The dawning of the digital age has rapidly altered the way in which society functions in a very short period of time. This shift has also altered advertising, especially in the past few years. The Internet and social media have created unprecedented opportunities for advertising and reaching a global market, as long as a company takes advantage of the technology.
With all the changes, it is essential that marking and advertising agencies remain savvy to the developments caused by the digital age. Below are the top five ways that the digital age altered advertising.
Social Media Provides Instantaneous Connection
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One of the biggest changes the digital age brought to advertising was social media. With social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, companies now have a way to reach the consumer directly–and the consumer to respond. A company can release news instantaneously directly to its followers. It can also use followers to help build the customer base by sharing posts to their social media networks. Social media is not just about advertising, however. It provides a platform for companies to create a more personal relationship and connection with its customer base, which can facilitate brand loyalty.
Easier than Ever to Track Customer Habits
The digital age has made it easy to track customer habits and use them for creating targeted marketing campaigns. Through the use of cookies and other digital trails, companies can gather data about a customer’s purchasing habits to create a picture of a certain demographics’ habits and tastes. They can use this information to create an advertising campaign tailor made to that demographic.
Personalized Marketing Campaigns
With digital trails, not only can companies gather more complete data about a demographic, they can also track an individual customer to target a specific ad towards him or her. Many companies utilize ads that show up on various other pages when a person has visited their website but left as a way to try to get the customer to come back to the company’s site. Additionally, companies can potentially recognize when a person might be in need of certain items. Famously, Target monitored customers and could recognize when they were pregnant, even before a customer actually bought any baby items. Additionally, many ads now both online and in store use a customer’s data to only show the customer ads that would be relevant to him or her.
Easy to Track Advertising Initiatives
With programs like Google Analytics, it is easier than ever to track all advertising campaigns to see whether a particular strategy was successful or not. The analytics can compare various campaigns, including direct mail, in-store, online, and print advertising. It can also differentiate whether it caused a change to traffic and/or conversion rates. Although advertising campaigns have always had a way to track whether an ad was successful or not, with the digital trail and the ability to easily streamline all forms of advertising, it is easier than ever to track a campaign and recognize what works, and what does not. This in turn allows for companies to know how to adjust their marketing strategy for the future.
Increasing the Customer Base
The Internet has made the world smaller. Companies can now instantly and easily reach customers globally, if they choose. Even if a company has a niche market, they target that niche market in a much wider area than before. Companies can easily sell products online as well, providing an even greater customer base than a typical brick and mortar store. Advertising likewise can target audiences locally or globally without much difference in the strategy, or the cost.