The rise of social media and the maturity of Internet tech has created multi-channel integrated marketing 4.0. The iterative development of the previous-mentioned marketing concepts has basically become the consensus of academic circles and managers before 2010 and has not changed much so far. However, the entire market and the living environment of consumers have undergone some major changes after 2010, of which two trends have the greatest impact.

The first trend is the gradual maturity of mobile Internet technology. Communication services have moved from 3G to 4G and even 5G. The increase in bandwidth has made mobile phones the most important tool for people to obtain information in their daily lives, and the problem of massive multimedia content transmission has also been solved.

The mobile phone has become an information tool that people carry with them. In the past, the behavior of only using computers to access the Internet has undergone major changes. The acquisition and sending of information has become a matter that can be solved in an instant. This trend of mobile life has become a change in consumer behavior in recent years. an important indicator.

The second trend is the emergence of social media. Since the beginning of 2000, blogs and communities that were once widely used have gradually changed to social media and instant messenger tools, and the way of contacting friends has undergone major changes. People can always pay attention to the recent situation of their friends on social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc., and even the relationship between friends has undergone major changes.

Recommendations and fission among friends have become new and powerful marketing channels. It is this relationship that has created online marketing for e-commerce platforms. For instance, Taobao and Pinduoduo in China got through WeChat and Weibo. The number of friends has also become an important asset. The economy is based on the circle of friends – the micro-business model has emerged, and everyone can be a boss and do marketing.

News media have also begun to personalize. For example, in China, the content platforms including Toutiao allow everyone to see other news there. These media also enable people to obtain information from a wider range of sources and obtain information more quickly. The emergence of short video media in recent years, such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, has greatly changed the mode of personal life entertainment and corporate brand building. Gradually, it allows the marketers to do more on the content to reach people in multi-channel integration marketing.

These tremendous changes after 2010 have fundamentally challenged the original concepts of 4P, 4C, and 4R in marketing. Because people’s access to information has changed significantly, these different media can no longer be “buy” and require companies to manage them differently.

Based on the diversification of customer behavior and the differentiation of individual consumers, companies must consider breakthroughs at the level of new media. At the same time, traditional media cannot be completely abandoned by companies. Therefore, Kotler proposed the concept of Marketing 4.0 in 2013. He believed the future will be an era of integrated media use.

The specific digital proof will be explained in detail in another column I will release in a series next, or you also can do research about it by yourself. Of course, what I have provided or shared here is just some idea or thought that be able to help you to ignite and activate your potential knowledge and skills through your own traits. See you in my next article we will continue to discuss the bugs in Marketing 4.0.