The advent of the internet and the greater connectivity between global communities has been a boon to marketing departments from the very beginning. The ability to produce essentially one piece of content and disseminate it across a vast audience is far more effective, both in time and cost, than producing multiple pieces of physical content.
However, online marketing is not without its challenges. Consumer attitudes to online content are constantly changing and marketing departments are in a constant arms race to produce the next vital post or trending article before whatever they were working on becoming passé.
Despite these challenges, online marketing remains one of the more powerful tools in an advertiser’s arsenal and, in this article, we’ll be looking further into its benefits.
Instant Rewards
Unlike television advertisements or billboards, digital marketing can offer tangible rewards to customers who react to it. This might be a preorder bonus, such as when Fortnite mobile passes came alongside the new Samsung Galaxy S20, an ability to offer targeted discounts based on customer’s interests, or just complimentary freebies like CasinoSmash offering heart of vegas free coins.
Since these rewards are digitally accessible, customers can redeem them on the spot. What this means is that, unlike say, a physical coupon, the customer can indulge in instant gratification by immediately using their reward on the business’s platform or website.
This reduces the chances of customers forgetting their bonus, misplacing it, or cooling on the idea of redeeming it. After all, the instant digital connection with the customer is far more valuable than a more removed physical one.
A Level Playing Field
The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, with around 99.9 million viewers tuning in to watch. However, accessing the marketing potential of this event will set you back a cool $5.6 million for a 30-second commercial spot.
This kind of cost is beyond the means of all but the most wealthy of businesses. However, online, not only is the potential audience much much larger, but access to it is not trammeled by intensely expensive paywalls.
Even the smallest startup can dedicate a portion of their efforts to online marketing and, while there is an obvious benefit to having a huge marketing budget, exploiting social media and creating viral content to reach just as many potential customers as larger companies.
Social Media
Social media has grown to become a force that encompasses every part of our lives, from how we find a romantic partner to how we find a new job.
These self-generated digital communities, based on communication, are a gold mine for marketing as the correct piece of marketing content at the right time can sufficiently capture the imagination of enough people to spread through thousands, if not millions, of individuals and media outlets without the marketers doing anything.
Of course, there are a variety of ways to influence how marketing content is accepted and moves, from using targeted advertisements based on consumer data to paying for social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to promote your ads to the largest audience possible.
However, as we mentioned earlier, even with artificial inducements, what captures the attention of social media users in a positive light is constantly changing, meaning that what worked only a few weeks ago is now more meme-worthy than potentially viral.
Despite this constantly shifting social media marketing sweet spot, the results can be, at times, overwhelmingly positive.
In fact, underestimating the power of social media marketing can sometimes result in what we call “the Reddit hug of death”. Reddit, of course, is one of the better known social media platforms and targeted marketing can be picked up and spread through a series of its different sub-communities.
However, if the business producing that targeted marketing isn’t sufficiently prepared for their campaign to be a success, they can find that the sudden influx of traffic prompted by successfully advertising to Reddit actually crashes their website or platform.
