Purpose of this
blog
A
101 for budding marketers. I have tried to give a broad overall overview of the
various digital marketing channels vis-à-vis
the CDJ. It is important to understand that Marketing isn’t a soloed arm.
Marketing isn’t just supposed to ‘get the word out there’ and ‘get traffic’.
Yes these are the most important objectives from the top-of-the-funnel
viewpoint, however if not done properly the final ROI will still not make
sense. In fact in the world today for marketing and product need to be in sync
more then ever before. Your Product is also your marketing tool and Your
Marketing markets your product.
In
fact marketing encompasses all verticals of a business. Customer Service is
also good marketing since these customers then advocate your business and get
you more customers. All possible touch points a customer has with your business
creates a brand perception and that perception then becomes one of the major
determining forces for your business success.
With
that perspective in mind allow me to take you through the chart.
Top
of the chart is Consider:
Consider
basically means awareness. Getting the word out. Do people even know you exist?
That
happens through 2 mediums:
1.
Paid
Media: I am sure you are familiar to the term by now! J It is what it sounds like. You can
pay to get your articles publishes in papers, buy billboard space, tv Ads,
radio slots, display ads (site ads, Facebook ads)
2.
Owned
Media: Your Facebook page, Twitter, Blog where you post good relevant content
and people discover your product.
3.
Email
Marketing: Ideally should be under Paid Media if you are buying a bulk
database. Considerably cheaper then ‘Paid media’ but involves much more work.
Next
is Evaluate Business
Consider
an online business say e-commerce. You get to know a new e-commerce store from
say a display ad. First we need to know if this site can even be relied upon.
Will they even deliver the right product? How much time will they take to
deliver? How is the support system? It is secure and all right?
This
part of evaluation is to ensure you can Trust
the brand.
You
want to know how many other people trust this brand. Are the reviews very good?
Do their products last long? Do they keep their money return promise? This
takes time. It is hard work. Consider Flipkart. Primarily, the biggest USP that
got it this far is Trust. I trust the brand to get me my stuff in time and I
trust that I will get good service if there is a problem. There are other sites
too where they sell the same products, some for cheaper. But I will need time
to evaluate and know if I can trust them.
Content
marketing can come in really handy here. Positive articles from industry
experts, good reviews on other sites, good blog pieces give me confidence.
Alternatively you can straight away check the site and see who the
entrepreneurs are behind this company. Or you might just love the design and
content of the site and decide you want to consider them for business. A good
example will be www.donebynone.com.
Check out their Facebook page and the fancy names they give to their
merchandize or the way they showcase their products or the overall design. The
user naturally feels welcomed.
Evaluate
Merchandize
In
this part a user evaluates the final merchandize. The quality and pricing are
under the scanner now. Too pricey for its worth and the buck stops there.
Sometimes the user likes too many things and cannot decide what to buy
eventually not buying anything. Or might just not find the exact merchandize
they wanted to buy. Both these problems can be tackled to at least extent.
‘Personalization’
/ smart search allows the user reach their requirements quickly. Too many likes
on a particular SKU for a user is like a crowd-sourced second opinion.
Or
make a personal profile page of each user where all the favorite(d) items are
stacked and make this page easily shareable through email or social media. A
user can take personal opinion from someone they generally go shopping with or
showcase it to the world. Either way, positive responses will propel the user
to buy. Also, it brings awareness of your business and merchandize/ services to
new people.
Now,
lets say a user decides to buy ‘black loafers’ and searches the same on google.com.
Your position on Google serps is obviously critical (you want to be in the
first 3- eats up 40% of all destination pages) and that too depends on various
factors related to your product (Title, URL structure, H1 tag, merchandize
related content, user behavior on the site etc.)
Like
I said, Product-Marketing integration goes much deeper then most people like to
accept.
Evaluate
Need-Value Prop-Impulse
A
user generally makes the buying decision when there is a need or if the value
prop is too good to let go leading to impulse shopping. Of course you need to
let the people know about the awesome value prop you are offering. Hence, the
display ads with 40-90% discount. Businesses in India often tend to rely on
discounts as a strong value prop to drive sales. Especially in the apparel
retail industry discounts work wonders! Ask yourself if you really needed to buy all the items on your previous shopping list.
The
most important job of any marketer is to know his audience.
Buy-Enjoy-Advocate
Cycle
If
the overall experience is good- promised delivery time and expected product
quality- boosts the confidence of the customer to increase the order value for
next time and he/she will also advocate your product. They will tell their
friends and get you new customers for free. This part of the traffic coming
through peer-to-peer networking is referred to as coming from ‘ Earned Media’.
You earned this referral.
Interestingly
new users coming through ‘Earned Media’ have a much smaller and faster buying
cycle. They already trust your company. As soon as there is a need or whenever
you throw a great deal, this new referral user is likely to make a purchase.
So, it’s important that your ‘Earned Media’ is amplified.
Make
it very easy for your users to express their satisfaction, may be incentivize
positive feedback? Make a leader-board of your most loyal customers. Give them
badges and special discounts and privileges. Talk to them, listen to their
problems, and solve them earnestly.
Popular
Marketing Channels
The
use of all these channels obviously varies wrt the nature of the business.
SEM & SEO- Conversion rates
are higher since the need is already established. If trust for your business is
established or if your industry is not
monopolistic this gives a faster conversion cycle since it gets a user with
established need directly to the page he wants to see.
Email Marketing- Create good
Engagement system if email is acquired from the site. Works great to create
impulsive purchases. If buying a database, can use for branding purposes also. One of the cheapest forms of customer acquisition.
Re-Targeting- Ever noticed display ads of a particular site you just visited follow you all over the web. Thats site re targeting. Used to re-engage
the user and incite impulse buying and awareness of new launches/ campaigns.
Affiliate Marketing- Make channel
partners and work on CPO basis. Meaning you pay your affiliate partner only if
there is a final sale through their traffic sources. Works as a good hedge.
Content Marketing- Social media,
blogs, PR- Useful at all levels of decision making.
