Digital Marketing: Evolution & relevance
Digital methods of communication and marketing are faster, more versatile, practical and streamlined, so it is perhaps unsurprising that once the technology became available we began quickly moving into the digital age. The good news is that digital offers just as much potential to marketers as it does to consumers. The concept of digital marketing involves: Websites and SEO content, Blogs, Internet banner ads, Online video content, Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Email marketing, Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.) etc.
Digital marketing is infinitely more affordable than traditional offline marketing methods. An email or social media campaign, can transmit a marketing message to consumers for the merest fraction of the cost of a TV ad or print campaign, and potentially reach a wider audience. But one of the main benefits of conducting our marketing digitally is the ease with which results can be tracked and monitored. Rather than conducting expensive customer research, we can quickly view customer response rates and measure the success of our marketing campaign in real-time, enabling us to plan more effectively for the next one.
Perhaps the strongest case for incorporating a digital element into our marketing is that digital media forms are quickly overtaking traditional forms of information consumption. For example: According to the Office for National Statistics data, in the year 2011, over 82% of UK adults went online in the first three months of the year, which is over 40 million individuals.
Way Forward: Trends in 2015
Marketing, a quite an ancient subject, witnesses its practical application since the days of ancient Rome. But many business historians might argue that marketing is a discrete discipline and wasn’t born until 1950s, when marketing activities have actually played a vital role in successes of businesses. It was more about eyeball catching theorems that get transformed into engagement strategies and as a result, dramatic changes have undergone in the past two decades in the marketing space! Marketing and technological developments are completely and inextricably intertwined. From printing press to television and now Internet, technological breakthroughs are giving creativity and intelligence sleepless nights.
In the age of internet, as the world is rapidly shifting from analogue to digital, Digital Marketing is gradually becoming a priority and plays a significant role in human lives. It offers the prospect of increasing and improving the interactions and relationships with current and prospective customers through, social networking sites, instant messaging systems and mobile applications (apps). From a simple email about a product (which marketers would hardly know as to whether the same got delivered) we have come to a level wherein it has become comprehensive process of evaluating the consumer behavior, by tracking one’s online activities (including the status/ result of e-mail campaign) and giving an insight to the product developers and the marketers about their future strategies.
In the age of internet, as the world is rapidly shifting from analogue to digital, Digital Marketing is gradually becoming a priority and plays a significant role in human lives. It offers the prospect of increasing and improving the interactions and relationships with current and prospective customers through, social networking sites, instant messaging systems and mobile applications (apps). From a simple email about a product (which marketers would hardly know as to whether the same got delivered) we have come to a level wherein it has become comprehensive process of evaluating the consumer behavior, by tracking one’s online activities (including the status/ result of e-mail campaign) and giving an insight to the product developers and the marketers about their future strategies.
Digital methods of communication and marketing are faster, more versatile, practical and streamlined, so it is perhaps unsurprising that once the technology became available we began quickly moving into the digital age. The good news is that digital offers just as much potential to marketers as it does to consumers. The concept of digital marketing involves: Websites and SEO content, Blogs, Internet banner ads, Online video content, Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Email marketing, Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.) etc.
Perhaps the strongest case for incorporating a digital element into our marketing is that digital media forms are quickly overtaking traditional forms of information consumption. For example: According to the Office for National Statistics data, in the year 2011, over 82% of UK adults went online in the first three months of the year, which is over 40 million individuals.
Way Forward: Trends in 2015
The year 2015 onwards, the popularity of content marketing strategies will continue unabated into the upcoming year, which essentially means that marketers will be more in favor of creating more relevant and inspiring content. Closing the gap between the online and offline experience will be a big step not only for online marketing, but for Internet in general. The importance of analytics tools will rise in 2015, when spending for that purpose is expected to rise by 60%. Videos are perfect to show how a service or product works and in the long run more and more companies will start creating the so-called ‘explainer videos’ giving them a prominent role in the user experience tactics. With increased use of videos, visual stories crafted for marketing purposes will be able to spark the movement and inspire emotions, sending a clear message about the brand to its consumer communities and helping to define it against the surrounding surge of noise.
Offering of personalized content will increase the number of sales, lower the costs of operation, inspire users to stay longer on their websites and foster customer satisfaction; and this trend will lead to the growth of 1-to-1 marketing. Marketers will focus more on providing interesting and engaging content to its customers. The length and value of the content will be more essential than ever for effective SEO. Google already labels content of less than 200 words as Thin Content, and has two special search algorithms in force, Panda 4.0 and Pay Day 2.0, that are specifically aimed at reducing the ranks of low quality content. Targeted ads are twice as effective as non-targeted ones; and it is believed the retargeted display ad will inspire 1000% more people to search for the said product! Targeting strategies are expected to dynamically rise in 2015. Mobile web will become bigger than desktop usage in 2015 and spending for mobile ads will grow fast. Internet advertising is predicted to rise by 10% on a global rate and mobile ads are also expected to grow by a smashing 48% in 2015.
One thing is for sure, if we do not let the customers know about our business, we would not stay in business for very long! Most of the companies are planning to increase their overall marketing budget in 2015, but they are focusing more towards Digital marketing because of cut throat competition and better ROI opportunities. In terms of the investment in digital marketing technology, almost four out of five companies (79%) indicate they plan to increase their investment in Digital marketing.
The top skill sets companies are hiring for 2015 are digital/ social (54%), content creation (44%), big data/ analytics (33%) and mobile strategy (30%). A major thing that we get to see in today’s world is the shift from a permanent workforce to more of a contract and freelance workforce. It has been observed by researchers that in the current scenario, 42% of companies comprise 100% permanent workers, while in the next 12 to 18 months that is expected to decrease to 23% of companies. Only 1% of companies are now made up of a 50/ 50 mix of permanent and contract workers, and that is expected to increase to 30% in the next 12 to 18 months.
While older generations will no doubt lament the demise of paper-based newspapers, books, communication methods and traditional TV and radio broadcasts, those who have grown up with the internet and mobile phones as a God-given right are already embracing the brave new world of digital consumption. As Marshall McLuhan says about the present day transformed marketing - “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” Digital Marketing is not only a rapidly growing force in the current marketing playing field, it is set to be the future of marketing, and it seems likely that digital media will soon replace more traditional forms altogether!
Offering of personalized content will increase the number of sales, lower the costs of operation, inspire users to stay longer on their websites and foster customer satisfaction; and this trend will lead to the growth of 1-to-1 marketing. Marketers will focus more on providing interesting and engaging content to its customers. The length and value of the content will be more essential than ever for effective SEO. Google already labels content of less than 200 words as Thin Content, and has two special search algorithms in force, Panda 4.0 and Pay Day 2.0, that are specifically aimed at reducing the ranks of low quality content. Targeted ads are twice as effective as non-targeted ones; and it is believed the retargeted display ad will inspire 1000% more people to search for the said product! Targeting strategies are expected to dynamically rise in 2015. Mobile web will become bigger than desktop usage in 2015 and spending for mobile ads will grow fast. Internet advertising is predicted to rise by 10% on a global rate and mobile ads are also expected to grow by a smashing 48% in 2015.
One thing is for sure, if we do not let the customers know about our business, we would not stay in business for very long! Most of the companies are planning to increase their overall marketing budget in 2015, but they are focusing more towards Digital marketing because of cut throat competition and better ROI opportunities. In terms of the investment in digital marketing technology, almost four out of five companies (79%) indicate they plan to increase their investment in Digital marketing.
While older generations will no doubt lament the demise of paper-based newspapers, books, communication methods and traditional TV and radio broadcasts, those who have grown up with the internet and mobile phones as a God-given right are already embracing the brave new world of digital consumption. As Marshall McLuhan says about the present day transformed marketing - “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” Digital Marketing is not only a rapidly growing force in the current marketing playing field, it is set to be the future of marketing, and it seems likely that digital media will soon replace more traditional forms altogether!
- By Syed Ashfaq, Nilanjana De, Trapti Jain & Ashish K Tagalpallewar
in same time we need be continue updated about the new trends and Technics of digital marketing. if you are not updated you will die soon in digital world.
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