Digital Marketing is now the most popular way of generating leads for the businesses. As more and more companies adopt this approach there is a severe death of professionals in this area of work.
THE PREMISE
The marketing landscape is changing very fast with the evolution of internet and most recently, its adaptability to mobile devices. It’s all about visibility and click-ability. Companies, most importantly the B2C that adapted to this change have seen amazing results. Every product and service is moving into the digital space to take advantage of the great potential it has both for brand building and business growth. The results are quicker, the costs are lower and the reach can be infinite.
The marketing spends have increased in favour of this shift in approach. The cost of customer acquisition has dramatically dropped, improved quality of leads, better conversions, enhanced brand awareness and most importantly the ability to operate from any part of the world. Inbound marketing is evolving and is here to stay.
The user acquisition and retention methods, analysing their online behaviour and buying patterns, understanding the tools used, the effectiveness of various online channels, would need a speciality experience. Hence, agencies that specialize in promoting products & services online are increasingly in demand as more and more companies are shifting from their traditional way of doing business. So the potential is enormous and the opportunities to grow are plenty. Digital Marketing can be broadly classified into SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING and SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS. While the former is more effective for customer acquisition, the later is predominantly used to build a brand online. This equation varies based on the type of business, product & services offered and the target audience.
THE KEYWORD ECONOMY
Google alone has around 1 trillion searches globally every day. Bing and Yahoo, are a distant followers. The scale and the massive user base, for search engines, around the world have created a huge marketing opportunity for a number of businesses. Every word that a user keys in to find something is associated with some business or the other, thereby an opportunity to monetize. Search engines have developed a business model around this idea and have created a marketplace for business seeking quick results and build their brand online.
Keywords drive the businesses, not just the brands anymore. As a matter of fact search engines create the brand for the companies. Their algorithms process the online activity on a number of parameters and help users to find the right product, service or the information they are looking for. So businesses now compete for those keywords and less against their competitor brand name per say. As they compete, the value rises and so makes it that harder for a business to be found online.
Just to give an idea, when users search 'Amazon promo code' on Google and they find your website, you make $40,000 every month. Given the search volumes, one can imagine the large amount of transactions happening based on keywords and the economics associated with them.
Conversion of leads into sales primarily depends on the type of keywords used to find the businesses. Sometimes we might see a large number of visitors not being converted into customers, as the content, both on-page and off-page may not be representing the products or service appropriately. So creating relevant, unique and search optimized content, with the user behaviour in mind helps improve the quality of visitors and the conversion percentages. Besides, a deeper classification of searches into generic, short tail and long tail keywords will help gain insights into the user buying patterns and improve conversions.
A targeted search marketing approach that involves both PAID and ORGANIC methods, can deliver amazing results to the customers. Use of web analytics, competitive keyword analysis, content optimization and continuous refinement of online campaigns will help claim real prospects for the businesses. The performance driven nature of this promotional method is prompting more and more companies to look out for agencies that offer these solutions for their marketing needs.
THE SCOPE and THE OPPORTUNITY
Digital Marketing as a solution to your customers is certainly an area worth venturing into. Every aspect of it can be offered as a service - Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Promotion, Content Management, Web Analytics, Affiliate Marketing, UI/UX designs, Branding material and so on. Creating contextual, compelling and engaging content is the common success factor that drives the digital marketing space. Understanding the customer business, their products and services, analysing their target audience, establishing business goals and developing a comprehensive online promotional strategy go a long way in keeping a head of competition.
1. SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING: Websites are fast replacing the retail stores. Getting found online is the current way of doing business as it the most effective way of generating revenue, both in terms of cost and also in terms of results. Unlike conventional shopping, buyers now search for the desired product, service or information using tools such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and so on. Lead generation, Sales conversion and Brand awareness can be achieved in the quickest possible time. Further, Search Engine Marketing can be categorised into PAID (PPC) and ORGANIC (SEO) modes of doing business online. While PAID methods quickly yield results, they will have a direct bearing on the margins. ORGANIC methods take time to generate business but are very cost effective.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION: Social Media Promotion is a way to expand reach and influence conversions for the businesses. Most of the social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Quora, Reddit etc., provide an opportunity to expose the brand for a large user base active around the globe. These tools are a great platform for engaging in real time conversations to generate interest and make a positive impact by influencing their buying decisions. Identifying the appropriate and most effective medium for a particular business holds the key. Target audience, interests, demographics, geography, personal and professional background and so on, have to be thoroughly analysed to drive real prospects for businesses. Paid and Organic way of brand promotions, over social media channels, is based on the end goal in mind.
3. CONTENT and CREATIVES: Content is the most powerful way of creating an impact for a building a brand online and also in generating qualified leads for businesses. It is not just limited to textual information for blogs or social media, but also includes graphics, videos, promotional offers and a lot of other material meant for public consumption. Content creation, publishing and updating require exceptional skills both from quality as well as it being optimized for online visibility.
4. WEB ANALYTICS: Web Analytics provide good insights into the kind of business you are into. Source of leads, behaviour of prospective customers, competitive positioning, tools and technologies in vogue are some of the market intelligence data, that we help gather, to enable companies make better business decisions. Besides, a careful analysis of the data also helps us redefine and continuously optimize the marketing campaigns that we devised, for businesses to succeed. Web Analytics form the core for defining any online marketing approach.
However, the digital world has its own set of challenges. Creating an online brand for your customers, in a clean and authentic manner holds the key as their reputation is at stake. Besides, online privacy laws getting more stringent, the ability to run targeted marketing campaigns comes with limitations. While there are some proven ways to achieve intended results, there are certain grey areas that we still have to deal with.
THE STRATEGY
Firstly, it is important to position ourselves as a Digital Marketing Agency or a Lead Generation Company and not merely as SEO services provider. Customer Acquisition, Retention, Engagement, Branding, Experiences and Promotional activities are some of the key areas, around which, we can build a business model. Evolving a end-to-end Digital Marketing Strategy for customers being the ultimate goal, identifying and targeting the low hanging fruits to get the foot in the door shall be the initial approach. It’s important to note that most of the large corporate do have an ongoing Digital Marketing activity, assigned to either in-house teams or external agencies, and so breaking those barriers might be a challenge.
Define Offerings: Conceptualising around the activities listed in the previous section, well articulated solutions, their descriptions and applications can be defined for all Inbound Marketing methods. Besides, by identifying industry specific solutions, the most effective channels of promotions, the cross functional application of tools and processes, best practices and standards adopted, success stories etc., will help make a compelling pitch to the customers or the prospects.
Develop GOTO Market Strategy: Work with existing customers to explore the possibility of supporting their digital marketing needs. Identify areas of work that can help build confidence with them (low risk and voluminous), establish a working model, build success stories and then work your way up through the value chain. Cost and convenience will be the primary motivators. Performance-Driven marketing model is the ultimate goal.
Explore Acquisitions: In order to be able to quickly establish the credentials, maybe acquiring companies in the digital marketing space, with a decent customer base, for the intended geography could also be an option worth exploring.
THE FUTURE: DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
During the course of conducting business, companies generate huge amount of digital material for operational, functional and execution requirements. These are generated across various departments, including marketing, and therefore need a structured way of handling them.
Creation, Distribution and Maintenance of various Digital Assets require an enterprise level strategy as they form the core of an organization’s intellectual property. In a larger context this opens up opportunities for managing various Digital Assets that business’s own. These assets need to be controlled, protected and tracked digitally to improve efficiency, avoid duplication, promote cross-functional usage and most importantly prevent them from breach.
Some of the digital assets include, but not limited to, Application Software, Mobile Apps, Content Management Systems, Brand Material (logos, fonts, graphic art, trademarks, photos), Ad Campaigns Analytics and Reports, Documentation, Videos, Website themes, templates and .COMs, User experiences, Blog posts, Electronic Coupons, etc., to name a few.
Building promotional material, equipping sales teams with required ammunition, devising strategies for existing and new customers, recruiting and developing teams, acquiring tools and technologies etc., help lay the foundation for a robust business proposition. By establishing a collaborative framework, a balanced team structure and a well-defined delivery architecture gives us the ability to react quickly to the customer needs and thereby help establish as a credible Digital Solutions Provider.
