Why marketing isn’t enough? [Vol. 1.]

In the simplified version, marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” When we take a closer look at the definition we find the base of it has some kind of a value. In a broader context, that value can be anything, from financial means to psychological components and positive feelings- everything that the end user finds to have meaningful significance.

Why isn’t marketing enough?

In the digital world saturated with messages of countless products and services, it’s difficult to be distinctive and different. Yet, the digital sphere, saturated as it is, can serve as an extension channel for brand communication, selling goods or business expansion. You should be present in all relevant social media, have a ‘’state of the art’’ creative marketing campaign and have an outstanding product or web shop. Even so, it may not be enough for the tangible result.

That said, you can have a great product or service, but there may be deficiencies in other aspects of the business that can not be covered by marketing efforts. When it comes to online business there are many different means, approaches, and tactics to be implemented in order to achieve your goals.

Every day, most of us receive hundreds of messages and new offers from a broad spectrum of services and products, through multiple channels of communication. In most cases, we look at them with almost no attention, and shut them down, before we even decode their meaning and what are they about. Most of them are oriented towards the appeal to make a purchase and spend our money.

That’s why marketing is just not enough. If the messages are not enough significant and original, we will no longer recognize them as relevant to us. New technologies combined with proper channels and outside-the-box ideas can make every message more cost-effective than standard techniques.

What is the solution when the marketing isn’t enough? – HYBRID TECHNOLOGIES

It’s important to follow new trends in technology because new tools and capabilities allow you to use hybrid solutions that you couldn’t do before. One of them is MARTECH– the blending of marketing and technology. Virtually anyone involved with digital marketing is dealing with martech, since digital by its very nature is technologically-based. The term “martech” especially applies to major initiatives, efforts, and tools that harness technology to achieve marketing goals and objectives. Although we do not recognize them under the ‘’martech’’ name, some technologies like AI, VR, AR, 360 photos and videos, chatbots, microsites, live streaming videos and other methods, when combined with marketing, can be more useful than standard marketing.

MICROSITES

A microsite is an individual web page or cluster of pages that exist independently from the main (parent) site. It can have its own domain name or subdomain, or it can be linked to the main site. Microsites usually have a narrower application and are specialized for a specific target audience and distinct purpose. In most cases that purpose is either editorial or commercial.

Either way, the emphasis is on a marketing component and strong visual impact. Micro-sites are oriented towards branded content and memorable user experience. It’s because of the high level of interactivity and the chance to integrate various types of multimedia content like video, galleries and photos, infographics, animations, maps, GIFs and scalable vectors.

Storytelling is yet another strong feature that can be utilized to maximize micro-sites efficiency and commercial purpose. When planning and creating the narrative part of the micro-site it’s desirable to include the brand story, values or promise. In short, all those things that differentiate you from the competition, and provoke emotions. From a psychological point of view, it’s important to create personalized and interesting content with a distinct and easily memorable message. At the same time, you want to ‘push’ the targeted audience towards that CTA button.

Although a microsite can be seen as one of the communication channels in the marketing or PR campaign, in this context it is also a tool or technique. When we combine a microsite’s technological base with visual values and possibilities, it’s definitely more than a channel. A microsite is an ultimate tool that should be included in marketing campaigns and tactics. It offers more features and possibilities than standard web pages, also it has a narrower focus to the product or service. It’s the most important component – enough room for creative expression and brand communication on multiple levels.

CHATBOTS

The recent Facebook F8 conference has positioned chatbots as the most important technology in 2017. Small conversational robots are becoming increasingly prominent online communication helpers, and Facebook’s Messenger platform has brought a truly mature state, ready to harvest new users and types of interaction. With more than 50,000 chatbots and 100,000 developers working on chatbot platforms, this technological trend is one of the fastest-growing in the industry over the past few years.

A chatbot is software designed to simulate human conversation for different purposes and applications. You can use chatbots on multiple platforms. With the rapid expansion of mobile shopping, they have become especially popular on the social media. Messaging applications like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Snapchat or Slack all have the ability to integrate chatbots.
 

Apart from messaging platforms, more webshops and websites choose to incorporate chatbots for the improvement of certain business segments. Even E-bay, one of the largest e-commerce platforms for auctions and selling, took an early advantage of this trend and implemented the chatbot ‘’shopping expert’’ with the Facebook Messenger app.

The possibilities for chatbot usage are widespread. From advertising, virtual assistance, education, and entertainment to customer service/support and product ordering. Nowadays, chatbots have become so advanced they can even take care of food delivery, purchasing tickets, ordering Uber, scheduling appointments, money transactions or paying bills.

In e-commerce, chatbots can be very helpful on multiple levels and provide a complete shopping service. You can use them for accurate and quick product searches. They can simultaneously handle more product orders from multiple customers, therefore speeding up the ordering and shipping process. In addition, you can even pay for your purchased products directly via chatbot so your customers have a complete and integrated shopping experience.

LIVE STREAM

Live stream has become an essential part of marketing plans and activities for those who are keeping up with new technology and trends. Streaming live videos is not a new phenomenon or trend, but it’s the popular way for greater audience reach. Statistics provided by The Guardian predict that in 2016. video content will account for 69% of all internet traffic. Cisco’s long-term predictions show that from 2015 to 2020, video content streaming and downloads will grow by 30% on an annual basis.

Since Facebook introduced its own live-streaming option, and the ability to watch and interact in real time video has proven popular with its user base. Latest figures show that users spend 3 times longer watching live video, compared to a video that’s pre-recorded.

There are a couple of distinct benefits of live streaming.

The first one is the possibility of mass communication which includes imparting and live internet streaming and exchanging of information on a large scale to a wide range of people. This happens in real-time and can involve people and the public from different geographical locations. This means that the business is no longer limited to a particular market or audience on this market, but there is a possibility of expanding on a much bigger market scale.

The second important thing is connecting this targeted public and audience to increase brand visibility and reach. Not only can you effectively communicate with large numbers of targeted audiences at the same time, but you can also reach out to multiple different audiences at the same time. Probably the best thing about live streaming is generating the virtual community live and interacting with them simultaneously. Through the live stream, you can engage with your viewers and the public, send key messages, and be heard. This goes in favor of the fact that video content is more popular than ever.

 
In the second part of the article, we will continue exploring the martech trends and technologies that can help you with communication and marketing efforts.

Stay tuned 😉