GROW YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS LIKE A PRO!

Who remembers those advertisements on newspapers? I do.

Who remembers advertisements on billboards ? I do.

Many of the businesses spend lakhs of money on billboard advertisements. Most of them still do but a bunch of businesses have upped their advertisements game by moving online. It is really important to understand the basic of digital marketing and I understand you are here for it. Without any delay, let’s look at some facts.

In the year 2021, e-retail market in India saw a boost of 25% rise despite disruption of supply chain due to nationwide lockdown, as per reports of Bain and Flipkart. The credit goes to masterminds of these businesses who switched to digital marketing. They invested huge amounts of time and money to reap such good benefits from business.

WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING?

Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, is the advertisements done through online platforms and gadgets. Previously, advertisements were done through newspapers, pamphlets, billboards(they still do) but now the medium is social media, email, websites which can be accessed by mobiles and computers. There are various forms of digital marketing – enhanced offline marketing, radio marketing, television, mobile , social media marketing,  email and website marketing.

1. Enhanced offline marketing is done offline as the name suggests but the store is equipped with advanced machines. Imagine walking into a store where your orders are taken by a machine, then the offline experience is multiplied due to the seamless working of the machine.
2. Next, television marketing  still provides top notch funnel for businesses.  When people had television for the first time around, everyone had one in their house. I remember my parents bought one in 2009. The cost of TV advertising is becoming more costlier since there is cut-through competition.

However, online streaming services such as Amazon Prime is diluting the market since many of us disconnected cable TV connections over the last few years. Businesses revised their advertising plan and moved to phone marketing, which we will discuss .

• Radios are gaining attention again since many of us prefer to listen audio show while doing our chores and work. That is why radio marketing is still in business. Over the years, radio stations have reformed themselves to match the needs of our generation and I must say they succeeded in doing so. According to Statista, average listening time is 16 minutes per day in India and a recent report states that cumulative listener has touched the all time high of 51 crore in India, commissioned by Association of Radio Operators for India(AORI).
• Phone marketing accumulates maximum viewers among all because a huge percentage of population are mobile users. Laptops and computers are also included since corporate employees have opted to work from home. From the inception of nationwide lockdowns due to Covid-19, average screen time has increased by huge margin. People started to consume insane amount of online content as they were locked in their homes. Hence, phone marketing is here to stay for a long time.
• Social media marketing has seen steep gains is usage, that means more competition and less time. It is no more as simple as posting an ad. You need a brilliant strategy to compete for attention on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. You need to reinvent yourself and your strategies to stay in trend. Take the example of TikTok, this application gained huge numbers of users within a short span of time due to its 15 or 30 seconds videos. Although it is banned in India, it makes a good case study if you are a business owner.
• If you are looking for personalized marketing ideas, email marketing is your go to. Email marketing is one powerful tool to inform your customers about your business, recent updates in products and services, promo codes and many more. You can tailor emails by using various softwares for various groups of customers , such as new buyers or repeat buyers, that will built a sense of trust in them.

However, many emails end up in our spam filters because there are necessary content such as “Lose 10 kilos in 2 days” or “Earn 16,000/- by working from home”. Business owners need to keep these in mind.

• Lead generation can be done by marketing through websites with the help of internet. Firstly, run a website analysis that can show you what you’re good at and what needs to be improved. Make sure to check the font size and colors are easily readable and pleasant to the eyes. Secondly, optimize your website and content through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make it more attractive to the Search Engines. Third, make engaging content as to catch the attention of your audience. Fourth, increase your social media visibility and you can implement the ideas here too. Fifth, if you want to boost your sales, introduce paid advertising in your strategy.

These are the various advertising methods that we’ve been using since a long time. Of course, you will need individual strategy for individual platforms but the end goal is same – increase your audience and sales. That’s for the basic of digital marketing. Make sure to subscribe to our website as I’ll be posting more on digital marketing very soon.

Featured image source: Image by macrovector on Freepik