Strategem, led by managing director Keith Lee (pictured), has a team of around 20 people focused on creating digital marketing results through core disciplines of data, content and performance advertising.

What expectations do people have of brands online?

We’ve known for many years that customers have high expectations of brands online. As social channels evolve further away from peer-to-peer sharing platforms into pure content discovery channels (Facebook Trending Topics, Twitter Moments, SnapChat), it’s quite clear for everyone to see that users expect highly relevant content from brands online.

Developing and delivering targeted content and contact strategies that add value and satisfy this customer expectation requires us to understand the customer, how they interact per channel, and their motivations for doing so.

What is the future of search advertising?

As the wider digital ecosystem continues to mature, search intent is down year-on-year. This is largely due to the predictive nature of search on mobile devices, but also based on the maturing behaviour of online audiences, who are less and less in ‘research’ vs. ‘discovery’ mode.

We are now at a ‘new norm’ in how content works, and brands will only continue to receive praise (by both users and search engines) for the organic quality of their content.

Yes, we’ll continue to bid at the base of the funnel with paid media from a sales and conversion perspective. But wider content and SEM success requires a brand to create highly relevant and personalised content across the wider digital realm,  to build trust, affinity and purchase intent.

What emerging technology in online marketing interests you?

From a customer engagement perspective, the future of CX and personalisation are the most exciting territories for any professional working in digital marketing.

Related to this, data visualisation is the emerging technology that excites us most. Systems are now at a point where we can visualise the entire online influence and decision-making process, and identify where the opportunities exist to optimise our communications (per channel, but now also cross-channel) for maximum effect, regardless of the nature of the client brief and/or commercial KPI.

What would you like to change in the world of online marketing?

We wouldn’t change a thing. We’re entering an unprecedented stage of sustainable growth in a global marketplace that has now matured and realised that ‘online marketing’ is in fact the truest form of actual ‘marketing’ itself i.e. know the market and the customer (data), present a highly relevant and creative solution (via content) and continually optimise for success (performance).

• Click here to view 2016 Survey of Digital Agencies in Ireland published in Business Plus magazine