Digital Marketing – Connecting the Misplaced Dots in the Digital Space
The moment you check into www.internetlivestats.com you will instantly see the number in 10-digits and it is counting 3,638,868,350. As per the researched reports today more than 40% of the world population has internet connection. The first billion was reached in 2005, the second billion in 2010 and the third in 2014, and the fourth is expected to be in 2017.
As per www.statista.com the total mobile users worldwide projected to touch 4.77 billion in 2017 and expected to touch the 5.00 billion in next two years time. In 2016 as per one estimate 62.9 percent of the population worldwide owned a mobile phone. China is leading the pack approximately with 1.5 billion and India crossing the milestone of 1.0 billion, Asian continent continues to dominate the mobile owners worldwide.
The purpose of stating these vital stats is to depict the fact that the world has fundamentally moved from a physical space to a digital space, people are spending more time in the virtual world and doing more of their daily activities to defining things to deciding their engagement in the digital space. In marketing terms consumers have moved from the offline engagement to online engagement. This very movement is a paradigm shift.
And it is just the beginning…logically businesses have started to move into the space where there consumers have headed. At this stage there is a transition from the offline to the online medium of operation but there is also a rapid blurring of boundaries between both these mediums and it is breaking the age-old conventions of the “touch and feel” of product to a “face to face” connect for making the sale and growing the business. Today, it is not anymore more about the basic rules and tweaking the rules but it is about operating from a totally new space where the ground itself has changed; forget about changing the ground rules. Inevitably, a new set of rules have to be applied to the new ground for that it is imperative we need to get down and understand the ground realities in the virtual space.
“A paradox.”
The first thing that is needed for all of us whether we produce a product or service or for that matter when we use or consume those product or services, is to wholeheartedly accept and acclimatize with the new space. The “digital space” that has come to stay and stay for long and long enough for us not to visualize far ahead in time and see the next change or trend that may change the course of our engagement with the digital space. There will be that next change but there is time. It is time to focus on the space we are in. Marketing is such a vital cog in the success of any business model and in any sphere and marketing needn’t be looked in an abstract perspective or subject to such negative connotations by talking and selling our products.
Given the context how the world has moved into the digital space and how fast the people are moving into that new virtual space and ability to embrace the change, it was quite natural to have the marriage of two promising candidates of “Digital” and “Marketing”.
Such has been the buzz around this marriage of Digital Marketing; the web has been flooded with their news and loaded views of what this marriage promises… Click To Tweet
“The evidence.”
The moment you type the phrase “Digital Marketing” in www.google.com, in a fraction of second the result is out and it states 9,27,00,000.
In a simple term the definition of “Digital Marketing” is about how to market in the new digital space using the digital technologies, the tools, and the techniques to get the maximum outputs using minimum resources.
Before digital could connect with marketing, marketing has been there for ages and doing its prescribed job and the job of connecting our ideas, our concepts, our products and services to prospects to customers to consumers. The fundamental to any business is to reach out to our prospects to sell our products or services and make money and create value for the stakeholders. It all boils down to how well we are able to market our product and services. In essence connect and communicate with our target audience. In the rapidly changing landscape we can market ourselves well depends very much on how well we are able to creatively engineer the use of digital space.
“Digital Marketing” the umbrella term and universal usage gets routinely mixed and interchanged between different phrases like “Digital Strategy” to “Inbound Marketing” to “Content Marketing” to “Online Marketing” to “Mobile Marketing” to “Data Driven Marketing” to “Digital Marketing Strategy” to “E-Mail Marketing” “Video Marketing” to “Inbound Marketing’ to “Outbound Marketing” and so on…
There are different ways to look at the term and there are always a better way to interpret the definition and present it. We can largely divide the digital space to have a fresh look and provide a new outlook of how we can a have better understanding of the phrase “Digital Marketing”.
Firstly, for simplification we can broadly put the application of this phrase into two distinct spaces of operation in the digital world one on the computer and the other on the mobile.
Secondly, deducing from the users the usage pattern and the behavioral aspects of using, we need to know how many of these users have the access to web through their devices of computer or mobile.
Thirdly, the amount and type of traffic that is coming and what all they are using the webpage for and how frequently they are using and for what purpose; are these for information or entertainment or commerce?
This is exactly are the set of questions that the Digital Marketing is constantly striving to fathom and figure out so as to set the right framework to succeed and sustain the momentum of success. In essence Digital Marketing as a framework guides us where to reach out to our potential customers and which are the best digital mediums to use the available marketing budget to obtain the best possible result. The marketing dimension of “Lead Management”…
Here are one set of most commonly used three-letter tools and techniques that we combine to define our digital marketing strategy.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Search Engine Marketing (SSM)
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
The web is an ultimate ocean and everything that goes, goes somewhere or everywhere but nowhere to be found, and here is where search engines like Google or Bing has come to our rescue by providing the magic wand of searching anything that has entered the web space. To do that we have to search the web using certain combination of words, this is technically termed as the “Keyword”. For instance the phrase “Digital Marketing” is a keyword.
We can do so organically that is without any spending of money is by using our creating content and connecting with our own contacts to attract to our website or webpage. We can do so inorganically that is with spending money i.e. paid search using Pay Per Click (PPC) which shows on the top or on the side of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). The technique of SEO tells us the constantly evolving ways and means to get our webpage obtain the optimum result in attracting traffic.
The technique of SSM tells us about the constantly emerging methods to get our webpage obtain the best possible result in attracting traffic through paid search like Google Adwords. There are these new social branches in the web space in terms of Social Medias like Facebook to YouTube to Twitter to LinkedIn to Instagram to Pinterest to WhatsApp. These medias have created millions of users as their community and as and when we become part of that community we have an access to reach out and present our offerings.
In all such community, we have limited access to start with and we can build on it with our own efforts, consistency of engagement and then we can always pay the media and reach out a large audience in the community through designing and deploying our campaign through advertisement provisions like Facebook Adv to Twitter Adv to YouTube Adv just to mention a few available on payment terms in each of these social media that encompasses SMM.
There is another aspect of the digital space we need to know so as to put our digital marketing in proper perspective.
- Own Media
- Earned Media
- Paid Media
Own Media is the digital media that we own which is free of cost or has a very negligible maintenance cost in owning, it needs our investment of time and that includes the website, the blog page, the mobile app. Primarily own media is about content marketing and digital asset owned by us.
Earned Media is the referrals or recognition we get from our connection with the social media through our freshly generated content or engaging through exchange of thoughts with other members in the community. These are the likes, the pins, the shares, the tweets, powerful references to positive reviews that we earn. These are user-generated content or shared by users.
Paid Media the term is self-explanatory and it is the media space we buy through payment and we can do so using options of PPC in Google Adwords to many such similar options. These are display or broadcasting advertising.
There is an increase trend towards the convergence of these three types of media and work is in progress to provide a unified outlook to the fragmented space, resulting in a magical emergence of a wonderful mosaic of digital media.
Similarly, we need to know the significance of mix and match of forms that are so vital to the way we present the content to connect with our audience. We need to figure out the right balance of pictures to voice to text to communicate our message much more effectively and of course more powerfully.
- Text
- Image
- Audio
- Video
The combined usage of the above forms have grown with time and technology, today “infographics” to “podcasting” to “webinars” have changed the way we have used each aspects of the different tools. It is all about designing means to redefine the way for making communication more effective through the power of interactive animation.
Finally, the most important facet, where is our home to welcome our visitors or where are our windows to peep or doors to knock where the prospects and customers can come and connect with us. Here are those few digital facets where we can present our faces to the world outside of us.
- Website
- Blog
- Webpage
We need to have our Website where we can showcase about us, our company, our business, our product and services and how we are different and why should they as customer engage with us and conduct commerce with us. This is how the move has been from the traditional place to the technology space, the web has provided this provision for anybody to buy a space and build its digital office where the customers can visit and update themselves on the happening and the offerings from the company. The website is a standalone space in the web world where we operate on our own and not in a “circle of community”.
Social Media is a community that is building the social networks, and with it’s ever expanding members in each such circle is what fueling the power of that network.
Though there so many different communities that emerged out of common interest or solving an analogous problem or tackling a correlated situation or engaging on particular idea.
Blogging is one such powerful idea.
Webpages like Facebook (help people the power to share and make the world more open and connected) to Twitter (help people the power to create and share ideas instantly and without barriers) to Pinterest (help people to discover their love, and inspire them to do things in their daily lives) are more such ideas.
These are large communities to showcase our idea just by creating our Facebook page to Twitter handle to Pinterest pinboard which then allow us to accelerate our connection with other members of the community and expand our market place.
We can now have E-Books to E-brochure to E-Leaflets, all in different downloadable formats to Whitepapers to Case Studies. The prospect or the customer can come and check out the digital repository and choose what to read and when to read. There is immense choice and immediate convenience.
The basic difference between the marketing on the digital platform vs. the marketing that we have done on the traditional places is the “level of engagement” and “degree of analysis” of data on “REAL-time basis” so as to quickly change and correct our course and content to communicate better and broaden our connect with our target audience. We have the real-time monitor in our hand like Google Analytics to tell us who are visiting, how frequently and from which all places and what all they are reading and what all they are sharing with others members in their micro community. We are able to fathom their interest and figure out our strategy.
This “insightful information” cannot be deciphered from the traditional platforms where the company has the corporate brochure and has a set of product leaflets or services handouts to share with the prospects to invite their interest. We cannot read what they have read in the print materials but in case of digital content we can read their mind by knowing what they have read, and it shows us a pattern and a trend where to focus and where we should be shifting our locus for segmenting, targeting and positioning our offerings.
We can send mailers to their e-mail known as E-Mail Marketing to we can message to their mobiles known as Mobile Marketing. It is about collecting and organize the e-mails and mobile numbers of our potential and existing customers. We need to be in regular communication and instantly getting connected; it is the attention of the prospects eye and then the retention of our customer’s mind that matters here.
Digital Marketing is making that “impossible possible” through smart reading of the user’s mind and scientific mapping different patterns for concise messaging and precise monitoring of the results of our marketing goals. We are able to do so with the help of scientifically designed and developed technology tools and techniques those are now readily available to us.
We are just realizing the power of marketing in the digital space, it is indeed empowering…the dawn of a new reality, digital is becoming the de facto reality.
Digital Strategist
Nihar Pradhan
image_credit_softindigo.com
It never ceases to amaze me that in the mid 1990’s I did not know how to turn on a computer. I detested all things technical. When my workplace pioneered an electronic medical record around the same time I almost lost my mind in fear. How could that possible work? Now I am so connected on so many platforms the internet is a massive part of my interaction with family , friends, readers and yes business. Another thought provoking post Nihar. Thank you.
We can all relate to your experience and it is exactly what has happened to most of us, as a generation we have seen the transition from non-digital to digital space…almost every work of life we have seen that change, from work place to our daily life things have shifted to computer and to internet and now so much of that internet is through mobile…though we were apprehensive but one way we are fortunate to have been part of that digital revolution and now we feel so much at home in the virtual space. Indeed the initial fear to enter this space has now given way to so much excitement and so many new avenues to explore and engage.
Thanks as always Sue for your lovely perspective…
Have a wonderful weekend.
😀
It is mind blowing to see how fast technology has advanced in the last few years.. And its growing all the time.. I am sure things are being invented right now which will make what we use now seem like some futuristic film..
But when you think back to the early 70’s when Star Trek was just hitting our TV screens in their weekly stories of conquering space.. And they flipped open their space walkie-talkies that told the engineer to Beam me Up Scottie.. Little did we know we would have similar devices that flipped open that were soon to be modern day mobile phones..
Or as in the control room they touched a screen and the images moved a the touch of hand. As we can now move our mobile screen shots, and computer images etc..
Devices are getting more micro and cameras, are no longer huge external devices but built into your computers through a dot no bigger than your iris in your eye.
Voice recognition’s, and voice activated google all amazing..
One wonders though to what ends it will all finally meet..
As we seem to worship machines and forget about nature, and the fundamentals of living..
We have recently witness a great Cyber attack. that affected many of our Health services data bases.. along with many other services.. Resulting in the use of paper and pen for data recording..
Here also British Airwaves had a massive meltdown of their computer system to which it is still not explained satisfactorily to those professionals who deal in IT.. That their systems did not have a sufficient back up in place due to a power overload in a system it is said
One has to think to the possibilities of Solar flares doing damage in the future to electrical equipment and the resulting chaos that would create.. For all technology it runs on electric. and given that should fail massively.. The banks, shops, traffic, planes, trains, you name it all would be affected..
I think back in time to the story of Atlantis, once a great civilisation so far in advance of what we witness today.. Yet it was supposedly wiped out without trace..
Could we possibly be on the same course again.. As we forget the great principles of LIFE.. And to honour all that is living.. Instead of honouring the power of machines and the ulitmate prize some are today speaking of.. That of a computer that outsmarts a human.. to Think for itself.. And Robots to continue to serve..
Where indeed are humans then upon our great digital Age..
I fascinating post dear Nihar.. One that will have us all thinking for many years to come..
🙂
Love and Blessings
Sue <3
Dear Sue, yes thing have changed and have changed dramatically though it was fascinating to watch those days the series of Star Trek. The early days when we first started seeing the Television and those few series were setting the digital agenda for the future and it was showing what could be the reality though we were not in a position to believe those pictures but it was always subtly there in our realm of imagination.
Today life has unquestionably become a helpless prisoner of digital technology and we just cannot do a thing without the dependency on such digital gadgets. Though technology is getting simplified but paradoxically life is becoming complicated. I agree devices are getting smaller and smaller, and devices are entering every sphere in our life, they are like dots and we just cannot do a thing without the use of technology and in few cases it has been absolutely taken for granted and we don’t look at the negative impact when we don’t have it and we do so when we are forced to live a life without the technology in operation. The case in the point is the glitz in the Hospitals in London and the British Airlines that happened recently, everything came to a grinding halt and this is perhaps a sign of things to come and how are we going to cope with such technology disruption in our life.
The space between human and machine is slowly but certainly getting blurred and robots are rapidly occupying that conflict zone. With artificial intelligence fast unraveling its mystery, machine behaving like humans are a reality, it is no more a science fiction. Recently I was reading that in Dubai, the govt. is planning to introduce Robot Police in all Malls and they can do all that a cop needs to do for instance watching and checking the movement of people and answering to their queries to catching the unruly ones. Sounds bit crazy but that’s how the world around us will look in few year’s time. With driver-less car and robots in the streets we will literally seeing the Star Trek a reality where we are behaving and talking like machine and vice-versa.
With 3D technology we can have everything manufactured as per our need, just seating in home and things will be customized and personalized and will be readily available with just a click of a button. We have taken the mobiles for granted and it is an integral part of life and existence. Life without mobiles, a big question mark?
Just stepping back few decades back when we didn’t have the internet and mobile, it was a magic for us but today with science and it’s invention we consider it as a logic for us. Things that we can and cannot imagine is possible and today the pace of technological revolution is unparalleled in the history of human evolution and what was happening in centuries are happening in decades and what was happening in decades are in years and some of the products have life cycle in days and weeks. We don’t see those products in couple of months and so many new things are coming, we are lost and many times we are at awe and wandering what is going to come next…
As rightly pointed out there is cycle and there is circle of life, perhaps all this and maybe much more advanced things existing ages ago and it all disappeared with some kind of implosion and took this many years to get where we are and time has come to put the clock back where it belongs, the nature and the natural world far away from the digital space that is breaking the human barriers. The question of what will happen if we become a slave to the digital disruptions and human lose their very identity of being a human.
Thanks so much Sue, as you bring so much of wonderful thoughts and make the conversation so fascinating…always a pleasure exchanging such diverse thoughts and lovely ideas with you.
You too take care and let the peace prevail.
😀
What a wonderful response too Nihar.. And yes, I wonder too for the future.. So many things we are not supposed to be aware of in the world as to the real reasons of technological advancements.. HAARP for one, and CERN another..
While we may be thinking we are moving forward with great speed in our advancement of such technology.. I have to think are we as societies burying our heads even further in separation of our humanness..
We no longer look one another in eye for suspicion of each other.. I have seen family communicate less one to one, except through their texting and FB pages.. We maybe moving forward technically, but are we moving backwards Spiritually as we lose touch with Caring, and compassion.
Which is why I feel such sad events are now bringing home in some ways those lost connections again..
As people are being once more drawn together by tragedy to care and pull together in their Human responses of LOVE and Kindness..
All I know Nihar is, that I am glad that I am as old as I am, for the future for my 6 yr old granddaughter will indeed be a Very different world to the one I have been privileged to experience up to today..
Many thanks my friend for you thoughts, I so enjoy our exchanges..
Blessings Sue 🙂
Yes dear Sue, it is technology that is multiplying without the human face and we are all getting pulled into this interminable vortex of point of no return. Things are just becoming so mechanical and very much devoid of any emotions and feelings are badly lost in the digital wilderness. As a family we are spending very little time together and more time with the digital devices and we have gone so far that today we connect with our family members and know more about what is happening in their life through the social media though we all stay under the same roof and close by.
Compassion is completely missing from our life, we are compete with each and other and at the end we are going no where and still trying figure out what is that we all are fight for and how to come out of that wrangle.
The peace and the space of life is so much inside us and we keep searching outside and end up frustrated and questioning everything that comes our way.
Perhaps it is more important to get reminded the power of love and kindness and it cost nothing but it can bring a revolution in our society. We have lost the plot and trying to write a story which has tragic end.
I agree Sue for the next generation we really don’t know how this world will pan out and how they will adjust to the rapid change that is already in and will only accelerate further. Hope they all have a great life and let there is a control and let there be a compassion.
Indeed such great exchange of thoughts with you and always look forward our conversation.
Take Care!!!
😀
Thank you Nihar.. So loved our conversations upon the deep aspects of life.. And oh if only more would hold the views you have given here within your responses.. The world then would be a better place for sure.. Thank you my friend.. Enjoy your week and you too take care upon your travels..
Blessings Sue 🙂
Dear Sue, always such a delight to exchanges such wonderful thoughts and learn so much from you…I agree we can keep talking on life, philosophy to science and arts, and of course nature and walking in this digital explosion and we are all enjoying that space and at the same time we concerned where it is taking us and the uncertainty of future is keeping us in tenterhook…
There is commencement of good rain here and much needed respite from the scorching heat this summer.
Thanks as always for your good words and blessing.
😀
May the rains not be too heavy and may they replenish and refresh all that grows.. Including our human Spirits dear Nihar.. Always a delight to speak with you my friend 🙂
I agree dear Sue, everything in moderation and in balance is good in life, unfortunately yesterday we had a torrential downpour and perhaps a pre-monsoon shower and it was imminent of the things are come…
So much pleasure interacting with you and take care!!!
😀
Hope you and yours stay safe in the Monsoon Season to come Nihar.. Here it is Sunshine with showers.. or maybe I should say, Its Raining with Sunny intervals.. LOL… Wishing you and yours a Peaceful Weekend 🙂
Dear Sue, this is the fascinating paradox of the world we live in, its about to rain cats and dogs here, this part of the world and at your place, that part of world it is sunshine with lite shower…perhaps therein lies the true beauty of life.
Have a wonderful Sunday and take care!!!
😀
A very apt post for the times, Nihar.
As you have pointed out Digital marketing is a natural fallout of the growth in internet usage.
As more and more people hang out in the digital space, it is natural for more and more brands to enter and make their presence felt in the digital space where their users spend a lot of time.
Additionally, at times like this when the market is upbeat, brands allocate more budget for marketing, and as such digital marketing also gets a boost. Nowadays most of the companies have a digital marketing lead position (mostly from marketing not from IT), who is responsible for establishing the brand’s presence on all digital platforms.
The flip side of digital marketing is the use of intelligence to show up ads based on past browsing sometimes becomes too intrusive – something that we have to live with.
Yes, Somali…Marketing has changed and have changed with the advent of digital world, the avenue to market our company, product and services has suddenly got a lift that was otherwise getting stifled in the conventional frame.
The reach and the nature of audience have changed and we have much bigger canvas to play and project our case. It is exciting and it is equally challenging to figure out the dimensions of the space and get the things going, yes the opportunities to showcase and get a strong foothold in our market place has changed with the use of digital tools.
Digital Marketing is definitely one of the most sought after job in this century and is gaining much more momentum with time and with more digitization of our world. There is a science behind it but there is an art in play, and we need to learn both to get the best of two worlds, the real and the virtual world.
Yes, with the use of intelligence and invasion of privacy, it is many times irritating but with good comes the bad, and both co-exist in this world.
Thanks so much Somali for sharing from a consulting perspective.
😀