In the old days (a few years ago), digital marketing was about outreach on digital channels. Get more ad impressions, get more page hits, more Facebook page likes, more clicks on offers, among many other such metrics. The model of marketing was the same although on a different channel – get the word out there and optimize for conversion.

Lately, technologies are available to inter-connect the outreach on multiple channels. So we can track what happens on our websites and then show related advertisements in store, or follow up with targeted emails with the right offers. The model of marketing is the same, but more powerful. The level of optimization and uplift is higher because we can also gather more information about customers and target them better.

You could almost say that this results in better customer experience because we are showing the same advertisements in all places instead of restarting conversations. So customers don’t have to browse and search on their own. Our offers are targeted to their needs – e.g. if we sell fitness gear, we target folks running a marathon. We are closer to our customers. We understand them more. We can sell them stuff we know they are interested in.

The problem that remains with this new marketing model is that a thousand other sellers are trying to be close to the customer. And some of them are creepy. So the experience of the customers is actually pretty crowded. The noise is deafening – going online or into a store is almost like walking into a stadium with a hundred thousand roaring fans. The capacity of the human brain is limited, so we manage this by tuning things out. We get used to the discount culture. We know the deals will come by again, or are in fact in our inbox every week. In fact, we know that what we want will be available on many channels and in many places at the price we want it, whenever we want it.

The customer experience story may have been solved from a seller’s perspective, but to a customer the noise has become way too loud. What is needed is a way to get that  brand anchor back. Consider these questions?

1. Who’s advising or helping the customer on what’s right for him? Is it you or is it a third party? In a recommendation economy, where do customers go to for validation?

2. Who’s engaging the customer in a community? Are your communities all about your product or about customer needs and the purpose your products set out to serve?

3. How do you answer “why us”? Are they a series of generic statements or do you really have something different that customer value and can identify with? How is that percolating down to your products, your channels and your customer service?

4. Are you going to market to customer segments with messaging based on different products and channels or do you go to market through unified messaging about the overall purpose your products serve for your customers?

5. Do you ignore what customers need if that need is not met by you, or do you create a market ecosystem where passages to your products are through channels that don’t belong to you (and you do that for others)?

In short, the next step in digital marketing is about customer partnership. In a connected, digital world, the strategy of how to compete cannot just be about creating more noise. It must be about the customer, from a customer’s perspective.

Photo credit: Intersection Consulting / Foter / CC BY-NC