MARKET VIEWPOINT

Refining Your Digital Marketing Strategy to Enhance Online Presence

Jul 29, 2021

Impacting by marketing uncertainty, marketing budgets have fallen to their lowest recorded level, dropping from 11% in 2020 to 6.4% in 2021. i Brands are continuously reprioritizing resources and moving investments to digital as a reflection of drastic changes to customer activities and buying journeys.

Maximising ROI in Social Media

Social media marketing is proven to be a significant strategy in reaching and converting customers. The total number of global social media users has grown by more than 13% year-over-year and is 147 million higher than that of 3 months ago. Social networking also dominates the world’s online activities with 95% of the global working population spending more time in digital platforms, followed by messaging apps, search engines and web portals. ii To purposefully connect their brands with target market, organisations develop messaging that resonates their audience, extensively capitalise on video viewership momentum, and test different creatives and formats across platforms to maximise return of investment (ROI).

Improving Digital Presence with SEO

Online research remains to be the common starting point of customers’ buying journey. With more than 50% of internet users browsing for products online every week iii, brands are optimising their search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy to gain visibility across the internet and develop a strong digital presence. Despite the budget cuts, SEO has in fact earned a top spot receiving the most marketing investment. iv However, search engine algorithms are always affected by the ever-changing consumer behaviours. For instance, the use of long-tail keywords in search has proliferated due to the increasingly popular voice-based and virtual assistants’ searches. Brands should continuously adapt SEO efforts based on online search trends and developments, and curate buyer-specific contents that support leads nurturing.

Leveraging AI for Conversational Marketing

While strong customer service and engagement across digital touchpoints effectively enhance the overall customer experience, 63% of organisations are still struggling to deliver personalised experiences. v Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are key to executing an effective personalisation strategy for digital marketing. With AI and chatbots, brands are able to run individualised conversations and automate sales recommendations, which in turn build better relationships and drive higher customer satisfaction.