Is Digital Marketing the future of marketing? Do you remember the iconic ads of the nineties airing between Chitrahaar or Tu Tu Main Main? Remember, the small jalebi boy from the Dhara ad, or the crazy dancing girl from the Cadbury Dairy Milk ad who barged into the cricket stadium after her paramour hit a boundary? These ads have been the piece of nostalgia and were carefully crafted to attract the attention of the audience sitting in front of the TV, along with their family.
Unfortunately, this mode of advertising has become somewhat less rewarding in the current times. You see, most of us do own a TV of our own – some even multiple sets – in our home. But, most of us do not spend that much amount in front of it. Instead, we prefer watching the shows on the OTT platforms where there are lesser ad breaks and more of the content. We prefer connecting our mobiles to Smart TVs, for better viewing experience.
Related reading: Growth of Digital Marketing in India
Digital Marketing is the future of Marketing!
In these scenarios, advertisers are thinking out of the box solutions for engaging with their audience and promoting their products. With the tremendous increase in viewership among online channels, the promoters have shifted their attention towards – online Digital Marketing.
What is digital marketing?
Technically, digital marketing is promotion of goods and services through digital mediums. In this broad perspective, advertising anything over websites, social media, OTT, mobile app or any other sources of online media. With time, the definition of digital marketing has evolved to exclusively include online marketing and promotional activities.
Currently, Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms own the massive percentage of audience in terms of viewership. In reality, as we speak, more than 4.5 billion people are using the internet. Among them, 3.8 billion people are on some social media channels for educational or entertainment reasons (and the number is most likely to increase with time).
Read about digital marketing trends in India
With such a huge percentage of viewership, it is obvious that the marketers are innovating and shifting their attention towards online mediums. According to a survey, a huge percentage of business leaders have agreed on rethinking their advertising strategies to profits from the latest viewership trends.
It is not to say that traditional mode of marketing is dead, however without digital marketing it cannot sustain in the long run.
Related reading: Digital marketing career opportunities in India
Why you need digital marketing?
Even ten years back, for running a successful business all you needed was dedication, hard work, and proper management skills. But now the story is different. In order to survive in an overtly competitive market, digital marketing has become a game-changer for most industries. The benefits of the traditional marketing tactics cannot be ignored while doing business, but digital marketing is also making its presence felt.
In the recent years, the human dependence for knowledge and information has been satiated by the internet. The tremendous reach of the smartphones and tablets into the domestic life has further expanded the reach of the world wide web.
More and more people are switching towards mobile phones for entertainment, knowledge, or networking. In this scenario, online or digital marketing might have a better penetration in the consumer demographic.
When talking about demographic, in India close to half a billion people (and counting) are currently using internet in their daily life. Surprisingly, some of the youngest users of the internet belong to the age bracket of 1 – 5 years (data presented in the joint study by the Nielsen and Internet and Mobile Association of India)! These data make digital marketing a lucrative venture for promotion and marketing business and services.
There are massive advantages associated with digital marketing, including:
- Cost effective
- Can create dedicated campaigns for targeted demographics
- The results are measurable
- Changes can be made based on the direction of the campaign
- Global reach
- Brands can build their social currency
With skilled professionals, any brand can make a positive impact on their sales and reach their growth goals.
Using internet for promotional activities
As stated earlier, a huge percentage of the global population depends on the internet for information and entertainment. According to Think with Google, more than 51% consumers have agreed on running an online research before making the purchase.
As per the shoppers, this additional step helps them in making the right choice during the purchase. It makes internet a valuable medium for promoting and selling the product. Digital marketing sets up a bridge between the consumers and the buyers, benefitting both the parties in the process.
With the right usage of online marketing, sellers can push their sales as well as,
- Connect with consumers
- Find a push in return of investment
- Better conversion rates
The huge penetration of internet among the rural and urban population, most industries using digital marketing to create new venues for themselves. And, industries that are not jumping onto the internet bandwagon are facing stiff competition to survive.
Moreover, most retail goods are now available on Amazon, and Flipkart, while for lifestyle goods one can visit Myntra or Nykaa. These retailers have diversified to include lifestyle, grooming, cosmetic products on their shelves. Thus, consumers can shop from the comfort of their homes. Sadly, this means more competition at the local levels. Therefore, it is important to make some changes to get noticed in the eyes of the buyers.
For starters, setting up a website is a great idea. At a decent budget, entrepreneurs can setup a basic page online to interact with the consumers. Setting up a website is not that difficult, can be done without any professional help. But experts can make the entire process smother.
To step up the game, one should work towards building the brand value. This can be done with the help of social media. Some of the popular social media platforms are:
- YouTube
- Snapchat
Over the past year, the percentage of time spent on social media per consumers have increased tremendously. According to a report published in Oct 2019, 351.4 million Indians are on some kind of social media platform. They spend on an average 2.4 hours a day on these channels. Interestingly, 290 million active users visit their profiles via mobile phones. With social media, consumer can create better turnaround on their business.
Thus social media and digital marketing is a valuable tool, that can make a positive impact on the business.
With the growing world of Technology and the Induction of 5 G has turned the world towards Digital Marketing and creating great scope in future.
Thank You Seven Boats help me choose why I should prefer Digital Marketing as my future prospective
Thank you Vivek. We wish you all the best fro your career as a digital marketer. Yes, digital marketing is the future of Marketing. Few stats here –
People using the internet in 2015 were 259 million which go up to 331 million in 2017. It has been predicted that the number internet users are to get doubled by 2022 (600 Million).
Indian Prime Minister announced that by 2020 on the digital space there would be more than 20 Lakhs jobs available to students.
Digital marketing is more affordable and you can track every result in digital marketing.
Digital Marketing is definitely that future of Marketing and even more so in 2020 when the emergence of Covid-19 has thrown large companies and small businesses together into a state of uncertainty. Most of them have gone online in order to stay relevant and survive this pandemic to reduce their losses to a minimum.
Thank you Anupama for your comment. Yes every company should now focus to digital transformation and promoting their product or services through digital marketing. Post corona pandemic, digital marketing will be the mainstream marketing. Digital marketing is the future of marketing. I have written a post on digital marketing strategies during covid 19 pandemic here – https://www.7boats.com/digital-marketing-strategies-in-post-covid-19/
Hello Sir,
I’m becoming your big fan. Again it’s a nicely summed up article. I would look forward to see more from you elaborating on the following topics,
1. Scope of Digital Marketing in India
2. How to do Personalized marketing
3. Big Data and tools available for implementing data driven strategy in personalizing content
4. Are AI automation and Internet of Things the next big things in digital marketing
5. What are the most effective strategies for Reaching out to Global markets
6. What’s the buzz all about Government’s “Digital India” initiative
7. How to get Small town startups digitally equipped
8. What type of digital marketing course to do for taking it as a Career option
Thanks a lot in advance.
Thank you very much Laqsh. Thank you for suggesting these great topics. Sure I will cover these in my upcoming posts.
Great post and so informative so thank you very much for sharing. Digital Marketing ideas…
Thank you Manuel
Statistics- (in million)
2017- 437.7
2018- 483
2019- 525.3
2020- 564.5
2021- 601
After looking at this data, we can easily figure out that how digital market is going to expand in the near future and already it is in boom. Of course, it is a cheap and less costly over conventional marketing practices to target the right customer.However, shift of the world shall totally be in digital platform.
Thank you Kishor for sharing this statistics of active internet users in India. Yes, definitely digital marketing will be the future of marketing. Also as per moneycontrol and LinkedIn in July 2020, digital marketing is among the most demanding skills that can be learnt online. It’s in number one in the list.
In today’s world , everywhere we see lots of advertisements. One of the biggest role of digital marketing. Any company can advertise their product with low cost digitally. The penetration of mobile has reached manifold and expected to grow in rapid pace. Through this article, after reading this got a lot of ideas about digital marketing. All the aspects of digital marekting has been clearly defined here. I hope for such kind of articles in future from you.
Thank you Sir.
Well said Rintu. Yes, with increased usage of smartphones & internet, digital marketing will be the future of marketing. True not only for India, but for the whole world. Thank you.