Four digital marketing models

This blog is a cheat since it is not my own thinking. But I feel the role of Market Leader is to introduce marketers to leading edge thinking, so I have no shame in quoting a very interesting piece verbatim. Or rather the summary points. It comes from Strategy+ Business, an online version of Booz & Company’s magazine and is an excellent source of leading edge business thinking.

The article is called 'How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Model: four clear paths for winning over and retaining customers in the digital era’ by Matt Egol, Michael Peterson, Stefen Stroh. Here is a summary of the 4 models. Go to the article for further explanation.

Four New Digital Marketing Models
Booz & Company has identified four equally successful digital marketing models: Digital Branders, Customer Experience Designers, Demand Generators, and Product Innovators. A company’s focus for marketing investment might have elements of each, but odds are that one of these models represents the right marketing organisation for your company.

• Digital Branders are most often consumer products companies or other marketers that focus on building and renewing brand equity and deeper consumer engagement. These companies are shifting their investment from traditional linear advertising toward more immersive digital multimedia experiences that can connect consumers to the brand in new ways. They are reimagining how they engage consumers with the primary goal of recruiting new consumers to the brand and driving loyalty through multiple experiences with the brand.
   
• Customer Experience Designers use customer data and insights to create a superior end-to-end brand experience for their customers. Typically, these companies (such as financial-services companies, airlines, hotels, and retailers) build their business models around customer service. By reinventing how they interact with customers, and wowing them at multiple touch points, these companies hope to create an ongoing dialogue and build a loyal customer base.

• Demand Generators (typically retailers) focus on driving online traffic and converting as many sales as possible across channels to maximise marketing efficiency and grow their share of wallet. All elements of the digital marketing strategy - website design, search engine optimization, mobile connected apps, and engagement in social communities - are tailored to boost sales and increase loyalty. Although Demand Generators also need to leverage content to drive engagement, they are more focused on driving volume and efficiency than on curating the deep, emotional branded experiences that Digital Branders pursue.
   
• Product Innovators use digital marketing to help the organisation identify, develop, and roll out new digital products and services. These companies employ digital interactions with consumers primarily to rapidly gather insights that can help shape the innovation pipeline. By helping nurture new sources of revenue, the marketing group directly increases the value of the company.

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