Digital marketing’s 2013 challenges

2013 will be the year of retail everywhere, apps versus mobile-optimised sites, and the big privacy debate, according to Adobe’s Australia and New Zealand boss.

Paul Robson (pictured) shared his predictions for the coming year with B&T.

“Everything is becoming retail,” he said. “No matter where we are now, we’re in a store. If you’re on a news website reading a story, you can make a purchasing decision. If you’re looking for car insurance, you can make that purchasing decision as you’re researching. The internet has moved on from being an information portal to everywhere being a retail store.

“This is dramatically changing retail in this country. People aren’t going into online retail stores. They are making purchasing decisions all the time.”

Mobile will continue to be a central focus in 2013, according to Robson. “Everything is going mobile,” he said. “We are at the tipping point now where we have as many mobile devices as there are PCs. Marketers need to be optimising for mobile first. If you don’t have a mobile-optimised site, you will be left behind very quickly.”

He also predicted a tough year for apps. “Apps have a great benefit in what they do, but a lot of the content creation technology is moving towards mobile-optimised websites, instead of apps. That can give you real-time access to data. At the moment, everyone wants an app. It will be interesting to see how apps compete against mobile-optimised websites and all the data benefits they bring.”

He added that privacy will also be a hot topic in 2013. “I think there will be a big discussion around privacy this year. How much do I, as an individual, want my data known by organisations that want to sell something to me? There is a trade-off both ways – they have your data, and you, as a result, get better targeted advertising. It will be interesting to see if the government legislates on the issue.

Everyone knows Adobe for its market dominating Creative Suite. So, to compete in this digital marketing arena, Adobe last year launched a new platform, the Adobe Marketing Cloud, which enables customers to manage, monetise and measure their digital content.

“Measurement is becoming critical,” said Robson. “From a digital marketing perspective, the number one priority is to provide return on investment. The benefit of digital marketing is that you can articulate and quantify ROI. You can track the user through the sales experience.

“The other thing digital provides, as well as ROI, is real time analytics. You can see the different levels at which a consumer might dis-engage, so you can wrap offers, such as location-based offers or special offers, around that.”

He added: “The cloud enables personalisation. Rather than providing a website for everyone, you can, if you know enough information, provide a bespoke experience down to an individual level. The nirvana for this is that advertising ceases to be advertising and becomes relevant information. It’s no longer noise.”

Locally, organisations including Commonwealth Bank, Fairfax, NAB and The Voice TV show use the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Globally, companies including Volkswagen, WPP, Omnicom and Publicis are working with the platform.

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