McKinsey has argued that marketers need to "hit the reset button" if they are to derive the maximum benefits from digital media. As the company advised using traditional techniques to attract shoppers during the consideration phase and in-store promotions to "sway" them at the point-of-purchase are already out of date. When social media, user-generated reviews and price comparison services are empowering consumers, who are also increasingly keen to engage brands in conversations.

As each one of us are consumers ourselves, we receive e-newsletters, search for products online, or use mobile devices to find retail coupons, we continually interact with brands as moving closer to making purchasing decisions.

In response, advertisers must take an integrated approach, adopt a consistent tone and message across all channels, and ultimately aim to construct systems allowing them to amend their media plans on a daily basis.

All the traditional media commercials should take on more roles than only intriguing interest, they need to at the very least inspire keywords for consumers to search, “Great search positioning should offer easy-to-find web links to specific offers being promoted in other media. Links should go deep into specific places to help consumers learn about and buy products." No wonder these days, search box is even more prominent on an ad. than URL.

If correctly implemented, this could boost online revenues by up to 20%, as companies build their traffic, engagement, conversion and loyalty levels, although this has rarely been the case. To achieve their goals, advertisers must start to act like publishers, offering targeted, personalised content from product descriptions to Facebook pages, games and "apps", all of which can "flow" across a range of platforms.

Developing a more nuanced understanding of return on investment is also required, as using mass media may offer limited attention and returns compared with emerging tools, particularly for established brands.

Search engine optimisation, cultivating relationships with influential bloggers, creating bespoke content for retailers' websites and establishing a striking presence in-store can all achieve this kind of cut-through.

At present, around 60% of online budgets are directed to paid placement, 20% to content creation, and the remainder on employees and agencies. However, successful digital marketers invest 30% of their internet spend in paid-for media and 50% in content, in order to reach key consumers who spread messages virally. Quite a few cases have proved this-- consumers are volunteered marketers themselves.

Finally, McKinsey argued brand managers need to effectively leverage the vast amount of intelligence available on digital media, which will raise their status, but also contribute added pressures. "Marketing departments will justifiably demand more resources, but those should come at a price: higher accountability for sales, innovation, and operational efficiency," the company said. Well, I believe everything comes with pros & cons.

(Source:McKinsey, Warc)