Introduction to Digital Marketing History
In the 90’s, interactive media and the World Wide Web has taken most marketers by surprise. The focus was mainly on communication using email and limited online transaction infrastructure. This approach has changed starting the year 2000, and most companies use interactive media as both a relationship medium and sales channel. However, not all companies develop their digital marketing capabilities equally. Example of questions that remain unanswered are:
- What are the resources and the drivers of digital marketing capabilities?
- How digital marketing capabilities complement other firm capabilities?
- When and how digital marketing capabilities contribute to firm market financial performance?
Companies adopt digital marketing in several phases, starting with a basic online presence, to tracking of what works and does not, to build the digital business and deliver on the value proposition. Several questions remain unanswered on how to move successfully from the one stage to another. For example:
- What is the optimal structure for each phase?
- What are the digital marketing skills needed for each phase?
- What is the level of investment needed for each phase?
The emergence of more channels and in particular social media presented new challenges and opportunities for marketers. For many companies, social media represents a value added channel to connect more strongly with customers. However, companies struggle to measure its impact on financial performance. Example of questions that still not answered are:
- How will AI change the nature of content creation and conversation in social media?
- What is the underlying appeal of virtual influencers?
- How can we successfully identify and negate the effects of social media fake news?
Digital marketing analytic is another area of marketing that grew tremendously during the last decade. Consumers interact with several channels on their paths to purchase, and the availability of clickstream data is supporting marketers to understand the behaviours of customers at each stage of their purchase journey. However, more marketing interventions get automated, and several questions remain answered to ensure that marketing tactics and campaigns result in maximal ROI. For example:
- What is the system of website metrics that assesses the customer journey and relates to financial performance?
- How marketing channels are configured to achieve financial performance?
- Can AI replace the firm data analytic capabilities?
At Digital Marketing Evidence, we will try to answer these questions among others with blogs, videos and webinars on weekly basis. Also, we will discuss the latest digital marketing research publications and their applicability to your marketing practice. We will provide you evidence base digital marketing insights supporting your company to achieve higher market share and financial performance.
Further readings
Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79-95.
Leeflang, P. S., Verhoef, P. C., Dahlström, P., & Freundt, T. (2014). Challenges and solutions for marketing in a digital era. European management journal, 32(1), 1-12.
Parsons, A., Zeisser, M., & Waitman, R. (1998). Organizing today for the digital marketing of tomorrow. Journal of interactive marketing, 12(1), 31-46.
