This chapter considers the strategy development process in the context of the radical and disruptive effects of digital technologies. In an uncertain and dynamic environment many organisations question whether it is appropriate to fashion a strategy at all, or whether they should simply respond to events as they occur. This dynamic approach, if professionally managed, allows for the rapid testing of the tactical tools of product and price to boost customer engagement, and develops actionable intelligence for the organisation, enabling it to adapt, manoeuvre, and dominate its chosen markets.

This chapter builds upon the internal view of marketing organisation in Chapter 5 to give an external perspective of how organisations sit within their wider marketing ecosystem to provide benefits to customers across a range of channels through a co-ordinated variety of activities. Digital technologies have forced a reconfiguring of traditional businesses who are vulnerable due to the high levels of resources committed to staff, accommodation, and facilities. Additionally, these established, incumbent businesses may feel that they do not need to change and that the market will eventually come around to their way of thinking, a misunderstanding of the wave of customer empowerment that runs throughout this book. So far in this book we have highlighted the risk of ignoring change, and the speed and certitude with which it is occurring to the benefit of agile, often newer, organisations, and to the detriment of more bureaucratic, often older, businesses. Let us explore how value networks have changed.

This chapter considers the mechanics of how customers and suppliers interact online to deliver a high-quality experience for the customer and an efficient sales operation for the supplier. It connects principally with Chapter 4, where we considered customer interests and priorities, one of which was for close communication. It also links to the customer service elements of Chapter 3 and the analytics that are used to track and provide information on these interactions as discussed in Chapter 2. We will explore the ‘bigger picture’ of the processes for customer relationships and how these develop and progress over time. We will also consider the detail of individual transactions and how these can be identified and improved to create a ‘frictionless’ experience for customers.

This chapter considers how organisations reinvent both themselves and the marketing relationship with their chosen customers. Creativity can occur at the microscale with improvements and breakthroughs from promotional taglines and product enhancements and through transformational changes which may create new product ranges and access new customer segments. Creativity is often considered to be a random or serendipitous event which occurs with no clear advanced planning, but this is misleading. Organisations and individuals can organise themselves, and create cultural mindsets, that open the door to creative opportunities which may fail – causing the organisation to question its priorities and approach – or succeed, thus creating value for the organisation and its customers. Many organisations realise the importance of the reinvention opportunities that creativity brings, but struggle to nurture sustained sources of worthy ideas that can be transformed into solid customer offerings at a speed and scale that achieves widespread commercial success.

This chapter considers why and how customers make decisions, so that we can understand, anticipate, and influence their needs in a way that makes it easy for them to engage in a positive manner. Customer attitudes can be identified within subgroups of individuals or organisations with common needs, known to marketers as segments. These groups have a role to play in agreeing, articulating, sharing, and promoting the needs of the group and offer an efficient research and communication channel for any organisation seeking to market to it. However, there is a dark side to digital marketing, and here we consider the motivations and means of customer misbehaviour and the need to ensure the digital wellbeing of all the organisation’s audiences.

This chapter considers some key digital trends and how they are affecting the ways in which we live, work, and play. The core focus is upon technological trends, but this discussion would be incomplete if it did not recognise other trends – political, economic, and social – that both feed into and are affected by digital change. The chapter largely takes a macro-level view of the immediate future and lays the foundation for a micro-level view in Chapter 10, where the implications for digital marketing practice will be explored. Since the future is by nature uncertain, we offer no firm models or theories to interpret ‘reality’. Instead, this is a place for consideration of past developments, their trajectories and pace of development, and how they might combine to present consumers, commercial organisations, and regulators with challenges to be managed and opportunities to be explored.

This chapter considers how, as learners and marketing professionals, we can continue to adapt our skills to be competitive in a dynamic marketplace. We will not focus the discussion on specific technologies since they tend to be short-lived in their original form, either becoming obsolete or evolving to meet changing needs. Neither will we seek to identify trends in individual industry sectors or currently recognised professions (e.g., teachers, lawyers, engineers, or artists). Instead, we will discuss workplace competencies which fit a wide range of contexts from those working as freelancers on a gigging basis, entrepreneurs developing highly flexible ventures, and those working for large organisations which may be seeking to become more diverse or more integrated in their business operations. The employment market is in constant flux, customer attitudes are frequently changing, and our competition is global. How can we secure our future employment in the face of competitors that we cannot see, customers we do not fully understand, and markets in turmoil for myriad reasons? I will not even try to offer any certainty or insight into what the future holds, but I can be certain that over the last 20 years or so of my career, digital technologies have given me many opportunities which include the ability to work independently or in teams as I prefer, work when and how I choose, and maintain a healthy work–life balance which maximises the benefit I get from time with my friends and family.

This chapter establishes the key digital technologies that have emerged within and across the structure of the Internet and the World Wide Web. We also discuss how these technologies have caused disruption to established markets but also have created new opportunities for growth. The technologies have also changed the ways that organisations relate to their customers and vice versa, a relationship which is overseen by the marketing function of an organisation. The fundamental changes in consumers, markets, and organisations that have resulted from the emergence of digital technologies call for a radical rethink of the diverse and detailed knowledge, behaviours, and skills we need to succeed as marketers in this new environment.

This chapter aims to dispel two common misunderstandings of marketing. The first is that ‘marketing’ is just advertising or sales. Hopefully, now that you have reached Chapter 7 via product, price, people (in the form of customers), process, physical experience, place, and partnerships, we may have convinced you that marketing is a complex, sophisticated, and dynamic discipline that adds significant value to organisations and the customers that they serve. The second misunderstanding is that simply by having a website or a social media account, your message is ubiquitous and compelling. Yes, your message will be ubiquitous since the Internet is a global entity. However, whether it even reaches the intended target audience and gains their attention can be a lottery given the plethora of media platforms used by many organisations to send out frequent marketing messages. So, while digital technologies offer simple and relatively cheap communications platforms, they can be hugely wasteful of time, effort, and money that the organisation could put to better use. This chapter will help you to focus upon a few disciplines to gain real value from your communications activity rather than being falsely content that once the ‘send’, ‘post’, or ‘share’ icon has been clicked, everything will be OK because our message is now ‘out there’.

This chapter looks in detail at the beginning of the digital marketing process and how the key ‘fuel’ of data is created, collected, analysed, and utilised to support the organisation’s goals. These processes require an understanding of how our online behaviours are tracked and the challenges to the organisation making use of this data, sometimes collecting and exploiting personal data to subsequently influence the subject’s decisions and actions. Having real-time and historical data that can be interrogated in depth to see key trends informs the strategic approach of the organisation. Additionally, granular detail of the behaviours of customers and consumers helps us to track and predict purchase behaviours to make sure that the right offering is in the right place at the right time, with a purchasing action triggered by the right stimulus. Overall, this ability to amass, interrogate, and interpret data sets over time gives us some idea of future directions of market needs, hopefully ahead of our competitors.

This chapter introduces some language concepts at the semiotic level. This helps to see language systems as socially constructed and also as responding to communicative need. It is foundational in our exploration of critical thinking; it helps us to question assumptions made about how we frame our communicative world as ‘natural’ or ‘given’. If we can see language as the mechanism of representation and referentiality, then we can consider alternatives and we can see how the use of language is often at the heart of conflicting narratives and perceptions. Indeed, sometimes language is the problem. Being articulate in Academic English enables us to express our ideas, to understand, to analyse and respond to, other people’s usage of language. First, let’s look at the fundamentals of referentiality and language use.