The key digital marketing trends for business in the new normal are sales performance, media-fuelled creativity, precision marketing, gaming, personalised ads, data- and tech-powered D2C (direct-to-customer) and influencers, says the Digital Advertising Association of Thailand (DAAT).
In the wake of the pandemic, brands face advertising budget challenges and consumer spending has dwindled, said DAAT president Siwat Chawareewong, speaking at a recent seminar on digital trends organised by the association.
It's imperative for brands and marketers to find ways to shore up sales, particularly through online channels, he said.
The pandemic has forced media agencies to work closer with brands, which will gear up efforts to boost sales and orders while gauging sales from paid media and returns from ad spending, Mr Siwat said.
Media agencies attach importance to the 4 P's: price, place, product and promotion, he said. They source new potential products, optimise online platforms through data, come up with optimised prices and carefully roll out promotional campaigns.
"The use of data will turn crisis into opportunity," Mr Siwat said.
Referring to media-fuelled creativity, Paruj Daorai, managing director of ad agency Digitas Thailand, said creativity is necessary because audiences differ across platforms.
For example, Facebook can be used to foster engagement and raise awareness, he said.
On the third trend of precision marketing, Anan Teerabruranapong, digital director at ad agency Fame Line, said brands need to have customer insights and preferences.
Marketers need to think of an omnichannel or mixed offline-online approach and focus more on customer experience leads than technology leads, he said.
Gaming, which is the fourth trend, could serve as a media channel for brands, according to Narin Yenthanakorn, chief operating officer of I-DAC Asia, a service digital agency.
There are more than 20 million gamers in Thailand and they spend an average of 13 hours a week, he said, adding that 45% of YouTube audiences are interested in gaming content.
Some 50% of gamers and game audiences are those aged 18-35, and gaming is no longer a niche market.
"Gaming can be a new channel for the sales of fast-moving consumer goods [FMCG] through sponsorships," Mr Narin said.
The fifth trend concerns personalisation ads.
Brands are pivoting towards brand stickiness and sales boosts, according to Supalurk Tangcharoensiri, managing director of Reprise, a digital marketing agency.
"Brands should start understanding audiences, creating a holistic view and identifying high-value audiences to approach," Mr Supalurk said.
The sixth is data- and tech-powered D2C, which has become the new normal in e-commerce. Brands are gearing up to have their own online sales channel platform, as they will be able to gain and handle their customer data rather than relying on e-marketplaces, said Kannathakorn Rattanawenawatee, managing director of Lava Performance Marketing.
Regarding the seventh trend of influencers, Eakchai Parichatikanon, chief executive of digital agency Winter Agency, said the influencer market is expected to surge to $10 billion by this year.
"Brands can use influencers not just an amplifier, but as a communication tool that can be converted to sales," he said.