s
consumers demand but which no other channel can deliver.
 Build new levels of brand engagement and advocacy, generate almost immediate word-of-mouth,
target audiences to an extent not available through other media and impact immediately on purchase
behaviour.
 
Digital has rapidly changed the way consumers relate to brands; for advertisers to respond, they arguably
need to move on from the question of ‘Why Digital?” and start to ask “How Digital?”. Many of today’s
most successful integrated marketing campaigns have achieved their impact through building their
strategies around the potential of digital from the start.

Digital Media Consumption

Media consumption is changing to align with how consumers are interacting with brands. 

 
As Harvard Business School’s John Deighton recently put it, brands in the digital age will be as much talked
about as talking. To achieve marketing goals, it is essential that advertisers understand media consumption
 patterns and factor new forms of media consumption into campaign planning.

Kenyans are Online

 
Kenya has some of the world’s most committed Internet users, who spent an average of 19 hours per week
online.1 Comparatively, Kenyans spend an average of 16 hours a week watching TV 2. These Kenyans are
adding screen time, like surfing the net and watching TV simultaneously, rather than simply replacing one
screen with another. Integrated campaigns that incorporate digital thinking within marketing strategy are a
must for communicating effectively with these consumers.

Digital media consumption doesn't cut consumers off from brands as once feared; instead it's growing their
ability to consume brand messages and (just as significantly) their appetite to discuss those brands and
messages. Get the latest insights and ideas for integrating digital into the media mix in our Guide to Digital.

Digital Media Planning

Targeting key audiences means integrating digital into your media mix at the first stages of planning.
 
A marketing campaign that takes into account consumers’ media consumption patterns and increased
media, is far more likely to engage and breakthrough. The most effective digital campaigns do more than
extend offline executions onto the web; they respond creatively to the way that consumers use digital media
in conjunction with other channels.

Recent research from Thinkbox and the IAB highlights the advantages of planning a marketing campaign to
make use of multiple channels from the start:
 Increased purchase intent, with conversion rates rising by more than 50 per cent when TV and
online are used together
 Extended reach across different audiences and channels
 Lengthening the life of the campaign, with different channels helping to keep messages fresh.

Social Media Marketing Checklist – Prerequisites for a Great

Campaign
by MA RC BI TA NG A  on MAY 19, 2009

I recently had a conversation with a potential social media marketing client. They had approached
me to create a Facebook Fan Page for their company to support their upcoming website launch.
Like any other consultant, I was thrilled to have a chance to work with a new client. However,
after taking a step back it was clear that the prerequisite weren’t in place to run an effective
social media campaign.
Before taking the deep dive into social media, here’s a checklist to get your campaign off on the
right foot:

1. What’s Your Story?

What’s your elevator pitch? What’s the short & concise reason why your company exists and is
different from everyone else?

- Obama’s story was that he was the outsider who had fresh ideas and can change Washington

- Grasshopper (formerly known as GotVMail) is the company that provides telecommunication

services to small companies so they can look like they are a bigger company.

- SouthWest Airlines is the low cost, no frills airline that get’s you to your destination on time

Without a story, all you have is a bunch of products and services to sell that doesn’t compel
anyone to act (or buy).

2. What’s Your Goal?

Are you trying to increase direct sales? Are you trying to soften up your prospects? Are you using
social media to increase your links for SEO?
BuildDirect launched a YouTube video to show their products were durable, give insight into their
company culture and spread the word about their company. Although no direct sales are
attributable to their viral video, their sales team has said that the video made it easier to
approach certain prospects because they were already familiar with the company through the
video they had discovered online.
Before talking tactics, have your goals in mind. It not only gives your campaign a direction but also
helps identify the metrics you can use to measure your campaign’s effectiveness.

3. Who Are You Trying to Reach with Social Media?

Although you may be tempted to jump to the obvious choice; your target market. Your potential
customers are just one of the potential targets for your social media endeavor. It could also be
the media, to try and gain some publicity. It could be a group of influencers such as bloggers who
can help you influence your target market. Whoever it is, have an exact picture of the group
you’re trying to reach with your social media campaign. It’ll help you (and your agency) focus
when it comes time to plan tactics.

4. Is Your Organization Ready to Be Involved & Invested?

Are you ready to invest people & time to the process? Setting up a Facebook Fan Page, Tweeting
your first few Tweets, uploading a couple of videos to YouTube…that’s just the first few steps to
set things in motion.

Brad Nelson who Tweets for Starbucks has said that he spends about a third of his day on Twitter.

Social media isn’t a set it & forget it medium. To get some real value out of social media, you
have to socialize, interact and be involved. In order to do those things you need to have people.
People to take ownership of your Twitter account. People to create some creative & interactive
promotional ideas for your Facebook fans. People to come up with a snazzy contest to get some
value out of YouTube or Flickr.

Although social media is perceived to be a free method to promote your company and increase
brand awareness, it takes valuable time & resources away from other core activities that you have
on your company’s to-do list.

Jumping into tactics may give the perception of a marketing win, but when results don’t
materialize the enthusiasm & support can soon fade. Having these answers in place before you get
started with social media will help your organization focus on creative & effective strategies that
will lead to a greater likelihood of success.