EY: digital marketing is the key to building a competitive advantage on the market

Ten post dostępny jest także w języku: polski

According to EY, in the near future, digital marketing may become one of the key areas for building competitive advantage with customers. The direction of these changes will depend in particular on tools based on artificial intelligence and advanced personalization. However, during this time, according to the report’s authors, there may be a situation where market leaders widen the gap in the use of digital tools compared to companies aspiring to such a position.

Business strategy difference

This difference is evident when prioritizing business strategy execution. In addition to product development and better use of collected data, leaders list building and developing digital channels among their priorities. This is valued by 23% of companies. Companies aspiring to be market leaders, on the other hand, focus their business strategies on product development activities, cost reduction, and sales channel diversification – traditional forms of growth. Leaders are increasingly aware of the need to adapt advanced digital channels, unlike aspiring companies.

“Market leaders invest significantly more in modern technologies than entities aspiring to this position. This result is not surprising. Companies are faced with an extremely dynamic increase in the number of channels for reaching consumers, as well as changes in their preferences. As a result, the market success is built not only on the funds spent on innovation, but also on the ability to effectively use the technology” – says Michał Kopyt, Partner and Leader of EY Technology Consulting.

In terms of marketing activities, two-thirds of companies in Poland use marketing automation. In contrast, one in three organizations use the full potential of customer microsegmentation and personalized experiences, and one in four use omnichannel approaches and data integration from multiple sources.

Personalised marketing

Personalization will play an important role in building advantage. The EY study found that 70% of companies currently use cookie-based historical data for this purpose, and 35% use other sources. One in ten organizations surveyed is also using artificial intelligence. In turn, the main channels used to personalize the experience are email (94%), web (84%) and customer portal (67%). Another 60% also use traditional SMS, and interestingly only 39% use a mobile app.

The last year has been a period of heavy investment in digital tools, but this situation has been driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to connect with customers rather than a change in the mindset of the organization. As a result, as many as two-thirds of companies do not plan further spending in this area in the next 18 months.