Is Digital Marketing the most effective method to reach out to your consumers?

• Divya Dixit, SVP, Marketing, Analytics, and Direct Revenue, ALTBalaji writes how digital marketing is taking precedence with the nationwide lockdown.
• She further shares a few reasons why today is truly an incredibly important time for digital innovation as the opportunity to get discovered today is greater than it has ever been before.

With restrictions in place against stepping out and other modes of advertising currently ineffective or not feasible, it has become all the more important for the message to reach the consumer instead of the other way around. This has created a powerful avenue for marketers, should they have the vision to do so. As more people spend time at home currently, connecting with them through digital media is the need of the hour. Digital is fast becoming the new normal. This sudden increase in digital consumption has accelerated the process of adapting the digital medium as a preferred choice for marketers.

NEED TO BE DIGITAL NOW MORE THAN EVER

As a country that sees the penetration of mobile networks significantly higher compared to broadband services, the consumption of digital content has come to the fore over the past few months. According to a report by Ericsson Consumerlab, Indians are well ahead of their global counterparts about spending time on their 4G mobile networks. While the average time spent increased by 1 hour globally, it was a spike of 2.2 hours per day for India.

This digital transformation has also propelled tremendous growth in digital payments. Cashless payments have simply taken off in India, which witnessed a 55% increase in transactions last year, compared to 48% in China and 23% in Indonesia, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

As people continue to spend more time on the internet and transact online, you certainly want to establish a brand presence. In a post-lockdown world where businesses shall resume, it will be these marketing efforts that will create brand recall and keep you relevant; therefore in these testing times, the core message needs to establish an emotional connection with the audience.

WHY ARE CONSUMERS AND BRANDS ADAPTING

We are all set to witness an unprecedented wave of digital India, aided by the ongoing lockdown, that has propelled the speed at which the already-connected consumer is getting further connected with devices, payments, e-medicine, etc. According to an ICUBETM report by data, insights, and consulting company Kantar, India’s monthly active internet user base is estimated to reach 639 million by the end of 2020. It has been content and offerings across different digital mediums that have been the glue that connects the audience to the outside world. Add to that, consumers are fast realizing how cost-effective these digital mediums are, a trend that is certainly going to play a vital role in the growth of digital media.

This has led to leading players, especially across the media and entertainment industry, shifting their focus and funding in favour of digital, a more promising and viable platform for branding and advertising in the current scenario. At ALTBalaji, digital will always play a critical role in the marketing mix with a large portion of the budget going for pure-play digital. After all, it becomes a feasible way to gauge the campaign's success measuring CPVs, CPCs and CPS. We are entering into a new normal and a new world, where the focus on digital and mobile advertising will become the core element of any marketing campaign across brands and products.

A CHANGE FOR THE OTT INDUSTRY TOO

Having affected industries across the globe, the pandemic has seen Indian OTT platforms as well, offlate one of the largest spenders on television, print and outdoor, now focus even further on digital marketing to expand their base and garner new subscribers. With more offerings being made available to an ever-increasing number of digitally-connected consumers, the transition to digital content might take place faster than predicted. In the race to grab eyeballs, it’s all about reaching out to viewers now through the most-feasible medium and making them aware of the content on offer.

Moving towards a post-lockdown world, we do expect OTT entertainment to dominate the entertainment industry and become more mainstream with more viewers being exposed to the plethora of options made available across multiple regional languages as well. There is a lot to look forward to as we are set to witness further digital innovation across content and digital marketing that will make these streaming platforms more and more integral part of the lives of their audience.

PERSONALIZATION AND AI DRIVING THE DIGITAL SPACE

When it comes to the subscribers on a platform, leading players are fast-moving ahead from age, location, social strata. The focus is now shifting towards identifying the behaviour of the viewer, the time spent, the shows watched, what’s on their watch-list, etc. The possibilities of gauging behaviour analytics through data science are endless. The implementation of AI too, adds to the engagement further. It’s important to be a part of the consumer journey right from the very beginning as one can map content according to their behavioural patterns and preferences thereby enhancing their viewing experience. With segment-specific content usage, AI-led personalization and hyper-personalization are leveraging out of analytics and trying to personalize the communication leading to an enhanced and engaging experience with our subscribers.

IT’S TIME TO START NOW

This is truly an incredibly important time for digital innovation as the opportunity to get discovered today is greater than it has ever been before. Brands looking to cement their market position in a post-lockdown world, where digital will be the new normal, must accelerate their efforts by creating a good brand perception, an engaging digital ecosystem and a robust product as their business strategy.

With timing being the fine margin between the winners and losers, for brands that are focusing on this, now is the time to expand. For those who haven’t, it’s never too late to begin. Now is ideally not the time to slow down but to respond and rethink how we market and connect with our audiences in this new digital landscape.

- Divya Dixit, SVP, Marketing, Analytics, and Direct Revenue, ALTBalaji