Estimated Reading time: 5mins
Our world is evolving every day, technologies are improving, societies are shifting, and we are transforming. There is a sudden dynamic alteration in the way people acquire information, seek new knowledge, and socialize with each other.
Hence, there is a sudden surge in the popularity of Digital marketing. Irrespective of the firm size, MNCs or SMEs, everybody wants to excel in Digital Marketing. Of course, there are lots of job opportunities, but if we move down deeper, we will find digital marketing as the perfect indicator of how this generation is living multiple personas in both the physical and virtual world.
The purpose of this article is to put forward a perspective, that how the digital world is related to our normal boring physical world. Hence, I would request you to tighten your imagination strings and take a walk with me into this virtual universe, where we all are strolling and wandering every day.
This virtual world is on the internet and we all are living in it, if not physically but mentally, socially and emotionally. Hence, to understand marketing in this world, let us think of a small shop in this virtual cosmos and how digital marketing can help our small shop be a big shot, could be the next Zara, or even better, who knows?
Possibilities are endless!
Since my childhood, I have always been a big fan of Ford Mustang, and since we are imagining, let’s sell some awesome Ford Mustangs. Not only the latest Shelby GT 500 or Bullitt but even the earliest models of 1964. Let’s be the best Mustang shop in the world.
I just love them, they are classy, powerful, and raw. And, Raw is the new cool, everyone wants to get back to nature. Anyways, one more reason to choose Mustangs is that automobiles are the best example of moving physical products we see every day. Hence, easier to relate to.
Let’s sell some cars on the internet. The best ones!
Our Shop! Viz Our Website!
Since we all agreed to assume stuff, imagine we have a Mustang shop somewhere beside a road made up of IP addresses. You can even imagine yourself walking inside this virtual world, with buildings and infrastructure made up of 0s and 1s.
And, there is our shop, our website, has its own address, its domain name. Now, of course, we want our shop to look impeccably beautiful and appealing. I want to reaffirm that nothing here is physical, I hope you got the point.
Our Website is the most important part of our Digital marketing plan, no matter what we do, to bring them in, once our customers are inside our shop, they should love us, adore us, and just die to buy our Mustangs.
Public Places! viz Social Networks!
Great! We own a place and its look steamy hot and attractive, let’s make some noise and tell everyone we are here. The best place to make melodious noise about our exciting Mustang shop is where people come regularly to meet, sit, and socialize.
In our physical world, these public places are parks, music concerts, fairs, Sports events, etc. But in the virtual world, in the world of digital marketing, Social Media websites are the new public places, where billions of people stroll and consume random information.
This is the reason why; social media marketing is such a crucial and integral part of Digital marketing plans of business firms. And, just like on different public places, different types of people come, we can find different social media platforms catering to different types of people.
For example, in the physical world, businesses advertising on a Formula 1 track will have a different target audience, than the one who is advertising on the golf courses. Same is the case with advertising on diverse social media platforms.
Even if the same person is on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, the type of information he/she is looking for, is totally different. In this virtual world, social media is the prime place to be, to get people to our awesome Mustang shop.
Search Engines, the subject matter expert: SEO!
Whenever we need to build a house, we go to an architect, when we are ill, we go to a doctor, because we feel, that these guys know something which we don’t. Hence, we reach them with our problems.
In the digital world, search engines are the subject matter experts, people come to search engines with their problems and seek immediate solutions. Now, if we want our Mustang shop to appear genuine and authentic in the eyes of customers, we need referrals from the subject matter experts.
Hence, SEO is the most important part of a digital marketing plan, more early you appear on the search results, more trustworthy you are. Though there are numerous parameters considered by search engines, before ranking websites, we don’t need to go in details, it will require a completely separate article.
The point I want to make is, that Search engines are the digital equivalent of trustworthy subject matter experts, and their referrals are extremely crucial. Hence, they can contribute significantly, to make our Mustang shop a big hit.
Whenever anyone writes Mustang, we should be the first to appear, to help.
Highway hoardings: Pay Per Click Advertising
Whenever we leave our house, we leave with a task in hand, unless we are taking a walk after dinner. We leave the house because either we have to do something, or to go somewhere, or to buy something, or we want to know something.
Similarly, when a person goes out in the digital world, he/she intends to do, to go, to buy, and to Know. Don’t compare it with our social media strolling, where we just walk around hopelessly, just like in public parks. Let’s keep the boundaries clear, and we will find, that digital marketing is not that tough, after all.
So, whenever we are out, we see hoardings and advertisements all around us, on the roads, metro stations, bus stops, etc. Some of them are placed very strategically keeping in mind the type of audience expected at that place.
Similarly, in the digital world, whenever we take our steps out, we are strategically shown pay-per-click advertisements based on the type of information we are seeking. Hence, pay-per-click advertisements do the same thing which roadside hoardings to in the brick-mortar one.
I hope you are imagining this world, if you are not, you can consider doing, it will be fun. Imagine yourself surfing the virtual world with everything around you made up of 0s and 1s. Imagine, our customers are traveling in the virtual highways, looking for Ford Mustangs, and they found our hoarding. Another way to bring customers.
Salespeople! Or, Affiliate and Associate Programs
We all are salespeople, selling something every time, it could be physical materials or products or an idea, or a thought, or an emotion, or ourselves.
We all are selling a part of us, most of the time, every day.
Anyways, coming back to business, sales team go out and sell products, in return, they get a commission, salary, and whatever. Similarly, in the virtual world affiliates do it for us. We can make affiliate plans and reward people for every customer they brought to us, who made a purchase. Higher the purchase price, better the commission.
Affiliate marketing network is the equivalent to the sales team, more we sell, more we earn. Simple as that!
RSS Feed: Your pamphlets
As an exciting Mustang shop, we have so many interesting things to tell our customers. It could be the latest modified 1964 Mustang, a divine for vintage car collectors, also it could be the latest model wrapped in a mesmerizing and engaging paint job.
We want our customers to know every new thing which is happening at our happening Mustang shop.
In the physical world, we can do it by distributing pamphlets directly to our customers. But in the digital world, we can also do it through RSS feed.
We can ask our customers to subscribe to our newsletters and updates. And through RSS feed, we can pop in regular updates to our customers, regarding all the cool things we are doing.
Same things, a different world.
Keep reminding! technically publish Articles and News stories
Since now we all know, how great it is to keep reminding our customers, that we are here with some cool and classy cars, we can share all different kinds of information, with RSS feeds we can share instant updates, but other more latest and important events should be shared through news stories, press releases, and formal articles. It is always a great idea to keep our customers updated with the new accolades we received, and new milestones we accomplished.
We can post informative articles, how-to articles, and what not. Also, news stories are more authentic. Hence, if there are important things we want to share, such as our new store in a different geography, future collaborations, etc. We can consider using different communication channels.
Better to keep boundaries clear.
Emotional Connect! maintain a Blog.
It is great to tell people about the cool things we are doing, but we can never make a relation with the customer out of reasoning, relationships are made out of emotions, rest are just transactions. Hence, it is a cool idea to share our emotional views behind the things we are doing or the things we are passionate about.
Maintaining a blog gives us a chance to talk our heart out. If our customers like our views and perspective, they will always like us.
Money is just a consequence of prosperous human relationships.
The purpose of this article is not to give ‘Fundas’ of digital marketing, instead, it intends to give a perspective, to help us imagine a different world, and how it is related to our physical world. We, humans, have the same emotions and likings, but in the digital world, our way of seeking information is changed, marketing channels are different. But everything is aligned to a single basic rule of selling.
“Customer satisfaction”
The consequence of this perspective will help us to better observe, understand, and relate innovative marketing tactics in our physical world to similar ideas when implemented in the digital world can bring out similar favorable results.
But, let’s not restrict us. We can imagine anything, once we know, that ‘Digital Marketing is about doing the same things in a different world’. Possibilities are endless!
~R
An Observer 