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10 Powerful Digital Marketing Examples to Inspire You (2023)

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By Marisa Murgatroyd

So, you’re after a few digital marketing examples to inspire your next campaign.

You understand the need for a digital marketing presence, as every statistic you see points towards it…

But where do you start?

Luckily, I’ve picked some of the best examples to get your creative juices flowing.

Let’s jump in!

1. Volkswagen Beetle: The Last Mile

In 2019, Volkswagen (VW) sought to give the iconic Beetle the send-off it deserved after 80 years of production.

They created the digital marketing masterpiece, “The Last Mile.”

You only need to watch the first 30 seconds to be drawn in by its relatable family story.

But why is this a powerful digital marketing example?

What Makes Volkswagen’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Well, where do you begin?

You’re already captivated by its moving story, imagery, and elements of nostalgia.

You’re engaged.

But, the online video was only the beginning…

The campaign included an interactive website where you could “Build Your Own Beetle.”

Further engagement.

Also, VW prompted users to share their designs via social media, creating a sense of community and buzz around the brand.

Engagement times 100, plus increased brand awareness!

What You Can Takeaway from Volkswagen

Yet, what can you takeaway from this?

VW effectively utilized multiple online channels to engage its consumers.

They tapped into social media and leveraged the Beetle’s history and nostalgia to create an emotional connection with their target audience. It generated a sense of community unlike any other.

So, understand your target audience and create content that resonates with them.

2. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

In 2014, The “Ice Bucket Challenge” was born.

The ALS Association produced a social media masterclass to raise awareness and funds to support research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The challenge went viral.

It was a fun and light hearted way to raise awareness about a serious illness.

Everyone from your next-door neighbour to Bill Gates participated.

But why?

What Makes ALS’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

For one, they kept it simple.

The challenge was easy to understand and participate in.

Simply sit (or stand) and wait anxiously for a bucket of cold icy water to be poured over you.

Easy…

It evoked many crazy reactions, each with an element of comedy and competition.

Secondly, ALS added a clever call to action (CTA) at the end of each video — nominating others, via social media, to take the challenge.

People nominated friends, family and influencers. It enabled ALS to expand their reach and quickly gain popularity.

What You Can Takeaway from ALS

Regardless of your niche, the “Ice Bucket Challenge” shows you can raise awareness and drive engagement around anything.

Ensure your content is straightforward and resonates with your target audience.

Equally, your content should have a crystal clear CTA.

3. Red Bull’s Stratos Campaign

The highly innovative Red Bull Stratos campaign captured the imagination of viewers by enlisting the help of Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner.

In 2012, he jumped from a helium-filled balloon 39 kilometres above the earth’s surface…

Setting a new world record and becoming the first free-falling human to break the sound barrier.

It became the world’s most-viewed live stream event.

What Makes Red Bull’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Yet, why was the “mission to the edge of space” a resounding success?

The hype was real.

Red Bull took to social media to build anticipation for the event.

Not only that, content was king.

They produced a lot…

From a dedicated website full of in-depth statistics to daily updates leading to the live event — readers felt like they were part of the mission.

Moreover, they encouraged readers to share at every opportunity, using hashtags.

The result…

#LIVEJUMP and #STRATOS was trending.

What You Can Takeaway from Red Bull

Red Bull thought outside the box and created a blockbuster campaign that piqued the interest of even the most sceptical of readers.

But it’s not achievable by all.

Yet the lessons are…

Quality content is king.

So, understand your product and continually provide great content that impacts your users.

4. Dove’s Reverse Selfie

In 2021, Dove launched its Reverse Selfie campaign to combat the increasing pressure on young people to look their best online.

The YouTube video features a 13-year-old girl who drastically modifies her appearance before posting a selfie on social media.

As the title suggests, Dove cleverly reversed the editing process to give viewers a glimpse of the number of modifications.

Ending at the beginning.

What Makes Dove’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Dove headed straight to the root cause…

Social media.

They repurposed snippets of the video on Instagram, posted shocking statistics, and sought the help of influencers to boost awareness.

It worked.

Viewers were emotionally charged — many shared unedited photos of themselves and encouraged others to do the same.

#TheSelfieTalk

What You Can Takeaway from Dove

Dove zoomed in and focused on one digital platform…

Social media.

Specifically, Instagram because of its focus on sharing photos.

So, you should too.

Don’t spread yourself too thin.

Pick a digital marketing platform that fits your demographic.

For example, if your brand has a strong visual element, promoting through Instagram or Pinterest may be more beneficial than LinkedIn.

5. Blendtec’s Will It Blend?

Founder of Blendtec, Tom Dickson, created the Will It Blend video series to spice up the appeal of the blender.

It consists of Tom adding unusual items to show off its ability…

Have you ever wondered if your iPhone would blend?

Or even your Amazon Echo when Alexa decides to play a completely different tune to the one you asked for?

What Makes Blendtec’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

But what makes Will It Blend a content marketing hit?

Well, each video packs a punch…

The YouTube videos are short and simple yet authentic and entertaining.

This creative recipe draws the viewer in and you really do wonder — @willitblend?

Also, the tag prompts viewers to interact at every opportunity by sharing suggestions.

Plus, Blendtec ensures you don’t miss it. They’ve added the tag to the Youtube channel logo, each video, and webpage.

What You Can Takeaway from Blendtec

Blendtec thought outside the box to increase brand awareness using video marketing and social sharing.

Plus, they’ve proven that you don’t need a flashy, high-cost video campaign to capture your audience’s attention.

So, grab your smartphone and start recording content that peaks your audience’s interest.

6. Smart Blogger’s Affiliate Marketing

Smart Blogger’s affiliate marketing efforts are a prime example of digital marketing done correctly.

Furthermore, they highlight a key point that is worth remembering when considering affiliate marketing:

“You’re earning a commission in exchange for giving readers valuable insights on products or services they were already thinking about purchasing.”

Great!

So what can we learn from one of the world’s largest websites dedicated to writing and blogging…

What Makes Smart Blogger’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Well, Smart Blogger backs up its key point by offering exactly as they state:

Giving readers valuable insights.

Whether it’s a specific review for a product or a collection of products, they ensure value is at the forefront of everything they do.

They soft sell through education.

What You Can Takeaway from Smart Blogger

Smart Blogger proves you don’t have to head straight for the hard sell with ads plastered over your page.

Instead, opt for the soft sell.

Educate.

Offer a resource and tools webpage with snippets of golden information…

Or dive in and create custom content that provides value to your audience.

7. Buffer’s Guest Blogging

Buffer is a social media toolkit for small businesses.

So, why are we talking about guest blogging?

Because they used this content marketing technique to rapidly grow their user base, and we can learn a few things…

What Makes Buffer’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Buffer took a proactive approach.

They continually sought out and pitched to sites that fit their target audience. Knowing that writing for them will help establish themselves as an authority.

Not only that, consistency and personalization were vital.

Guest posting daily, building momentum, and establishing long-term relationships with others transformed Buffer into an industry leader.

What You Can Takeaway from Buffer

The key takeaway is to find out which digital marketing channel works for you and double down.

Don’t spread yourself too thin.

If you choose content marketing and find guest blogging is for you, great!

But don’t reinvent the wheel. Send out personalized messages to find opportunities and follow up with quality content.

8. Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Old Spice was predominantly associated with the scent of older men.

But that changed in 2010 when they launched the YouTube video, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.”

It went viral.

Old Spice’s website traffic grew by a whopping 300%, and the brand became the #1 body wash for men.

But how did this simple form of content marketing garner such a response?

What Makes Old Spice’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Old Spice used a clever mix of humor and marketing know-how to appeal to its target audience.

But that’s not all.

They backed up their immediate success and kept the viral ball rolling by interacting with their audience on social media in real-time.

Users posted questions and the “Old Spice Guy” answered with personalized videos.

What more could you ask for?

What You Can Takeaway from XYZ

The key takeaway is it’s not enough to create a piece of digital content and expect a response — even if it’s positive.

Follow up, continually engage with your audience, and leave a positive, lasting impression.

Go that extra mile…

Personalize your interactions, and if you can, promptly respond in real-time.

9. Dollar Shave Club’s Our Blades Are Great

In 2012, Dollar Shave Club (DSC) shook up the male grooming industry.

They infused humour into a seemingly dull product.

And the result…

An instant hit.

Their YouTube video amassed millions of views and continues to be shared across social media.

What Makes DSC’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

DSC jumped on the social media bandwagon early.

They knew the marketing and advertising space was shifting to its digital counterpart and created content to suit.

Equally, they knew their target audience and products’ unique selling point.

As a result, “Our Blades are F***ing Great” was born on YouTube.

Choosing the digital platform allowed DSC to interact and engage with its audience.

Also, it allowed users to share through social channels easily.

What You Can Takeaway from DSC

Yet, what can you takeaway from this experience?

Adopting change in your niche is crucial.

Whether it’s technology-based or simply a shift in customer demand, you should pivot.

Doing so will allow you to tailor your content and give your customers what they desire.

10. Apple’s Shot On iPhone

Primarily targeting Instagram, Apple’s Shot On iPhone created a digital marketing storm.

They took the term “customer engagement” to a new level with a simple challenge to their audience…

Use your iPhone to capture a photo and submit it by sharing on social media using: #ShotOniPhone

What Makes Apple’s Digital Marketing Example So Powerful

Apple proved your digital marketing campaign can be simple when showcasing a product or service.

They planted a basic idea and allowed their audience to do the rest through participation.

This engagement was vital to building a loyal fanbase.

As a result, Apple’s reach grew, which allowed their product to be viewed by millions of users on digital channels.

What You Can Takeaway from Apple

Apple effectively used digital marketing channels to showcase its product and build brand awareness through customer engagement.

So, take a proactive approach and prompt your audience to participate in your campaign.

What challenge could you present to your audience?

What’s a Great Digital Marketing Example I Missed?

You’ve made it!

So, it’s time…

Time to take action and consider which digital marketing example will inspire your next campaign.

By Marisa Murgatroyd

Sourced from live your message

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5 Ways Creativity Will Drive Marketing Success In 2023

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By Bernard May

As marketers and brands around the world start 2023, one subject I find myself discussing more and more frequently is creativity. Internally, creativity is critical for keeping agencies competitive. Externally, creativity is key for driving results for our clients and partners.

But just saying “think creatively” is a vague request and, therefore, a lost cause. Creativity means different things across the spectrum of marketing channels and expertise.

Looking forward to next year, I want to take some time to outline not only why creativity is key but also where creativity comes into play for improving performance and maybe even helping to future-proof the marketing industry.

Automation Fuels Creativity

While some fear automation as a threat to their particular area of marketing expertise, I personally see automation innovations as gifts that allow us to refocus our creative mindsets.

The time that may have been taken up by manually tracking data points for optimizing the performance of a landing page, for example, can now be reinvested into creating more landing pages for testing. New ad platform innovations like Google’s Performance Max may free up time for Google marketers to create more differentiated ad messaging for more rapid testing and optimization.

As another example, not too long ago, we had to crack open a laptop and dedicate hours upon hours to edit video content. Now edits, flashy transitions and color correcting can be automated on our phones if we desire.

I urge fellow marketers to take advantage of and embrace automation for reasons like these. Time is our most precious commodity, and automation offers us all more time to get creative with our content.

Strategy Requires Creativity

Often overlooked is the need to flex creative thinking to develop effective marketing strategies. Developing creative strategies is an underappreciated but deeply important skill for effective marketing campaigns.

At its core, strategy is problem-solving—mapping out a solution of tactics, tools and processes for going from where you are to where you want to be. Now, this may require thinking about data in creative new ways, exploring the connection of marketing channels from different angles and even re-exploring the pieces of the marketing funnel for different clients.

Remember, a creative mindset is not confined to copy, messaging and design. Without a strategy, there is no vision for how the pieces of the marketing puzzle will fit together. Without creativity, your marketing strategy is likely to fall flat.

Context Takes Creativity

If you take one thing away from this exploration of creativity, let this unpacking of context be the winner.

Context, in my opinion, generates 80% to 90% of the power attached to any piece of marketing content. Ad channels, website content, emails, social platforms, etc.—each require a different understanding when adapting content to the specific medium.

This is a very jargon-filled way of saying “what works in one place may not work in another.” For example, it requires creativity to take the essence of a product page on a website and pivot it to work for a Google ad. Even repurposing the minimal text of a Google ad for Facebook demands an understanding of the context so you can make the appropriate changes.

Just because someone is an amazing blog writer does not mean they can just bang out copy for a Google ad, Facebook ad or email drip campaign—and vice versa. It takes rapid creative thinking and an understanding of the content’s real-world context to be effective. Take the time to ensure you have the right creative minds in the right seats.

Loyalty Needs Creativity

In 2023, customer loyalty, and in turn better customer lifetime value, will become even more important. With a possible recession on the horizon, brands need to hold on to as much repeat business as possible.

So, where does the creative mindset come into play? Well, what drives loyalty is different across the board. It may take a combination of data, messaging and channel creativity to find an effective strategy for outreach, follow-up and loyalty-based promotions that are personalized for your various customer cohorts.

This might even mean polling your customer base to better understand their needs and desires so that you can proceed with creative and innovative loyalty programs.

Customers Want Creativity

All in all, customers have a thirst for creativity—something that breaks through the noise and makes them pay attention. There is a reason that people always talk about the commercials they see during the Super Bowl—it’s the “Super Bowl” of creative ideas.

The good news (and bad news) is that there are no rules surrounding creative concepts. “Got Milk?” and “Think Different” were beyond basic but broke through decades ago and are still remembered today.

There is a reason that consumers across demographics have pivoted to a platform like TikTok: We are attracted to new ideas. This platform has fostered a completely new avenue where creators are promoting products in ways that massive brands could never have seen coming.

The point is that customers and clients will always be in the market for new creative ideas and concepts. Businesses and brands will forever need creative strategies to progress. Marketers cannot ignore the power of creativity.

Creativity Is Non-negotiable

We have to invest in creative minds and ideas to keep our customer bases secure. You, your business or your agency partner may not (understandably) have every single creative angle covered. Anyone who claims to be an expert in every creative sphere is either lying to you or themselves.

So consider the various touchpoints of creativity, from the aesthetic to the strategic, and be sure to have your bases covered as you welcome 2023.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Bernard May

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Bernard May is the CEO of National Positions, a 5-time Inc. 500 company, award-winning marketing agency and Google Premier Partner. Read Bernard May’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Web 2.0 vs. Web3: What’s your next marketing move?

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By Marija Zivanovic-Smith

As marketers navigate the convergence of Web 2.0 and what many are calling Web3, we sit at an important inflection point. Many may be wondering, “Where do we go next?”

Let me first take a moment to define Web 2.0 and Web3.

Web 2.0: The current state of the internet and a digital universe of user-generated content that gave rise to e-commerce, social media, and search engines. It allowed companies to benefit from the collection and monetization of data from individuals.

Web3: The next iteration of the web with token-based commerce, blockchain technology, and its own language and communications. It’s given rise to decentralization and placing ownership of data in the hands of users versus a central authority or large companies.

Just as Web 2.0 brought a kaleidoscope of new opportunities from smartphones to social networks, Web3 is bringing the next wave of tools and innovations.

WILL WEB 2.0 DISAPPEAR?

Everywhere you go, you are exposed to marketing. Billboards, print mailers, and signage still thrive. The rise of Web 2.0 added channels, like email, Twitter, and LinkedIn, increased diversification, and marketing saturation. Enter Web3, where digital assets and digital wallets are another playing field.

According to Smart Insights, as of February 2022, the average email open rate was 16.97%. That reflects a drop from what marketers generally saw at 24% from 2015 to 2018. It is clear that individuals are already not responding to email marketing as frequently. Messaging apps and the ability to make connections and transactions via social platforms have been on the rise. That said, email still holds significant power as a marketing tool with 4 billion daily email users—a number that continues to rise—and an impressive ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, according to Hubspot. Email marketing revenue is estimated to reach $11 billion by the end of 2023, according to Statista.

Just like direct mailers are often still part of a marketing strategy, it is likely email and social media are here to stay. While the ideals and dynamic economies available via social tokens in Web3 are something to strive for, I believe we will not see a disappearance of what we have in Web 2.0 but rather a modernization and democratization.

HOW SHOULD MARKETERS BE THINKING ABOUT WEB3?

Data is quickly becoming the world’s most prized resource. In Web3, all user data is public (generally speaking). However, what is NOT public is the identity of the individual, unless they choose to make it so. Users will have more control over their privacy and likely will use their data as an ownership asset—meaning as a marketer, you will need to have a direct relationship with consumers who share their preferences. This represents a redistribution of power and a new level of privacy, transparency, and control for the average consumer. It also means utility is king and that marketers have to provide the right tools to the right users.

I believe audience expectations will shift, especially when it comes to the channel, frequency, and confidentiality of communications. Communities—not corporations—move to centre stage.

KEY STRATEGIES

With that in mind, here are a few key strategies to help marketers make the transition to Web3 more successful:

1. Focus on authenticity. Digital wallets are public and contain things of value (tokens), whereas email or social media accounts can’t be characterized in the same way. They are free to create—including content, clicks, and likes. This has given way to scams and security issues. I’ve found consumers are increasingly becoming leery of being a part of online platforms or making online purchases. This can provide brands with an opportunity to leverage Web3 technology that offers a level of authenticity and trust as they integrate technology into their own platforms.

2. Be willing to experiment and get messy. We’re sitting on the cusp of Web3 without it being fully here. If you wait for Web3 to be fully established before you “dive in,” you could risk meeting the same fate as companies that waited too long to get on board with Web 2.0.

This is the time to try strategies that may or may not work. I believe the most successful NFT projects so far have offered something creative and original. Tiffany’s NFTiff collection is a good case study of a brand navigating a Web3 marketing campaign. Financially, the limited-edition collection was a success, with the 250 NFTs selling out in 22 minutes at 30 ETH (around $50,000) each. While the NFTiff collection netted Tiffany & Co. the equivalent of $12.5 million, the release and resulting community response also serve as an important lesson for using Web3 as a marketing channel.

3. Take a community-first approach. In an increasingly digital world, people are craving communities that share their ideals, goals, and aesthetics. One of the biggest values in the Web3 space is access to that community. In my experience, belonging is becoming the main driver of loyalty, with the product being secondary. From a marketing perspective, lean more on building and nurturing strong communities. The NFTiff collection was born out of a tweet from Tiffany’s EVP of Product and Communications, who shared images of his custom CryptoPunk pendant. The response drove the storied brand to take its first step into Web3.

4. Create new value. Look at Web3 as an opportunity to envision and create new value for consumers and reconnect to company values. People are seeking fresh ideas, creativity, and innovation. In turn, art and technology intersect. Creativity is no longer viewed through a one-dimensional lens. Consumers expect brands to create and live value.

Ultimately, marketers should take calculated risks and keep in mind that Web3 opportunities are uncharted waters of both risk and innovation. That makes it especially important to work with trusted brands and services with a track record of protecting their users and doing right by customers.

As a marketing leader, the question to ask yourself shouldn’t be “What do I need to start/stop doing?” but “How do I start evolving my strategy so Web 2.0 and Web3 work together to benefit our brand?”

Feature Image Credit: luckybusiness/Adobe Stock] 

By Marija Zivanovic-Smith

Marija Zivanovic-Smith is IEX‘s Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, helping drive growth as we enter the digital asset space.

Sourced from Fast Company

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Brain Matters: The one psychology principle every marketing strategist needs to know

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By Moneycontrol News 

One of the beauties of life is that the secrets to understanding the complex world lies in a few simple truths.

While recently in London for a series of conferences, I met with fellow Behavioural Strategists and some two dozen CBOs – Chief Behavioural Officers from USA, Europe, Australia and South Africa, across diverse industries. A powerhouse of behavioural change and consumer knowledge, the group shared its findings and experiences of implementing Behavioural Science led solutions in their own organizations, or for client products, brands and people. 

Now, back home, when I sit down to distil four days of intense knowledge sharing and experience to a basic truth, I find it says only this much. 
 Everything in the world is what we think it is. Everything is what we compare it to – A basic truth that the best marketers and strategists have intuitively always known. 
 Zhuge Liang knew he could not fight the 150,000 strong invading force with a bare hundred men at his disposal. But he knew perception is reality. Legend has it, Liang ordered his troops to throw open the city gates, take down his flags and hide. He himself then took a seat atop the most visible part of the city’s wall and lit some incense. 
The attackers came in to find the great strategist in flowing Taoist robes, calmly strumming his lute. They were flummoxed. Surely, Zhuge Liang was luring them to their death with a well concealed army. They decided to retreat. Perception became reality. That was 2000 years ago.
Power of reframing 
Last year, the Heineken-owned beer brand, Tres Cruces, solved a potential marketing disaster using the power of reframing – by turning a silly typo into an opportunity.
While launching Tres Cruces Light in Peru, the team found a printing error in the packaging. Instead of the company slogan ‘Disfrute’ meaning “enjoy” in Spanish, the cans had ‘Difrute’, with the S missing. 3 lakh cans had already been shipped to retailers. Recalling them back was an option to avoid embarrassment. Was there a better way? Could a new reality be created instead?
Tres Cruces did some creative thinking with their agency and turned it into a game. Spot a can with the faulty slogan and you stood a chance to win a prize. Between 1 April and 30 April 2021, those finding cans with the missing ‘S’ were asked to post their details on a dedicated microsite with the code printed at the bottom of the can. Prizes beginning with ‘S’ (such as speakers, smartwatches, scooters, sex toys, and six-packs of Tres Cruces Light) were to be announced in May after a raffle.
The results? Tres Cruces, which sells about 1 crore litres of beer a year, sold the same amount of Tres Cruces Light in just one month!
The campaign also generated 24 million impressions on social media, 90 per cent of which was positive, according to reports.
From ‘Do this’ to ‘Don’t do this’
In another interesting finding for an Indian unicorn, Poorni S and Pavithra S, two behavioural strategists from India, discovered that when it came to products based on complicated logical decisioning like say taxes, or insurance, people ignore the message ‘Do this’. Reframing communication to take action by using a ‘Don’t do this’ message resulted in a 55 percent jump in engagement. Framing creates perception. Perception is reality. 
We’re always trying to attach the right meaning to things, to make better sense of them. It’s why things are always what we compare them to.
BOGO – buy one get one 
When it comes to perceiving value, the human love for anything free is well documented. It is hard to resist BOGO – buy one get one. But we also assign great value to things that are expensive. 
In 2018, social media was abuzz with the news of British fashion label, Burberry, destroying unsold clothes and merchandise worth £28.6m, just to maintain the premium appeal of the brand.
We like free stuff. We also like expensive stuff.
What is going on here?
One answer lies in the way our brain processes information to quickly arrive at a decision – it does so by using a set of rules referred to as biases and heuristics by cognitive and behavioural scientists. These biases are hardcoded in us due to evolutionary biology and are displayed by all humans (with additional influence of our culture and context). The system 1 process of deciding value involves our minds making a superfast calculation by seeking the answer to – compared to what?
If you have two options for buying popcorn at a multiplex, small at Rs 400 and a large at Rs 700, you might choose either one of them.
Add to it a third option, a medium at Rs 650 and suddenly things get interesting. Your mind races quickly and tells you that the large at Rs 700 is the ‘best’ option here. The introduction of a ‘decoy’ option means your mind gave a different answer for ‘compared to what’, skewing the decision towards one particular option.
It is for this same reason it makes sense to sell an expensive car worth Rs 3 crores in a luxury yacht show where the starting prices of the yachts might be Rs 50 crores, as opposed to a corner showroom. 3 crore is a tiny amount in this context. 
In general, folks love saving money. In interesting research for a fintech firm, Priyanka K & Prahlad B discovered that there exists a threshold beyond which the promise of significant savings actually backfired. After a point, a major drop from the anchored price via discounts was just too much to rationalize for the mind and triggered a stressful emotion.
Instead of the desired “Wow! This is so cheap”, the comparison led to ‘Wait, why is this so cheap?”  
Another study of 19,978 Groupon deals found that after a point, when the discount hits a certain threshold, it can actually hurt sales. According to a follow up lab experiment the magic threshold is ‘60 percent discount’, after which quality perception plummets. 
This effect is particularly true for credence products i.e. products for which it is hard to judge quality even after using them (e.g. medical treatment, automotive repair, expert services, health and organic food).
What does this mean for marketers and strategists?
Most of us will agree that solving the human challenge, the way the mind perceives and decides, is the prime task. 
But the frantic pace of brand building, developing and selling inside modern corporate life, both in startups as well as established blue-chip companies, means we are tunnelling most of the time. “Like running with your eyes closed”, as an old timer put it to me, once. 
We operate under a scarcity mode, driven by the pressures of quarterly results. We’re always adding the next shiny feature, latching onto the latest trend and creating a new store on Metaverse. While we do all this and deal with our own cognitive overload, there is often just one big risk. 
 We forget the basics. And the most basic of those truths is that everything is what we think it is, and what we have propped up against it, to let our consumer compare it to. 
As Andre Gide said, “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again”. A good place to start is to remind ourselves that every business is fundamentally in the business of changing behaviour. 
And maybe begin each strategy meeting with a simple question: “What behavioural truths do we know about our consumer, with certainty?”.
(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

By Moneycontrol News 

Sourced from CNBC TV18

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4 Free Marketing Hacks Most First-Time Entrepreneurs Fail to Utilize (and It Costs Them Big-Time)

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Here are four free marketing hacks most first-time entrepreneurs gravely underestimate and underutilize, plus a fifth bonus hack that can make you millions.

Many entrepreneurs are great visionaries, proficient builders and competent operators; however, when it comes to being creative, flexible and innovative marketers and salespeople, many of us — especially first-timers — fall flat. I can’t tell you how many entrepreneurs have come to me with the assumption they’ll simply “run ads” or “pay influencers” to grow from an idea to multi-million-dollar profits. While I’m not suggesting ads and influencer promotions can’t work wonders for some companies, it should come as no surprise that with their ubiquitous proliferation, their efficacy has waned.

Audiences have come to expect, and therefore oftentimes ignore, these marketing methods, which means a lot more capital (money) may be required to reach a critical mass of prospects to arrive at an acceptable conversion rate that ultimately leads to actual profits. That’s a long-winded way of saying pay-to-play digital marketing is doable, but oftentimes more difficult, time-consuming and costly than first-time entrepreneurs expect.

That said, the vast majority of first-time and early-stage entrepreneurs fail to recognize or take advantage of the multitude of free, highly-effective marketing tactics sitting at their fingertips. These commonly overlooked growth hacks can yield millions in low-CAC (customer acquisition cost) sales, and I’ve experienced this firsthand, as have a handful of my fellow profit-focused founder friends. Here are four underrated, free marketing hacks you can utilize to catapult your venture’s growth — plus, a fifth bonus hack that made my friend millions without a dime spent on ads or social media.

1. Customization

This first hack isn’t scalable, but it is a great launchpad. When you’re first building your business, the most important thing is creating happy customers, even if that means doing the unreasonable or unscalable. Why? Because these first customers will create the testimonials, reinforced confidence, potential referrals and the overall inertia to push you from a handful of customers to hundreds of customers to thousands and so on. One of the biggest mistakes forward-thinking entrepreneurs make is attempting to build a well-oiled, scalable machine at the expense of the customer experience.

Simply put, customization is one of the greatest free hacks you have at your disposal as a first-time, early-stage entrepreneur and CEO of a small, fledgling venture. While you shouldn’t plan or expect to bend over backward for every customer as you grow, doing so for a few key clients early on can pay dividends for months, years and even decades to come. Don’t be afraid to win over your first customers with unscalable customization; it may pay off tenfold (or more) if you leverage it wisely.

2. Leverage customer testimonials

Speaking of leveraging unscalable customization wisely, that all begins with robust client testimonials. One of the most devastating missed opportunities I’ve witnessed far too many entrepreneurs suffer is the lack of testimonials, simply because they never thought to ask the customers. It is ten times harder to track down customers weeks or months later and reach them, let alone actually capture an enthusiastic, contagiously positive testimonial in comparison to doing so during a customer’s current experience with your company.

One of the most strategic moves I made early on was to include a customer testimonial and feedback form that all clients have to fill out before the last piece of their service is delivered for one of my companies. In so doing, my team has garnered hundreds (maybe thousands) of detailed glowing testimonials without lifting a finger. These are in your own backyard if you act swiftly.

3. Tap into your former clients’ networks

Along the lines of leveraging former customer testimonials as a growth hack (to wildly increase your free marketing content and purchase conversions, due to the plethora of credibility and social proof), you can also tap into those former clients’ networks. One mistake I’ve made in serving a client base who may compete with one another is capping their likelihood of recommending others for our service. If, however, you serve a broad client base that isn’t competitive with one another, then offering an attractive (lucrative) affiliate incentive program to those early customers can be a great way to grow sales passively, thanks to your motivated crew of evangelist former customers who love your product, money, and spreading the gospel of their positive experience with their friends (for a financial upside).

4. Don’t underestimate email marketing

People can knock email and the written word all they want, claiming video or audio is all that matters these days, but as someone who’s sent close to 100 million emails over the past three years — and profited handsomely from them — my results prove otherwise. The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make with email marketing is to assume that sending one, three or even “seven” (that’s commonly touted as the magical number) emails is enough to judge a sequence’s success. There are customers who were on my company’s email list for over two years, received over 60 messages from us and ultimately spent hundreds or thousands of dollars when that right time, subject line or message hit them. There are also customers who purchase within the first few emails they receive, making up for the former.

The point being: If you’re willing to be patient, experiment and analyse the data from your email marketing, it’s entirely possible to build a marketing strategy all around the written word. It won’t, however, likely happen overnight, and you can’t simply pay your way into accelerated success with this channel.

5. This free tool built my friend’s multi-million-dollar agency (ad-free)

Though my current companies don’t employ this method, I have peer founders and friends who’ve built multi-million-dollar businesses all around DMs (direct messages) on channels ranging from Facebook groups to LinkedIn. No, they didn’t have large followings prior; they simply identified the right audience, crafted a client-centric message (or many) and began testing their luck. Similar to email, this strategy is a bit of a numbers game and will surely take some trial, error and improvement — but it’s a free option first-time founders shouldn’t sleep on.

The early-stage advantage

So many bootstrapped, first-time and early-stage (pre-revenue or pre-profit) founders lament their lack of funds or marketing muscle. While capital can surely expedite some methods of marketing, it’s oftentimes a crutch used to minimize the amount of time and hands-on effort founders need to put into marketing. That said, one of the advantages of being a first-time, bootstrapped and early-stage founder is that time, creativity, flexibility and resourcefulness should all be growth hacks you have on your side. You may not be able to out-spend a VC-backed startup’s digital marketing blitz, but you can out-strategy them if you’re willing to get a little bit creative, roll up your sleeves and do a few things that may not scale.

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16 Pieces Of The Inbound Marketing Process Agency Clients Often Need Help With

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Sourced from Forbes

When a company partners with an agency, leaders working on marketing typically have ideas about what they think their business needs. If the business sells directly to customers or clients, for example, its leaders know a strong inbound strategy is key. Often, a company will opt to handle certain inbound marketing tactics in-house, leaning on agency partners to help integrate both their efforts into a more comprehensive strategy.

After a client contracts with an agency to help define and shape the strategy for nurturing prospects’ journey through the funnel, it sometimes becomes clearer how invaluable their agency partners’ expertise in the inbound process really is, and the client starts wondering about other ways they could leverage the partnership. Here, 16 members of Forbes Agency Council share specific parts of the inbound marketing process that their clients frequently need more help with than they realized at first, and why this is the case.

1. Content Strategy

Companies often focus on turning out content and don’t do enough to make sure it is the right content for the right audience. Any inbound campaign will generate leads, but how you convert the leads to a purchase is key. This requires programmatic structure, strategy and content, identifying buyer personas and key performance indicators to nurture leads with content through the pipeline to purchase. – Maria Orozova, MODintelechy

2. A Social Media Presence For Marketing

The pressures of owning and operating a business are immense. Operational and service challenges aside, building a presence on social media for marketing is even more challenging. Those who approach social media as a side marketing effort to maintain relevance find little returns. Companies must invest the time, money and energy into a balanced marketing effort—including social media—to succeed. – Cagan Sean Yuksel, Dream Space

3. Audience Research

Usually, the understanding of the audience is based on anecdotes from leaders. Rarely is it rigorously researched and backed by reliable data. Everything flows from understanding target audiences. Spend time and money conducting both quantitative and qualitative research. It will make all of your inbound marketing more effective. – Gyi Tsakalakis, AttorneySync & EPL Digital

4. A Clear Messaging Framework

Too often, organizations jump into tactics before they have a clear understanding of their strategy. A great communications program is built on a foundation of a clearly defined objective, a targeted audience and a strong message that aligns your audience with your objective. Taking time to answer the basic questions and hone the messaging framework at the outset makes the tactics easier to execute. – Nathan Miller, Miller Ink, Inc.

5. Content Creation

Content creation is often one of the most difficult things for companies to execute. We often think, “How hard can it be to write such and such?” The reality is that good content is difficult to execute consistently and frequently. Writer’s block is a real problem for those who don’t do it regularly, and sometimes for those who do it professionally. Save yourself some frustration and outsource your content. – Jason Wilson, Strategy, LLC

6. Effective Copywriting

Many companies drastically underestimate their copywriting needs for organic search, product detail pages, marketplaces and other marketing channels. Companies love the low-cost traffic that SEO brings, but often think it’s a one-and-done project, or think it can be pulsed on and off. It’s a workstream, and many brands only have one copywriter on staff to address all copy needs across their business. – Antonella Pisani, Eyeful Media

7. The Call To Action

There’s a lot to be said around the importance of the offer/call to action when creating inbound marketing content. After a prospect has read your blog post or article, an effective CTA will move them further down the funnel (whether that’s to a sign-up form or an e-book download). Your CTA should be benefit-driven, action-oriented and tested regularly to optimize conversions. – Erik Koenig, SeQuel Response

8. Blog Production

Blogs remain a direct, effective tool for inbound traffic. But we often underestimate the strategy, TLC and even outsourcing they require to generate the desired return on investment. Before launching your blog, write down actionable goals, a distinct purpose and a deployment plan. Cover your bases on a topic bank, publishing frequency, audience, tone and delivery, writing and editing roles, SEO, and analytics. – Samantha Reynolds, ECHO Storytelling Agency

9. Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is the one area where companies seeking inbound marketing results need the most help. Mainly, this is due to their concern of giving away a competitive edge. Their concern is misplaced—being a great resource is its own competitive advantage. Your potential customers need help, and thought leadership is the best way to provide it. – Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave

10. A Newsworthy Angle For PR

Coming up with your own newsworthy angle isn’t easy. Before they get in contact with me, so many entrepreneurs have tried to do their own PR and have failed because they haven’t identified a strong media hook about themselves. Everyone has their own unique story, and PR is all about bringing this story out of each individual and making sure it’s conveyed in a newsworthy manner. – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR

11. Personalized Landing Pages For Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is an incredibly effective way to drive inbound traffic to a brand’s website. A key part of the strategy is ensuring the destination you’re driving followers to is fully optimized for the desired action. Personalization of a landing page and clear calls to action may seem like table stakes, but companies often need a greater level of counsel to achieve success in this area. – Cooper Munroe, The Motherhood Inc.

12. Unique Brand Creatives

A brand always needs to invest in creativity, as the rest of any inbound marketing layers are purely process-oriented. Anything that is process-specific can be iterated quickly, except creativity. If your content lacks creative charm and fails to connect with customers, the rest of the inbound marketing process cannot rescue your brand from an apparent failure. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day

13. Search Engine Optimization

SEO is an incredibly integral part of discovery for many brands. It is not a set-it-and-forget-it project, as search engines are constantly retooling and revising the algorithms that determine search engine results. SEO requires knowledgeable and dedicated technicians who regularly adjust and integrate the latest best practices for optimal SEO success. – Jonathan Schwartz, Bullseye Strategy

14. Analysis Of Funnel Stages Where Leads Drop

The most common thing in inbound is that leads drop at a specific funnel stage where companies need more help than they realize. Finding out the actual reasons for leads dropping is not very easy, as it takes a lot of time to understand the user behavior. Even after doing everything correctly and by the book, when the leads drop, businesses realize that they actually need help with it. – Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team

15. Conversion Rate Optimization

One area that applies to almost every inbound effort that is usually overlooked is conversion rate optimization. How many site visitors are converting into leads? How many blog readers are subscribing? Beyond this, CRO helps uncover the friction points through most inbound processes. CRO helps brands focus on what will move the needle. – Bernard May, National Positions

16. A Cohesive Web Profile Across Platforms

Creating a cohesive Web profile across various platforms is essential for a presence deemed trustworthy by search engines such as Google or Bing. A revamped SEO strategy should account for social media profiles and Web content, including service pages and blogs. In addition to presenting a unified brand experience to consumers, your organization will also be ranked better on SERPs. – Evan Nison, NisonCo

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The First 90 Days: Marketing at a Startup–People and Mental Processing

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By Chauncey Zalkin

Step one of the first 90 days of marketing at a startup–finding clarity and finding your place in the team.

Over the next couple of columns, I’m going to go into my approach to the first 90 days of marketing at a startup. Silicon Valley coined the phrase “building the plane while flying it.” You have to iterate and do good-enough stuff while making the sparkly shiny thing in the background. You’ve got to connect with people. You’ve got to make choices and you have to execute while managing. It’s a tough balancing act and never perfect, but with good communication and a little patience and compromise, you can find your way through.

The first things I’m going to talk about are finding clarity and finding your place in the team.

The Best Part of Waking Up–The Morning Routine

One of the keys to maintaining perspective is that every morning I wake up and write for 20 minutes or three full pages, whichever comes first. Some mornings with kids as a single mom, I only have 10 or 15 minutes and I take it. I write first thing after the coffee boils, the dog’s been out and the cats have had their breakfast. I do this while the kids are asleep or just waking up. It has helped me see holes in my thinking and be a better listener.

In my morning writing, my worrying mind will record things the founders have said, and they will come back out on paper as problems to solve. Sometimes I find solutions at that moment and my day is completely altered by what my mind has told me in the morning. My day is more impactful as a result. Morning writing is kind of a miracle and I highly recommend it. Whether you call yourself a writer or not.

People Person, Not Politicking

At a startup, different than corporate culture, there is not a lot of coddling going on and not a lot of processes. In my life, that’s a good thing. I am highly entrepreneurial, and I’ve been around long enough to know what I need to do to get things started and where I’ve made mistakes in the past. I am both an extrovert and an introvert. I can spend days alone writing and working and forget to see people until suddenly panic hits me that it’s time to see people again and I start making plans and reaching out again.

Knowing that’s who I am, I made sure to initiate one-on-ones with everyone whose role I would impact and whose role would impact mine. In a lean startup, that means business development and sales, UI/UX, the product owner, and operations and finance–the people creating the math that makes it all work. Pretty much everyone who is not a developer.

I sought to listen before speaking. I had a boss who struggled with that himself tell me to “understand before seeking to be understood” before every meeting. This is not easy, but it is imperative. Also, if you’re new somewhere whether you are in a leadership role or not, you really don’t know anything yet. You need to swim in the pool with the other fish and get a tour of the lake. At the same time, you can’t just sit there completely silently because people need to know who you are and what you will do.

A fellow Chief member in our core group suggested I ask people what they had really wanted to do that had been shelved or abandoned. Knowing what people are passionate about is an amazing way to understand their value and see opportunities at the company that might be getting lost in the shuffle. You can sort through the sands of lost projects and look for gems before starting from scratch.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Chauncey Zalkin

Sourced from Inc.

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4 Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency to Level Up Your Brand Power

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If you are not an expert, outsourcing your marketing efforts to a digital marketing agency is a great solution. With remote work flourishing, outsourcing your digital marketing to a specialized agency with talent and resources in place is a great way to propel your business growth without having to grow your team first.

Finding the right people to help you grow your business might be a challenge. That is why I recommend looking outside of your company for talent. Outsourcing important tasks to experts might be the push your business needs to grow quickly. One of the key tasks you can outsource to experts is marketing.

You might feel hiring a marketing agency is a risk. It’s understandable to feel hesitant at first when first engaging with a team outside your organization. But certain risks are worth it when the benefits outweigh them.

1. Not hiring a digital marketing agency could be costing you more

The number one reason companies shy away from hiring a marketing agency is they think it’s expensive. Often a marketing agency can be a cost-effective strategy when you take into consideration a full-time employee’s salary, benefits, taxes and PTO time.

Hesitating in hiring experts might delay your company’s growth unnecessarily. A marketing agency can help your business grow quicker and start generating revenue faster. It will free you up to focus on working with your clients and running your business effectively.

2. You get to decide what marketing efforts you’d like to outsource to a marketing agency

A digital marketing agency would typically have a menu of services. The advantage of contracting a marketing agency is it would have resources you would need that would take much time and effort to build up in-house.

Instead of wasting your time gaining expertise in digital marketing, you can access an agency’s experience and resources. Since marketing is its bread and butter, the agency will have people and tools in place to start executing your vision as soon as possible.

Talk to the agency representatives so you can agree on what services and resources would be best for you to leverage, given the stage of your business development. For example, you might want to outsource specialized aspects of digital marketing such as SEO, media buying or email marketing campaigns.

Shop around for a digital marketing agency to see what each can do for you and negotiate the budget.

3. Help them help you reach your marketing goals

For a digital marketing agency team to be most helpful to you, they need to understand your vision. If they don’t get what you are about, your values, your brand image and your goals for marketing, their efforts won’t produce the results you are looking for.

Ensure the hired team has enough material to learn about your brand so they can design campaigns in your voice. Develop branding guidelines for them to follow, reflecting the look and feel of your brand. This way, no matter who joins their team, they all have the same understanding of your brand.

The agency will also need to understand your tech stack and the tools you use to collect and analyze your company’s performance. They will need access to your ways of reporting and your data. Establishing clear channels of access, sharing and communication will decrease friction, increasing efficiency and speed of execution of your vision on their end.

4. Collaborate and connect via project management tools

The project management tools, such as Trello, Slack, Asana, Monday or Clickup, don’t just serve as tools of efficiency. They also provide your team and your marketing agency with a unified place to work in, creating a sense of a teamwork environment.

Trello, for example, serves my team as a central hub for communication and collaboration. My team can communicate and work together efficiently through comments and tags on specific tasks, and everyone can track progress.

A sense of cohesion among the team, aided by the digital tools, will help create a sense of common purpose. This way, each member of your team and the team you are outsourcing to will be invested in helping you achieve your goals and committed to the bigger picture, not just their assigned tasks.

It’s rewarding and gratifying to have your whole team working in unison and collaborating with an outside agency smoothly.

Level up your brand power

Growth requires more people power. Sometimes, that power can be found in outside agencies. Hiring a digital marketing agency might feel uneasy at first. Once you make the first step, however, you will find that outsourcing allows you to free up your time to work on scaling your business.

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The Golden Rule of Marketing Isn’t About Consumers

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By David Baldwin

Back in the 1970s, people encountered 500 to 1,600 ads daily. If that number seems mind-blowing to you, set your mind fire extinguishers to full geyser because today the average person comes across somewhere between 4,000 to 10,000 ads in a single day.

It makes sense, right? In the ‘70s you had fewer, mostly analog media choices compared to today where you have all the traditional outlets plus tons of social media feeds, podcasts, satellite radio, banners, product placement, and all the digital hoohah serving you ads at an ever-escalating rate. We are swimming in advertising not to mention being tracked and cookied to death. (Cookie-less world, sure.)

In fact, I’d argue that social media has outkicked its coverage with advertising. Because we’re on the receiving end of such a nonstop barrage from these platforms that they don’t really exist – in any recognizable way – for the reasons they started in the first place. Remember when Facebook was about connecting with friends and Instagram was about sharing photos? Until we say, “Enough!” there will never be enough for the feeds.

So, the question is: What and how are we being fed?

First, let’s clarify, I’m an advertising guy. I’ve been doing this for going on (almost) four decades. I love advertising. When it’s good, it’s great and when it’s bad, it’s annoying – a very simple equation. But in my mind, that’s the game. Try to do the good stuff that people like and you can change everything.

It doesn’t take a raft of research to realize that most advertising these days now comes from the direct marketing wisdom of the ages: ROI-driven, tried and true rules. Never mind that the history of direct marketing is littered with campaigns that bucked the system and engaged its consumers with wonderful content and won big results. But sadly, that work has never been the norm, and it certainly isn’t these days.

And maybe I just committed what might be the problem: The word “consumer” and the idea that we’re “consumers.”

How did we – human beings with thoughts and feelings, wives, husbands, children, families, relationships – ever allow ourselves to be relegated and chained to the idea of consumption?

Are you a consumer? Really? Is that why you exist, to consume? Look at your little children, are they consumers? Are you a locust descending on a field to consume all in your path? I hope not.

And you might say it’s just a word but my orientation as a copywriter is that words are everything and how we label things bends perceptions. And man, have we bent our perceptions to think of ourselves as “consumers.”

Seriously, count how many times you hear the word “consumer” during your day. I counted once and it was something like 63 times in one day. It’s on the news, in economic forecasts, and in the papers. You can find it all over the pages of the Wall Street Journal and on just about any news site you can name. It’s everywhere.

The word is ubiquitous, and we don’t even question it. Maybe the situation was summed up beautifully by Howard Gossage who said, “I don’t know who discovered water, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.” We’ve lost perspective and don’t see it anymore; we just accept the notion that we’re here to be consumers.

So, what’s the alternative? What if we start using different words to think of our customers?

What if we think of them as collaborators, co-conspirators, co-creators, or some better descriptor? Let’s treat them like human beings – your friends, family, brothers, sisters, moms, neighbours – not demographic statistics. David Ogilvy famously said, “The consumer is not a moron, she’s your wife.” We know this in our bones, let’s act like it.

What kind of value are you creating in people’s lives with your brand and your marketing? Start there.

Maybe, on a fundamental level, we replace consumption with collaboration. This is a facet of the diamond put forward by Michael Porter known as “Shared Value” – the idea that business is in a better position to make the world better than non-profits, NGOs, and even churches because what business does is solve a problem and then scale the solution. If business gets on the track of making things better, it’ll happen much faster than any other way. This doesn’t negate other organizations doing good, far from it. It just might offer a quicker route to making a difference by using market forces.

But a good first step might be to stop thinking of people as a number to achieve an objective. I call it the Golden Rule of Marketing:

“Market unto others the way you’d like to be marketed to.”

We have a responsibility to engage, to inform, to create quality experiences – not run into the room, drop a grenade and scream at people, exhorting them to call or click on us, dammit! It’s exhausting and unrelenting.

There has never been a better time to create work that has a point of view, a message, and leaves the viewer/reader with a positive experience or better informed. We have an opportunity to make people feel good about what we make, what they buy, and why they buy it.

Rather than consume or buy, just maybe they’ll buy into what you’re making and selling. And isn’t that better for everyone?

Feature Image Credit: Jingxi Lau

By David Baldwin

David is an author, film producer, entrepreneur, and one of the most awarded copywriters and creative directors in the ad business today. The founder of Baldwin&, co-founder of the Ponysaurus Brewing Co, co-founder of Take Your Seat, and author of the Amazon bestseller The Belief Economy, David is also the former Chairman of the One Club, and his work has been recognized by Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clios, Effies, and more. His film work (Art & Copy, The Loving Story) has won two Emmys and a Peabody Award.

Sourced from Brandingmag

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How Web3 Will Change Marketing Landscape Forever

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Web1 was the introduction of the Internet, where users could ‘see’ the revolution of communication, and Web2 allowed users to experience and interact with the revolution. Now we have Web3, in which we will be allowed to immerse ourselves in the experience, and for the very first time, users will be able to own the revolution.

At the beginning of the Internet, users relied on multiple software and services to accomplish a single task. To play a video game, you had to purchase an online game and connect with your friends via IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and Ventrollo. This is Web1 — a decentralized platform operating in a pluralistic framework. Now, all of the tasks mentioned can be accomplished on Twitch and Discord — this is Web2. Web2 enabled giants like Meta and Alphabet to consolidate crucial auxiliary objectives such as gaining followers, sharing updates, promoting products, and building an online persona into a single website/application.

Welcome to Web3

Web3, also known as ‘the new internet’ is a term used for a brand new rendition of the internet that presents the option of decentralization. You’ve surely read and heard about this brand new Internet, but how does Web3 embed into our properties? It’s pretty simple: through user behaviour.

Although it sounds like a succession — something like 3G, 4G, and 5G — Web3 is not an upgrade from Web2. Instead, it exists simultaneously and is supported by the Web2 frameworks. You don’t have to upgrade from Web3 to Web3.

The Need for Web3

Instagram is a great place to build your platform and gain followers, but it comes with its own cons. Web2 companies like Meta collect plenty of data on the backs of consumers. On the parallel side, these companies have now consolidated the platform and have a monopoly in the market.

The need for Web3 comes from people realizing the dangers of BigTech overreach. People are now interested in building tools that give the power back to the users. Context: for every dollar that YouTube advertising generates, creators get only 55%. Couple this with the risk of losing your entire work at the whim of a YouTube executive. Web3 is the solution to this precarious system. Instead of channelling money through centralized platforms, creators will now deal directly with the users.

Every time you stumble upon the Internet, sites like Facebook and YouTube get a hold of your data. This data is then sold to other companies. While Advertising isn’t entirely harmless, it is not the only space that gets a hold of your data. Here are some very scary examples:

· Ancentry.com retains the DNA of more than 26 million people

· Twitter fined for selling user data

· Apple sells data to Google

The strive for Web3 goes beyond privacy. It’s actually about what we can control. Not distributing our data to monopolistic companies has been a major point of infliction in the quest toward Web3. Just like a slippery slope can turn into an avalanche in mere seconds, giving a tremendous amount of power to a single entity can take an ugly turn in quick succession.

Why Web3?

Blockchain and Web3 is the emerging choice for the next generation of Internet users. Here are the main reasons why:

1. Privacy & Security: Web3 is an improved version of the web, built through the best cryptographic technologies that ensure that Internet users are able to secure their data from hackers and prying companies.

2. Storage Decentralization: The IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is designed to store data in multiple devices to deter any breaching efforts. Each file storage has its own security and the system operates simultaneously around the globe.

3. Anonymity: Users can choose to remain anonymous and operate in seclusion, all the while high-stake businesses and social media reputations.

Key Features of Digital Marketing in Web3

1. Artificial Intelligence

Web3 operates on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and interprets data in a much more reliable form. This opens pathways for a more linear and consistent reading of data sets. AI is beautifully woven through the entire structure of Web3, and it bodes perfectly well with digital marketing campaigns that rely on human behaviour to target audiences.

2. Decentralization

The primary feature of Web3 is decentralization. In this realm, the data isn’t held by a giant database. Decentralization ditches the use of HTTP protocol to find pre-stored information on servers. In Web3, information is not restricted to a single location — instead, it is intentionally spread out.

3. No middlemen

Web3 allows individuals to take control of their data. Through this, individuals can directly exchange value with each other and require no meddling of an intermediator. We’ve grown used to operating on highly centralised platforms such as Meta and Google. Although they come with their own perks, they also leave users privy to security breaches and information manipulation. Web3 opens pathways to data ownership, which is an essential step to achieving complete freedom on the web.

4. No external authorization

Users on Web3 no longer have to rely on third-party authorization to view data. Imagine not having to share your information (and biometrics) with third parties for authorization. the removal of obstruction increases the chances of user security and privacy.

The Impact of Web3 on Digital Marketing

The buzz around Web3, NFTs, and Metaverse is seemingly inescapable now. I am constantly fielding questions on what it means for digital marketing and social media-based promotional campaigns.

Web3 is being marketed as its predecessors’ smarter, more sophisticated version. The new and immersive technology is targeted toward users who want to interact with brands and have a first-hand experience of distinct products.

Digital Marketing in the Metaverse

The Metaverse is here to create a surrounding and immersive space for consumers. The unbounded access is the luxury of this space and is a fun and personalized way of interacting with people far away from you. Yet the space comes with challenges of its own.

You no longer have to imagine being in an alternative space where space and geopoints dictate the level of access and communication. We are already there. Metaverse combines the marketing lessons of Web1 and Web2 to create a mature, more sophisticated experience on the Internet for users.

Marketing via Tokens

Marketing is all about engaging with people and delivering your message. The gist of old-school marketing is to be relatable, likeable, and authentic. The future of a brand’s marketing lies heavily on the authenticity of the marketing campaign. Tokens and Web3 marketing take it up a notch by ensuring that users can have an equal stake in the engagement, buying, and selling of products.

Summing Up

Blockchain and Crypto went from pipe dreams to billion-dollar innovations because they were able to gear the market toward universal ownership and direct linkage. Brands are discovering NFT markets and establishing unique bonds with their base based on their will to build authentic communities. While we may have been introduced to the platform, we’re still conflicted on the road to marketing on Web3. I think it will be a fascinating journey with space for many trials and errors. Regardless, I can faithfully predict that the biggest net gainer of the process will be the user.

Feature Image Credit: Pexels

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