The essence of digital marketing series 2: Which comes first, digital or marketing?

In this era, the digital world, a new world between the real world and the virtual world, has emerged. As marketing operators, we respect this irreversible phenomenon and seize opportunities to make rational use of opportunities and formulate operational strategies and directions. If you are also curious about what the digital world is and how we can gain a foothold in the digital world, then let's learn together.

I said in the previous article, The Essence of Digital Marketing Series 1, that digital marketing is marketing management in the digital world. Digital marketing can be divided into "digital" and "marketing", so first of all, we need to figure out a question, what exactly is digital?

Today we live in a digital world. What exactly is the digital world? How is it different from the real world?

The digital world is a reflection of the real world, reflecting the spiritual world of people. The real world is physical, tangible, and real, while the digital world is a spiritual home created by people's imagination and mind.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the bottom layer is the need for food, clothing, housing and transportation, followed by security needs, emotional and belonging needs, then respect needs, and the top of the pyramid is self-actualization needs.

Everyone may be familiar with this model. With the continuous improvement of material living standards, when the basic needs are met, human beings' demands for top-level emotions, respect and self-realization will continue to increase. The digital world is an ecological tribe composed of human spiritual needs that has emerged under the condition of rapid social development and social material abundance to a certain extent.

Then you may ask, do we have to go to the digital world to meet these spiritual needs? Why can't the real world meet these spiritual needs? The digital world and the real world do not conflict with each other. On the contrary, the digital world is dependent on the real world.

The real world has order, pressure, boundaries, and strict constraints of laws and morals, so the real world can maintain its inherent form in an orderly manner and move forward. At the same time, humans also need a spiritual outlet to release emotions and pressure and maintain spiritual pleasure, and the development of "digital intelligence" makes it possible for humans to meet their higher-level spiritual needs in the digital world.

The digital world presents the following typical characteristics:

1. No borders, openness, more freedom

The borderlessness and openness here are relative, there is no absolute openness, but compared with the real world, the digital world transcends the constraints and boundaries of the real world, giving more possibilities and freedom. It tears off the various labels of real life and allows the spirit of freedom and equality to find a habitat.

According to Freud's psychological theory: "id", "ego" and "superego" are all part of personality, and "id" is composed of all innate instinctive impulses, which is the most difficult and primitive part of personality. "Ego" is the conscious part of personality responsible for dealing with the real world and balancing the real world with the desires of "id". "Superego" is the moralized self, which is the last and most civilized part of personality.

Most of Freud's views and ideas have been abandoned by modern psychology. "Id, ego, and superego" is almost the only theory that is still used today. I think this model is very meaningful in discussions in today's digital world.

The arrival of the digital world means that humans can achieve full spiritual freedom and self-reinvention through this world, moving from the ego to the "superego", just like an ideal country, achieving true transformation. The identity, lineage, and status of the real world are not important, and spiritual freedom is the ultimate freedom.

2. Explosive growth of information and high efficiency

With the rapid development of new technologies such as 5G and AI, especially the recent ChatGPT, digital technology has taken the economy to a new level. It can be said that ChatGPT is the most significant breakthrough in science and technology in the past decade. Its historical significance far exceeds any previous research results in artificial intelligence. This is a testament to the fact that the wave of digitalization is sweeping the whole society and the social form is fully digitized.

On the one hand, the way of information exchange between people is fully digitized , the content is digitized, and the efficiency of consumers' online and offline integrated experience is significantly improved. Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and big data algorithm science are profoundly changing the way companies and people communicate with each other, and the direct result is communication efficiency and product sales efficiency. Consumer purchasing efficiency is improved in all aspects because of the blessing of data, the machine's ability to understand and process different characteristics of individuals is stronger, and the way of reaching is more accurate.

On the other hand, the forms of expression of enterprises and people have changed , and the innovation capabilities of enterprises and individuals have gained unprecedented momentum in the digital world, bringing unlimited imagination space.

3. Digital Marketing: Digital First, Marketing Later

All future marketing will revolve around the higher-level spiritual needs of humans in the digital world. In the digital age where the way of information interaction has been completely subverted and information is growing explosively, placing people's spiritual needs into marketing scenarios and satisfying people's personalized needs through the expression of digital content and digital innovative technologies will become the future development direction of digital marketing.

1. Brand-effect synergy is the perfect interpretation of "digital marketing"

The "brand-effect synergy" I mentioned in my first book, The Law of Growth, instinctively requires that "brand" be placed in the underlying system of performance marketing, as the underlying operating system to support marketing effects. "Brand" is the expression of consumer emotions. Identifying with a certain brand means that consumers can resonate with the brand's genes and brand spirit, so the foundation of brand marketing and performance marketing must be this. Try to resonate with the user's emotional and spiritual needs and grasp this subtle point.

2. The digitalization of marketing should always be based on “brand marketing” as the underlying logic

The digitization of various marketing forms mentioned in the first article of the series is the mainstream expression of digital marketing today. Brand marketing is the underlying logic of the marketing system in the digital world. No matter how people's needs change, their ultimate spiritual needs will not change. Marketing is a discipline about studying human nature, which is essentially the same as psychology. The digitization of marketing forms cannot be measured by short-term marketing effects as the main criterion, but should focus on the long-term healthy development of the brand and its ability to meet users' spiritual needs and emotional experiences.

3. The digital world puts the personalized needs of each individual at the top of marketing

The human spiritual world is rich and colorful. Young people in Generation Z are keen on self-expression and personalized release. They are unrestrained and yearn for freedom. The times give them the possibility to fully enjoy freedom and express themselves. Personalized marketing is an inevitable topic in digital marketing. The digital world cannot breed soil for brands that are big and comprehensive and meet the general needs of users to stand out. On the contrary, the digital world gives small and beautiful brands that meet certain groups and find a certain track to not only gain a foothold in their own circles, but also achieve the possibility of breaking through the circle quickly.

Respecting people's individual needs, stimulating higher-level needs, and then using brands and products to meet user needs while achieving a spiritual leap, this is probably also the progressive force for social development.

The digital world is not the same as the virtual world. The digital world is an ecological tribe that integrates reality and virtuality. We don’t know how it will evolve in the future, but one thing is certain: it is a product of the development of the times and is irreversible. Respecting this phenomenon and then adopting the right marketing ideas and strategies is the direction that every marketer should strive for in the future.

Author: Zhu Jingyu

Source: WeChat official account: "Jade Digital Marketing (ID: Jade_Digital)"