The “digital transformation” concept emerged during the 1990s and has become a mainstay of contemporary business planning and strategies, whose simplified goal is to drive revenue through online channels and gain actionable customer insights.
While it was established in the ’90s during the dot-com bubble, this term strongly re-surfaced during the 2010s when digital processes started supporting customer interactions, teams of people dedicated to managing social media channels, and online monetization opportunities became more accessible and standardized. This evolution has led to our now almost required task to combine digital tools and leverage data to support business planning and decision making.
It is essential to establish that Marketing Strategy and the concept of a business undergoing a Digital Transformation are not the same. However, the former is indispensable to the latter as marketing strategy became product development during the late 2000s.
As Peter Drucker said: “Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business.” As digital technology is ever more present in business operations, marketing objectives must be translated into digital strategies or risk leaving a gap between the two.
As if the industry’s natural evolution wasn’t enough to motivate companies to digitize their operations and marketing, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a catalyst for transformation.
In IDC’s IT predictions for 2022 and beyond, we are seeing how a business’ marketing strategy must be inextricably present in its digital transformation:
- Responding to the Pandemic. Organizations are accelerating their investments in Digital, which means that in 2022, more than half of the global economy will be based on or influenced by digital means.
- Business Transformation. By 2026, 54% of CIOs will drive business transformation, empowering digitally resilient organizations via strategic technology road maps and re-platforming. Additionally, they will also be enabling an agile, data-driven workforce.
- Digitally Native Cultures. To succeed in the digital supremacy economy, 50% of enterprises will need to implement an organizational culture optimized for DX in 2025, centered on customer-centricity and driven by big data.
- Revenue from Digital Products or Services. By 2023, one in two companies will be generating more than 40% of their revenue from digital products and services, compared with one in three companies in 2020.
Digital transformation in marketing has been buzzing for quite some time now. As the landscape continues to evolve in complexity, the digital tools and strategies which we use to fuel our businesses are being tested. What we do know for certain is that a digital transformation is a vital tool in optimizing the customer and business experience; however, change comes on many levels, such as a culture shift led by business leaders.
It is also important to note that your marketing team is an essential part of the puzzle piece in understanding the customer journey and digital opportunities. When you embrace digital methods, opportunities, and business models, your customers become the heart of your business. Hence, digital marketing insights and data can help you on the path to gaining valuable information about your consumers and building better relationships with customers.
Fuel your business growth with a tech-savvy and strategic marketing plan. Our advisors help you see the bigger picture to discover possible opportunities you didn’t know. With a marketing-as-a-service approach, scale-ups and startups can focus on keeping the flame alive at the forefront of your business while our trusted advisors keep the fires burning behind the scenes. Contact us to learn more about what we can do for your marketing plan and strategy.
*This blog post was written by Adrian Gonzalez, Marketing Advisor at DuartePino.