There are three important digital marketing principles, which will become more important over time. They are Marketing Accessibility, Availability and Applicability. In my regular piece in Inside Retailing, I will be exploring each in some detail over the coming month. However, briefly, they are as follows.

Accessibility. This refers to having your product and marketing information easily available; at the place (and time, which falls into Availability) where someone is looking. Accessibility well beyond your own website’s search and navigation. More important is the need to be discovered and available where people are looking, including search engines, industry portals, social sites, RSS readers, desktop tools, mobile phones etc.

Availability. People are not making buying decisions only when you have your marketing campaign running or your stores open. Digital media changes the paradigm of retail marking in that people are now seeking information and purchasing from anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night. How do you respond to that? How can you ensure the availability of your information when people are looking for it?

Applicability. Digital media is by its very nature interactive, selective and user-controlled. It is a media-optimised and individual experience and therefore difficult to use as a marketer. Replicating mass media marketing (untargeted display advertising) does not work. Relevance is the key to marketing in the digital media; ensuring your brand and your messages are applicable to each recipient is essential for both the health of your brand and the success of your campaigns. Applicability all starts with understanding each customer. If your advertising is relevant, it is indistinguishable from information.

Each of these will be explored in further detail in Inside Retailing and also in this blog over April/May.