The Future of Digital Agencies and AI

Executive Vice President, EVP, Digital of Porter Novelli, Jesse Soleil has projected Nigeria’s digital marketing space to hit $10 billion mark from its present value of $2billion by 2020.

This projection was made while on a courtesy visit to Nigeria as part of his five days working visit to Nigeria.

He said that the size of digital marketing in Nigeria will reach $10 billion by 2020 from its present $2billion value, if brands and marketing communications professionals incorporate the simple digital strategy in the overall marketing strategy. According to him, the Public Relations network has achieved a high level of success in its digital marketing campaigns because it has always focused its attention on the needs and behaviours of its target audience.

He observed that the major factor inhibiting the growth of digital marketing is the marketing communication practitioners’ treatment of digital marketing as a separate entity from marketing communication.

“Many marketing communication practitioners focus on the wrong indices – reach, impressions etc. – paying little or no attention to their target audience and what they want. We have to remember that digital marketing is still marketing and putting the digital in front of it doesn’t stop it from being marketing, and think about what the audience wants,” he said.

He called on professionals in the industry to make that switch by focusing on the behaviours of our target audience on the mobile, social, and digital media platforms and design strategies that take cognizance of these behaviours in order to deliver on their objectives and grow the industry.

On the place of digital media to public relations in marketing communication, he said that the future of marketing communications is dependent on a seamless integration of digital marketing into marketing communication and the use real-world experiences to inspire audiences to take desired actions.

On his part, Nn’emeka Maduegbuna, the Chairman/CEO C&F Porter Novelli, said that C&F Porter Novelli realizes that the importance of digital media in executing marketing communication campaigns.

“We, at C&F Porter Novelli, fully understand that the future of public relations lies with the digital media and it is this understanding that informed our invitation of the global network’s digital lead to come and build the capacity of our staff in the area of digital marketing. Soleil’s visit is an investment in the right direction,” he said.

The Digital Agency industry is constantly evolving with a few notable trends and developments that are currently shaping it. Some of these developments include focusing on specific areas of expertise, such as social media marketing, content marketing, or data analytics as well as leveraging data and analytics tools to track and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and to inform strategy and decision-making.

Given the above developments, Digital Agencies also encounter certain challenges like Managing costs, Keeping up with technology, managing clients and staying competitive.

Nonetheless with the introduction of AI, Agencies can offer new and innovative services to clients alongside services like PR, events management and digital marketing, whilst making it possible to reach customers around the world.

The Big Question lies here, how is AI being used to improve and enhance digital marketing efforts for businesses?

From personalization to Content Creation down to Ad Targeting, AI helps digital agencies in a couple of ways such as increased efficiency leading to cost savings for businesses whilst creating new job opportunities in areas such as AI development, data analysis, and customer service management.

This means that Digital agencies can help businesses create and execute a plan for selling products or services online, create marketing campaigns to drive traffic, promote products and services through social media platforms, including   paid advertising and influencer marketing and also provide a range of services that support the development and execution of a successful e-commerce strategy.

Some Key Strategies employed by the Agencies include;

• SEO: This involves optimizing websites and other online content in order to improve its visibility in search engine results pages. This can be done through techniques such as keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building.
• Social media marketing: This involves using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote products, services, and brands. This can be done through paid advertising, as well as through organic content marketing and influencer marketing.
• Email marketing: This involves sending marketing messages to a list of email subscribers. Email marketing can be an effective way to reach and engage with customers, but it’s important to ensure that emails are relevant, targeted, and not spammy.
• PPC advertising: This involves placing ads on search engine results pages or other websites, and only paying for the ad when it is clicked on by a user. PPC can be a cost-effective way to drive traffic to a website, but it’s important to carefully manage campaigns in order to maximize ROI.

The digital agency industry in Ghana is growing quickly as more and more businesses recognize the importance of digital marketing in today’s increasingly digital world.

Are Digital Agencies worth the talk and buzz?

 Yes they are.