Advertising and the forced leap towards digitization

Undoubtedly, one of the main learnings that the pandemic has left many of the companies and businesses in Mexico, is to recognize the importance of having a good communication strategy, that the presence online or in social networks is no longer optional and , of course, that investment in advertising is essential.

And although the pandemic was largely the trigger for owners and executives to understand this importance, there is no doubt that consumer habits and the growing importance that the internet has taken in our lives had already been leading many companies on the right track in regarding its communication activities, both internal and external.

According to the study on Investment in Communication on the Internet, carried out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the consulting firm PwC, since 2016 in Mexico there has been a considerable increase in digital advertising investment, exceeding the not inconsiderable amount of the 25 one billion pesos, which, although the figure may still be insignificant compared to what is allocated to other media, has maintained an almost constant annual growth, on average, from 25% to 35%.

Nor is it a surprise, there is no doubt that sooner than we imagine the role of digital advertising will take on a more leading role and will mark the golden age of a stage that still has much to offer on the subject. But before this completely happens, it would not be bad to give you a brief review of some of the main changes and paradigms that advertising has gone through in the last 10 years and the trend that the various technological and digital resources are setting, so as not to lose perspective of where we were and where we are going.

1. From being even in the soup, to understanding effective contact: in the past the goal of many companies was to get their brand, product or service to have the greatest possible exposure by whatever means available, but over time companies have chosen for getting to know your potential clients better and from other perspectives to be able to approach them in a more natural and less invasive way, showing them exactly what they need or want. One of the strategies that has been used the most to achieve this goal is inbound marketing, for example.

2. From pollster fleets, to social listening: because if something is clear to us in the marketing and advertising mediums, it is that information is power, until a few years ago many agencies or companies spent a considerable amount of money to fill out the streets of pollsters or saturate your line with calls from call centers to find out your consumer preferences for certain products or your opinion by such and such person. And once the process was finished, all the information collected, the advertisers transformed it into insights to design the seasonal campaign.

Currently and with our increasing and more intimate use of the internet, it allows us to carry out what we call social listening, which is practically the study of what people say, share and search on the internet thanks to various platforms such as Google Trends or information from various social networks. This helps to create comprehensive advertising strategies, with a lower cost and in a much shorter time.

3. From TV hosts to influencers: for better or for worse, since the arrival of Werever2Morro to YouTube and to our lives, it has motivated thousands of people to jump on the platform and become what we have today baptized as influencers, what has caused that little by little the announcements go moving of the tv to the social networks.

This is why more and more brands choose to choose these characters to advertise their products or services to achieve a more natural connection with the target audience, instead of our classic television celebrities, although incidents such as Pedrito Sola with the mayonnaise of your choice will remain in our hearts forever.

And if we still have doubts about what a well-planned strategy can achieve with the integration of the right influencer in reach issues, we just have to go and take a look at the number of followers on the Instagram accounts of public figures such as Yuya or The Golden Scorpion, and if we get a little more exquisite, of accounts like the members of the Kardashian dynasty.

4. Because sometimes less is more: we must consider that not all companies have the resources of large brands such as Volkswagen or Apple to create millionaire advertising campaigns, although many times these high budgets allow us to see jewels such as the Write the Future campaign launched in 2010 for Nike and created by Alejandro González Iñarritu.

Many times brands already have pre-approved and well-defined budgets, so more precise work is required in terms of strategy, to be able to optimize resources to the maximum and obtain a good positioning. So currently the issue of generating quality content for social networks and SEO activities has been used to generate a more active organic positioning.

At this point, advertising campaigns go from telling a story to optimizing the message and content for web platforms that seek to strengthen the presence of the brand and its reputation, without neglecting the strengthening of communication channels and, with what We mentioned two points back, the identification of the needs and interests of the public.

It seems little, but these changes have marked a pretty solid path of what the future will bring us and where communication and marketing strategists as well as creatives should be aiming. And we are sure that even more dynamic changes are coming and that perhaps some will represent quite interesting challenges, but we are sure that we will know how to ride the wave to continue building and strengthening the brands that put their trust in our work and experience.

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Written by Iván Sánchez - Digital Marketing Coordinator at Birth.

Comments, doubts and complaints: equipoeditorial@birth.com.mx