Marketing in a Digital World

Abstract

Over the course of digitization, many innovative marketing technologies have emerged that – theoretically speaking – promise firms gains in efficiency and/or effectiveness. However, a central task for marketing is not to allow the use of these technologies to become an end in itself, but to preserve the guiding principle of marketing, namely customer orientation. This means that the new technologies only offer added value for firms if they also offer (perceived) added value for consumers. Using three specific application areas as examples (chatbots, voice assistants and data privacy management), we show how firms can combine innovative marketing technologies and consumer interests in a purposeful manner.