Year 2000 versus year 2012: It’s hard to believe how much the world has
transformed in the past decade! Consumers today connect with brands in
fundamentally new ways, often through social media channels as
traditional marketing strategies fall short in this new world.
What’s more, a purchase is no longer the end of the relationship! Now consumers often enter into an on-going relationship with the brand during which they enjoy, advocate for and bond with it. ‘Digital marketing’ was born through this change. Some of the key changes that have taken place are all linked to the amount of information we can now consume about products and services without a single face-to-face discussion with like-minded people and friends! By sharing their experiences, people have now become bigger spokesmen of brands than ever before (experiences, comparisons, reviews and comments are taken 10 times more seriously than brands speaking about themselves!).
Brands such as Samsung run strong influencer relationship programmes that help them get positive word of mouth and recommendation. Bloggers are becoming a huge community with the ability to present credible third party points of view to people searching for advice.
As digital communication increases, crafting content and conversations around the brand become more and more important. Although the commonality of the online space with the traditional mediums is in the “story-telling approach”, telling a story about the brand online is about consumers co-creating these stories through narratives of their own personal experiences with the brand.
One of the reasons for the heightened interest of marketers in the online space is the kind of targeted message delivery and consumer engagement that the medium delivers most cost-effectively! What is better than serving messages around your brand or category when people are actually searching for information? Search marketing (SEM) is now considered as one of the top lead generation methodologies by several categories including financial services, automotives and durables.
Technology, too, is playing an important role -- with increasingly better connectivity, consumers are finding it easier and more convenient to get their information through the internet.
While digital marketing is critical, the recognition that there is more than one screen in play with consumers is crucial. Customers can hop from one screen to another at any point of time. This is why mobile phones, tablets and game consoles have become as important as the television and the PC. Imagine a scenario where a family sees an advertisement on 3D television. This starts an argument around which TV set to buy. The father clicks open his laptop to see how much it costs. Simultaneously his son flicks his Samsung Tab to get onto eBay to see the latest offers even as the younger son watches the demonstration of a game played on a 3D TV. This multi-user, multi-device, multi-platform engagement is now a reality.
The digital world is growing bigger! It is estimated that by the beginning of 2013 India may have almost 200 million internet users (mobile internet and PC-web). A recent study shows that social media has more than 95% reach with the internet audiences. With more and more Indians spending time on social media it is becoming imperative for brands to have a serious presence on social media. This move is not only confined to big brands, very often, digital can be used to launch and sustain niche brands too.
As the digital space becomes more evolved, brands are evaluating e-commerce. Several brands, including FMCG brands, are now offering commerce on the web. The big adopters are mobile, telecom, banking and finance (apart from travel and hotels). Technology is also playing a major role in the spread of digital with several easy e-commerce plug-and-play options.
The writer is president of Digitas India
What’s more, a purchase is no longer the end of the relationship! Now consumers often enter into an on-going relationship with the brand during which they enjoy, advocate for and bond with it. ‘Digital marketing’ was born through this change. Some of the key changes that have taken place are all linked to the amount of information we can now consume about products and services without a single face-to-face discussion with like-minded people and friends! By sharing their experiences, people have now become bigger spokesmen of brands than ever before (experiences, comparisons, reviews and comments are taken 10 times more seriously than brands speaking about themselves!).
Brands such as Samsung run strong influencer relationship programmes that help them get positive word of mouth and recommendation. Bloggers are becoming a huge community with the ability to present credible third party points of view to people searching for advice.
As digital communication increases, crafting content and conversations around the brand become more and more important. Although the commonality of the online space with the traditional mediums is in the “story-telling approach”, telling a story about the brand online is about consumers co-creating these stories through narratives of their own personal experiences with the brand.
One of the reasons for the heightened interest of marketers in the online space is the kind of targeted message delivery and consumer engagement that the medium delivers most cost-effectively! What is better than serving messages around your brand or category when people are actually searching for information? Search marketing (SEM) is now considered as one of the top lead generation methodologies by several categories including financial services, automotives and durables.
Technology, too, is playing an important role -- with increasingly better connectivity, consumers are finding it easier and more convenient to get their information through the internet.
While digital marketing is critical, the recognition that there is more than one screen in play with consumers is crucial. Customers can hop from one screen to another at any point of time. This is why mobile phones, tablets and game consoles have become as important as the television and the PC. Imagine a scenario where a family sees an advertisement on 3D television. This starts an argument around which TV set to buy. The father clicks open his laptop to see how much it costs. Simultaneously his son flicks his Samsung Tab to get onto eBay to see the latest offers even as the younger son watches the demonstration of a game played on a 3D TV. This multi-user, multi-device, multi-platform engagement is now a reality.
The digital world is growing bigger! It is estimated that by the beginning of 2013 India may have almost 200 million internet users (mobile internet and PC-web). A recent study shows that social media has more than 95% reach with the internet audiences. With more and more Indians spending time on social media it is becoming imperative for brands to have a serious presence on social media. This move is not only confined to big brands, very often, digital can be used to launch and sustain niche brands too.
As the digital space becomes more evolved, brands are evaluating e-commerce. Several brands, including FMCG brands, are now offering commerce on the web. The big adopters are mobile, telecom, banking and finance (apart from travel and hotels). Technology is also playing a major role in the spread of digital with several easy e-commerce plug-and-play options.
The writer is president of Digitas India
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