Dress your brand accordingly: Understanding the Digital Marketing Environment

Everyone likes to talk about the latest digital strategy, the secret formula to online success, but let's be honest for a moment, how can we talk about "digital strategy" without understanding the obvious and least evident moving parts behind it?

In my professional career, I've seen marketers  get excited about the newest platforms, the groundbreaking tool they saw at a seminar, and the latest metric they found out their competitor is using to track performance, but if you don't fully grasp the environment your brand operates in, all those only actions lack strategy and a truthful foundation to make it more than just "trendy noise". So today, let me walk you through how I, as a marketer, approach the digital marketing environment, and for this, I'll discuss a real case from my consulting experience with a Peruvian premium ice cream brand called Zacateca.

Start With the Environment: It's More Than Just Algorithms

The digital marketing environment is made up of two layers: the macro and micro environments (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). And it's pretty straightforward, the macro includes broader forces that can be seen at first as "external to your brand" like technology development, society and its cultural implications, laws in your particular location, and international trends. The micro, on the other hand, focuses on your day-to-day business players: customers, competitors, suppliers, and intermediaries. To explain it in simple terms, I always refer to what a professor once told me at the University of Lima back in my bachelor's years: "Think of it like weather versus wardrobe GM, you can't control the temperature, but you'd better dress accordingly."

Zacateca: A real Peruvian case

When I worked with Zacateca, an artisanal ice cream that disrupted the market, understanding both environments was essential. The macro-environment was shifting: COVID lockdowns were in place, national and international economic uncertainty had people rethinking expenses, and digital habits were growing fast in Latin America. At the micro level, Zacateca had strong product quality and passionate founders, but limited visibility for an environment were going to the store was no longer possible. We had to diagnose what the business could do to "dress up accordingly", for the type of environment it was playing in, where new laws were created daily to secure citizens' health, and that it implied more and more regulations for food and dessert companies.

Demand Analysis: Don't Just Ask What People Want, Ask Why

Understanding digital demand isn't just about keyword searches. It's about human behavior. For Zacateca, we used qualitative interviews and focus groups through zoom meeting (gatherings of more than 4 people were forbidden by the government) That's how we discovered that people didn't just wanted to escape the covid lockdown and go running, they wanted something that could bring them back to those happy moments that seemed now so far away, and believe it or not, Zacatecas ice cream was seen by the neighbors as that sweet treat that provided emotional comfort.

That insight shaped everything. Instead of pushing "artisanal" or "Peruvian-sourced," we positioned Zacateca around moments of indulgence to bring back the joy to the family table.

That emotional connection turned into a digital hook, with an online model to now deliver ice creams to the doorstep of the client; partnering with DoorDash and Rappi, the brand started to grow in sales even though customers were not coming to the physical location.

Why This Matters for You

Are you just marketing, or are you analyzing your environment before launching anything? Here's the trick: knowing your digital ecosystem lets you be proactive instead of reactive. If new regulations hit your industry, you're ready. If your competitors shift messaging, you know how to respond without losing authenticity. I am a true believer this will help you succeed in the market, whenever you are working in an established brand or a new business your launching, and avoid, what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, that over 20% of small businesses fail within the first year”

So, remember, keeping an eye on trends is important, but it is even more important to keep an eye on the different players that affect your. Business. Did you like the content? Don’t miss my latest article! Marketing