Advancements of Marketing Systems
Advancements in marketing have well and truly changed the way businesses reach their customers and it is important to stay up to date with these technological changes so businesses can reach customers where they already are.
What is a marketing system?
A marketing system is the repeatable process for creating and developing client relationships and the purpose is to maximise lifetime value and drive earnings growth. There can be many stages of a marketing system, including reaching people, engaging prospects in conversations, serving and retaining people as repeat customers, and developing long term client relationships.
Creating a marketing system creates control, guides priorities, creates processes, generates accountability and provides a way to measure wins and losses. Really, marketing is just a system and isn’t any different from many of the other systems needed to run a business.
Developing a series of organised and effective methods to carry out marketing related activities will help businesses to identify exactly what works well and repeat those processes time and time again. Marketing systems have changed a lot over the years, mainly due to technological development and the way people are being reached and targeted.
How marketing has evolved
In the past, marketing was conducted through print media advertisements, physical flyers, radio and television ads, and mailbox drops. These methods can still be very useful, but the rise of technology and advancement of the internet have created new ways to market. Now, marketing is commonly conducted through emails, social media accounts, websites and online advertising.
The latest advancements
Living in a digital society, people are almost always online. 86% of Australians are using the internet and 18.6 million Australians have a smartphone, and these numbers are only increasing.[1][2]
Social media is a booming industry that encompasses many different sub-areas for marketing. An easy way for brands to market on social media is to build a presence that shows potential customers who they are and what they do. Social media marketing aligns with the ‘Mere Exposure Theory’ which states that individuals show an increased preference to certain stimulus simply because they have been exposed to it more.[3] By posting regularly, followers become familiar with the brand which turns into trust.
There are many ways to gain exposure through social media, one of them being influencer marketing. This involves sending a product to an ‘influencer’ or a person with a large social media following and paying them to advertise your product to their followers. Another way to market through social media is using the ‘live’ function on Facebook and Instagram. This involves creating a live video, streamed straight to your followers where they can ask questions in real time and interact with the business. Live videos create trust with potential customers as they can make a judgement on the kind of person you are and see the product working in real time.
“From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that familiarity breeds liking. Generally speaking, things that are familiar are likely to be safer than things that are not” – Dr Raj Raghunathan.
Another advancement in marketing involves building brand loyalty through storytelling and interactive content. Telling stories through blogging and regular posting can gain a business a very loyal following, especially if the audience find your stories to be valuable. Similarly, creating interactive content like quizzes and tests will also curate a loyal and engaged following as online users enjoy actively participating and engaging with the brands they choose to follow.
New software developments have dramatically changed the way marketing is conducted, too. The use of data analytics and AI customer service bots has transformed the way we access and speak to customers, allowing more targeted communications to occur. AI customer service bots have become very lifelike and allow instant communication between customers and businesses, resulting in more satisfied customers as they perceive the business to be very responsive and customer oriented.
Data analytics have become even more in depth in recent years. Not only can you see how many people visited your site and for how long, but information is now accessible that tells businesses where else that customer has made purchases and how often, if they are a repeat customer and even their demographic information. Data from cookies and chat histories allows brands to target more specifically by customising messages, for example ads can be shown to someone who viewed something on your site reminding them to come back.
[1] Data Commons, Australia Overview, https://datacommons.org/place/country/AUS, 2020.
[2] Granwal, L, Smartphone Users in Australia 2017-2025, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/467753/forecast-of-smartphone-users-in-australia/#statisticContainer, 2020.
[3] Zajonic, R.B., Mere Exposure Effect, APA Dictionary of Psychology, https://dictionary.apa.org/mere-exposure-effect, 1968.
