EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
The online world is so pervasive today that for a lot of Australian businesses , the online strategy is becoming the overall company strategy .
In today ’ s post-pandemic environment – if we can call it that – consumer needs are changing faster than ever before and digital plays a more crucial role .
To succeed in this new reality , every marketing leader needs data to contextualise what ' s happening online .
Critically , it is not enough to rely solely on understanding your digital properties and company performance . You need to blend internal metrics with insights into the broader behaviours of consumers and the performance of competitors in your industry .
In other words , digital intelligence .
With this broader digital intelligence , you gain real-time insight into how potential customers are behaving .
If you can understand what they ’ re searching for and purchasing , what trends are driving their behaviour and how they ’ re interacting with competing brands across your industry , you ’ re in the best possible position to meet their needs .
Often businesses take a tunnel vision approach and rely only on internal metrics and their digital assets . This is like driving on an empty road with no one beside or behind you ; you can craft whatever strategy you think works best .
But online marketing is more like a busy avenue with multiple intersections and lanes to choose from and cars all around you .
Digital insights not only help make sense of the online world , but they also allow marketing leaders to contextualise and better understand the changes in their industry , the emerging players and trends and the performance of competitors .
With a 360-degree view of the entire digital landscape , you can make better strategic decisions and optimise your acquisition strategy .
One great example is the recent emergence of Black Friday sales as a key event on the Australian shopping calendar .
We recently analysed the last three years of web traffic to Australia ’ s top 100 online retailers and discovered Black Friday sales are now just as popular locally as the traditionally dominant Boxing Day sales .
Another crucial insight we discovered was that last year ’ s lockdowns saw traffic numbers explode for both events .
Whereas in 2019 both online sales events attracted around 40,000,000 visits each , in 2020 this increased more than 50 % to around 65,000,000 visits for both Black Friday and Boxing Day .
With all these insights in your toolkit , you ’ re always in pole position .
In this environment , you need to learn how to navigate the complexity of the road to be the first to arrive at the desired destination .
Digital intelligence is your online marketing GPS to avoid letting opportunities pass and being blindsided whenever a challenge hits .
EMMANUEL HEYMANN , AREA VICE PRESIDENT FOR AUSTRALIA , NEW
ZEALAND AND SOUTHEAST ASIA AT SIMILARWEB
22 www . intelligentcxo . com