Digital Market in the New World
As bad as it might look in numbers, the COVID-19 outbreak has actually brought in a fresh wave of ideas and strategies for the marketing industry. Digital; which was just a part of the marketing spends has now taken a centre stage in all the marketing efforts. Thanks to COVID-19! Social distancing is the new norm and stuck inside houses, people too are shifting from traditional to digital space and this has given digital consumption multi-fold in the last few months. Statista in its report “COVID-19 impact on media consumption India” found out that during the first week of a nation-wide lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the rate of social media consumption had gone up by almost 75 percent compared to the week preceding the lockdown. Overall, it was seen that people spent more time browsing the internet, whereas the radio and out of home billboard media consumption had drastically dropped in the measured time period.
Led by the above change in the consumption pattern of the audiences, it is imperative and brands world over already have embraced digital in an unconventional way. Immediately after the lockdown, we saw a surge in client queries to strengthen the digital backbone. Everybody wanted to adapt to the shifting eyes of their captive audience and be present on all possible platforms where their consumer might be from the boundaries of their home. At first, we had to relook at campaigns planned for the next quarter and revise them so as to suit the sudden turn in events. We put in a great effort and amount of time in understanding what the customer wanted, what is the change in the psyche, what are the things that they want a brand to tell them, and how can we stand out of the crowd.
Our investment and time into understanding the scope of digital has taught us a great deal about its usage in the post-pandemic new normal and I somewhere strongly believe will pave the way for Digital Marketing in the times to follow.
Digital Media is an enabler, and now everybody knows it:
Digital Marketing is the enabler of business activities in the COVID-19 era. Due to social distancing and personal concern, the conventional marketing activities have been curtailed and people are resorting to digital communication even for informal messaging. Moreover, everyone is spending very little time outdoors and the average screen time has multiplied across the digital platforms. In this changed scenario, the brands that harness digital marketing means are reaching out to maximum customers.
Compared to other marketing platforms, digital marketing is one of the most affordable media to promote the product. Gone are the days when one was spending thousands and lakhs in getting the ad printed in the newspaper. With digital media picking up, this job has become much quicker, easier, and also a great turnaround.
Digital is the new data mine
Digital marketing is more about big data and technology innovation rather than conventional marketing. Digital marketer today will have to look at the consumer as a living sensor which creates data. The uninitiated have also started looking at the digital space in a different light and the surge in digital consumption presents a great opportunity for marketers to know their customers much better, monitor them much closer, and communicate to draw long term benefits.
On one hand, while you have such close access to your consumer pattern, there is a dire need to relook at the content strategy. If you fail to connect with your consumer in times like these, then the loss might be inevitable. Insights on consumer behavior will drive the next big innovation on the campaign. Success will depend upon how the digital marketer is able to drive differentiated strategies for each digital channel and eventually converging on consumer experience.
Since people are heavily using social media for everything, the engagement rate ought to be higher. People need quality content for updating themselves and getting entertained. So it is the responsibility of the digital marketers to generate content that engages the audience.
So the bottom line is, if you are creative, you will be a big hit on the digital platform.
The scope for digital marketing is wider than it was a few months ago and digital will remain as the most powerful way of marketing in the post-pandemic new normal and after that too. But as the dynamics of digital marketing is changing every day, a digital marketer has to be agile, alert, smart and adapt to the latest changes. Not only that, but digital marketer of today and tomorrow will also have to anticipate changes and implement it way earlier than the change actually happens to take advantage of it
