In today’s world, everyone is a potential client. With the click of a button, customers can be reached via email, social media, or phone calls, and even those who aren’t looking for a purchase can be spammed with offers for services and products that are irrelevant to them. This is why companies need to seriously consider whether or not to engage with “customers” who haven’t expressed interest in their products or services, especially since they can potentially lose a valuable market segment to competitors.

This scenario is made even more complicated when you consider the various technologies that marketing and sales departments are using to engage with customers. Many businesses have a mixture of email marketing, social media, and phone calls, with the occasional traditional billboard or magazine spread thrown in for good measure. This might not seem like a problem, as long as everyone is using the same tactics to engage with customers. However, if you’re looking for a single solution to drive revenue and growth, you might be overwhelmed by the variety of tactics available to brands.

Why Should You Consider an Online Marketing Program?

If you’re looking to enter the world of digital marketing, you might wonder why you should consider studying online marketing at all. After all, traditional marketing methods such as television ads, magazine spreads, and billboards are still used to some extent, and many big brands have been incredibly successful with them. Why should you consider hopping on the digital marketing bandwagon, given that you know you have thousands of competitors just waiting to snatch away your customers?

While it’s true that many big brands have been successful with traditional methods of marketing, this doesn’t mean that they employ these methods exclusively. Instead, they use them in tandem with online marketing to reach their customer base. Here are just a few examples of some of the most well-known brands that employ a mixture of traditional and online marketing.

Marriott Hotels And Marriott International

The Marriott Hotels & Marriott International branding strategy embodies this “both/and” philosophy. According to Marriott Hotels & Marriott International’s Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications Kimberly Clark, the company’s digital marketing efforts are guided by two overlapping sets of marketing metrics: “Data from social media, email, and web is fed into our campaign funnel, and from there, the goal is to drive bookings and conversions,” she says. “When we look at our digital marketing efforts as a whole, we see that they’re informed by data from across all platforms — traditional and digital — and not just one or two.” This method ensures that the company is continually improving its marketing campaigns based on scientifically proven success patterns, rather than just on intuition alone.

Honeywell Automation 

Even the most basic home automation can be a little complicated, but the benefits of having some devices and technologies around the house often outweigh the complexity. One of the simplest and most popular home automation tools is Honeywell’s HomeSeer. This tool allows users to control devices such as fridges, dishwashers, and water heaters via the web or mobile app. As a result, users can watch videos of their home in action, see real-time stats on operations, and set up automatic reminders for maintenance.

Honeywell Automation is just one of the many brands that utilize a variety of tactics — including email marketing, social media, and website content — to engage with customers. The company’s Senior Manager of Marketing, Carrie Clark, recommends that potential students take a closer look at the programs available from their respective universities. Specifically, she suggests that students look into the Marketing Management program at the University of Georgia, which provides a strong foundation in marketing analytics, and the Digital Marketing program at the University of Nebraska, which provides in-demand job prospects in a wide variety of industries, including marketing and communications.

Dell Inc.

In the computing world, Dell Inc. is mostly known for its PC manufacturing and support operations, but the company is increasingly utilizing its web services and marketing talents for more than just PCs. One of the most recognizable brands in the industry, Dell Inc. employs a multi-pronged approach to engage with customers online, including email marketing, online ads, social media, and web content. According to MarketingCharts (a marketing analytics firm), Dell Inc.’s total annual marketing spend is a little over $500 million.

Coca-Cola Company

Coca-Cola’s web site impressions alone amount to $2.4 billion a year, which is a fairly significant sum, even if it’s just a drop in the ocean compared to the company’s total marketing spend. The Coca-Cola Company’s website is the perfect example of a well-designed, profitable website that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer with too much information. 

The Coca-Cola Company’s website is part of a larger digital marketing program that incorporates traditional and online marketing methods. According to MarketingCharts, the Coca-Cola Company spends over $600 million per year on digital marketing, which includes online ads, social media, and email marketing. In addition to these resources, the company employs marketing charts to track the effectiveness of its various marketing campaigns.

While many brands can survive solely off the goodwill of past marketing efforts alone, those that want to grow and thrive need to find a way to engage with potential customers via the internet. Even established brands that have been around for a while might consider this, especially if they see that their competitors are doing well and could potentially pull away customers. This is why most modern marketing programs include some form of digital marketing studies, so that students can gain the practical knowledge necessary to thrive in this ever-changing world of marketing communication.