Our next installment of this year's Top 10 Trends in Digital Marketing looks at how marketing budgets are further shifting towards online, what is a digital strategy and how can you position your budget to take advantage of the digital space.

2. Customers and prospects are relying more and more on digital channels in the buying cycle to
gather information, form relationships, and make decisions. Perceptions of a brand are now
determined by the strength (or lack) of digital presence. If you are looking to buy a product and
its online presence is weak, it immediately throws the product’s credibility.
Marketing budgets are devoting larger and larger percentages of the overall pie to "
digital channels.
With the increased share of budget however comes an increased level of responsibility.
Marketers have higher expectations of what they want their digital dollar to deliver.
Digital needs to be part of a strategic approach now, not just an add on. Accountability,
measurability and effectiveness are now critical components of the digital marketing plan.

3. A recent survey conducted by marketing
Sherpa noted a significant shift away
from traditional channels and into digital
channels.
Key findings:
• 69% cited increased spending on social
media
• 60% cited increased spending on SEO &
webinars
• 39% of marketers cited a decrease in
spending for print advertising
• 30% of marketers cited a decrease in
spending for tradeshows

4. The shift towards digital channels is not unique to B2C marketing.
According to research conducted by Advertising Age across B2B marketers, more than 75
percent said they felt their brands were at least somewhat at risk from not being as engaged
with customers as they should be.
Online marketing is likely to become even more valuable to firms over the course of the next
few years with most marketers devoting significantly larger budgets to online with some
quoting as much as a 25% share.
While paid search and traditional digital channels remain the focus of the spend, in an effort
to boost engagement, the majority of brands plan on devoting more of their budgets to
social media.
In order to determine how and where to spend this money, organisations are devoting more
and more effort to developing a holistic digital strategy.

7. When a customer first defines a need for a product they will
go through stages from the identification of a need, then
something will happen that will make that need more urgent
and a purchase will seem more necessary, then they will
start to look at and add products to their consideration set.
At this stage they may or may not know about your product.
Brand awareness tactics through digital presences at trade
shows, thought leadership recognition and online articles will
help to ensure that you are on the customer’s radar.
Content and tone need to be attention grabbing, in the right
place at the right time and as experiential as possible.
Allowing customers to test and experience a product in an
interactive way such as through the use of TCO and ROI
tools will help to cement your product in the customer’s
consideration set and provide a sense of control and
transparency for the customer.

8. Once the decision has been made to purchase
something, the next decision is which brand. B2B
customers are far more likely to research products
due to their need to justify expenditure internally. They
are less likely to buy on impulse or as an emotional
decision.
Content should be analytical and transparent. Your
product should be very easy to find through various
search tools and should contain all the information
that a potential buyer might want in comparing this
product to the competition and understanding why
your product is the best for the job.
Educational tools such as ebooks and webinars play a
crucial role at this stage in the process.

9. Online sales support tools (configurators etc) will greatly
assist customers in making the final decision. Once that
decision to purchase has been made, online channels
can also vastly simplify and speed up the actual
transaction.
Even if the actual transaction is too complex to happen
online, digital sales assistance, FAQ’s, guided help
systems and multiple digital channels of customer
service help to ensure that the customer experience
goes well.
Post purchase support to ensure appropriate product
configuration, can make the difference between a happy
customer and a vocal, dissatisfied one.

10. Once the product is purchased, installed and configured the
buyer starts to go through a process of evaluating their
experience. While dissatisfied customers are far more likely
to talk about their experience, digital tools are great at
enabling satisfied customers to also share.
User forums and online communities that help customers
get together and talk unite people around a common topic
and are a good way to build a direct line of communication
with customers.
Communities also form a fantastic resource in product
development and say a lot to the potential customer about
the company and the products it sells.
Lastly, it is considerably easier to resell to an existing
customer who is actively engaged with your brand than it is
to find a totally new customer.

12. SO WHAT IS
a digital strategy?

13. Digital strategy - the strategy a company takes to become a digital
company, where digital connotes deeper interactions with their
customers, more customized and personalized offerings and
interactions, data driven decision making, and an organizational
models and processes which are more nimble and reactive to changes
in the company's environment.
Online strategy - the development of plans to deploy online assets to
maximize business results.

14. Layers of
the strategy

15. Its very easy to let this "
get overwhelming

16. Levels of
digital strategy
Type of digital Objective
Might involve
Required level of Most important
strategy
involvement point of focus
within
organisation
Online Media Develop a plan for buying media in Paid Search
Marketing department
Test and learn
strategy
online channels could be to support Online media placement Micro level
a campaign or as part of an ongoing (banners etc.)
optimisation
digital media presence
Digital Campaign Integrated support an advertising Creative integration
Marketing department
Integration and
support
campaign or event through digital Channel strategy
measurement
channels (which may include a social Monitoring and
media element)
measurement solutions
Multi agency procurement/
management
Social media An ongoing social media platform Advocacy and loyalty Marketing department, Resourcing and
strategy
through which to communicate with programs
Product development, content
existing and potential customers
Content strategies
Customer service
Monitoring programs/tools
Full digital strategy
Change the way a company Cultural change
Board level
Commitment and
interacts internally and/or with Technological change
Investment
customers
HR considerations

17. EVOLUTION"
is about putting one small
step in front of the other but
walking continually forward
If
you
need
assistance
developing
your
online
presence
using
tools
like
social
networking,
e-­‐books,
and
webinars,
or
want
to
see
some
examples
of
these
strategies
in
ac<on
contact
us
at
interact@cyberbia.com.au
or
visit
www.cyberbia.com.au