FUTURO by Eduardo Chavez

Digital marketers have never had so many options available to communicate with customers. The AddtoAny screen below provides just a snapshot of the many communication tools available to reach customers. The challenge, from a marketers perspective, is to figure out when to use one over another.

To aid my thinking, I’ve generated a simple yet effective framework that helps bring the overall marketing efforts into distinct categories with unique definitions, activities and objectives. Strategic objectives should dictate the type of communication tool and not the other way around. So I won’t attempt to categorise the tools, but instead to categorise the marketing goals and objectives, and then identify the tools best suited to each.


These four areas are generally related to an overarching strategic goal, yet remain distinct enough to have individual objectives and tools. The table below presents a summary of what they stand for:



As in any campaign, the focus should be first on the customer. Identifying who we are wanting to talk to (Segmentation), how best to reach them (Targeting) and how will we communicate our message (Positioning) remain fundamental tenants of any campaign. Digital marketing stages and tools will overlap with these marketing fundamentals.