When digital marketing campaigns actually work

When digital marketing campaigns actually work

Fortune Tech October 7, 2010

By: Chelsea Lambert

            Many companies face issues when determining how effective their digital marketing campaigns are in today’s world. It wasn’t until this year that digital media spending surpassed print media in the United States as companies spent over $120 billion this past year in digital advertising and marketing efforts. There are two companies that have been able to capture their customers through the Internet and measure the success of these digital campaigns. Pizza Hut developed an iPhone app that allows customers to build their own pizzas manually and locate the nearest location. The app now has millions of users and accounts for about $500 million in revenue, as half of the company’s phone orders come in through the app. The second company is the Tourism Queensland agency that used digital campaigning to attract tourists to the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. They developed an online recruitment reality show for “the best job in the world” where people fought for a generous salary and the ability to live in the islands while blogging about their experiences.

            Digital marketing refers to the promoting of brands using all forms of digital advertising such as television, radio, Internet, and mobile. As the use of technology and Internet sites such as facebook, twitter and youtube become more and more popular, companies find themselves relying on these sources to promote their brands. Being a customer myself, I am proof alone that digital marketing campaigns are very influential on spending habits. On a daily basis I find myself ordering clothes, movie tickets and even food online due to its convenience and availability. The great use of digital media in today’s society explains why these campaigns have had such an impact on consumer’s spending decisions. It is understandable how it is very difficult for so many companies to measure digital marketing’s effect on their revenue, which makes it even more interesting to see how successful it has been for Pizza Hut and Queensland Tourism. The use of apps seems to be a source of digital campaigning that is very innovative right now and will most likely continue to be successful for companies over time. Now that cell phones have incorporated the Internet and these apps, it is much easier for consumers to do simple tasks as well as make purchases wherever they may be. I find it very interesting how companies have started to incorporate digital advertising into their marketing strategies and I am eager to see how they continue to do so in the future. I also find it very interesting how much more companies have began to spend on digital advertising this past year as opposed to print media due to the mass increase in technology. It is obvious that newspaper and magazine ads are being replaced by facebook ads and commercials at a rapid rate. I believe that the use digital marketing will consume the majority of advertising expenses by most companies in the next couple of years as they progressively show more improvement and it becomes easier to measure it’s success.