‘Digital marketing’ can be variously defined as either new technology-based channels or media by which to deliver marketing messages, or as a collection of new marketing strategies and behaviour made possible by the audience’s use of these technologies. I find that clients and colleagues don't always recognise the 2 strands or understand how they combine so I thought I'd write this by way of explanation.

Although relatively recent, the rate of change in audience behaviour and therefore in marketing tactics due to these technologies is astounding and ongoing. The largest change however is in the way that the publics consider mass communication methods to be a ‘dialogue’, that is, a conversation between connected and mutually dependant groups instead of mass messaging in a single direction between an organisation or brand and its markets.

The most obvious examples of this change towards conversations and dialogue can be found in the rise in popularity of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other ‘social networking’ services which are defining the term ‘Web2.0’, literally part 2 of the effect of digital communication technologies as enabled by 2-way communication.

These technology and behavioural changes are affecting marketing methodologies too. Instead of merely creating awareness or interest by mass or direct communications, hoping for a sufficient groundswell of opinion to change an audience’s behaviour, digital media can create known communities of like-minded people, creating a relationship between the organisation/brand and the community that can be developed over time, through dialogue, for mutual benefit.

In this way digital marketing can now be defined as the enabler of Relationship Marketing, i.e. a shift from a sales or transaction-based market towards a market that exists purely to understand and satisfy the needs of the market through cooperation. The benefits of relationship marketing are well understood:

• The community provides marketing research information
• The organisation/brand can provide better products and services
• Customers become more loyal, increasing profitability and reducing the costs of acquisition
• Customers become advocates of the brand, acting as an additional sales force.

In order to benefit from relationship marketing therefore, organisations and brands need to facilitate the establishment of the community and manage the dialogue on an ongoing basis. This means that any new marketing strategy should include the development (or addition) of a new ‘Community’ area on the brand website, allowing users to:

• Register for the community (perhaps in return for a financial incentive, discount etc)
• Access additional, valuable information
• Have their say about issues relating to the brand, product, service etc by a combination of media, inc:

1. Help desk
2. Polls
3. Forums
4. Blogs
5. Comments
6. Picture Galleries
7. Competitions
8. etc

• In return for their community’s contribution, the brand can respond with a better understanding of the market, improved products and services, targeted offers, tailored promotions etc.
• The organisation has, by virtue of the Community registration process, grown a solid email marketing database of warm, supportive customers who can through additional direct marketing (e.g. email, SMS etc) be moved towards even greater loyalty, profitability and advocacy.

It is important for the organisation to develop its own Relationship Marketing community so that the data generated can be measured and analysed as an ongoing marketing resource. There is benefit however in also creating ‘doorways’ through the main public social networks, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, so that new Community members can be contacted and attracted towards the main brand site.

Key to the success of the Community will be the level of relationship management provided and sufficient resources need to be in place. This needs to include:

• Ongoing news content development and publishing
• Forum and comment moderation
• Help desk management
• Polling
• Offers and rewards etc

It is a natural by-product of a successful community that the website will be deemed to be more popular and relevant and will therefore be more highly rated by the internet search engines, improving its natural search performance and allowing more new customers to find the relevant information more easily. With the Relationship Marketing functionality in place, all future marketing communications can be developed to work in tandem with the Community, delivering more informed messages about better researched products and services to a more targeted audience.

And that's it really, simple. Put the Community functionality at the heart of the marketing effort to enable the relationship to develop and flourish, leading to happy, loyal, profitable and helpful customers.

http://www.see-rm.com