Simplifying Digital Marketing Systems for Solid Brand Building

Digital Marketing does not happen in a vacuum. It operates in cloud computing systems you need to adopt, understand, appreciate, and apply as a marketer in the creative digital economy. The 24/7 online presence for the sustainability and longevity of your brand can only become viable and a reality with digital systems, platforms, channels, application software programs, and tools seamlessly integrated into your business website. Systems integration is not a myth in brand building. It is a reality if you want to create and build a solid brand that is purpose-driven and of value in today’s digital economy. However, digital transformation can be intimidating. Especially with an array of computer programs and application software systems you need to adopt and master, especially as an entrepreneur, solopreneur, freelancer, creator and startup, small business owner, and marketer.

 Complexity of Tech System in Digital Marketing

The marketing industry has become a complex network of digital systems, platforms, channels, programs, and tools. That can be traumatizing to any marketer for marketing their brand with confidence and trust in what they are doing for brand building. So, as a marketer, how best can you be familiar with all these terms and conceptualize them practically and functionally for effective and efficient brand marketing in your brand-building process and journey? Let’s dig in and explore each of them for clarity in incorporating them for boosting your marketing strategies on your business website. Before we dig into these confusing terms, let’s reflect on the context of the present-day marketing industry.

Knowledge & Information Technology

Knowledge is power, and information is the soul of the internet algorithm and human quest for knowledge online. Knowledge and information technology define the present creative economy and how best you access, analyze, evaluate, segment, and store data for applications wherever and whenever needed for the database in your computer hardware and software systems. To do that effectively and efficiently, you need well-segmented storage systems. In marketing, this can be the Marketing Information Management system. So, understand Digital Marketing systems as online marketing tools, channels, software, and programs created to optimize knowledge, information, or data for seamless brand building.

That includes Customer Relations Management systems, Content Management Systems, Data Analysis, Reporting, and Visualization for gaining insights to adjust strategies according to new trends and stay current with the latest trends. You can only follow those that enhance your brand performance in line with its vision, mission, purpose, and value in the industry and niche. Identifying what digital systems, platforms, channels, application software programs, and tools your marketing plan needs to consider are relevant steps toward achieving your brand marketing goals and objectives for solid brand building. So, let's dig in and explore these essential digital marketing terms.

Marketing Systems

I recently realized I spent three years in digital marketing, specifically content marketing, without knowing I was using a Content Management System to achieve my personal branding goals and objectives through blogging for brand building. So, Content Management system is one of the most commonly used systems that help put all your content creation, writing, storing, and publishing in order without fear of losing data or getting your content lost or deleted. 

As a marketer, copywriter, freelancer, creator, and business owner, a robust Content Management System is your second home for your Content marketing and brand-building efforts. So, you can define digital systems in marketing as subsystems for networking for brand marketing for awareness and promotion. A marketing system is a documented plan defining marketing procedures, processes, and strategies designed to achieve marketing goals and objectives. Like the CRM, Customer Relationships Management system on HubSpot. And the inbound marketing solutions to boost lead generation and sales conversions.

Systems are building blocks of your brand. WordPress, for example, is the most popular Content Management system that enables users to create websites and blogs and manage the content deployed on the website for great SEO ranking. HubSpot, the most popular Marketing Platform, combines customer relationships management solutions and inbound marketing solutions in comprehensive packages that enable some lead generation and sales conversions for your brand. 

You can easily integrate Marketing Management platforms like Engage with other digital tools to grow your audience base online. They incorporate digital marketing subsystems like content marketing strategies like email marketing, social media, blogging, and paid advertising. A system is a process. Therefore, it is a long-term strategy focusing on procedures, tactical methods, performance standards, and accountability. So, build marketing systems for brand building and let them expose your brand 24/7 online for sustainability and success in the global digital market.

Marketing Platforms

In marketing, a platform is a digital place for networking. These can be a marketplace, your business website, or social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Platforms are a new approach to marketing and demand digital transformation for easy adoption and adaptation as a marketer and your team if you have one. They are information and knowledge-based, like Quora, Yahoo, Google, and many more. They provide value to everyone within the ecosystem. Media sharing platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Vimeo for text and video. 

Business and Service platforms like Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, YouTube, and Meta [Facebook]. Such digital platforms facilitate the exchange of goods, services, knowledge, and information. And some of them, like Facebook, enable forums, group interaction, and discussions online. That way, exchanging ideas and support each other in optimizing membership and connection for interaction within the ecosystem.

The power of any platform lies in its strength and ability to leverage its members into an active community. That provides and enhances its value to everyone within the ecosystem. And creatively and innovatively captures and retains a unique and special audience for its competitive advantages to its particular audience as it seeks to sustain itself and grow. 

Being part of a digital platform boosts your brand presence and positioning for connectivity and networking opportunities online. That can only effectively happen when you are clear about what it is and its clarity and how it can enhance the purpose and value of your brand and your brand-building intentions. Now let’s dive in and explore channels.

Marketing Channels

The word channel points to directing access and a way to communicate through a medium. That means, in digital marketing, it is the way your brand expresses and transmits its offerings to individual customers and audiences. Marketing Channels enable targeting a segmented audience. They are critical for brand building by enabling market segmentation to match a specific value to a particular customer. In digital marketing, channels include social media, search engines, and websites. 

They allow marketing and selling products online 24/7. That way, boosting brand awareness and positioning within your industry and niche. Since channels can be text and media, they enable transmitting information and knowledge in any form, like sound or images, via the internet, wired, wireless, or mobile applications.

So, they provide a highly user-friendly and human-centric service to a target audience. Marketing channels revolve around content marketing allowing strategic planning of content creation, publication, and distributing value to target specific segmented audiences most likely to interact and connect relevantly to your brand. That way, boosting brand awareness and promotion in your target market.

Marketing Applications

These are marketing software programs designed to carry out specific tasks like word processing, sending emails, putting together spreadsheets, accounting, and bookkeeping. They boost productivity by eliminating  everyday mundane tasks to maximize resources. The most common software application programs millions use are Microsoft software programs like MS Office, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Outlook. There are internet browsers like Google, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. And graphic designing software programs are Canva, Adobe, Photoshop, CorelDraw, and AutoCAD. You can see how these are closely interrelated when it comes to your enhancing your brand-building efforts through text, access to information, and visual branding for the aesthetics and feel of your brand in the market.

Then when it comes to communication, chatting and meetings have never been so easy through appropriate software applications like Skype, Hangouts, Google Meet, WhatsApp, and Meta Messenger, which offer chat opportunities, live engagements, and connection with your target audience and within themselves as a community. And multimedia software programs can help make your video advertising more captivating as long as you focus on your brand message and value proposition to bring out the purpose and value of your business. 

As a marketer, I have watched some video adverts that have made me wonder what their message is and how it relates to the purpose and value of the brand. The application software programs should never compromise your creativity and innovation in how best you can use them to enhance your brand-building efforts. Software programs do not create and build brands. They assist in doing so. And the simpler, more affordable, reliable, and practical they are, the better in doing the job and fulfilling the task.

Marketing Tools

These are online marketing techniques and strategies using quick and optimized functions for brand marketing tasks. They are tech tools you can leverage to perform business operations for efficiency and reduction of labor on mundane tasks. These are business management tools, project management, meeting apps, communication apps, finance, and outsourcing tools. Using efficient and innovative digital tools has an impact on your branding efforts. It can help improve customer satisfaction due to efficiency and excellence in delivery. It also contributes to time optimization and information centralization in internal and external communication.

The Big Five tech giants own most digital tools commonly used n the tech industry. So, they enhance the security and safety of your brand-building strategies. Especially these days with some tech enthusiasts creating their questionable digital tools. Thanks to tech giants like Google, with its robust platform of digital tools, that no doubt can ensure any marketer of their security and safety for use without panic but ease and simplicity in use and application in your marketing strategies and tasks. 

Digital tools owned by Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft always have your back covered with all cloud storage, collaboration, security, and communication tools for boosting productivity, efficient data output in workplaces, and remote work for freelancers and creators. The secret is to be able to choose the right tool that suits your brand marketing needs. 

The most commonly used digital tools are Zoom video communications, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp Business, Sage Cloud Accounting, Microsoft Azure, and Google Data Studio for data analytics, and their power to make it simple and consumable to its users is what makes a digital tool functional and practical in fulfilling its purpose and value in the market and helping a user as you utilize it for optimizing your brand building processes, strategies, and tasks. 

I hope you have followed how digital systems, platforms, channels, applications, and tools can be confusing and how best you can define and clarify these tech elements. The best you can do is to know their different functions to adopt those that suit your needs and learn to integrate them on your business website for solid brand building.