The Role Of Digital Marketing In 2010

There is no question the digital marketing evolution is under way. The digital marketing evolution suggests major shifts in consumer behavior. Instead of gathering information by digging through the yellow pages, renting books from the library or visiting department stores, an increasing number of the population are using the web. In doing so, consumers are becoming far more aware of new products and are able to compare prices.

According to the McKinsey Quarterly Survey, the Web will play a role in the first two stages of the consumer decision-making process—product awareness and information gathering—for a sizable majority of all consumers, though with notable variations among industries. Perhaps the expectation that most consumers will seek out new products online may be a factor in the plans of companies to increase spending significantly on several digital-advertising tools they see as most useful in building brands.

(Page 7 of the McKinsey Quarterly)

Digital Marketing Adoption Barriers

With any advantages there must also be disadvantages, and this is what research is suggesting within Digital Marketing. Marketers admit they will be relying more heavily on digital advertising vehicles but also admit there are barriers that may slow down the adoption of digital marketing tools. Above all, the lack of sufficient capabilities at companies or agencies was by far the most significant barrier. Here’s a look at all the adoption barriers of digital marketing:

Usage And Importance Of Digital Tools

Four out of five of the major areas of marketing were analyzed in the McKinsey Quarterly survey, to find out what importance was being placed on the use of digital tools. The results were staggering. Eighty Three per cent of business executives for service management and forty four per cent for pricing claimed that online tools were at least some what important for companies within their industries. Another staggering research statistic revealed that at least two thirds of companies are using digital tools in ALL the areas they deem most important.

Here is a look at the importance of digital tools:

(Page 2 of McKinsey Quartely)