The Pursuit of Personalisation – the Holy Grail of Digital Marketing

For a moment, let’s forget the digital and e-commerce world. Let’s go back to the days when you  shopped  at your local Mom and Pop stores. Based on your purchase history and personal conversations, the owner would know the kind of products  you like, the brands you prefer, and when you would like your order to be delivered. Because the owner had some information about you and your behaviour, he was in a position to send highly personalised offers to you. The benefits were two-fold, he would send more relevant and personalised marketing messages whilst his consumers got less content which did not interest them.

Enter 2011. Although the tenet “information is power” certainly still stands, I wonder if marketers in the digital age have managed to use that ‘information’ into the marketing messages?

Let me put this in perspective – how many times have you completed an extensive registration form (stating your preferences, gender, date of birth and other details), yet received nothing but generic marketing messages? Customer’s needs and media habits are evolving However, what hasn’t changed is the need to communicate the right message at the right time. But in order to do this, marketers need data. Data about their consumer’s web site behaviours, conversions, products purchased, call centre activity and more. Ideally, this information should be used to generate customer-specific content for acquisition, conversion, cross sell, and up sell with such vehicles as –  Promotional emails,   online display ads, Newsletters, call centre activity and direct mail.

It is useful to know that personalisation won’t happen overnight. However, as a digital marketer if you are not using the data to personalise your marketing messages you are losing out on a big opportunity.

As always, thoughts and comments below please.

Making sense of the AIDA model in the digital world.

Let’s face it. Whatever we were taught in colleges and universities about Marketing is of little relevance today. However, though the principles and theories remain the same, their application in the modern marketing world differs.

Traditionally advertisers used the AIDA model of consumer behavior that traces the sequence of cognitive events leading to a purchase decision or other action. For example, in an advertising campaign, one first becomes aware of the product being advertised. After receiving additional information, an interest develops in that product, eventually resulting in a desire to see use it. All of which can lead to an act of buying. The AIDA model is used by marketers as a guideline for creating communications. In a nutshell, the process is quite hierarchical where consumers are led to the next stage through the use of different advertising campaigns.

The problem with above model is that it doesn’t cater for an immediate reaction from the viewer of an advert. Leave alone the huge cost implications of creating different advertising campaigns that cater to the audiences at various stages of the process.

Enter 2011. Digital channels are changing all of that. Now it is all the more possible for advertisers to create an advert which takes the viewer through the entire process of AIDA without having to create additional adverts to affect the audiences in a different stage of the AIDA process – make sense? No?

The above pictures are snapshots of what is called an Interactive video. Intelligent tags allow users to place content within the original video – from images, links and other videos to geo-specific data, links to databases and Flash applications. Combine this with ecommerce and mobile and it adds a whole new dimension to the AIDA model.

In the above example, one first becomes aware of the product that is being advertised. After clicking on hot spots and interacting with the video an interest is developed in the viewers. Price product or any offer information creates a desire for viewers to purchase that product. It can eventually result in an action where the viewers can buy that product with a single click. Remember, all of this is happening at the same time. How cool is that?

So there you have it. With digital channels,  it is not only possible to create content that will make your audience aware of what you have to offer, but at the same time create interest, build up desire and give them an option to act on the advert.

What do you think? Is it fair to say that AIDA model has a slightly different application in the digital marketing world? Let me know your thoughts in the comments box below.

The case for digital marketing in India – where is Asia’s digital sleeper heading to?

With only 7 percent of the population connected (81 million users), India is Asia’s digital sleeper. A research from McKinsey Quarterly  reports that India is poised to become a truly mobile-Internet society as new users leapfrog PCs altogether. The report projects that by 2015, the number of Internet users will increase almost fivefold, to more than 350 million—28 percent of the population—with more than half of those accessing the Web via mobile phones.

This presents an enormous opportunity for the marketers and brand managers alike. However, digital marketing spend in certain categories is only about3-4% of the entire marketing budget. The study, titled Digital Media Outlook 2010, states that one of the primary reasons for online contributing a meagre 4 per cent share to the overall ad-pie is the 80:20 paradigm witnessed in budget allocations.

The scope for reaching a consumer using digital media can be best guaged by the positive trends where the maximum searches for products such as mobile phones and laptops are originating from India!

Google Trends report for search term ‘Mobile phones’

Digital medium – moving from mass advertising to personalised engagement

We are convinced that digital media is going to play a bigger role than ever to capture the ever changing consumers of India. The challenge then is to interact and engage with consumers in real-time and at the same time  garner feedback and understand their responses to serve them in a better manner. Up until now traditional media has been used very effectively to communicate key messages to a mass audience. With the growth in digital media and more so in social media, engagement can now be taken to the next level. Marketers are starting to realise the potential of digital medium and use it to their advantage, keeping in mind the growing reach and the various avenues that have opened up with the medium. However, there is no doubt that there is a pressing need to integrate mass advertising (Print, TV, outdoor and Radio) with digital advertising ( Social Media, Search, Display Advertising and mobile web) to come up with a truly integrated brand campaigns. All are extremely vital in creating a platform for the brands to get information, interact, voice their opinions, build consideration for the brand and increase the purchase intent.

So when will the growth in digital marketing take place?

As soon as  consumers start spending more and more time online, the media spends will also increase. This has already begun. For example, 7.3% of the total traffic on Twitter comes from India (source: Alexa). However,  inadequate internet infrastructure is still a big deterrent and then there is the perennial issue of affordability. TV took a longer time to evolve but now, as the infrastructure is available, it doesn’t take much for a person to get a TV, connection and enjoy the medium.

Key take-away points

1. The digital world is evolving at a fantastic pace — cutting across geographical and cultural barriers — creating a huge potential for businesses.

2. There is a pressing need for brands to consider the opportunities this medium has to offer and leverage it for a better consumer engagement. However, there is no denying the fact that digital  strategy should also look beyond just the internet by bringing in customers from multiple platforms – whether online or offline.

3. Brands who are quickly able to adapt to these opportunities will have a competitive advantage when India becomes an active digital economy in the true sense of the word.