The Dawn of Digital Marketing: 6 Key Trends

Truly dawning on the world of digital, it’s a surprising reminder that the iPhone just launched in 2007. The birth of an era really, for since, not only has the way we live our lives changed, but the way marketers operate has dramatically shifted. Much in line with principles of modern leadership and management, the timing of New York Connections could not have been better.

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A Salesforce conference set up with evidently high production values, recapping a glamorous event became necessary after the plethora of entertainment from Elle King, the Roots, and DJ Casey Connor!

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Business wise, 6 of many takeaways are as follows.

Keep customers at the center of your strategy

The most successful companies focus on their customers. The Marketing Cloud has evolved and Salesforce itself has grown out of acquisitions to create Journey Builder. This is further evidenced from a plethora of multinationals who have succeeded despite being over 300 years old (hi Barclays and Merck) and changing their business models to adapt.

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Love is a 2 way street: Focus on relationship building

From Mattel to Alex and Ani, all the way to fitness manufacturer Precor to mainstream McDonalds (which opens a store every 15 hours!), customers need to be part of a company’s growth. Focusing on revenue is a 20^th century phenomenon. Customers can be acquired and retained via customer-focused strategy to create brand advocates, loyalist and influencers. As Gregg Johnson, SVP of Salesforce Product Management said, “You most powerful voice as a marketer sis not your brand voice but that of your customer.” And in similar notes, as Diane von Furstenburg of DVF said, “Success gives you enough to pay the bills and gives you a voice. Use it.” Not just to advocate to your customers, but to share your opinion on something that matters.

Mobilize the entire customer journey, not parts of it

Lots of chatter evolved around the consumer journey. From the moment that customers even think about a product to the time they use it and dispose of it (if possible), tracking and mobilizing every part of it so they can conveniently interact with a brand on mobile is critical. As learned from an automation session, the People + Journeys equation should be one with acquires, onboards, engages and retains – all while automating, but simultaneously personalizing. It’s a learning process, but an enriching one.

Social amplification is a necessity

Facebook launched in 2004 and twitter in 2006. Social Studio by Salesforce has thus upgraded aptly to include all platforms including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook Video and even Google+, leading to an over 20% increase in adoption. Integrating this with targeting advertising can only spell a higher ROI; that is, if you have your social media objectives aligned with business objectives.

Data is a superpower, but can also be a kryptonite

7 of 8 mobile minutes are spent in apps, implying huge opportunity for brands and services. As Scott Jampol, SVP of Marketing at Opentable stated, the product team is a sibling and the acquisition team a spouse. The key is to find the right business attribution model for your business (last click, vs. first click vs. linear, for example). And also, don’t be afraid to fail, just get over it quickly was another piece of great, related advice.

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You can no longer be Amazon-ed, but get Uber-ed courtesy of digitization

The main attribution to Uber’s success – sans cars and drivers – is the focus on the customer and the smart use of digital technology. Keith Block, Vice Chairman and President of Salesforce truly exemplified this fact as a disruptive change for all organizations. And disruption is the only thing that leads to success, but marketers have to be prepared and ahead to see what’s coming. Case in point, Derek Jeter.