Cyberbia is a digital agency priding itself on creating unique online solutions for companies looking to expand their current initiatives into the digital space. This presentation outlines our take on the Top 10 Trends in Digital Marketing for this year. We'll be uploading new content each month on these points so stay tuned. Make sure you check out www.cyberbia.com.au/digital-landscape for more.

2. Technology and digital media specifically has changed a lot of things
• It’s changed the way people research products
• It’s changed the way people consume content
• It’s changed the way people interact
…and as a result, its changed the way customers purchase products.
Navigating this digital journey, is at times, confusing. Cyberbia and Ideagarden have
put together the following roadmap of trends we think are important to watch in 2011
to help you on your digital journey.
Over the next year we will be exploring these trends in more detail.
A downloadable copy of this presentation is available at Cyberbia.com.au

3. Marketing budgets will continue to shift
towards online.

4. Customers and prospects are relying more and more on digital channels in the buying cycle
to gather information, form relationships, and make decisions. Perceptions of a brand are
now determined by the strength (or lack) of digital presence. If you are looking to buy a
product and its online presence is weak, it immediately throws the products credibility.
Marketing budgets are devoting larger and larger percentages of the overall
pie to digital channels.
With the increased share of budget, however, comes an increased level of responsibility.
Marketers have higher expectations of what they want their digital dollar to deliver.
Digital needs to be part of a strategic approach now, not just an add on. "
Accountability, measurability and effectiveness are now critical components of the "
digital marketing plan.

5. Targeting will replace reach as the most
important media objective.

6. Being in the right place at the right time
Cutting through the other traffic
• Marketers continually try to balance broader reach with more targeted offers. As media
channels multiply exponentially advertising messages become “noise”.
• Consumers are screening out advertising so broadcast methods that rely on reach and
frequency are becoming less relevant and less reliable for conversion. Targeting and find-a-bility
are now far more important in determining a brands marketing effectiveness.
Targeting requires knowledge, knowledge is data
• Data and one to one marketing needs to integrated into every aspect of the marketing mix.
• Delivering value to the customer experience is essential. If the value of the content on offer is
higher than the cost of obtaining it, then people will be willing to provide data about themselves
and build a marketers ability to build a relationship and deliver more targeted messages in the
future. e.g. webinars and white papers replace generic broadcast messages.

7. Technology will become about replicating and
enhancing human experiences, not replacing them.

8. Using not abusing technology
Technology should be about making real experiences better and bring customers closer to a brand.
Serving customers better
• Digital enablement of customer service and support channels will lead to higher levels "
of engagement and act as a public illustration of a brand’s values in action.
Now is always better than later
• Real time help and quick response times will continue to delight customers
• Real time web assistance connects buyers with experts.
• Augmented reality provides the ability to enhance a live experience and add "
additional insight and information.
Connecting people keeps brands connected
• Social connectivity between a brand and its customers can provide real opportunities "
for human connectivity ( e.g. twelpforce).
• Technology can bridge geographical boundaries through live chat and webinars that are "
more than just a talking head.

9. It’s all about the content.

10. Great online content doesn’t just happen
Static content is dead, long live content
• Sustainable digital engagement between a brand and its customers requires sustainable delivery of
new and valuable content.
• Digital strategies require content strategies that define a stream of valuable, usable content that an
organisation is able to generate for the long term.
• Niche level content targeting will always be more relevant. Empowering employees to tell their own
stories personalises the brand. Making content a two way street creates customer partnerships.
Content drives community
• Content should engage and involve the audience - it should be collaborative.
• Content should be easily sharable and topically relevant - promotes viral opportunities.
• The best content gets better and evolves as the audience starts to play with it.
Multiple content formats keep content fresh
• Content formats continue to evolve and faster internet connections broaden the range of content
opportunities (real time streaming video, ebooks, ipad apps etc).
• Content partnerships, outsourcing and shared infrastructure can vastly reduce the cost of content
generation, serving and maintenance.

11. Advocacy programs replace loyalty programs.

12. What you buy matters, what you inspire others to buy matters more
• Brand advocacy in the online world is one of the most important measures of a brand’s growth
potential as represented through statistics such as the Net Promoter score.
• Advocacy is about inspiring your customers and interested consumers to interact with your
content, write positive things about you, and tell others about their experience.
• Social media and the rising importance of word of mouth requires that brands develop a
structured approach to identifying, nurturing and supporting brand advocates in the digital
locations that they exist (not just on their own websites).
• Advocate and influencer marketing is as much about listening as it is about talking. It requires
systems, processes and culture that enables brands to interpret what their advocates are saying
and evolve both products, content and offers to reflect what their customers say they want.
• Building fanbases and crowdsourcing are like growing your own media property. They are the
databases of the future.

13. Mobile Marketing is all about location.

14. Mobile marketing is all about location
• Mobile is no longer about a phone but a portable, location specific internet device.
• Location based services are growing in importance and while there are still some concerns about
data privacy, locally relevant filtering of results greatly enhances the mobile search experience.
• With the advent of applications, mobile is also a powerful, personal handheld device of many
variations. When customers are at a location (store, stall etc), it may be easier to look up
information, scan a bar code and research a product through a mobile device than it is to find and
ask a shop assistant.
• Tools like Facebook and Google Places enable people to contribute content to the geo-data that
exists around locations (feedback, pictures, connections). This enables events and retail
environments to leverage this social interaction and harness what people are saying about them
online and connect the real and virtual experience.
• Mobile commerce (transactions, coupons, barcodes) which can be delivered and redeemed
through a mobile device enables greater end to end tracking and analysis.

15. The Evolution of the “Gamelayer”.

16. The evolution of the “gamelayer”
• Technology engagement that works needs to be entertaining.
• Facebook and Twitter represent a "social layer" which is a framework for connections. People are highly
motivated by competition combined with entertainment. This can be leveraged from a marketing perspective in
what is being called the “gamelayer”
• The gamelayer is a way to influence consumer behaviour, by turning everything into a game. Wherever you go,
whatever you buy will be built into a sort-of game dynamic that will reward you in multiple ways. Facebook
places, Foursquare, digital rewards programs etc can make participation fun.
• Things like rewards programs, board games, social games and check-ins have all come to make up the idea
behind a gamelayer.
• Influence and status are also elements of the game layer and have been represented in loyalty programs for
some time. Digitally enabled status symbols can spread more virally if leveraged through social media channels.
• Progression through status and achievement are also ways of leveraging game dynamics. This might for example
be the progression through various levels of content or webinar training sessions to achieve a particular level of
status and privileges or rewards on a site or in the real world.

17. Search engines will continue to evolve.

18. Search will continue to evolve
• Search can be viewed as an umbrella term related to using any targeted digital media to
help an advertiser get found and as such, will continue to become more sophisticated.
• Search will become more closely integrated with overall marketing campaigns leveraging
search ready URL’s and unique keywords to drive traffic directly from traditional media to
specific online locations.
• Real-time search will continue to evolve as Google indexes more and more information
through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
• As intelligent search engines and semantic search continues to evolve, content tagging
and richer keywords will become important.
• Targeting and the evolution of user defined preferences in content management systems
will deliver more personalised experiences on site and share these insights more readily
across other environments (e.g. connectivity with social networks and preferences through
tools such as Facebook connect).

19. Technology will become even more plug and play.

20. Technology will become even more plug and play
• It is no longer acceptable to spend months or years planning a digital deployment. The speed of
change in the digital environment is increasing at an exponential rate.
• Quick response times, adapting to varied needs and new environments is essential. The days of
building custom-made business apps and software are gone.
• Digital strategies need to evolve dynamically as technology evolves. This requires that marketing
departments develop daily workouts that watch developing environments and digital trends and
are ready to respond when these develop enough critical mass to be relevant to their business or
their customer’s needs.
• Components of technology should integrate with each other with a minimum of customisation in
order to minimise disruption from change.
• ”The cloud", while not digital marketing, enables sales staff and customers to carry and connect
with, vast amounts of personal data and functionality that where previously unavailable to them.
This greatly enhances the opportunities for digital connectivity between brands and customers.

21. Marketers and agencies will feel the pressure "
to evolve.

22. Marketers and Agencies Will Feel the Pressure to Evolve
• Traditional agencies and publishers must transform their businesses to confidently
include digital marketing capabilities.
• The shift to a new, more dynamic and ever changing medium will require new
planning processes, rapid response mechanisms, new skill sets and new attitudes.
• New types of businesses and marketing/media models will emerge.
• Marketers on both sides of the agency divide need to prepare themselves for a
constant state of change.