The Four Faces of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing has four variants and each has its own objectives, organizational players, technological tools and programs. Failure to recognize the differences between these core digital marketing program types will lead to ineffective and suboptimal overall digital effort. A misstep like this can be compared to creating a European branding strategy, but ignoring all cultural differences in lifestyle, brand profiles, and distribution channels.

The four digital program faces can be defined by digital assets that can:

Support the product offering and its uses by providing information about its benefits, how it can provide value, its applications and how to obtain it. For some offerings and/or segments, the digital route will be the primary source to learn about the offering and a place to engage in interactive dialogue about the offering, its value, and its functions.      

For example: Ford’s website is a rich information source where a customer would visit to learn about Ford’s offerings when a Ford automobile is under consideration.

Creating effective digital programs which support the offering and its uses will involve understanding the target segment and proactively generating digitally-driven solutions to their issues and problems. You should ask:

• Is the offering limited because of issues with visibility, perceptions, credibility or loyalty?
• Are there weaknesses or problems with important costumer touch points?
• Where there are brand performance gaps or weaknesses, how can digital play a role?

When developing programs, the digital team must work with business and marketing units to generate ideas. Digital cannot simply be in reactive mode. 

Amplify other brand-building platforms by providing more depth, exposure and involvement. A program such as a World Cup sponsorship can only get so far with conventional media and those that attend. Digital can create a website and apps that will add value to the event by providing an interactive experience and in-hand access to schedules, news and insights. A successful advertisement or video can have an extended life through social networks and outlets like YouTube. Nowadays, Brand building home runs rarely happen without digital amplification.

Digital amplification will be maximized when two things happen:

1. Digital works with each of the marketing programs during the planning and designing phase. The role of digital should not be an afterthought.
2. Priorities should be established across marketing programs. For what programs can digital be a difference maker… how can we turn a single into a home run? Make sure that such breakthrough opportunities are realized.

Augment or enable the offering by extending its value proposition. Starbucks has an app that allows a speedy purchase, the ability to tip, earn ‘stars’ that lead to rewards, redeem rewards, find stores, find personalized offers and more. Competitors without such an augmentation will be at a disadvantage. When the augmentation is significant, a new subcategory can be created that renders competitors who lack that augmentation irrelevant.

Offering augmentation can aspire to create unique must haves that define new subcategories. The result can be strategic and prove a sustainable advantage in the future; it will need to be nurtured through ongoing innovation and an aggressive branding strategy. Augmentation can also be defensive – it responds to the innovation of competitors and can keep the offering relevant. In either case, the staff involved in creating and improving the offering from R&D, design, manufacturing, and marketing will need to partner with the digital team.

Create digitally driven or enabled brand-building platforms, centered on a customer’s sweet spot. The sweet spot is where a brand is an active partner, engaging in interests and activities which their target customer is intensely involved. These sweet-spot programs are designed to create relationships and equity rather than support the offering. Although digital does not have to be involved in such programs, many are viable only because digital technology enables or drives them. For example:

•  Sephora’s BeautyTalk, which offers “real-time answers, expert advice, access to a community, and your fix to all things beauty” is made possible because of website technology and other digital technologies.
•  Nature Valley’s Trail Views provide a ‘street-view’ style portrayal of trails in national parks that allow participants to experience the hikes digitally.

The feasibility and success of a digitally-driven, sweet-spot program should be tested with this list of questions:

1. Is there a need for a new sweet-spot program? Is there a real demand with a worthwhile audience (both size and quality)? Is there an opening for a new program or have others already gained a dominant presence?
2. Can the firm deliver a program with real substance that is in some way unique? This is more likely if the program is built on existing firm capabilities and assets.
3. Can the program get traction and be linked to the brand? Will the proposed sweet-spot program get enough visibility, relevance and credibility to be considered by target group members? Does it fit the brand?

 The strategic role of digital is too often neglected. The last two faces of digital can create long-term assets which meaningfully affect the brand vision, the brand-customer relationship and the ongoing source of competitive advantage. This type of asset can even create the must have that can define a new subcategory.

Recognizing that a digital program is strategic affects its organizational position, its resourcing and its management over time. A broadly-experienced senior-level employee should be involved in creating digital programs – a person with breadth of capability and an understanding of the business strategy. A stand-alone tactical team, no matter how good, will not be adequate.