Digital Marketing beyond Google

The year 2000 started not just as a new year but the year after the Y2K also heard and experienced new terms such as AdWords, search optimisations, page ranking, content targeting etc. Google introduced marketers to a new world with immense possibilities and a platform to make and offer things more personal. Thus began the new age of digital advertising. Today google alone controls 11 to 12% of total media spend globally. And in India, the digital advertising share is expected to be more than 12% of the total marketing budget. But over these years, like in any field, diversification and innovation started reflecting in Online marketing also. Today digital marketing is not just Google. Along with google, marketers are now experimenting other channels such as content marketing, native ads, social media marketing, Omni-channel marketing etc. But many brands, particularly in India are still considering google ads as the primary resource to reach out to its prospects. They need to understand that rather than pushing the pop-up ads to the customers you need to be more responsible and should give value to customers. 2015 was the year when brands and agencies noticed a downfall in the CTR of ads. The same year witnessed the growth of adblockers and increase in the spend on mobile. This is the same period when growth was witnessed in Native ads and sponsored contents. Brands now started to position their offering as informative content to the prospects. They started to explain the need and benefits of the product and what prospect is missing by not having them. Even the success of your social media campaigns depends on the quality of your contents. 

The future of digital marketing is expected to bring an addition in terms of wearable technology, AR & VR into the marketing plan of brands. So if you want to stay ahead of your competitors you need to realise that your customers are everywhere not just on Google. 

Marketing Lesson from Kabali

Whether you are a Thaliva fan or not, you can't escape from the Kabali storm that hit the country during the last weekend. I have never seen such a hype for a Rajanikanth film or for any other film in this country. Along with many things, the movie also displayed the role a proper 360 degree marketing campaign can have on the viewers or to its end customers. 

Brand association with movies are not new but this time, the makers of Kabali tried something new by having a tie up with an international airline. The initial curiosity about the movie was not that encouraging. But as the movie date was announced the Super Star power started showing its effect. Other brands also joined by releasing special coins, SIM card, ad campaign etc. 
In case of Rajnikanth, even the jokes will work in his favour. The hype picked its pace in the last 5 to 7 days where corporates in the state and nearby state declared holidays on the releasing date. Social media trolls on the "holiday concept" went viral in the last 48 hours. News channels, music channels, print and online started to play its role for Kabali. News about the midnight first-day screening, leak about the introduction video etc added to the curiosity. 

For me, the biggest learning from Kabali was the role of Content Marketing. How the contents are transformed into NEWS. Knowingly or Unknowingly we followed or got exposed to the news which otherwise intentionally we wouldn't have read. Thus we were a part of a well-strategised marketing plan or rather Kabali Effect.

Even the biggies need to do ads

In a country like India, no matter how big your brand is; you need to keep the consumer remind about yourself. I was curious to see Google and iPhone doing TVC during the on going T20 world cup. Irrespective of whether you are a user or not both these brands are now very much familiar with the audience. Google campaign was with an overlay of cricket showing a family including a kid in the first ad and couple of shoppers in the second situation. The iPhone ad was focusing particularly on a feature called Live photos co-promoted by two well known telecom providers. Both the brands were utilizing the popularity and reach of cricket among all age groups in India. By spending atleast 10 cr for a 10 sec slot during the match, either they are aggressively spending the remaining marketing budget left in this fiscal or they are expecting a drop in the sale which they are trying to restrict through the campaign. 

What ever be the actual scenario, this shows that concentrating only in a particular ad medium is not sufficient if you are aiming for a wide reach and acceptance in a diversified country like India. 

A Brand mascot and a Brand ambassador

Having a good product is not enough today to taste success in the market. All elements in the Marketing mix should fall  at the right place at the right time. One such aspect is the brand mascot or some times the brand ambassador that you select. There are brands which continued with the same mascot for multiple campaigns and stick to them for years. At the same time some brands were forced to bring back their successful mascot after trying to replace them for a new campaign. Brand also stick with their ambassador for multiple campaigns, a non celebrity is bought in and established overnight. The new Airtel Girl is one such example. Airtel through the campaign successfully launched their 4G as well as Sasha Chettri. Their second campaign that launched during the ICC world cup was the continuation of the first campaign with the same person upon the concept of wide network even on remote locations. The case of Vodafone was curious with their pug. After moving from Hutch to Vodafone as a part of their rebranding initiative they stopped the "You & I" concept with the dog in 2008. The influence of the pug in the mind of the viewers was so much that the brand was forced to reintroduce him later.  

Nirma girl & Parle G kid was so popular for ages that even without the brand name people will relate the mascots with the brands. Onida from 1983 to 2010 used its famous Devil for promoting them even during the stiff competition from LG during the early 2000. The big difference between a mascot and an ambassador is that, an ambassador is normally an individual and every good & bad aspects of him/her will effect the brand. Where as once a mascot is established you can take them for years and they will always be young in the mind of the customers or viewers. 

The trend called Social Media Marketing

New dimensions of marketing emerged with the growth of technology and of its end users. Since 2000, the growth of smartphones played a major role in deciding the way brands started communicating with its customers. Platforms such as google plus, linkedin, facebook, skype, twitter etc helped in the emergence of a new division called as Social Media Marketing. Over these years brands started realising the effective use of these platforms in getting much along with its customers and prospects. Initially Social media was a communication model which started with orkut & myspace and they were used mostly among the friend’s circles. Then, as the size of the group increased and features in the offering by new platforms became dynamic these platforms lost its charm. The new platforms along with them bought the importance of one more aspects i.e. Content Marketing. Valuable & relevant contents were shared with the customers which helped the brands to build brand awareness & thus create brand loyalty in an indirect way. The trend of social media has grown so much so that it is now an eminent part of any marketing plan. With over 2 billion smartphone users in the world social media is the most cost-effective method to connect with your customers and to promote your business. Also, when every individual is accessing more than 1 social app. in their Smartphone the importance of Content marketing or Viral marketing also gains its share.