Against what many may believe, human nature appreciates stability; change is often an uncomfortable and rather turbulent thought to our peace of mind. We were built to feel safer with whatever we can familiarise ourselves with. From that sense to us humans, the word “transformation” can sound scary and invading, but somehow, we have all been slowly habituated.
The recent yet drastic change in human day to day behaviour seems to have happened slowly, but the reality is our lives have been evolving faster than we may perceive it. But this is nothing strange for us earth inhabitants; we live in a fast/steady planet, floating in fast/steady space.
One day we tell our kids to stay off their phones and computers, the next day we struggle to wake them up to face those screens to attend their virtual classes.
Digital transformation has been on for a while now, but the 2020/2021 crisis showed us how the digital world has become a crucial part of our reality.
Let’s play a day of an average home in the 2020s. The father wakes up to an e-meeting, the mother does her grocery shopping online, the kids are attending class in the comfort of their bedrooms; even friends are gathered on Clubhouse or Zoom for some social media socialising.
Your food, beverages, medicine, work and most social needs have been digitalised. No matter how far, everything and anything is one touch away.
How does digital transformation affect marketing and how can you keep pace with it?
Experts agree that we are in the middle of a marketing revolutionary era, with rapid change we are evolving from traditional marketing to digital. Unquestionably, many traditional marketing strategies are either outdated or certainly less emphasized by brands of all types. In fact, for many brand scenarios (business or consumer), traditional marketing tactics are fast becoming obsolete, or barely a backup plan.
Direct mail and print advertising are examples of traditional marketing tactics are diminishing.
Most importantly, new digital marketing tactics can be measured with analytics, are tested, and reported. It is now possible to identify sales conversions, and to calculate return on marketing investment. Whereas results of traditional marketing could often not be measured, neither qualitatively nor quantitatively.
Depending on only the traditional marketing mix to create a marketing plan for a product or a service has become simply outdated and ineffective for any business. The rise and evolution of digital marketing has drastically transitioned the global markets, to embrace new marketing technologies to plan, implement, test, measure, optimize and report results on marketing initiatives, campaigns and programs.
The 12 Digital Marketing Transformation Strategies
- Website Optimization (Incl. Mobile, SSL/HTTPS, Trust, User Experience (UX)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO incl. visual, mobile, voice search; meta code, link-building, Local Citations)
- Content Marketing (Incl. blogs, resources, case studies, registration pages, calls-to-action (CTAs), curation, syndication)
- Paid Search (Incl. pay-per-click/PPC, Remarketing, Display, Programmatic Advertising)
- Email Marketing (Incl. lists, campaigns, personalization, lead nurturing, trigger emails, optimization of subject lines, Click-Thrus)
- Social Media (incl. Social Advertising)
- Video (a form of content, but important enough to be Top 12)
- Marketing Automation (software, tools and techniques, data)
- Analytics (Incl. Google Analytics and Marketing Dashboards)
- Marketing Diagnostics
- Influencer Marketing
- Artificial Intelligence (AI, Incl. Live Chat or ChatBots)
Digital transformation in retail marketing in Saudi Arabia
Retailing in Saudi Arabia was hit hard in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the government-imposed curfew and social distancing legislation. As a result, retailers started to adapt or completely change their strategies and reallocating their budget to support store closing, changing store format, enhancing digital marketing and e-commerce capabilities to minimize the losses.
E-commerce and digital marketing during 2020 became very important, as lockdown measures forced physical stores to close for an extended period and consumers spent more time at home.
Saudi Arabia’s e-commerce infrastructure continues to evolve, with players focusing on faster delivery, increasing reach, better consumers engagement, enhancing the shopping experience, reducing the delivery costs, establishing new payment methods and digital engagement opportunities with the consumers.
As a result, many retailers started focusing on fast and simple solutions like Salla, Zid and other e-commerce websites or marketplace retailers to enhance their e-commerce. However, in my opinion, starting a dedicated and unique e-commerce website gives you the ability to control every aspect of your customer experience, from branding to shipping and customer service. Therefore, more retailers are shifting from a simple solution that has the same look and feel with a more advanced solution like Shopify, Magento, SAAS or other platforms that can offer more customization to develop a unique website experience with relevant content to support the brand objective, unique selling proposition and BASSMAT is ready for this revolution to support our partners to create more relevant digital marketing activities to fuel their growth objectives.
“At BASSMAT we blend creativity and technology to transform and grow our clients’ businesses”.
we believe that change is what keeps us moving forward. We always see change as an opportunity, and we believe that successful digital transformation requires a positive attitude.
For market leaders, encouraging a positive outlook towards digital transformation projects is a crucial first step; essential to success. Companies that inform, educate and allow employees to indulge in being part of that cycle from the beginning have the advantage. With strongly built trust in leadership, commitment to transparency and dedication to building confidence in employees’ ability to transition, companies will go a long way toward turning their employees into innovative digital gurus.
As digital transformation promises change and competitive advantage, digital marketing transformation promises a new age of both marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Those who embrace Digital Marketing Transformation should have a distinct advantage over competitors that do not. Undoubtedly, this truly is by far the most exciting time in history in the business world, to be a part of this marketing revolution.
