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The Changing Landscape of Digital Marketing

The Changing Landscape of Digital Marketing

By Kirstin Miller

The marketing landscape has evolved drastically over the past decade.

As a result it is a strange, unfamiliar beast to many who were previously familiar with “legacy” marketing techniques and philosophies. The primary agent of this massive shift in the industry is the advent of the internet and the digital age. No longer are methods such as knocking on doors or cold calling the easiest and most effective way to build a business in most fields of work; instead, savvy internet marketers are gaining huge ground for their firms while those who do not adapt are left behind.

Can  you make the jump?

Digital marketing is now the way to go for nearly all companies and organizations, but it may not be easy for all companies to make the jump into the present. The internet after all is an unfriendly, confusing place for those who are not intimately familiar with its inner workings, social networks, and the tricks of the digital trade. As marketing has gone digital, even traditionally local software such as word processing and spreadsheet programs are now integrated into collaboration software suites and online document management. It truly is a strange new world for those accustomed to an older, simpler way of doing things.

For the internet marketer, acquiring and implementing a marketing project management software program is key. While marketers may not see themselves as having anything to do with the project management side of the business, it’s absolutely essential that companies are familiar with their project capacity so the marketer knows where to advertise, what to advertise, and to whom to advertise online. Though older programs such as Microsoft Project might do in a pinch, no program will give him as full a picture of what his company is capable of as modern, instantly accessible software suites.

Companies that have ditched the aging software paradigm on display in applications such as MS Project and instead made the leap into the modern age with online, cloud-based programs are far more likely to be able to advertise and market accurately and effectively. MS Project alternatives such as Basecamp, Workzone, and Smartsheet are all examples of this relatively recent shift in how projects are managed and how information is passed around to key people within a business. Remember, if your digital marketing expert is out of touch with your operations people, sales team, and project managers, he may be prone to make promises you can’t fulfill or target the wrong audience entirely.

While the changing digital marketing landscape may be a scary new place for many of us, with open lines of communication and access at every level of your organization, your marketing team can be a powerful force for driving sales revenue. Don’t hang them out to dry by leaving them in the dark; as an essential part of the sales pipeline, they must have accurate information and up-to-date sales goals communicated to them as with every other part of your company. Braving these waters may just be the catalyst you need to push your company to the next level of success.

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