Digital Analytics vs Digital Marketing

Introduction to Digital Analytics vs Digital Marketing

The world is continuously evolving in such a rapid manner that it is today a hectic jungle of technology and mass of information that is vast and complicated. A decade ago, the world might have seemed to be a simple and less complex place, but that is not the story any longer. That is why nations and economies will have to adapt to the changing times with the intention of surviving this digital era which is definitely here to stay.

Since its inception in 1983, the internet has completely transformed the manner in which human being live and conduct their activities in almost all aspects of their lives. In fact, the internet today has a powerful impact on the lives of people and businesses around the world. It has made the flow of information easier, not just on the national level but on the global level as well. It provides information of all kinds to not just brands, but also to organizations, individuals, educational institutions, and others. It also helps us to connect with our friends and relatives, thereby helping us develop our relationships and keep in touch with people that matter.

Today, brands need to create a powerful presence in the online world in order to be successful, otherwise, they will be left out and become redundant brands. Besides impressive growth, the audience reach in the digital world is almost limitless. This is because a brand can reach millions of customers on the net, not just within their country but also around the globe. The internet is, therefore, a great medium through which brands can ensure that they remain important contributors to the lives of their clients, customers, and stakeholders.

Being present in the digital medium is therefore of vital importance for brands and digital marketing companies around the world. As people consume more and more digital content, almost every second of their life especially through mediums like smartphones, laptops, and desktops, companies need to invest in smart solutions that can help them make use of the immense potential of the internet and its related fields. Today, almost six billion people around the globe use smartphones to access information/services/goods of different kinds and that is why ignoring digital communication is one of the biggest mistakes that any brand can make in the current time.

Digital marketing – The future of marketing

Digital marketing is today continuously evolving and growing, almost every single day. As it is an evolving field, digital marketing is not just the present but the future of brands and digital marketing companies. In fact, this field is growing so rapidly, that it might very soon be traditional forms of advertising like print, radio, and television. Brands and companies need to embrace this brave world of digital consumption so that they can create campaigns that are faster, versatile, streamlined, and practical.

With so much potential in the digital medium, brands and companies who adopt this medium will see a lot of positive results in the coming years. Investing in digital medium communication, is, therefore, one of the biggest investments that can yield positive results in the future days. Some of the key forms of digital marketing include SEO content, websites, blogs, banner ads on the web, online videos, PPC advertising, email advertising, advertisements on social media that include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram among others, and mobile marketing.

In addition, there are many other forms of digital content that are being discovered every single day and that is why staying relevant in this industry and keeping yourself updated about all the trends takes on prime importance.

Why is digital marketing so important?

Digital marketing is undoubtedly the future of all brands and companies. Very soon they will become extremely affordable and a cost-effective medium through which brands can reach their target audience in a powerful yet engaging manner. For example, an email or social media campaign can have far-reaching consequences that can transmit information and generate brand awareness at less cost than a television ad or print campaign on one hand and reach a wider audience on the other hand.

Another major benefit of digital analytics marketing is that the impact and reach of each campaign can be easily tracked and monitored at every stage. This enables brands to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns without spending millions of money on customer research. In the digital medium, brands can have access to multiple tools that can allow them to track customer response rates and measure the success/failure of each campaign in real-time and at the same time also help companies to plan better and more successful marketing campaigns in the future. One of the strongest reasons for incorporating digital marketing into the overall marketing campaigns is that traditional marketing is quickly overtaking digital communication in a rapid and fast manner.  Today, almost three billion people use the internet and the bottom line is that unless brands adapt to the changing marketing scenario, they will lose their brand loyalty and connect at a rapid pace.

What is digital analytics & how does it impact digital marketing?

One of the main areas in which brands have failed to implement their digital analytics solutions. According to a recent study, there is a huge talent and hiring gap in the field of digital analytics arena where many digital companies said that they were in dire need of professionals who had expertise in the field of digital analytics. This means that if you are in the field of online marketing content, then professionals need to gain a lot of knowledge and digital analytics skills in the field of data analytics as this is what will help them take their campaigns and policies to the next stage. Data professionals, therefore, need to upgrade their digital analytics skills and strategically plan their policies so that they can improve their overall content strategy and policy.

The Harvard Business Review declared the job of a data scientist as the sexiest job of the century. In the next two years, according to Gartner, there will be more than four million big data opportunities and only a third will be successfully filled, which is a great challenge for the industry. All the digital analytics firms in the world are rapidly moving towards big data and that is why there are new updates in the field of mobile data, performance data, campaign data, product data, and even the manner in which data is being tracked by the data scientists. All these changes mean that there are two major implications for this change.

The first is that brands and digital analytics companies across sectors can strengthen their digital plans by investing in good content marketers and SEO professionals. Data skills are therefore a very important aspect of the future of digital analytics. The second aspect of big data growth is that as campaigns grow bigger and more complex, data analytics and technological capabilities will also have to grow in a rapid manner to adjust to this demand.

Data capabilities will need to become sophisticated and capable so that larger campaigns can be implemented in a successful fashion. That is why companies and organizations need to evaluate the digital marketing plans of the company in a strategic manner. In short, creating and implementing a digital analytics program needs four steps which include defining the digital analytics metrics and developing a plan, collection of data, development of reporting features and capabilities, and lastly ongoing analysis and implementation.

Digital analytics is therefore one of the prime focus areas for all brands and companies, especially in the coming years. The term digital marketing first appeared on the scene in the year 2011 but it reeky gained a lot of prominence in the year 2013. According to the latest digital analytics trends, Google anticipates that digital analytics will gain even more traction and popularity in the coming years as well.

Things needed to create a successful digital analytics plan

One of the first things needed by any brand that wishes to employ a data analytics tool is the employment of people who are really passionate about analytics and gaining insights from data. Many brands and companies, especially at the mid-level are still unaware of the huge potential and opportunities that digital analytics big data can provide them, especially in terms of digital growth and expansion. Sometimes, even big organizations fail to understand the growing need to employ data analytics solutions and that is why they continue to invest in old techniques and methods.

Another big step needed for the implementation of data analytics is a strong and detailed budget. Many companies are guilty of investing less money in this field as they feel other departments require investment and not digital analytics. While this might be true in the short run, data analytics has huge returns, especially in the long run. While data analytics requires heavy investment in the beginning, this investment is extremely important as it helps brands to get ahead of their competition and also make use of the immense opportunities available on the digital analytics platforms.

The next step in data analytics is the creation of key performance indicators or KPIs which will help you create strategies that are strong across issues including customer engagement, reach, and conversion. This is why brands need to invest in individuals who have intense and comprehensive knowledge about the various aspects of digital analytics marketing. At the same time, it is important to create a balance between all the aspects of the metrics. If there is too much focus on one part of the metrics, it can lead to the completion of only a few goals. Brands and companies need to keep the big picture in mind while creating and deciding the key metrics so that add even greater value and influence in the market.

While deciding on digital analytics, it is important that brands overview their digital analytics strategy at regular intervals so they can find out how effective their campaigns and solutions are. It is extremely important that brands evaluate their success on different social platforms as well because different social media platforms can have different levels of success. Analysts need to know which campaign can work in which platform and implement the said campaign on that platform which can create the maximum effect and reach.

One of the most important and essential parts of data analytics is data visualization. Visualizing data in an effective manner is extremely important as it is only then data analysts can make sense of the data. Unless companies can make sense of data in a successful manner, there is no tangible benefits of big data. In short, data visualization is the most critical and important part of the collection of data as raw data is of no use to anyone. Visualizing data in the form of information, you can valuable insights and data analysts are the map that can help brands to make sense of the vast amounts of data present in the company. Data visualization allows companies to interpret data and through this method, data analysts can identify hurdles in a process successfully and fix them before they result in a full blown crisis that can damage the growth of the company.

For example, many e-commerce sites can have GPS installed in their vehicles for tracking the progress of the goods. By assigning different colors to the trucks, the company can assign colors like green for timely delivery, yellow for a possible delay, and red for like delays. In this manner, the company is completely updated about the delivery mechanism, enabling them to provide better customer support and information. Also if their vehicles run into problems like traffic and weather, they can quickly send replacements and this would not damage relationships between the consumer and brand. While many companies, employ digital analytics, they fail to use the said data to create insights that can be used in future courses of action. It is important to uncover new digital analytics trends in the data so that marketing managers can create better and more effective plans in the future.

In digital Analytics vs Digital Marketing, we have seen both digital analytics and digital marketing are the two pillars on which brands will continue to build their growth story in the company years. Ignoring this medium of communication can prove to be fatal and that is why brands must continue to pool their resources to create strong and powerful solutions that revolve around the digital analytics platforms.

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