By Aman Gupta
Evolving digital technologies driven by the internet have transformed consumer habits and behaviour, globally. The emergence of the digital era has also created multiple marketing opportunities as well as challenges for brands.
As consumer behaviour has transformed with the rapid spread of smartphones, apps, digital and social media platforms, brands have refined their market outreach via digital marketing tools to navigate the more challenging business environment.Mygate unveils new brand and strategic positioning as living experience tech companyNetflix to stop reporting subscriber tally as streaming wars coolBajaj Electricals launches new line of ceiling fans with its first digital campaignTata Play drops prices; rolls out Super Saver Packs
Advantages of Digital Marketing
While the shift to digital was already underway, the pandemic accelerated this years-long transition to a few weeks, forcing brands to use digital marketing channels to reach out to customers to keep their BCPs (business continuity plans) running. Whether it is mobile apps, social media, email, blogs or websites, brands are using a combination of digital tools to engage consumers regularly.
Be it live chats, email chains or social media comments, brands have been driving sustained interaction and engagement with customers. As a result, digital marketing is helping brands resolve consumer problems almost immediately in real time, in turn ensuring greater satisfaction levels across diverse industries.
Unlike traditional marketing that remains restricted to specific audiences, digital marketing campaigns cater to a much wider catchment area, with the online target audience spread nationally and internationally. Consequently, digital marketing has helped brands overcome geographic barriers.
Moreover, the digital medium helps companies garner immense amounts of data generated daily when consumers browse various websites in search of relevant products or services. By using AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning) and NLP (natural language processing) tools, brands can track, influence and predict consumer journeys.
For instance, once consumers’ product choices are established, AI algorithms can be used to trigger product pop-ups when people visit online sites. In many cases, consumers may not even be aware that such products exist. The new-found awareness could then lead to impulse purchases. In this way, the sustained generation of data that reveals dynamic consumer preferences aids brands in augmenting their marketing campaigns to target consumers more effectively.
With rapid technological advances, economic uncertainties and market volatility, the need for flexible marketing strategies has become the need of the hour. In this dynamic landscape, market research based on daily data and consumer insights supports businesses in making more informed decisions to retain their relevance and competitive edge while providing customers with more enjoyable shopping experiences. A competitive analysis of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of peers further helps brands with a better understanding of current market dynamics to adapt their strategies accordingly.
Benefits of Consistent Consumer Insights
Thanks to the emergence of multi-channel marketing, consumer insights can be gleaned from various sources. These include product/service reviews, customer service data, market research, purchase history, browsing habits, etc. Consumer insights are critical since they assist enterprises in offering personalised products and services as per buyer needs and preferences, which includes data about preferred price points.
Microsoft reveals that companies leveraging consumer behaviour in generating insights outperform competitors by 85% in sales growth.1 Consumer insights help brands expand product/service offerings, create elaborate customer profiles and journey maps, develop new marketing strategies and improve their current product portfolios.
Additionally, such insights help companies predict customer churn while pinpointing areas where their services can be improved to decrease this attrition. Customer lifetime values can also be maximised, garnering higher revenues. Furthermore, brands can more accurately forecast the level of inventory required at different times of the year. This facilitates better inventory planning and lower losses since excess inventory that must be marked down can be minimised. Consumer insights also contribute to optimal product pricing, leading to more returns on investment.
The Growing Arc of Influence
Unlike earlier, multi-channel marketing is increasingly becoming the norm. This includes social media, content marketing, email marketing and SEO (search engine optimisation). In this way, brands can use both online and offline channels to reach out to customers, irrespective of their geographic location.
Today, social media and content marketing are complementary strategies. To begin with, social media platforms are excellent for publicising vibrant content, including blogs, to promote a brand’s products and services. What’s more, brand links on social media handles can be shared by followers and friends, expanding the company’s arc of influence. If social media sharing gains sufficient traction, there is a possibility of the content going viral, generating exponential benefits. Therefore, brands should always make it convenient for readers to share their content.
In this scheme of things, the rise of influencer marketing is another favourable element that brands could use to promote their products and services. Significantly, the recommendations of influencers with millions of followers can play a major role in enhancing the credibility of brands. Influencer marketing can also act as a more cost-effective medium compared to traditional channels.
By 2025, the Indian market is expected to have around 900 million digital users, highlighting its huge potential for brands, cutting across industries. A report by Kantar, the marketing data and analytics firm, notes that India already has more than 530 million active social media users. Of these, 52% are millennials – a cohort that is anticipated to number 600 million by 2025. In turn, the rising online presence is poised to provide a fillip to e-commerce sales, with 77 million shoppers already having made purchases from social media platforms and social commerce sites in 2021. 2
Along with allied digital tailwinds, the robust growth of India’s e-commerce segment emphasises why brands should have a strong online presence by optimising their websites and other online offerings.
The author is the head of marketing, Farmley
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https://www.financialexpress.com/business/brandwagon-redefining-marketing-in-the-digital-age-navigating-market-turbulence-with-effective-strategies-3462610/
