Basics of Digital marketing
Objectives
By the end of this topic you should be able to:
∙ Understand concept Digital Marketing
∙ Understand concept of Internet and use of it.
∙ Will be able to compare between Traditional and Digital Marketing.
Structure
1.1 Understanding the concepts of digital marketing,
1.2 Internet WWW,
1.3 Traditional marketing vs digital marketing
1.4 History and Evolution of Digital Marketing
1.1 Concepts of digital marketing
Marketing, Benefits of Digital MarketingDigital Marketing is the use of electronic devices and internet based platforms to create awareness about your products or services for your intended customer.
It includes use of TV, Radio, Mobiles, Tablets, Laptops, Digital displays, etc. to communicate details of your offerings with the target audience.
1.1 Internet, WWW
The advent of the internet
The mass adoption of the internet into everyday life is the single biggest event that has affected marketing over the last three decades. Although early desktop publishing software in the first PCs caused a surge in print marketing in the 1980s, the computers
were little more than a glorified typewriter. Launched by Tim Berners-Lee and his team in 1991, the World Wide Web project didn’t really take off until the first successful mass-market browser, Netscape, was released in 1994. In the following two years, the number of people using the web soared from 16 million to 70.
As users increased, the landscape evolved, from email to search engines like Yahoo! (1994) and Google (1997) and e-commerce sites like Amazon (1994) and eBay (1995). For marketing, this was a goldmine. Email became a new outbound marketing tool, joining the traditional arsenal of TV, radio and print advertisements and telephone sales. While search engines cataloged the new websites that were being created and allowed users to find the information, products and services they desired from the comfort of their own home.
Marketers used early SEO techniques like keyword stuffing, excessive tagging and backlinks to generate high rankings. One successful company at the time, renowned for its aggressive marketing tactics was Razorfish. Now one of the biggest interactive media agencies, Razorfish was a key player in early SEO, as well as a pioneer of the “server push” possibilities of the Netscape browser.
Big data
All this online activity was – and still is – stored as digital information. A 2000 study found that digital information was the most rapidly growing type of unique information produced, with most text-based information “born digital.” This information is also known as big data.
Why? Because there’s so much of it! In 2000 it was already replacing its physical counterparts: paper, film and optical (DVD and CD). New discoveries in data recording
and storage technology made big data a new and irreplaceable resource for marketing departments.
After the early hype of the internet, the dot-com bubble burst in 2001 and marketing tactics shifted. A greater emphasis was then placed on inbound marketing through information sharing, user- centered design and collaboration. The introduction of social media sites LinkedIn (2002), Myspace (2003), Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2007) made this all the more possible as internet users started sharing more and more personal data online
1.3 Traditional marketing vs digital marketing
Common traditional market methods include:
∙ Directly mailed postcards, coupons, and informational packets ∙ Television or radio commercials
∙ Newspaper or magazine ads
∙ Billboards and fliers
∙ Telephone calls and text notifications
Common digital marketing methods include
∙ Website content
∙ Email campaigns
∙ Content marketing
∙ Social media posts
∙ Clickable ads
∙ Affiliate marketing
∙ Search engine optimization (SEO)
1.4 History and Evolution of Digital Marketing
The origin of Digital Marketing can be traced back to the beginning of 1990s, when internet was beginning to explode, the first search engine “Archie” had been launched and corporate world had started to realise the reach and expanse of the internet. Some of them had started to build their own websites to publish critical information about their products, services, contact details, physical address, etc. A few who were smarter, exploited the widespread reach of the internet to sell their products online, thus forming the initial eCommerce websites. By eliminating the middle-men like Distributors, Retailers, etc., selling directly to the customer, and additionally, saving on operational expenses like rent for brick-and-mortar outlets, salespersons, interiors for the showroom, etc., they could pass on these savings to the customers, thus providing heavy discounts on the product prices, as compared to regular shops. All they needed was a warehouse to stock the products, preferably somewhere outside the city limits, where the real estate prices were very low.
Some .com companies started to offer free internet based services like eMail, news updates, document storage and sharing, etc. Any technology based product incurs huge expenses like software development, maintenance, server expenses, anti virus software, internet connectivity and so on. So how come these .com companies were able to provide free services? The revenue model for most of these was to rent out the space available on their website for advertisements. You might have seen pop
up windows with ads, or scrolling text with offers, or a banner with an advertisement at the top or on the right of the webpage. All of these, and other “tricks” like video ad playbacks, asking your eMail ID for a free eBook, your phone number for sending
discount coupon codes, etc. constitute Digital Marketing.
This was a very popular business model in the 90s, supported by unimaginable funding from investors. By the turn of the millennium, the .com bubble had burst. The reach of the ads was truly magnificent, but businesses realised that there were very few conversions. People were viewing the ads, but not purchasing anything. This led to a lot of refinement in the revenue model and increase in popularity of search engines like Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, etc.
A few companies survived the .com burst e.g. Amazon, Google, MSN and are still going strong. The internet and the digital eco-system continued to grow, nevertheless.
∙ 1994 saw the launch of Yahoo
∙ Google came into existence in 1998
∙ Facebook went live in 2004
∙ Twitter saw the light of the day in 2006
∙ WhatsApp was launched in 2010 and was purchased by Facebook in 2014 ∙ iPhone was introduced in 2007
∙ By 2011, number of youth (aged between 15 to 24 years) actively using internet had overtaken TV viewership in that age group.
∙ By 2014, internet access through hand-held devices had exceeded that via Personal Computers/Desktops.
Facebook changed the way people share information about themselves. It was an easy way friends and family could stay connected and share updates on a common platform. Before that, photographs and updates were shared individually within your friend’s circle via mail. iPhone was a radically innovative product when it was introduced, and changed the way people used their phones. It was a pioneer in the
smart phone revolution. Use of touch screen and virtual keyboard made more screen space available and this led to users moving from desktops to phones for internet related activities like browsing, search, mail, etc.With all sorts of activities now possible on smart devices, including wearable devices (Wi-Fi enabled, watch, mountable eye gear, etc.) and intense sociological need of the user to constantly update and be updated, almost to the level of addiction, organisations woke up to the tremendous opportunity of the digital media. Even a simple campaign on social media is guaranteed undivided attention as users seldom take their eyes off the screen.
There are 170 million people using social media, in one form or another, on a regular basis. When a person gets up in the morning, the typical schedule is check WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, maybe LinkedIn, read the news or post on Instagram, and only then get out of bed and start the day !! And this is repeated every half an hour or so throughout the day.
That is the average frequency and schedule of accessing digital platforms. Thus it is almost corporate suicide if these avenues are not capitalised upon. It is imperative that all corporations today build their presence on these electronic media if they need to reach out to a large audience. And it can be achieved by performing some very simple activities.
Digital Marketing is the process of using these social platforms to send out information about your organisation, or collect feedback about your products by the use of electronic media.
The basic advantage of Digital Marketing over traditional marketing is the ability to choose the buyer persona very precisely. All social platforms collect large amounts of personal data from the users during registration. What they don’t ask, we ourselves provide to them gradually and willingly. It does feel good to be wished by a large friends list on your birthday or anniversary. Similarly, users go back and check the
number of likes on their posts frequently to validate if they are popular in the virtual world. A celebrity is measured by the number of followers on Twitter or Instagram. A YouTube channel is evaluated by the activities it generates, e.g. likes, shares, comments, subscriptions and now, by notifications turned on.
Subsequently, even when the app is not being used, your details are being captured by these platforms. Your searches, transactions, location, contact info, device usage, etc. there are tons of data points being collected by these apps to very accurately profile you, to be able to deliver extremely targeted advertising to you for their clients.
Other advantages of Digital Marketing are:
∙ Affordable and cost effective
∙ Wider Reach, not constrained by geographical boundaries
∙ Shorter time period required
∙ Greater conversion rates
∙ Direct and deep engagement with potential clients
∙ Available on-the-go, to a mobile audience
∙ Simple operations and processes
Today, a successful Facebook campaign can be executed in as little as 12 CLICKS.
Google changed the rules of the game by introducing Adwords, a paid service where very specific targeted advertisement would be shown based on the search criteria entered by the user. So if a person is searching for airplane tickets for a travel plan from say Delhi to Mumbai, an aggregator like MakeMyTrip can pay Google to
show their Ad right at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This kind of customisable display of Ads completely revolutionised the Search Engine economy and directly impacted the growth of Digital Marketing. People were not shooting in the dark anymore, they knew their ad would be shown only when it is extremely relevant, as it was selected based on the search terms entered by the user.
Social Media platforms began surfacing in 2003. There were many initially, mySpace being the first. Others like Ryze, Orkut, HI5 CAME and went. Facebook and G+ have survived this race. Another notable social platform that grew tremendously, especially due to its positioning as professional and no-nonsense content is LinkedIn. Twitter and Instagram have also constantly reinvented themselves to stay relevant and
ahead of the obsolete curve.
During its nascent stages, internet was a very dull place. The webpages were static with little scope for creativity and differentiation. The internet technologies and data speeds were also not conducive to widespread usage. Due to technical advancements, webpages became more dynamic, with active content being displayed. Multimedia could now be incorporated and we had music playing, videos embedded, animations included to give a more lively look and feel to the erstwhile text based webpages.
Then came web 2.0, which made the webpage interactive. Users could now provide inputs, not just passively consume information. Chat windows, eMailing capabilities, features like providing comments became available. Users could track webpages and be updated if any new content was uploaded.
Use of cookies made tracking user preferences extremely easy and accurate. Cookies are local files which store user behaviour, browsing habits, usage patterns, etc. All sorts of history can be recorded and shared with relevant platforms to ensure highly relevant content is served to the user.
If you have searched for a product on Amazon, and seen an Ad of the same product while browsing through your Facebook wall, or even Olx etc. this magic is created by cookies.
Not just products, even jobs are being advertised using social platforms. To attract the right talent, organisations are developing focused content for Facebook pages, Twitter handles and Instagram profiles to make the organisation more appealing to the applicant, and build a brand in the minds of the prospective employees even before they join the organisation.
As computers became more powerful, and storage cheaper, corporations began to evaluate the need for storing customer data. All sorts of information about the customer was collected and stored to find ways to predict their buying behaviour. Starting with obvious like:
∙ Age
∙ Gender
∙ Location
∙ Salary
∙ Socio-Economic Status
∙ Education
∙ Family size
additional details like purchase history, buying preferences, time of visit, frequency of visits, impact of coupons/discounts, loyalty bonuses, etc. could now be captured and analysed to identify what will sell and at what time of the day, week or month.
Sophisticated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems could collect Point of Sales (PoS) data. PoS is basically the billing counter in a retail store. The databases use relationships between multiple variable factors to study trends and provide recommendations on successful products, campaigns and Return on Investment (RoI) in advertising and promotional schemes.
Once the consumer behaviour was understood and commonalities identified, organisations could now create comprehensive advertisements to ensure that more and more customers were attracted to their shops, to avail their services.
Initially, all advertising strategies were Above the Line (ATL). Also called Mass Marketing and Advertising, a one-size-fits-all message was created, which would appeal to the largest segment of the population and that was broadcast over traditional channels like TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, mail-in catalogues, brochures, etc. Almost no filtering was applied, as the aim was to reach as many people as possible, in the hope that a majority of them would find it interesting and initiate the buying process. There was no control over the audience that would receive this communication. If the TV was switched off at the time the ad was aired, an opportunity was lost forever. If a potential customer did not read the newspaper in great detail on a particular day, the ad-spend was a wasted expense. Predictably, the conversion ratios were low and the advertising costs were high. Biggest challenge was to maximise reach, increase conversion and minimise costs. This could not be done because most of the advertising content was generic, targeted at a broad category of audience, not focused on particular segments, nor using multiple options for differentiated segments.
Once organisations realised this, Below the Line (BTL) strategies evolved. These data driven, direct marketing targeted a specific group of prospects. So instead of putting up a hoarding and hoping that most of your target audience will pass through that
street, notice the poster and also collect enough information from there to act on it, you would rather reach the audience through directed communication at specific locations. If students are your target audience, they are better approached outside their college, inside canteens and around their hostels. If young working professionals are being targeted, it would be more effective to contact them around office zones, youthful restaurants, movie halls, activity centres, gyms, etc. If somebody already has a history with your organisation, you can capitalise on that to inform about any new product launches, etc. An existing customer, who is satisfied is an easier win than converting a customer from a competitor. eMails, SMS’es, events and trade fairs are
usually used for this kind of marketing.
Digital Marketing and its ability to precisely identify a potential customer, has led to evolution of a mid-way between these two approaches, ATL and BTL, called Through the Line (TTL). This utilises the best aspects of both the concepts. Using this, you can send out customised content to a very specific set of people, satisfying very relevant set of criteria.So, if a new cosmetic product is being launched, with features like organic, skin friendly, not tested on animals, etc. you can send promotional messages to not just people who have bought cosmetics from you previously, but also those who have purchased organic products. You may also target the relevant age group. If it is known that urban females in the age group of 18-24 are most probable buyers, then the message should also go out to all these potentials in the database, irrespective of whether they have purchased cosmetics from me or not.
TV advertisements have begun to use this now, to a great extent. The nature and language of ads that we see on news channels are widely different from those on entertainment channels, which in turn are pretty diverse from what is seen on sports channels. Kids’ channels have a completely different set of products being displayed.
A recent revelation is households with kids do not get as much viewership of other channels, and thus a lot of adult content like consumer goods, household products,
eCommerce websites and even movie promotions have now moved to these channels. Not very long ago, if an organisation had a webpage, it was doing more than its competition in Digital Marketing. Today, that has changed. Organisations today need to actively engage with their customers, and track the conversations on various digital platforms to gauge what their customers and prospects are saying about their products and services.
This social listening has become extremely important and relevant in today’s data driven world and not having a digital strategy will cost an organisation heavily in the modern world.The focused targeting and measureable outcomes that Digital Marketing provides can directly impact growth of revenue and profits, and thus should be given due attention.In subsequent chapters, we will see how this impact can be maximised
No comments:
Post a Comment