Digital marketing: what big brands can learn from start-ups

Citation

Ceria, A. (2009), "Digital marketing: what big brands can learn from start-ups", Strategic Direction, Vol. 25 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2009.05625dad.004

Digital marketing: what big brands can learn from start-ups

Article Type: Abstracts From: Strategic Direction, Volume 25, Issue 4

Ceria A.Admap, November 2008, Vol. 43 No. 499, Start page: 41, No. of pages: 3

Purpose – Explains why established brands need to think like start-ups in the digital marketing world or run the risk of being ignored. Design/methodology/approach – Cites Dell, Southwest Airlines and Johnson & Johnson as examples of effective marketing conversations. Findings – Calculated risk is the key to success online so rather than basing a digital campaign on what competitors have already done, companies should think like start-ups – which are open to innovation, new forms of content and distribution models, test runs and boldly going where no company has gone before with their marketing. Explains how start-ups create an ongoing, mutually-beneficial conversation between consumers and a brand, reaching out online to cultivate brand advocates, reacting to their opponents and engaging directly with consumers, resulting in the kind of market knowledge that big firms pay dearly to obtain. Urges companies to pay attention to the blogs belonging to well-known influencers and the consumer review forums that pertain to the particular brand’s industry and to listen to what people are chattering about across the internet. Comments that a good digital marketing strategy is centred on managing the entire conversation about a brand in the marketplace, not just the conversation between a brand and its consumers, and so recommends acknowledging the existing conversation, sharing honest points of view in a human voice and asking people to share what they know by telling them what you want to learn. Concludes that consumers need a compelling reason to participate in a brand’s marketing efforts and that the most successful engagement campaigns happen when a company genuinely connects with consumers in the communities that surround the brand. Originality/value – Asserts that small brands, and big brands that think like start-ups, deftly deploy great ideas while big brands dither and overthink the “but what ifs?”.ISSN: 0001-8295Reference: 38AA953

Keywords: Internet, Marketing strategy, Start-ups