Why my business should go for digital marketing?
As a digital marketing or online marketing person often businesses new to this platform ask me this question why my business should go for digital marketing? Why should we go digital? The answer is Digital media / advertising is changing the whole perspective of sales and marketing process as we used to think back some years ago. With the advent of modern technologies virtual connectivity is instant and results are viral. I can connect A person from one place to B, C, D the list goes on virtually in real-time at nominal cost. As per the KPCB survey report India is now #2 global internet user surpassing USA and is one place behind China. Ever since the mobile phone revolution has taken over India and with the reduction of data charges by telecom service providers has effectively helped India to gain this #2 spot. There has been a spurge of e commerce transaction.
What is e commerce?
In one line we can explain what is e commerce? Its simplest definition is commercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet. Due to the above surge of internet user base e-commerce business in India has grown many folds. All size of businesses whether big or small are taking advantages of e commerce.
Types of e commerce?
There are broadly 6 types of e commerce (this we shall discuss in detail in my next blog post)
- Business-to-Business (B2B)
- Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
- Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
- Consumer-to-Business (C2B).
- Business-to-Administration (B2A)
- Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)
Online media through its various platforms it may be social networking apps such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Snap chat, Whatsapp and many more. You can use an effective email marketing, content marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your business. Why not use these platforms for net marketing. The shopping trend is changing now; online shopping is the new mantra in 2016 and in future. So if you don’t have a digital media presence you will lose a significant business.
Digital Marketing Strategies
All business whether small, medium or big have realized the importance and advantages of online marketing and have their sales & marketing team working on online / digital marketing strategies and tactics. There is an e market waiting for you to explore and capture. To prove this point one good example to prove the power of e marketing its influence on Tourism industry and a good online marketing strategies example. As per the article published in Hindustan Times on 25/09/2016 online travel reading influenced 47% Indians vacations destinations. Now this is a big data on the changing trend of travellers looking for their travel options as it was earlier hugely by word of mouth or discount coupon offered. It was as per a survey of more than 8,000 people from across 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The Skyscanner survey revealed one in four people surveyed were inspired by the digital media. Such as travellers reviews posted, city tour guides, photo / images / scenery galleries, travel highlights / features related blog post or articles. 30% people said they found travel tips from online travel or tourism linked post, where as 15% said these media got them valuable deals and discounts on their flight and hotels bookings.
So even though you are a small business, I always focus my blog post to encourage small and medium size businesses to have their online presence. I regularly reveal and update online marketing strategies for small business. Take a look at interesting info graphics to prove this point. The below data proves the surge of digital devices shipped to India. There is a constant increase in a year on year basis the shipment of mobile handsets in India. More and more people daily are using these mobile devices for getting their daily work done. They either engage through calling, sending and receiving messages, chats, emails or doing online shopping
Conclusion
At the end the main motto of any business is to make profits. Profits are derived not purely by saving on cost but by generating sales. Your sales and marketing plan or strategies has to complement each other to reach this goal. So you have to go with the latest trends or changes by which your customers or target audiences are shifting. Going digital is not choice but need of the hour. If you find it difficult to manage the digital marketing on your own. Hire the services of a consultant or digital agency. Dont treat it as an expense it an investment in your business.