Residing in an era where space is measured in gigabytes and friends are made on Facebook, it would be foolish for us to not use the cyber-space to our benefits, and this is exactly what digital marketing is all about. Blingy sparkling icons and flashy colourful banners that pop-up on our screens when we click open our favourite website, are just a small part of it.
Digital marketing is theoretically defined as the practice of promoting products and services using database-driven online distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. Too much of jargons?? Well let’s see it in the simple way. It is basically “put up your show where you’ll get the most audience” and what is a better place than cyber-space? That’s where we all are these days, aren’t we? So, create a page on facebook, and hola!!! you get the whole wide world looking at your product, giving you instant feedbacks, they might trash it away, or drool over it, and you can react immediately… and the most important thing… it’s free!!!
However, digital marketing is not only confined to social networking sites. The irritating pop-ups that blink on your screen, the irrelevant posts on discussion forums that tell you about companies giving away free stuff, the huge e-mails that jam up your mailbox, the message tabs that hinder your concentration while watching Kylie Minogue on Youtube, are all a part of it. And when I write this, what strikes in my mind, is that till how long will this strategy work? Is it actually the future of marketing, as being projected now, or it is just a fad that will wear away with time. Is it here to stay, or will it face the same fate as Multi-level marketing strategy did. Let’s see the plus and minus points of digital marketing
Plus point no. 1: The cyber space – the largest platform a product can get to exhibit itself. With the huge no. of population from all over the world flocking the virtual world in large numbers, the product can garner a humongous popularity which is not possible with traditional print or broadcast media, as that is location specific. On a simpler note, on Facebook, an Indian brand can have American fans (I know… too much to expect) but the same brand restricts itself to advertising on Radio, Tv or Newspapers only, even the leading dailies will not be able to gather as much audience. Therefore, for brands that aspire to go global, it is very important for them to enter the cyber-space.
Minus point no. 1: The cyber space – shocked?? Yes, it is the biggest stage, but as we know, the audience that can make a star, can also break a star. The cyber-space is too fast when it comes to spreading information (read rumors), and one tiny negative aspect of a product can become deadly for it, and spread like a wild fire within seconds. If this happens, it is next to impossible to revive that product’s popularity. Well, it will still be popular, but not in the way we want it to be. So, when advertising on cyber-space, either be extra extra careful while handling product info, or make your product PERFECT.
Plus point no. 2: Visibility – it is hard to ignore the fluorescent colours and jumping smileys when reading through an important blog-post (for normal people like me, not for those who possess extremely extreme power to concentrate just on the important words). Therefore, when an interesting tagline catches our eye, we do give it a click.
Minus point no. 2: Visibility – these blinking letters become irritating at times (read mostly) and we shut them off without even taking a look. Moreover, we activate the pop-up blocker on the browser (and we also thank Bill Gates for making that facility available)
So, those are just two factors that I had thought of, I guess there would be many more if I spend some more time on rethinking. But I guess, it’s better not to bore you to death. Therefore your honour, I rest my argument here. But, the case still remains, is digital marketing actually the future – or it’s just a fad? Will the brand be able to make it the future, or it will just be another strategy in the market, that will disappear in a greater speed than it reached its peak popularity?
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