From dual marketing to marketing 4.0. The role played by digital technology and the Internet

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the transformations undergone by dual marketers in their marketing strategies, with the advent of new digital tools. In particular, the chapter wants to emphasise the shift from a dual marketing perspective to the omnichannel approach, based on the integration of communication strategies between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). To this end, the chapter first analyses the theoretical contribution of the integrated marketing communication paradigm in omnichannel marketing. Then, identifying the characteristics common to the B2B and B2C markets, it maps the use of touchpoints and digital content in the dual marketers’ omnichannel strategies. Moreover, the role of online personalised marketing and big data analytics tools is illustrated in order to investigate the relationship between dual marketing and big data analytics towards Industry 4.0. Lastly, the dynamics and the perspectives emerged from the literature are traced within the case study of Unicredit Italia to try to bring out the best practices for an omnichannel strategy of dual marketers.