Did you know that many consider Sigmund Freud one of the masters of advertising? That became evident when his psychoanalytic studies motivated his nephew, Edward L. Bernays, to use his findings and influence the masses for millions of ad profit.
Most people saw things differently for the more significant part of the 20th century. A plate of bacon and eggs in the morning meant a well and blessed life. Women smoking cigarettes was a vision of empowerment back then, too. As the consumer psyche evolved, these old norms eventually became untrue to many today.
Freud’s and Bernay’s ways do say a lot about how the general public thinks and behaves towards advertising. However, there’s a new need for digital marketing transformations to offer your business more data-driven insights—and most of these insights are about categorical consumer behavior that no other ad expert in history can determine by themselves.
There’s no question that digital marketing in the Philippines is finally gaining ground. As more companies discover its benefits, technologies continue to shape the entire marketing industry. Modern data-driven and digital strategies have become the new pillars of commerce. Most of all, digital marketing can place your brand in pole position and help it drive significant impacts online.
Digital marketing transformation’s rise in the Philippines
In the past five years, ‘digital transformation’ has become a persistent buzzword in global marketing circles. Here at home, digital marketing first made its impact during the 2010s. The rise coincided with the popularity of social media among Filipinos. Today, over 89 million people have signed up for social media in the country.
A few key developments caused the rapid shift in the Philippines’ digital marketing transformation history. During the ’90s, internet connections became more stable and thus paved the way for the birth of online advertising. The first web-ad banners and pop-ups began appearing on websites as other marketers studied other potentials for marketing tools.
It was also during the ’90s when search engines began making their way into the country’s online mainstream. Yahoo back then was the most popular among users, but eventually, Google and Bing became more prominent during the 2000s. While Google continued developing its algorithms that allow users to discover new websites through search, it also saw an opportunity to promote and advertise brands on the platform.
By the latter part of the 2010s, more business sectors optimized their digital marketing strategies. Tactics such as SEO, email marketing, and paid search were quick to gain traction in the country. These developments further pushed brands to develop more ethical and efficient ad campaigns on social media.
With businesses undergoing their digital transformations, digital marketing’s impact also continued to manifest from 2020 onwards. When the pandemic hit the country early last year, more companies tapped digital marketing agencies for help.
To keep their business afloat, the need for new digital marketing strategies quickly became top-of-mind for various sectors. This year, social media rose to 4.7 percent, while digital video rose to 4.8 percent in ad spend. Looking ahead, the local marketing industry projects profits of over ₱5 trillion in the digital economy thanks to these transformations.
What makes digital marketing transformations more relevant today?
Digital marketing transformations can offer your business new opportunities to drive significant impacts online. It allows your brand to establish consumer culture while creating more personal connections with your loyal customers.
Depending on how fully integrated your technologies and platforms are, your marketing strategies can increase online traffic, engagement, and sales through digital marketing.
Pushing online marketing campaigns is more relevant today than ever. More and more consumers are looking for great online experiences and on-demand results.
In 2020, brands that utilized video ads saw a 79-percent increase in sales and 64 percent higher brand awareness. Digital means have become a way of life for most consumers, and businesses like yours should have what it takes to deliver what they need.
Digital marketing’s impact on local business
Everyone can agree that COVID-19 pushed digital marketing at the forefront of every business vertical in an unprecedented manner. The good news is that digital marketing in the Philippines shows more significant promises for businesses even after the pandemic.
Like life-saving vaccines, digital marketing transformations are also on a massive rollout in the country—or globally, for that matter. In 2020, digital advertising was the lone media sector that saw year-on-year growth (3.2 percent).
Closer to home, Asia-Pacific businesses contributed 55.7 percent to the global ad spend, which is the most significant across all continents. And with the FOGO (‘fear of going out’) epidemic also catching on, Philippine eCommerce spending also spiked in growth by 42.5 percent or US$ 3.55 billion.
Thanks to these digital marketing impacts, more businesses could weather the pandemic storm. Digital marketing allowed companies to create more business opportunities and operational productivity for the long term regardless of their scale.
The factors that drive digital marketing in the Philippines
To remain stable in business, your company needs to be agile with the chronic disruptions during the pandemic and beyond. The undeniable impact that digital marketing transformation brought locally also drove businesses towards massive migrations. More companies have adapted to digital technologies, data-centric operations, process flows, and organizational changes.
Below are the key factors that can help you transform your marketing methods into a fully digital and efficient powerhouse:
Technology
Online technologies that streamline operational workflows, provide security, and integrate data sources became the heart of every digital marketing transformation. From a marketing perspective, this also includes advances in social media management and communication fueled by data-driven insights.
Improved analytics that allows you to automate the conversion of raw data into actionable operations is another gift that digital marketing brings. The knowledge that over 70 percent of online users aged 16 to 64 purchased their needs online, or that social media sign-ups increased by 16 million during the height of the pandemic will remain insignificant to your business without the right digital marketing technologies.
Data
Storing all your customer data into one digital platform lets you manage targeting campaigns without a sweat. That way, you can easily categorize market segments according to their respective search intent. This digital strategy allows you to personalize what each buyer persona will find on your landing sites.
For example, an interested online user finds you on Google Search and visits your website or social media page. Having installed Facebook Pixel and reviewing your Google Analytics will let you track and store their spend time and activity on your data management platform, or DMP.
Configuring your ad campaigns also allows you to save and review information on your customer relationship manager, or CRM. Aligning your CRM and DMP objectives is where the magic of digital marketing happens. As long as all your marketing tools work to let your channels function cohesively, you’ll experience a level of streamlining that gives you an unparalleled advantage.
Process
Creating your digital marketing framework requires you to devise a process that leads to achievable goals. You can’t shift to being fully digital overnight. First, it is essential to cover all bases of your marketing channels, as every framework is unique to a company.
Instead of drafting an outright comprehensive digital strategy, start with a brainstorming session with your channels that aims to align how your overall marketing flow works. From there, determine priority steps that will make the biggest impact and new roles you have to fill in. In creating a digital marketing process flow, always focus on your customers. This way, you can easily connect the dots to empower your teams to work with data.
Organizational change
In the long run, digital marketing proves to be more cost-efficient than traditional marketing and is completely scalable. However, before creating your strategies, you’ll first have to establish a fully integrated digital transformation framework for your entire organization. Upgrading your IT infrastructure and workflows will enable you to keep abreast of developments internally and in the digital space.
Digitizing all facets of your organization via data-driven solutions also keeps everyone in the loop throughout the transformation journey. It is important not to view these solutions as add-ons for business improvement. Instead, you’ll have to create a roadmap that alters work culture so your team can acknowledge these solutions as focal tools that achieve business goals.
Powering your business through digital marketing
The pandemic brought global economies in a transition period that all points to digital. As consumer behavior evolves, your business should be on top of the changes to remain competitive.
Having ample knowledge of how digital marketing transformation impacts the Philippine marketing industry will give you the upper hand. But knowing its relevance and where it’s going will prime you into an alpha business entity that can leverage all the key factors that pave the path to success.
Contact Eight Media and learn how you can start your digital marketing transformation today!
