BIJU PATNAIK INSTITUTE OF IT & MANAGEMENT STUDIES,

BHUBANESWAR

DIGITAL MARKETING

Prepared by :

Mr. P. K. Rout
Asst. Prof. (IT)
BIJU PATNAIK INSTITUTE OF IT & MANAGEMENT STUDIES, BHUBANESWAR
Prepared by :
MODULE-I Mr. P. K. Rout, Asst. Prof. (IT)

DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or
the internet. It refers to advertising delivered through digital channels such as search
engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps.
Digital marketing involves: The use of the internet or Electronic media to promote the
company's products and services. Electronic devices like tablets, mobile phone, PC,
and other digital mediums are used to market the products over the internet.
EVOLUTION OF DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital Marketing Strategies Focused on Increasing The Reach & Visibility of Your
Business. Over the last decades, the marketing department has had to keep up with
technological advancements. To keep up with these changes, the marketing
professionals are using digital technologies to reach out to a large customer base.
Businesses no longer use traditional marketing agencies to reach out to target
customers. Introduction of the internet, big data, and Smartphone technologies
have influenced marketing resulting in digital marketing using electronic devices .4
Marketing channels like Content Marketing, Social Media, Email Marketing and
Mobile Marketing are used to generate traffic for the business.
HOW THE INTERNET HAS REVOLUTIONIZED DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing was introduced back in 1990 after the introduction of search engines
which was commonly referred to as Archie. The web 1.0 platform enabled internet
users to search for information over the web but couldn't share the information over
the web. Back then, web indexing wasn't (Archie) much used since the web hadn't
evolved.
In 1993, digital marketing achieved his first milestone through the introduction of
clickable banners. Later HotWired Company purchased banner ads to advertise
through the web. This marked the beginning of the online advertisement. In 1994,
Yahoo established the first search engine and people started using the Yahoo search
engine to look for information on the web. After a year of its launch, more people
were using Yahoo to access information. Companies started optimizing their web

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pages to increase their rank in the search engine. Amazon E-commerce site was
established in 1994 whereas eBay site was established in 1995
Increased use of search engine optimization led to the launch of other search engines
like HotBot, Alexa, and LookSmart in 1996. During this time, marketing
professionals started using Search engine optimization, SEO to ensure their website
content appears on the top results of the searched information. SEO techniques like
keyword stuffing and backlinks were commonly used to increase site rankings.
In 1998, Google was established. This is another search engine Company and over the
years, it has become the most popular search engine across the globe. Google started
penalizing sites using backlinks and keyword stuffing to create traffic with the
establishment of the Google. During the year, Microsoft launched MSN search
engine msn whereas Yahoo introduced Yahoo web search. The year 2000, saw the
wipeout of the smaller search engines. Many internet startup companies were also
closed down. Businesses which took time in studying the market leverage on the use
of the internet to improve their businesses.
Google established AdWords in 2000 to help marketers in advertising their products
and services. The google ads became a major player in the digital marketing world
and improved sales of businesses. Web 2.0 was also established which opened many
doors for digital marketing channels. Interactive websites were also established which
enabled marketers to publish dynamic content and allow the target audience to interact
with the site. 2001 led to the birth of the first mobile marketing campaigns. In 2002,
the Linkedln professional network was established to help business interact with
other business associates and target audience. The Launch of MySpace social
network site in 2003. After a year Gmail, Google Docs, and Facebook went live. The
new sites opened doors for promoting companies' products and services online. Many
companies took advantage of the new social network site to create awareness of their
products and services. You Tube was launched in 2005 to fill the gap between
creating and sharing videos. In 2006, the search engine traffic increased to 6.4 billion
in a month. Twitter and Ms. Live Search were also launched. The Amazon's e-
commerce sales also reached $10 billion. In 2007, various web streaming services like
Hulu were established. Tumblr social network was also established increasing the

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number of channels digital marketers can use. iPhone Smartphone was also
established by the Mobile Giant Apple leading to an increase in mobile marketing
campaigns. To keep up with competition, Google launched real-time search engine
results in 2009. Google AdWords and AdSense cost-per-click advertising techniques
became more popular. The Google algorithm started to target ads based on customers
search making it the most used digital marketing scheme.
The year 2010 saw the launch of WhatsApp and Google Buzz. In 2011, Google
launched Google+ and Google Panda to facilitate page optimization. People connect
and interact with each other through Google+. In 2012, companies increased their
budget for social media marketing campaigns by 64%. Social media sites like
Facebook and Myspace were commonly used by businesses to promote and engage
the target audience. Yahoo acquired the Tumblr platform in 2013.
2014 saw the increased use of a smartphone in accessing the digital technology. More
people downloaded Facebook messenger app to connect rather than using PC to
access Facebook. More Facebook ads and Linkedln were customized for mobile use.
At the same year, Facebook also acquired WhatsApp mobile app.
In 2015, more digital technologies evolved. The Snapchat application launched its
own discover feature to enable users to connect with more friends and followers.
Facebook also introduced Instant articles as well as the launch of wearable tech.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, You Tube, Twitter, and Reddit are the most
commonly used social media networks in 2017 and 2018. There over 3 billion
Facebook users daily and business leverage on the use of these sites to reach to a wide
customer base.
The cookie technology has become a popular tool in digital marketing technology.
Every website store some information about each user's browsing history. A cookie is
a piece of code left in the user's browser once they visit a certain website. The cookie
enables the website to remember certain information about the user based on the last
time they visited the website. The recorded Cookies information play an important
part in digital marketing as marketers use them to track users browsing habits.

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Traditional versus Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is very different from traditional marketing in multiple ways. While
traditional marketing is spray and pray, wherein a marketer spreads the message
among many audiences and hopes that some will be in the market to buy the product,
digital marketing can be targeted to specific audiences who have interest in the
product and hence are already in the market to buy those products. There is a saying in
mass media - 'Half of advertising is waste. But I don't know which half'. Digital
overcomes this limitation of mass media as it eliminates wastage.
Digital marketing is about maximizing efficiency. Since it is possible to measure
performance of digital marketing in real time, there is ample scope to tweak the
campaigns and improve ROI. Marketers can do A/B testing to find the most effective
messages, images, ads, targeting, and layout. In digital, there is always scope for
improvement.
While mass media is priced on rate card basis for 10 second spot on TV or column
centimeter for newspaper, digital is priced based on auction. Instead of fixed rate card,
marketers bid in auction and price is determined based on bid as well as quality score.
Hence, there is fair price discovery that happens in digital.

Digital marketing creates a level playing field for all marketers as it does not
distinguish between small and large businesses. The entry barrier is low as one can
engage in digital marketing even with little budget. The media rates are same for small
as well as big businesses.

The cost of failure is low in digital marketing. Even if the campaign does not work,
you will know immediately and can take corrective action. You may lose only a small
amount if your plan fails. Hence, it is a smart strategy to be bit edgy and try new ideas
and different mediums of digital marketing to check out what works for you and what
does not.

Digital marketing is like walking in the fog. Visibility is there only for the first 10
meters. If you want more visibility, you must walk the first 10 meters to be able to see
the next 10. Hence, instead of waiting for the perfect plan or blueprint, you should

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start digital marketing and learn on the go. Instead of perfecting your strategy from
day one, it is better to make 1 per cent improvement every day and at the end of the
year you will have 365 per cent improvement.
In digital, you should go slowly; commit small resources to an idea or campaign or
content. If it works then put more resources behind it. Hence, instead of firing cannon
balls, you should fire gunshots in digital marketing and test the waters.
Differences between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing

Traditional Marketing Digital Marketing

Type of Marketing Structured and clear Unstructured and unclear

advertising campaigns, Status updates, ad campaigns,
service hotlines blogs, posts, comments, social
media, etc.

Direction of Unidirectional (one to many) Multidirectional (many to many)

Communication Information spread by Both company and consumers talk
company (active) and listen (both active).
Consumers only listen Consumers can also create content,
(passive) like or post.
Scheduling Long-term Short-term
Ad campaigns are planned Ad campaigns are not planned in
both over and for a long detail but reactions to comments
period of time and requests given
Communication with Private Public
Consumer Communication only between Reactions to comments are public;
company and consumer (via anyone can read and join a
email, phone); discussion is discussion
kept secret
Availability During working hours All the time (24 x 7)
No direct support beyond Constant readiness to respond to
regular working hours (9 to 6) negative comments and consumer
requests
Language Formal, legally safe Official Genuine, direct personal responses
and short answers
Response time Longer, even If somebody IS Quickly, as soon as they see the
interested after seeing an ad in ad, the consumers can click the
print or on TV they cannot see link and can get more information
the additional information at so decision can be taken quickly
that instant, they need longer
time for gathering information
about the product

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Digital - the next wave of marketing

Marketing is one of the industries which has experienced great transformation with the
evolution of the digital era. Consumers spend most of their time browsing the internet
to access the information they need and to shop online. Back then, businesses used to
depend on television, print, radio, or billboards to promote their brands. However, we
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(https://www.cioapplications.com/privacy-policy/) digital trend today and is the best
way to reach out to targeted customers. Digital marketing is not only in favor of
marketers but is also helpful for consumers in many ways. Even small businesses can
reach out to large customers depending on their budget and the method of marketing
they choose. In fact, 77 percent of the U.S. small businesses invest in social media to
increase their market and customer service according to data by SCORE, a U.S.
nonprofit that helps small businesses to grow and achieve their goal. Data collection
and analytics can help to create targeted marketing campaigns which help attract more
customers toward businesses. Leveraging social media can not only help to sell the
products, but consumers can also use it to exchange their experience about the product
or services they buy online. It’s the best opportunity for the marketers to create a user-
friendly website for their businesses to engage the customers in conversations. Cost-
effective means such as content marketing and search engine optimization can reach
customers without having to spend on traditional advertising or marketing methods.
Income predictability is high in digital marketing because while businesses are selling
product or services to a client, they would have certain agreements about specific
pricing and can except a promised amount of money when the work is done.

Innovation No. 1: Online Display Advertising

Banner ads may sound like an antiquated way to get noticed, but actually display
advertising is becoming much more interesting due to two important trends.

One such trend is better local ad targeting. Several companies, such as Local.com,
LinkedIn and Facebook, have announced that they're getting into the local targeting
game by offering geography-based advertising along with the standard demographic

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or keyword targeting you'd expect. Local targeting is already prevalent in search

engine marketing and it's good to know that display ads are heading in the same
direction.

The other noticeable trend to get excited about is the movement toward ad pricing
based on cost-per-action rather than cost-per-click. Paying for ads based on CPA
means that you don't pay the publisher until you get the action you want from the ad.
For example, if you want your online display ad to drive someone to an online store to
buy the advertised product, you won't have to pay until someone actually clicks the ad
and completes the purchase. Several companies--such as Hydra--have announced an
emphasis on CPA tracking and billing.

How to get ready

Get to know your acquisition costs on an intimate level. If cost-per-action advertising
sounds attractive, you'll need to have a firm understanding of what you're willing to
pay for each new customer or action your advertising obtains in order to know how to
bid. If you're interested in the possibilities of targeted display advertising (and you're
interested in getting sophisticated with your targeting) start building a profile of your
best prospects and customers--including geography, demographic information and
typical buying behavior. If you need help figuring out how to analyze your customers
to get that information, online advertising company Ad Buyer offers a set of free
audience profiling tools.

Innovation No. 2: Online Retail Promotions

Selling physical goods has long been about driving traffic to your e-commerce store
so prospective customers can see and buy your products. That trend seems destined
for a giant turn in the opposite direction, because it won't be long before smaller
retailers have the ability to sell more of their products on other highly targeted
consumer websites. One such website is Milo.com, where the CEO announced the
company's intention to enable anyone to search real-time availability and local product
information on every product, on every shelf, in every local business in America.

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Another outstanding innovation for online retail comes from Pixazza. Pixazza is
changing the way consumers shop by allowing people to browse and buy products that
appear in any photos. For example, let's say you're reading an article in an online
entertainment magazine and you see a photo of Jennifer Lopez wearing earrings that
are to-die-for. Getting yourself a similar pair is easier than ever; as you hover over the
photo Pixazza recommends earrings at suggested prices far below what Jennifer
Lopez probably paid for hers.

How to get ready

It's time to get your inventory database in shape. Selling products on websites owned
by other companies will likely require you to conform to their database and
information technology standards. There's no need to get overly sophisticated here. If
your company has the ability to publish real time inventory and product information to
your own website, you probably already have enough technology to quickly enable a
feed of that information to other online databases.
Innovation No. 3: Social Media Advertising
Social media is arguably the most innovative internet tool to emerge since, well, the
internet. There are definitely good reasons to advertise on social media sites (this
includes your own fan pages and networks). The challenge for a small business is the
same challenge facing any business: How do you get enough people to pay attention
to your ads while they are busy uploading photos or conversing with friends?

There are a number of companies working to make social media advertising more
engaging and even fun, and it won't be long before there are a plethora of choices for
small budgets. At the show, NTB Media announced an interesting video advertising
product with built-in games and quizzes to get people to pay attention and remember
the content in the videos, and Fan Appz announced access to an integrated suite of
social media applications designed to attract attention and engagement in exchange for
a subscription of just $50 per month.

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How to get ready

Test before you invest. Social media advertising is already accessible and affordable
to small business, but affordability isn't the only reason to invest in a particular form
of advertising. Don't invest in a new social media tool or advertising strategy until you
are sure you have the ability and the time to track your results and compare them
against other opportunities. As a small business, you can't afford to invest in
everything. If you don't track and compare your results, you won't have the
information you need to make budget-wise choices.

Innovation No. 4: Mobile Marketing

Advertising and messaging to mobile phones is definitely a hot topic among
marketers. In the past, most mobile marketing tools focused on only one aspect of
mobile marketing, such as text-messaging, application development or mobile
websites. Those tools are now converging as integrated solutions. One such company,
2ergo, recently announced plans to offer a comprehensive suite of marketing solutions
that include SMS, MMS, e-mail and mobile websites. Be on the lookout for
companies offering comprehensive mobile solutions priced for small businesses in the
not-too-distant future.

How to get ready

Make sure at least a portion of your website is designed to display and function
properly on mobile devices--especially the pages that contain contact information for
your business. If you have a location-based business, start making your
communications more mobile friendly so people can respond to your offers and
information while they are on-the-go. Sending text-messages and e-mails with mobile
coupons and snack-sized bites of product information are great places to start. Also,
social media users are more likely to become mobile savvy than the average internet
user, so make sure you have a presence on the most common social sites.

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

In this section, we will examine some of the consumer behavior aspects that can help
shape the digital marketing strategy.
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1. The Consumer Decision Journey

In today's world, consumers, even after the purchase, remain engaged and promote the
purchased product amongst their friends, family or colleagues if they are satisfied with
the product. The basic AIDA model of marketing applies to digital marketing too, for
consumer decision process. AIDA is an acronym that stands for A-Awareness, I-
Interest, D-Desire, A-Action. The consumer moves through successive stages in the
buying process 7.

Awareness The consumer is aware of a brand, has heard of its name. The goal of the
marketer at this stage is to get to the top of the mind recall. Awareness is the first step
in the buying process and the most important. Without awareness, the consumer will
not consider the brand for purchase. Digital marketing can play an important role in
creating awareness and some channels of digital marketing are more apt for it. There
is display advertising on websites, social media such as Facebook, Linkedln and
YouTube.

Interest It is not enough for a marketer that a consumer is aware of the brand.
Consumers must be interested in the brand. They must want to know more about the
brand, be intrigued by it. This is only known as 'consideration stage'. Consumers must
consider the brand for purchase and it must be included in their consideration set. In
the funnel model, 'interest' stage has large number of brands. Consumers consider the
brands that they have heard about in traditional channels or on social media or have
seen their friends using it. Interest can be sparked by running highly creative
campaigns that break the clutter and stand out. Interesting posts highlighting the
unique benefits of the brand can also spark interest. Highly emotional messaging can
also create emotional connect triggering interest''.

Desire New media makes it easy for consumers to evaluate the competing choices
using inputs from reviewers, peers, retailers, influencers, specialists, marketer and
competitors. Smart marketers assist consumers in the evaluation process by providing
comparative analysis, economic value calculations, collecting feedback, reviews and
ratings and guiding consumers to the channels which can help them in making

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choices. De Beers, for example, educates consumers about what criteria to look for
while selecting diamond. It emphasises on four Cs - Carat, Colour, Clarity and Cut.
Some digital channels that are more apt for this stage are community forums, blogs
and review rating sites. Based on evaluation of different brands, consumers develop
preference for certain brands and they become part of the choice set. This set has
much fewer numbers of brands than awareness set or consideration set.

Action In this stage, consumers purchase the product that they desire and prefer. This
stage generates revenues for the brand and is the outcome every marketer desires.
Having conveniently located retail outlets or online purchase facility will help the
consumers in making the purchase. The website should have smooth navigation so
that consumers can easily find products that they are looking for at the right price and
at the right time. Consumers may drop off at any stage as they may not like the design
of the site or it may be slow to load or they may not find the right variant of the
product or may be seeking discounts or payment may not go through. Marketer must
ensure that all hurdles are removed. In the digital marketing, marketers have a
plethora of channels to choose from - search engines, websites, blogs, social networks,
mobiles, applications, forums. Depending on the stage of the consumer buying cycle,
marketers can choose the most appropriate channels.

Marketers have traditionally put more emphasis on 'desire' and 'action' stages of the
journey. In this process, they end up allocating more resources for building awareness
through advertising, incurring huge costs and encouraging purchase with retails
promotions. Traditional AIDA model has only four stages as marketers have not given
importance to post purchase but with the advent of digital marketing 'advocacy' stage
has become important in influencing other consumers and building loyalty. Hence, it
is the fifth stage in the consumer buying funnel.

Advocacy Consumers experience satisfaction or dissatisfaction after purchase. They

may share their experience on social media and spread word of mouth. If consumers
are highly satisfied, they may develop a bond with the brand and become loyal and
purchase repeatedly or in larger quantities. They may purchase again without

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undergoing all the stages of decision process. Social media is most apt for advocacy
and word of mouth post purchase".

A study by eMarketer of the leading channels leveraged by CMOs in Europe and the
US, by stages of customer experience, shows that unlike mass media, digital channels
such as social media, email and website are good across different stages of the buying
process. Whereas TV is good mostly for the awareness stage, social media is good for
all stages. This is a huge strength of digital marketing as it is effective in creating
awareness as well as developing preference and enabling purchase and triggering
word of mouth.

2. The P-O-E-M Framework

A good framework that can help you organise your digital marketing strategy is Paid,
Owned, and Earned Media.

 Paid media : includes sponsored advertisements in different channels of digital

marketing such as search engines, websites, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
They include campaigns run through different platforms such as Google
AdWords and Campaign Manager of Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter. It also
includes campaigns run through ad networks or Demand Side Platforms
(DSPs).
 Owned media: is like an asset of the company i.e., the company has the
ownership of these media. It includes company's official website, microsite,
and social media pages such as facebook page, LinkedIn page, YouTube
channel and Twitter handle. It also includes mobile apps or blogs, and also the
original content created by the company such as videos, images, infographics
and posts.
 Earned media: is organic and unpaid. It includes publicity that is generated
through recommendations and word of mouth. It also includes social media
engagement such as likes, shares, comments, replies, retweets, favourites, etc.
Earned media is generated by users and hence is more credible and has the

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power to give exponential reach to the marketer. Earned media accrues only
when users like the content and engage with it.

The combination of 'owned, earned, paid media' is regarded as one of the best
practices in digital marketing. There should be a balance between all media and it
should not be lopsided towards one. It means, as a brand, you should not focus only
on one media and ignore others. For instance, it is not a good strategy to depend
largely on paid ads and not focus on earned media. Focus is related to budget
allocation. A simple thumb rule is to divide the budget equally between paid and
owned/earned media. This is a best practice which means that you must allocate 50
per cent of your digital marketing budget to create content for your digital assets and
getting engagement, and remaining 50 per cent on running paid ads. Though the
owned and earned media are organic and hence more credible and provide higher
quality traffic, they take longer time to show results. Hence, owned and earned media
should be part of your long-term strategy.

Paid media, on the other hand, will increase your reach, impressions in the short term
but once you stop running paid ads, you may not get repeated engagement or traction.
Hence, the best practice is to strike a balance between long-term and short-term
mediums. Moreover, while marketer may not have control on whether fans will
engage with content or not organically, paid media guarantees certain reach and
impressions. Typically, in India, marketers tend to focus more on paid media and less
on investing in creating quality content; and budget is sometimes as high as 75 per
cent for paid media. The distribution of budget is also a function of the stage of the
brand in its lifecycle. If the brand is in the introduction stage, it needs more awareness
which requires more reach and impressions and that too within a short period as the
brand cannot wait for long to build awareness. Hence, more budget can be allocated at
the introduction stage to paid media.

However, if the brand is already known and is in the maturity or growth stage, it will
have steady stream of customers engaging and buying, and hence need not rely on
paid ads to great extent. Thus, more budget can be allocated to owned/earned media to
drive engagement and loyalty.
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Another interesting aspect is the convergence of the three medium. Is Facebook a paid
media or an owned media or an earned media? It is all three! The content that you
create on Facebook is your owned media which becomes earned when it gets likes and
shares, and when you make it sponsored, it becomes paid.

3. Segmenting and Customizing Messages

One of the strengths of digital media is the enormous data that is collected about
customers. This data enables rich segmentation based on geographic, demographic,
psychographic and behavioral variables. Segmentation is dividing heterogeneous
population into smaller homogenous groups which are similar in characteristics. The
targeted segment should respond better to marketing stimuli than general population
as the marketing mix will be more customized for the chosen segment. Hyperlocal
targeting can be useful for local businesses and for retailers and outlets who wish to
attract customers in the vicinity. Another popular method of targeting is behavioral,
wherein the intent of the user is tapped based on online behavior to determine if the
user is in the market to buy a product or not. Another upcoming method of targeting is
your CRM data targeting, wherein you target database of leads or customers you have
generated. These customers are more likely to purchase your brand as they have
engaged with your brand in the past. An objective of targeting CRM data could be to
cross-sell or upsel!. Marketers are hiring data providers to add layers of social media
data and other demographic and geographic data to their CRM data to make it richer,
thus enabling more customized messages. A new method of targeting which is gaining
popularity is lookalike targeting. To reach out to more people, you target users who
are like your best customers (your CRM data). Lookalike modeling is done using
sophisticated algorithms to find similar users. Figure 1.6 lists the targeting methods
used in digital marketing.

4. The Digital Landscape

Digital marketing consists of different channels such as search engines, social media,
mobile marketing, influencer marketing, Digital PR, etc. Search engine marketing
done either through paid advertising or search engine optimization is good for

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customer acquisition. You may be wondering why! This is because search engines
capture the intent of the user, and hence are more of pull medium, thus getting higher
click-through and conversion rates than other mediums. User is interested in finding
out information about a product or service, and is hence typing a query on search
engine. This user is more likely click and takes the desired action. The click-through
rates of search engines are among the highest of all digital channels.

Google
Bing
Customer Yahoo
Acquisition
Google analytics Youtube.com
Webtrends Yahoo.com
Omniture Digital Analytics Brand Building
Indiatimes.com

Digital

Prnewswire
Bloomberg Online
Customer
LinkedIn
Reputation Facebook
Blogadda Management
Engagement
Radian 6
Simlpify 360
Information
Dissemination

Twitter

Popular portals and websites such as Yahoo!, India times and YouTube are very good
for brand building. Do you know why? This is because the first step in brand building
is creating awareness, these websites or mobile applications have millions of unique
users and page views per month, and hence have huge reach. If you place banner ad
on these websites then it will reach large number of users thus creating awareness, A
standard banner ad is more like a push medium, unless it is remarketing to visitors of
the website or doing behavioral targeting, improving.

Social media is very apt for customer engagement as it is about building a community
and nurturing a bond with members. It is not so apt for generating sales or conversions
as users do not come to social media to buy products or services but to engage with
friends. Marketers sometimes are disappointed that they are not getting enough leads
or conversions from social media. You must understand that each medium of digital
marketing has its own unique strengths and characteristics, and hence marketing
objectives must be aligned to each medium's unique characteristics.

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Micro blogging platforms such as Twitter are apt for disseminating information
rapidly. They are more about 'what's happening?' They are good for trending and for
spreading word of mouth. This is because they are open networks where users can
follow anyone without seeking any permission and one can view tweets of any other
user even without following the user. The 140-character limit makes it easy for the
user to share current events and happenings.

Another strategic area of digital marketing is 'online reputation management' (ORM)

which is about listening and understanding consumer sentiments and proactively
shaping the brand attitude. Many social listening tools are available such as Radian 6,
Simplify 360 that identify the influencers, brand associations and sentiments. Another
aspect of ORM is the Digital PR which is fast replacing the traditional PR. Many
newswires have come up online where marketers can submit news for dissemination
to different media and journalists. Influencer marketing is another important area as in
digital world anybody can be an influencer. Identifying influencers, building relations
and seeding content with them requires an understanding of the process.

Digital marketing generates lot of digital analytics and metrics. Measurability is one
of the strengths of digital marketing. Looking at the metrics and improvising on your
digital marketing strategy helps in improving the ROI. Many tools are available for
digital analytics through which performance of each campaign can be measured and
optimized.

DIGITAL MARKETING KEY DRIVERS

KEY DRIVERS OF DIGTAL MARKETING

Marketers are familiar with the traditional 4Ps of marketing or the variables of the
marketing mix.The marketing mix proposed in 1960 by McCarthy is a foundation
model in marketing and has been defined as the “set of marketing tools that the firm
uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target" (Kotler 12th Ed).The marketing
mix refers to four broad levels of marketing decision, namely :Product, Price,
Promotion, and Place. In the 1990s, a model of 4Cs was proposed by Lauterborn as a
more customer driven equivalent of the 4Ps.The 4Cs were Consumer (Product), Cost

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(Price), Communication (Promotion) and Convenience(Place).Given that the digital

consumer is wired, want it all and want it now in digital marketing, it makes sense to
add a fifth”-"Participation" translating to a fifth C-Collaboration.

4Cs of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing's development since the 1990s and 2000s has changed the way
brands and businesses us technology for marketing. As digital platforms are
increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people use
digital devices more and more, to accompany the 4Cs of classical marketing, Aditya
Soni of Flipkart proposed Content, Cost, Channel and Creativity as the 4Cs.A fifth C
viz Collaboration be added since Consumer 2.0 is constantly communicating and
collaborating with one another.

Key Drivers of Digital Marketing- 4Cs

i. Content

Content is the real king in the digital world. Make sure that Content you create is
worthy of “consumption” and “being shared” (in that order). Ease of consumption is a
factor of how much intrigue you can create in the simplest manner possible which can
be recreated easily. Ability to recreate your content is important - it allows consumers
to talk about it and discuss it with others.

ii. Cost

Cost per Click. Cost per Mille. Cost per Install. Cost per Action. Cost per Lead. Cost
per Day… Today’s digital advertising is filled with many different pricing options. A
few years before, there only used to be two options: CPC (cost per click) & CPM (cost

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per 1000 impressions). Now there are dozens. Pricing options have important
implications on your budgeting strategy. While CPC, CPX seems to be gaining much
popularity in the recent past traditional CPM pricing will never go away. Many
campaigns are focused more on branding than ROI, in which impressions and reach
are important measures of campaign success. However, progress is being made on
alternatives and refinements to existing models, such as CPVM (cost-per-viewable-
impression).Choose the right option by going back to your core marketing objective &
make sure that you stick to your objective

iii. Channel

There are in-numerous digital marketing channels out there. Having clarity of what
channels needs to be used comes out with overall organizational / marketing
objective. Below is “The Content Distribution Matrix” by Dave Chaffey which I
stumbled upon surfing the internet. The info graphic is a ready reckoner for marketers
to make prudent decision while deciding their channel mix.

Interestingly the matrix does not cover emailers. Personally, I would put them in High
Volume, High ROI bracket. While you do this - make sure that your planning team is
nimble and always have a plan B. A lot of times things do not go as per plan in the
digital world, don’t panic. Having a plan B is as important as having any plan. It not

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only gives you comfort that you have something to fall back it also helps you
triangulate your methodology in the first place. Invest time into getting two plans with
equal ability to reach the common objective. This is where most marketers go wrong.
GTM (Go To Market) strategy is primarily based on one plan and the fall back is
never looked seriously. And when the time does come to fall back on something else,
results are never up to the mark.

iv. Creativity

Perhaps the most difficult of the Cs. World of digital marketing is still nascent and
every year amazing breakthrough ideas come & promise to revolutionize the
ecosystem. Be creative not only in content you create for the audience but also be
aware about the different creative ways of taking the same to them. Creativity is not
restricted to design. Yes design is important, but also make sure that what you create
is interesting, exciting and appealing. Every year the consumer is maturing and
increasing the kind of content s/he is ready to consume on the internet. Therefore
don’t be presumptuous on what they will not be ready to consume. One more thing
which is dramatically changing is the lower span of interest a consumer have for any
content / advertisement on the internet. With so many avenues available to consume
so much, if you don’t get the interest in the first 30 sec. chances are you are not going
to get it later. Interestingly though Content marketing has made rapid strides in the
Indian Digital market. Blogs & Newsletter continue to be the most used channels
while social media players like twitter and FB have also see a rise.

Lastly and by no means the least important, is the choice of Ad Formats. Video Ads,
Banner Ads, Product Listing Ads, Related Content Ads, Contextual Ads, Re-targeting
Ads are some of the major Ad formats. Be creative in your choices but do not make
blunders. Be sure of the choices you make and why ? For eg. don’t do Video Ads just
because it is cool to do them nowadays. Similarly, don’t presume that Banner Ads will
always get the job done. Also critical to understand that Web and Mobile are different
solutions supposed to be handled separately. While both are forms of digital -
inventory size, ease of usage, time spend on each, reasons why consumer use them are

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completely different. Invest in understanding this and make sure to treat them
appropriately.

DIGITAL CONSUMER

Digital Consumer & Communities

Baby Boomers: Baby boomers were born between 1944 and 1964. They're current
between 55-75 years old. Gen X: Gen X was born between 1965 - 1979 and are
currently between 40-54 years old. Gen Y: Gen Y, or Millennials, were born between
1980 and 1994. They are currently between 25-39 years old. Gen Y.1 = 25-29 years
old Gen Y.2 = 29-39. Gen Z: Gen Z is the newest generation to be named and were
born between 1995 and 2015. They are currently between 4-24 years old

Who are digital consumers?

People who use technology to buy and sell products and services are known as digital
consumers. They are the same people who walk into your business, order on a
telephone, or request for a discount. These are normal people like us. For instance, an
internet user who is reading article from webpage.

On Line Shopping Pervasive

Global Digital Snapshot

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JAN DIG ITAL AROUND THE W ORLD IN 20 18

20 18 KEY STATISTIC AL INDIC ATORS FOR THE WORLD’S INTERNET, MOBILE, AND SOC IAL MEDIA USERS

TOTAL INTERNET AC TIVE SOCIAL UNIQUE ACTIVE MOBILE

POPULATION USERS MEDIA USERS MOBILE USERS SOCIAL USERS

7.5 9 3 4 .0 2 1 3 .1 9 6 5 .1 3 5 2 .9 5 8
BILLION BILLION BILLION BILLION BILLION
URBANISATION: PENETRATION: PENETRATION: PENETRATION: PENETRATION:

55% 53% 42% 68% 39%

SOURC ES: POPULATION: UNITED NATIONS; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU; INTERNET: INTERNETWORLDSTATS; ITU; EUROSTAT; INTERNETLIVESTATS; CIA WORLD FACTBOOK; MIDEASTMEDIA.ORG ;
7 FACEBOOK; GOVERNMENT OFFIC IALS; REG ULATORY AUTHORITIES; REPUTABLE MEDIA; SOCIAL MEDIA AND MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA: FAC EBOOK; TENC ENT; VKONTAKTE; KAKAO; NAVER; DING ;
TEC HRASA; SIMILARWEB; KEPIOS ANALYSIS; MOBILE: GSMA INTELLIG ENC E; G OOGLE; ERIC SSON; KEPIOS ANALYSIS. NOTE: PENETRATION FIG URES ARE FOR TOTAL POPULATION (ALL AGES).

Social Media Use

JAN SOC IAL MEDIA USE

20 18 BASED ON THE MONTHLY AC TIVE USERS REPORTED BY THE MOST AC TIVE SOC IAL MEDIA PLATFORM IN EAC H C OUNTRY

TOTAL NUMBER AC TIVE SOC IAL USERS TOTAL NUMBER AC TIVE MOBILE SOC IAL
OF AC TIVE SOC IAL AS A PERC ENTAG E OF OF SOC IAL USERS USERS AS A PERC ENTAG E
MEDIA USERS THE TOTAL POPULATION AC C ESSING VIA MOBILE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION

3 .1 9 6 42% 2 .9 5 8 39%
BILLION BILLION

SOURC ES: FACEBOOK; TENC ENT; VKONTAKTE; KAKAO; NAVER; DING; TECHRASA; SIMILARWEB; KEPIOS ANALYSIS.
51 NOTE: PENETRATION FIG URES ARE FOR TOTAL POPULATIO N, REG ARDLESS OF AG E.

Given that online shopping is pervasive, it is important for us to understand who the
digital consumer is Like in all other spheres where updated editions are given
progressive numerical numbers, current consumer can be called Consumer 2.0.The
term Customer 2.0 came into being sometime in 2009(Ryan&Jones,2009”) Consumer
2.0,who are encountered online, are the same people who walk into a store, call on the
telephone, or order from mail order catalogue. They are doing exactly the same what
people have been doing for many years-communicating with each other. The shift is
that technology has enabled them to communicate faster, over distances, over mobile
phones, and in non-grammatical texts and emojis. People talk to each other that they
always have; however, they are not doing it in coffee shops or bistro talking to a few
but doing it online with a few thousands, this is possible due to Web 2.0.as compared
to static Web 1.0;Web 2.0 is an evolution in the way people are using technology.

Before we look at Consumer 2.0,the following snapshots will explain how this
technology evolution has impacted the industry dynamics and consumerism.

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Customer 2.0 is essentially a reflection of the shift in consumer consciousness being

experienced across Generation X and Y. Customers 1.0 love to read magazines and
papers. They are inclined to make brand choices on the back of traditional advertising,
and they do not quite understand what this digital is all about. To them, tweeting is
what birds do, though 2000 years ago a saint poet from Tamil Nadu, Thiuvalluvar
wrote 1330 couplets in Tamil that were two liners on everyday virtues of an
individual, approximating 160 word limit of Twitter (or the first recorded non digital
Tweet)! Customers 1.0 expect to resolve product issue through the traditional avenues
of phone and face-to-face customer support. Customers 1.0 tend to make decisions on
word of mouth endorsements.

Customers 2.0 will tweet what they had for breakfast! Newspapers are growing ever-
more defunct as the boom of online news and RSS functionality reaches epic
proportions. They love viral content, and probably spend more time online than
watching TV. Customers 2.0 expect companies to have an online presence, they prefer
to shop online (for majority purchases),and they expect the e-commerce sites to be
quick or they do not hesitate to migrate. Customer 2.0 seeks user review to inform
brand choices, and is likely to spend time into researching potential products and
purchase. Customers 2.0 are starting to expect a social media presence; they love
innovation and reward innovative brands. Customer 2.0 expect these technological
advances to become a part of their consumer experience (CX) . Technology is not
treated as novel or new, they are just expected to be there. These consumers are called
digital natives, a word coined by Marc Prensky in 2001. They have spent their entire
lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video
cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of digital age.

Digital immigrants: who are an older generation, not born into the digital world, but
have, at some point in their lives, become fascinated by adopted many or most aspects
of the new technology. They coexist with and will be, compared with digital natives.
Since customers are getting harder to impress, digital native or digital immigrant,
companies and products that have exposed customer to simple, streamlined user
experiences designed from the ground for digital delivery, have succeeded in the

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recent past (e.g Spotify, Uber), Establishment companies that build their offerings and
processes on the top of, or alongside, more traditional channels often find it hard to
meet the same standards.

THE NEED FOR DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT

The pace of technology change is increasing exponentially and companies are finding
it inevitable to use digital channels to create seamless and consistent engagement

1. Digital convenience 2. Consistent level of engagement from companies 3. Rate of

technology adoption by Consumers. 4. Rate of adoption of digital infrastructure 5.
The era of the plugged-in generation Y 6. Gen Y and invention of disruptive business
models

Some significant developments in the field of digital engagement can be outlined

follows:

Digital Channels and Convenience

Digital technology has a unique proposal for consumers. The convenience over
physical interactions and transactions is quite effective. The convenience of a one-
click search and shopping experience saves a lot of time and energy spent on the
physical shopping experience.This convenience is allowing companies to gather
consumer specific data as the consumer registers himself in the virtual space. This
consumer data is subsequently used by companies to gather and harness consumer
engagement.

Consumer Engagement

In an era of IMC (integrated marketing communications), companies are sensitive to

the need to maintain a large degree of uniformity of the marketing message across
dissimilar marketing media vehicles. This consistency of information across the
offline and online domains enables companies to develop a relationship with the
consumers by moving him up the attention-engagement continuum. Digitally savvy

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companies have thoroughly integrated their presence across disparate channels to

ensure consumer engagement.

Rate of Technology Adoption by Consumers

The rate of technology adoption is very high, specifically for the 'early adopters ‘and
'early majority ‘from a marketing perspective. The surprise factor is the acceleration in
rate of adoption of this new technology. While it took more than 70 years for
telephones to reach 50% household penetration, compared with 28 years for radio and
10 years for Internet access, Google+, the new social media tool from Google, took
only 16 days to reach 10 million users, compared with 780 days for Twitter and 852
days for Facebook It is clear that the acceleration in this rate of technology adoption is
huge.

Rate of Adoption of Digital Infrastructure

The pace at which digital infrastructure is growing and being embraced by consumer
is equally high. A more technology-enabled governmental development roadmap
backed by a tech-savvy consumer population and with dimensions of technology
firmly ingrained in their upbringing, is adopting the new infrastructure at a faster pace.

The Era of the Plugged-in Generation Y:

The new generation (Gen Y) seems to be born with a technology background.

Youngster can no longer understand a world without the Internet, which is so strongly
woven into their everyday lives. The ‘plugged-in’ Gen Y is not intimidated with
technology. It regards technology as a friend and a facilitator. With a lifestyle strongly
woven around the new digital offerings, this generation has expectations that are
different from earlier populations -- expectations for good shopping experiences,
convenient digital transactions, one-click responses to their search queries, greater and
constant connectivity, and faster collaboration. This is a generation that has spawned
the dimension of peer-to-peer consumer networking and product advocacy. Online
networks of loyal consumers are constantly motivating new consumers to adopt
products and services.

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Gen Y and Invention of Disruptive Business Models:

Gen Y is subsequently responsible for ushering in new business models – models that
are innovative, disruptive, and the creation of a population that is not afraid of taking
risks. By bringing in new digital products, new communities, new ways of
communication, and new Web business models for product proliferation, these
youngsters are clearly changing the way business is done today.

GENERATION Y-EXPECTATIONS AND INFLUENCE

This section explores the characteristics and personality of Gen Y, the challenges they
pose for organizations, and their evolving expectations.

Organization that have succeeded in engaging with Gen Y know that, along with
accelerating the adoption of new digital technology, this generation also poses
additional challenges due to their evolving expectations. This Generation is best
perceived not only as a uniform group but also as an evolving mind-set. The demands
and expectations of this group are trending upwards an to older generation, which
makes them all the more important to take note of. Generation Y, today, is the catalyst
and the incubators of change, and each day their influence is growing in consumer and
corporate environments implying that the organizations must learn to engage
effectively now, or risk being eliminated from the game.

To attract this young generation, both as consumers and as employees, a company

cannot just look good -it has to be good. This generation want it all, but above all, it
seeks transparency.

It is no longer practical for organizations to state one thing and be another as the
digital data trail provides this generation with the methods and tools to spread their
opinion about a brand virally and with unimagined consequences. This has significant
implications for brand reputation management and customer loyalty. This generation
want to ensure that the organizations it engages with are genuine and not a hologram
or mirage with a Marketing front' that belies their reality Authentic, direct, and
personal engagements are even more important than advertising to reach this

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generation. Above all, Generation Y is no longer content with the old corporate and
political model. It demands transformational change, and where they cannot find it,
they look to invent it themselves.

According to research conducted by Ernst and Young, other Gen Y expectations

include the following:

 Collaborative, networked learning : The average user spends 55 minutes a

day on Facebook
 fast, easy ,and fun communication : Gen Y adults spend 15+hours a week on
the Internet
 Visible peer recommendations in decision making : 80% of the consumers
believe peer recommendations, but only 14 %trust advertisements
 Immediate feedback : 34%of bloggers post opinions about products and
brands
 Environmentally aware: 96% of Gen Y want an environmentally aware
workplace
 Flexibility: A total of 56% of Gen Y prefers to work flexibly and chooses
when to work and 79%prefers to be mobile rather than static workers. Gen Y
already represents over a quarter of the world's population and the proportion is
growing.

Not only will the members of Gen Y be among the most powerful consumers in
history; as they enter the workforce, their impact there will be equally impossible to
ignore. They display the same lack of patience as employees as they show as
consumers, and companies must address their evolving expectations to avoid high
recruitment and churn costs. What is more, this generation has significant ideas and is
willing to share them company-wide; They represent a useful resource every company
should listen to.

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NETIZENS: EXPECTATIONS AND INFLUENCE

Michael Hauben, who coined the word in the early 1990s, defines netizens as the
people across geographical boundaries who care about and actively work toward
developing the internet for the benefit of the larger world.

Netizens are considered to be the true citizens of democracy because they want to be
involved in the development of the internet. They see the world horizontally, not
vertically. The content on the internet is created and shared by the people and for the
people. But they believe in total democracy and not so much in governance. They
embrace openness and sharing with others with no geographical boundaries.

There are 3.4 billion internet users-45 percent of the world's population, according to
United Nations estimates. Not all of them can be considered netizens or citizens of the
Internet. Forrester's Social Technographics segmentation can help explain why not all
internet users deserve to be called netizens. According to the segmentation, there is a
hierarchy of internet users, including inactives, spectators (people who watch and read
online content), joiners (people who join and visit social media), collectors (people
who add tags to webpages and use RSS feeds), critics (people who post ratings and
comments online), and creators (people who create and publish online content). The
collectors, critics, and creators best characterize the netizens- people who actively
contribute to the internet and do not just consume on the internet.

Their role in influencing others is related to their desire to always be connected and to
contribute. Netizens are social connectors. We know that netizens love to connect.
They talk to one another, and information flows as they converse. Under anonymity,
they have fewer risks and therefore are more confident when interacting with others
and participating in online conversations. On the internet, their user-names and avatars
are their identities.

There are many ways to socially connect on the internet. The most popular are social
networking services and instant messaging apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, QQ,
Tumblr, Instagram, and LinkedIn. A relationship on those platforms usually starts as a
one-to-one connection between two individuals who know and trust each other. This

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initial connection will lead to a link between the two individuals' separate networks,
creating a many-to-many connection. From the outside, online communities look like
webs of strangers, but on the inside, they are webs of trusting friends. Since it is a
many-to-many network built on one-to-one relationships, an internet community
usually grows exponentially and becomes one of the strongest forms of community.

Netizens are also expressive evangelists. Not revealing their true identities, internet
users can be very aggressive in expressing their opinions. The negative side of this is
the emergence of cyberbullies, trolls, and haters on the internet. The positive side,
however, is the emergence of brand evangelists. Netizens, unlike internet users in
general, are more likely to be brand evangelists.

In the internet world, we know the f-factors: followers, fans, and friends. When they
are passionate about and emotionally committed to a brand, netizens become the f-
factors. They become evangelists or lovers, as opposed to haters, of the brand.
Sometimes dormant, they often become active when they need to safeguard their
favorite brand against cyberbullies, trolls, and haters.

Further, evangelists are also storytellers of the brand who spread the news about
brands to their networks. They tell authentic stories from a customer's point of view-a
role that advertising can never replace. As netizens who are more high-profile than
other internet users, they yield a huge influence, often having a large number of their
own followers, fans, and friends.

Netizens are also content contributors. They are called the internet citizens for a
reason. Like good citizens contributing to their country, they contribute to the
development of the internet. The work of netizens makes life easier for other internet
users. With the use of tags, information on the internet is better organized and quality
content becomes easier for others to search. By "voting" for websites, netizens
recommend quality websites to others. With product ratings and reviews on the
internet, other users can easily discover the best available choice.

The most important contribution, however, is to create new content, which can be in
multiple formats: articles, whitepapers, e-books, infographics, graphic arts, games,

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videos, and even movies. Independent authors write Web pages, blogs, and e-books.
Independent musicians and movie makers create commercial hits by becoming
YouTubers and creating content on the video-sharing platform.

With new content being created every second, the internet is becoming richer and
more useful, which will benefit users and draw non-users to start using the internet.
All these grow the netizen population as well as the value of the internet.

Growing exponentially on the basis of emotional and mutually beneficial connections,

communities of netizens are the key to expand a brand's heart share. When it comes to
communal word of mouth, netizens are the best amplifiers. A brand message will flow
along social connections if it receives the netizens' seal of approval.

Additional

SKILLS REQUIRED IN DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing is complex and requires different skill sets. It is impossible for one
person to possess all the skills needed to be an effective digital marketer. Marketers
should hence build a team which has all the requisite competencies. Some of them can
be in-house (in employees) and some can be outsourced (digital agencies). We can use
the following framework for skill sets II:

Think

Digital marketing requires people who can think and conceptualize. They should be
able to look at metrics and analyse the performance and optimise. They should have
analytical skills and should be able to run campaigns on search, display and social
media. They should be able to do A/B testing to know what works and what does not
and optimise. They should be able to identify some strategic goals of digital marketing
such as testing some product concepts or doing market research for consumer trends

Feel

This is one of the most important skills in digital marketing. It is the ability to
empathize with your customers by stepping into their shoes and understanding their

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pain points. This skill will enable the digital marketer to identify the content strategy
that will resonate with their target audiences. Members of the team possessing these
skills will be actively involved in creating content strategy for websites, blogs, forums
and social media. They should analyse the sentiments using listening tools so that they
know the pulse of the market, the brand associations and the consumer engagement.

Act

Digital marketing requires lot of execution. You need people who can understand the
brand concept and the content strategy and create creative images and videos. These
people should be graphic designers or be from institutes of design and know software
for editing photos and videos. They should not only know how to use tools and
software but should also be artistic and creative. They should also understand brand
values and should be able to create images and videos that are aligned with the brand
values.

1.6 DIGITAL MARKETING PLAN

The head of digital marketing will have to prepare a digital marketing plan 13 which
outlines the objectives, target audience profile, content strategy, channel strategy,
budget and measurement. Let us have a look at each of the elements in detail.

1.6.1 Objectives

The starting point is to identify the objectives of digital marketing. This can be split
into branding and performance objectives. Both the goals can coexist. Some
campaigns and activities may have the objective of increasing brand awareness and
brand recall, whereas others may have the objective of increasing sales or leads or
conversions. It is advisable to identify metrics for measurement of performance
alongside objective setting. If the goal is branding then the metric would be recall.
This may be measured by hiring a market research ltgency which may do an online or
offline research for top of mind recall, etc. If the objective is performance, then
measurement can be done through metrics such as CTR (click through rate), leads,
conversions and CPA (cost per acquisition).

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Buyer Personas

 Next step is to identify multiple buyer personas. This should be based on

analysis of past data and profile of your best customers and not based on hunch
or assumptions. The more scientific it is, the more accurate it will be. Another
important aspect is that you should develop multiple personas and not one.
Rarely customers would be so homogenous that they can be categorised into
one persona. The information that you need about your best customers can be
categorised into three areas:
 Who You should identify the age, gender, location,job title, responsibility,
education of your customers and make a pen profile.
 What You must deliberate what are the goals of your customers and their pain
points that need to be resolved.
 What are their areas of interests, what are their passion points, what media do
they consume, what are the touch points.
 Why Ultimately you must question why will they buy your product, what is
your unique selling proposition, what is your elevator pitch, and how
compelling it is to convince the customers to buy.
 You can get information to fill your buyer personas by examining the social
media profiles of your customers. You can also get useful information from
audience reports in Google Analytics that explains the geographic,
demographic, device data of your audience.

Content

You must prepare content strategy by analysing what worked in the past and what did
not. You must analyse the performance of each of the content types such as video,
image, infographics, eBooks, webinars, games, how to, trends and create more of the
variety that performed better.

Channel

As a part of channel strategy, how much would you invest in creating paid, owned,
and earned content? In owned, will you have a website or a microsite? Which social

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media pages or handles will you have and how will you prioritise? For earned media,
will you participate in blogs or forum or question answer sites? What is your content
strategy for getting engagement? Will you use contests or promotions or controversy
or emotional appeal? For paid media, which platforms will you run campaigns on?
Will you run campaigns on search engines or banner ads on websites or on Facebook,
Twitter or LinkedIn?

Timelines

You must prepare a month-wise calendar to record which activities will be done in
which month. You must further break down content strategy, channel strategy, target
audience week-wise so that there is a starting point to refer to.

Budget

How much budget will you allocate to digital marketing? It depends upon what per
cent of the marketing objectives will be met through digital. It also depends upon the
industry and the role of marketing communications in marketing mix and the role of
digital in marketing communications mix. For certain industries such as e-comrnerce,
financial services, automobile and education, digital is very important and hence
higher per cent may be allocated to it. How much budget will you allocate for paid
campaigns across different medium? Hence, how much budget will you allocate as
media cost? How much budget will you assign for content creation? How much
budget will you allot for technology development cost such as developing website or a
game?

Measurement

The measurement metrics will be dependent upon the objective. If the objective is
branding then measurement will involve recall, attitude and association studies. You
may wish tv hire a market research agency to do it either online or offline. If the
campaign objective is performance then measurement is through CTR, leads, and
conversions.

******

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