Advertising changed its course through different modes of campaigns. During World War, the advertising council took up the responsibility of non-military war efforts for the common public, e.g. the Victory Mail, Anti-inflation measures, et al. Even though various manufacturing companies were suspended due to the war, they kept on triggering their brands to linger in the minds of consumers with their philanthropic and motivating projections. As technology changed the methods of reaching out to the public also transformed. Various modes of communication- like newspapers, billboards, radio and television, and so on.

Today, times and technology have changed for good. It is the era of the World Wide Web and the Internet of Things. The hustling has changed its means of information percolation, which remains an important tool to reach the consumers, to trigger their aspirations. The online method is also known as Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing is the process of promoting a brand, service, or product on the internet and also analyze consumers’ acceptance with detailed records for future predictions. A multitude of tools and techniques exist in this regime that is programmed online to send desired information to the related user group. Some of the popular areas are Social media marketing (SMM), Search engine optimization (SEO), Search Engine marketing/PPC, etc.

Digital Marketing Transformations

Since marketing on the web has changed the way business reaches to their consumers and the reaction of the consumers. Let us look at some of the areas that have been impacted by the business and the consumer point of view.

• Firstly, the numbers of footfall in retail which could be counted in a thousand have changed into lakhs and millions a day. The expectation is no longer low. The reach out of a local market is no longer confined to the vicinity of the retail. It flows beyond the national territory creating a humongous opportunity for a good product.
• Secondly, it becomes important to identify target consumers. Reaching out to million individuals may not be enough. It is necessary to reach out to the right people. Since it is a passive mode of marketing where there is just one chance and no human intervention available for convincing, it is necessary to design creative according to the consumer’s requirement and send to identified segmented. Study and research on consumer behaviour become a very important tool.
• Thirdly, data and analytics become the core of market interpretation. The more the data more is the accuracy of the analysis. This data also helps in projecting future trends and choices of the user.
• Fourthly, the cost of marketing is reduced dramatically indulging in Marketing practices becomes more rampant. This may prove to be boon or bane. During the pandemic lockdown, digital marketing was the online method for a business to reach out to the public.

There are many more influences but the above-discussed ones are from the perspective of the business. The user on the other hand has been involved in digital marketing at various levels. One of the key resources where the user is involved on daily basis is social media, in marketing jargon; we know it as social media marketing.

About a decade ago, social media was a personal space to share an individual’s success stories and feelings which today has become also the hub of digital marketing. The brands try direct and indirect methods to shout out. Beautiful graphics, catchy phrases, quirky creativity are seen as a post on each of our social media pages. It allows the user to sit in his comfortable space and know about the product or service in detail. Social media marketing (SMM) also taps the searches of the user and projects the advertisements accordingly. It can create banners and touch rolls within the media page to ensure that the user is curious to read the details and drive the traffic to the main website. This also increases the footfall of the website. Reels in Instagram, Stories on Facebook, and also Whats app Status allow visual treat through videos that tantalize the visual as well as auditory senses.

The indirect method, on the other hand, instills very gradually the need for the product. The concept of social influencer is one of the prominent methods of reaching out to the user subtlety. The influencer is an individual who has more active followers that they reach every day using their posts. There are different levels of followers like nano, micro, and macro, which can be discussed in another blog. These influencers bring on the plate the new ideas and brand identities that the followers can chew on. Yet another means of indirect social media marketing is the “Community” method. This technique works by creating groups of like-minded users to be a part of the business indirectly to comment or give feedback or discuss their views openly without fear or judgment. Online games, roulettes, competitions, and webinars are also some of the techniques through which social media can be used for marketing. While social media brings a lot of positive business opportunities it also brings along a lot of competition. Easily accessible and less investment makes the entire concept very lucrative to all kinds of professional opportunity seekers. It also becomes a platform where ethics are sometimes compromised and also creates a very challenging environment to identify authentic sellers.

Digital Marketing impacts on Marketing Industry

To summarize, we may say that Digital Marketing has changed the Marketing Industry in the following manner:

• The increased expectation from business in terms of product or price
• Understanding of consumer demography and segmentation has become the thumb rule
• Creative should appeal to the senses of the user and nudge them to at least debate on the product
• Authentic and elaborate data is the key to identify users and segments Complete awareness of the market, competitors,
• New research and developments and technologies

As said “with great powers come great responsibilities”, this format of marketers have also accountabilities to the larger good of humans. The ethics and dilemma of online challenges are some key areas that one needs to safeguard. But that can be discussed in another blog sometime.

Do let us know your point of view on the impact of Digital Marketing. Give us an insight into your experiences, reviews, and suggestion about Digital Marketing and how it should be done.