Marketing
Issue No. 30 - August/September 2006
What counts on digital
Marketing Week 2006
Get set for a tsunami of change in 2007, warns Jennifer Williams of TribalDDB in Sydney. Applying her years of marketing experience to the new frontier of digital marketing, Jennifer says marketers have until the end of this year to equip themselves with new knowledge, methods or structures if they wish to stay relevant to the mainstream consumer.
What is digital marketing? Jennifer groups digital display banners on email, websites, digital TV and webcasts - basically, any marketing by digital media - into this category. The digital tool must be intelligent, enabling some kind of data collection.
"The field is particularly confused at the moment. The telcos are now content providers, broadcasters are extending into the web space, traditional advertising agencies are delivering digital services and search engines such as Google and Yahoo are starting to deliver news content," Jennifer points out.
"It is becoming particularly fragmented. Little businesses are appearing, such as blogwatchers and PR companies who manage spin on the internet."
Digital media is evolving so fast, she says, the first priority is to "get your head around" the basics. Without becoming too confused, it pays to learn which specialist providers can offer part of a holistic brand support solution.
The most basic marketing requirement is for the brand to be visible on search engines, chiefly Google. Optimised web presence is critical and with a new website appearing every five seconds, the sheer volume imposes a challenge.
"The second important point is the integration of on and off-line marketing such that they are truly integrated, not just matching luggage," Jennifer says.
A crude but common practice has been for general marketing to develop a concept, then give it to the on-line department with instructions to make the web presence "look the same".
"When things are evolving so fast, you have to determine what the roles of the different digit...
