Digital Marketing seems to be the perfect tool to reach modern target audiences that are demanding, specific, knowledgeable and critical of the products and services they purchase. It reaches people via new technologies and, through online data, allows consumers to be heard, satisfying their needs like never before.
In this article, we will draw a parallel between the steps of Design Thinking and The fundamentals of Digital Marketing to show that, when put together, these two practices are a dream combination for a person-centred business approach.
Design Thinking X Digital Marketing
Design, in its essence, goes way beyond only aesthetics. Design’s main function is to create things and, when creating something, one needs to know who they are creating that something for. A design piece isn’t successful if it doesn’t respond to the human necessity that required a design solution in the first place. Good design is design that adds value to people’s lives.
Digital Marketing, similarly to Design Thinking, focuses on the consumer needs, in that it has the capacity of highly targeting audiences and making sure the right products and services reach the right people.
Design Thinking And Digital Marketing Key Values
- Justify(DT) & Identifying (DM)
Empathy is, by definition, “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another”. Identifying is, by definition, “associating someone or something closely with; regarding as having strong links with”. Both Design Thinking and Digital Marketing practice empathy when looking closer to the person behind the need, trying to understand their real desires and expectations. In Design Thinking, empathy helps us provide better services and create more relevant products, in Digital Marketing, identifying the customer’s needs and wants, likes and dislikes, organic content and trends is crucial for a successful campaign.
- Collaboration (DT) & Anticipation (DM)
Collaboration is, by definition, “the action of working with someone to produce something”. When collaborating, the range of ideas a group of multi-talented people, with various backgrounds, is able to create is potentialised. Anticipating is, by definition, “regarding as probable; expecting or predicting”. In Digital Marketing, this term makes reference to data collected from the internet, created by customer’s activities, that help inform marketing research and results in the production of better campaigns, products and services, which makes customers active collaborators in the process. Also, it’s been a while now that storytelling has been the way forward in the digital space, with users becoming the biggest content creators and, therefore, actively collaborating with the digital marketing process. It is through the user’s real-life experiences, likes and dislikes that content (organic and paid) is being created on the internet.
- Experimentation (DT) & Satisfying (DM)
Experimentation is, by definition, “the action or process of trying out new ideas, methods, or activities”. In Design Thinking, it means breaking the speaking boundaries and elevating the discussion by getting to work. Experimentation has to do with learning by doing and testing for failures along the way. Satisfying is, by definition, “giving fulfilment or the pleasure associated with this”. In Digital Marketing, one of the key success measures is to achieve customer satisfaction through understanding if the product or service performs well, is easy to use, meets the customer’s standards, etc. This phase in Digital Marketing shows that this discipline, much like the former, is always transforming, evolving and getting tested as it goes.
Design Thinking’s Double Diamond methodology can enhance Digital Marketing research and campaigns, making them deeper and more human-centred. As a result of this power junction, customers can reach unprecedented levels of satisfaction and companies will find themselves in a privileged position when it comes to servicing their target audiences.
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