With the second edition of the Fashion Digital Marketing online course I believe we have contributed to re-define digital marketing for Fashion in 2024.

First of all I want to thank the digital professionals who have contributed to create a great learning experience for the students of the fashion digital marketing course. Organising and also attending the lessons in this course was a great opportunity for me to get up-to-date insights on Digital Marketing best practices and trends from digital marketing professionals who practise every day and deliver results for their brands and for their clients.

So thanks for of all the teachers of the course! 👏

What’s new in digital marketing in 2024

We embraced a holistic and data-driven approach to digital marketing that takes into considerations key aspects such us:

• data-analysis, 
• strategy definition (goals and measurements), 
• tools and techniques, 
• and a technological approach with use AI.

Digital Marketers have long been acquainted with the traditional marketing funnel—a pyramid-shaped structure with the base at the top, comprising stages such as Attention, Interest (Exploration), Desire (Consideration), and Action (Conversion). However, this model has undergone a transformative shift, thanks to Google’s introduction of the concept known as the “Messy Middle.” This innovative approach acknowledges that consumers no longer follow a linear path through the funnel. Instead, they navigate a complex journey, oscillating between exploration and consideration before ultimately converting.

This model also accounts for the multi-channel path to conversion that the users follow when they seach for products and brands across multiple devices / platforms combinations:

• Desktop computers: official websites, comparison sites, search engines
• Mobile: social media, videos, vocal search, chat
• Digital TV
• Digital Out of Home
• Physical stores

As our teacher Gaetano pointed out, the Messy Middle model faces challenges in presenting a cohesive digital marketing strategy to CEOs. Its inherent unpredictability makes it less appealing for those seeking control over budget allocation. 

In the Messy Middle model, advertisers find themselves completely depending on the advertising platforms machine learning algorithms, Meta and Google to name the most relevant at the moment, who allocate your budget spreading it across multiple audiences, ads formats, channels, devices.

If marketers try to implement a more granular approach to control budget allocation they risk reducing the efficiency of the algorithm and therefore reduce the return on investment in Advertising.

Recognizing the need for a more manageable approach, digital managers are now seeking alternative models that offer greater control over budget allocation and strategic planning. The evolution of digital marketing in 2024 demands a paradigm shift towards adaptable and responsive frameworks that empower digital managers to navigate the dynamic landscape with precision and effectiveness.

In particular Marketing Managers need to have control over the planning and calendar of communication activities and activation moments. 

What’s changed in the role of Digital Marketers with AI?

In a nutshell, Digital Marketers have to use different advertising platforms and orchestrate communications in order to achieve specific goals. Sounds enough?

What we have learned from the lesson of performance marketing from Andrea Tombesi and Bianca Maria from Denstu, a Global Digital Advertising network with significant experience in the fashion & luxury industry, is that advertising platforms keep evolving, improving and expanding their reach. 

Messages, channels and targeting have become more pervasive, subtle and targeted, when cookies and technology allows it.

In essence the AI capabilities built in Google Ads allow advertisers to set a Goal for an ad campaign and let Google Ads platform create different ads formats, determine where and when show the messages and who will see the messages, and ensure a target ROAS or set another KPIs that is relevant to the advertiser for that specific campaign. It could be to “develop brand awareness”, generate leads or other objectives.

With AI the role of the Digital Marketer has evolved from being the person who create ads and configure the settings of campaigns to → the person who sets the correct goals for a campaign, monitor performance, orchestrate different advertising platforms to create synergies, studies the innovations in the platforms to leverage the new features and capabilities that keep growing.

Is the internet space infinite?

Another key takeaway from Gaetano’s lessons is that the digital space is not infinite. We used to think that the internet was endless and there was space for everybody’s but we need to rethink this concept and start thinking of the internet as a luxury mall or a high end street. 

In these streets the users enter from an entrance and they find some shops, products and offers in the first positions and then they find the others brands and products as they walk along, if they walk along. 

These streets are: Search Engines Search Results Page (SEPR), Affiliate websites, Marketplaces landing pages. In other words the virtual places where the users explore products and complete their purchases.

As Gaetano correctly mentioned it is also essential that the Performance Marketing team that manages the allocation of the media budget, liaise with the Digital PR team and the team in charge of the editorial plan, because the content creation is essential to rank higher in the search results of both search engines (SEO) and social media.

Digital Advertising profession is rapidly changing also thanks to social media consumption and the regulamentation of the sector that is undergoing scrutiny and restrictions by the international institutions.

Digital marketers and ecommerce managers who want to obtain the maximum from digital marketing campaigns should also consider:

1. Improved targeting systems include leveraging first party data and use of Customer Data Platforms CDP to expand the potential customer base efficiently and in compliance with the new regulamentations; 
2. The new standards in Digital Advertising for both Search Engine Ads and Social Media Ads, which leverage automated content creation and product feeds synched up with your ecommerce and local stock availabilities to maximise the conversions. 
3. The introduction of artificial intelligence in both Meta Business and Google Advertising platforms that exploit the potential of AI to reduce the manual intervention in the management of the advertising campaigns and let the AI optimise both planning and execution of the campaigns to maximise results. 

How is SEO changing in 2024?

In 2024, SEO is experiencing a significant shift towards a more user-centric approach. 

While keywords analysis remain important, search engines like Google are placing greater emphasis on understanding user intent and delivering the most relevant content. 

User engagement metrics, like click-through rate and time on page, are becoming crucial ranking factors. 

Additionally, establishing topical authority by demonstrating expertise on a specific subject is gaining importance. Businesses need to focus on creating high-quality, informative content that addresses user needs and incorporates search intent. This includes utilizing clear language, relevant keywords, and catering to semantic search trends. 

As AI and machine learning become more sophisticated, SEO is becoming increasingly data-driven, requiring constant adaptation and optimization strategies to stay ahead in the ever-evolving search landscape.

As we learned from SEO Experts Oliwia Urban and Giuliano Maria Fabbri, for Digital Marketers in 2024  it’s still important to know the SEO fundamentals, such as: Keywords research and On-page optimization, but it’s also essential to create synergy between SEO and SEM as these two channel need to work together to create efficiency in the budget allocation.
We will talk more about these topics during the Digital Fashion Academy events and courses in 2024.

SEO Fundamentals and Evolution

1. Keyword research: Understanding what people are searching for related to your product, service, or niche is essential. This involves identifying relevant keywords and understanding search intent (the purpose behind a user’s search). Keyword research helps you tailor your content and website structure to match user queries.

2. On-page optimization: Optimizing your website’s content and structure for relevant keywords is crucial. This includes:

Title tags and meta descriptions: These provide search engines and users with a concise summary of your page’s content.

Headings and subheadings: Using clear and relevant headings and subheadings improves readability and helps search engines understand the page’s structure.

Content quality: Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that provides value to users and addresses their search intent.

Image optimization: Optimize images by using relevant filenames and alt text descriptions.

How to learn digital marketing?

The Fashion Digital Marketing online course encopasses and expands on topics with have discussed in this article and more.