The tourism and hospitality industries are experiencing first-hand the impact brought about by breakthrough developments in the digital world. While the Internet has been extremely effective in streamlining business processes across diverse fields (such as e-commerce websites cutting out the middleman by offering products directly to consumers), it has also transformed the travel industry into a messy, crowded marketplace where competition is stiff. Today, every travel agency is striving to stay competitive – in certain cases, just simply trying to stay afloat – by employing all forms of digital marketing techniques. As a travel agent, you are not only competing for leads (would-be travelers) but also with airlines and hotel chains which are offering competing travel and vacation packages directly on their websites. In order to be able to stay in the rat race for travelers’ share of wallet, one must have a robust digital marketing strategy.

The rising popularity and use of digital media have greatly influenced the marketing landscape in Singapore nowadays. In particular, businesses from every industry conceivable seem to be jumping on the bandwagon leverage on influencer marketing, with the objective of gaining credibility and new customers in the digital world. Just exactly what is influencer marketing, and how critical is in in marketing your brand or business?

Technology now plays an instrumental role in the hiring and recruitment industry. In fact, in the world of digital marketing, one can draw parallels between the seemingly distinct talent and customer acquisition process. In a customer acquisition process, a business starts off by developing marketing content, which may contain ads press releases, white papers, blogs and lead-capture landing pages. This content is then used to generate sales leads for the business, which are further nurtured until they become fully qualified buyer leads. The entire workflow is made possible by what is known as Marketing Automation – a process by which the launching and monitoring of required tasks for the purpose of lead generation can be automated.

Regardless of the size of the business, devising a solid digital marketing plan is critical. Your marketing budget is an integral component of your overall business strategy. To help realize business goals, the budget must be realistic and the outcome measurable – you will want the investment to translate to tangible results, such as improved brand recognition or increased revenues. Without a solid, well-defined digital marketing plan, it is possible for you to overspend on your marketing costs.

How do you define online reputation management? To some, it may mean monitoring the various social media platforms and responding accordingly as and when the need arises; to others, online reputation management is akin to a public relations exercise. Regardless of how you perceive and define this term, it is critical to be cognizant of the important role online reputation management plays in today’s world of digital media marketing. Be the entity engaging in online reputation management a small or a big organization, an independent blogger or a world-famous celebrity, this aspect of digital marketing must always be properly managed.