How to stay relevant in a time of digital marketing : Investigating the perspectives of marketing agencies and business firms.

Abstract:

Background:

We certainly live in a digitalized world, most of the European countries will have at least half of their population being smartphone users. Marketers wants to use social media marketing as a way to both reach and interact with their consumers, in a fashion that has not been available before.

Problem:      

Consumers today are exposed to more marketing messages than ever, partly because that the consumers now are carrying around technology everywhere they go, but also because of the increase of popularity regarding the different social media platforms. Since the consumers’ presence on the digital media channels is high, the business firms have to keep up. This change has affected many firms in a different way and certainly the marketing agencies as well.

Purpose:        

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the modern marketing landscape, in regards to digital marketing and the affects it has had on marketing agencies as well as the companies themselves.

Method:       

The study is exploratory and has an inductive approach using qualitative research in order to fulfill the purpose of the paper. Semi-structured interviews are chosen to gather the empirical data for the research. The semi-structured interviews are afterwards analyzed through a classical inductive data analysis.

Conclusions:

The perceptions of the changes in the marketing landscape is that the consumers are today demanding a two-way communication with firms through social media.  The most important marketing tools are within the digital world; the ecosystem of google but also advertising tools in Facebook. Most firms have noticed their customers’ demand about having the firms present online and have thereby adapted and gone online. The marketing agencies have adapted to the changes and specialized themselves online, rather than in traditional marketing. Many agencies have changed their name to “communication agencies” rather than “marketing/ advertising agencies”. Some firms do still seek professional help (marketing agencies) with applying the digital marketing, but most firms do it by themselves. The reasons behind it may differ from firm to firm.