Looking into Digital Marketing and Communicating

First things first, if you missed last week’s blog post, here it is: https://tiffanycooke16.wixsite.com/website/blog/pr-under-the-microscope. I talk a lot about how PR has transformed to adapt to the digital era. It’s not the only related career that’s had to change to keep up technological advances and needs. Marketing and communications have had transformations of their own.

Marketing has always traditionally been an act of persuasion, but then the internet happened and suddenly these persuasive efforts could reach thousands, then millions. The potential for finding buyers grew drastically, but so did the room for competition. One of the most noticeable ways that marketers have taken advantage of the digital era is through more precise, paid advertising. Pay-per-click advertising reduces the costs of advertising but makes them more accessible and targetable. Still, marketers have had to find their way around obstacles that have emerged in the digital era – a more demanding audience and a greater fight to stay relevant. Buyers are used to everything being accessible at the touch of their finger, so digital marketing must exist to meet their needs. Digital responsiveness is important for successful marketing. It’s also a lot easier to “get into the game” now, so staying on top of practices and learning new strategies are important for marketers to keep their ads relevant and accessible in the digital era.

Modern day communication has changed how we connect, particularly in the outlets that are available. Social media and the internet are the new forms for communication, creating radically connectivity, if you will. Everyone is one or two removes from each other. This is good and bad. It’s good in that someone can be reached almost instantly, and a conversation can immediately take place. It’s bad for the same reason – if one person says something negative, it quickly spreads. For those who work in communications, the digital age has completely shifted their means of work. There’s so much more information and conversation to shift through now, and so many options and opportunities for communicating. However, for those communicators, there is good news. Thanks to social media and the internet, if someone has something to say or share, it’s not hard to get it out there. Anyone can be heard, and there’s a vast audience for listening.

Today’s world still needs marketing and communication, it just needs it to be different. But, technology has provided advantages to both fields that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. The digital era is far from ending, and so are the transformations. Years from now, it’s hard to say just what marketing and communication will look like.