Meaning

Digital marketing is also called 'Internet marketing', 'web marketing' or 'online marketing". Digital
marketing may be defined as the promotion of brands or products through different forms of electronic
media. These forms could be website, blogs, social media, mobile, applications, search, banner ads, etc.
Philip Kotler defines digital marketing as:

a form of direct marketing which links consumers with sellers electronically using interactive
technologies like emails, websites, online forums and newsgroups, interactive television, mobile
communications.

Importance

Two-way Communication

In digital environment, consumers decide which brands they wish to interact with. It is not a marketer
controlled message but consumers co-create the brand and content.

Targeting of One

The marketers can precisely target their audiences based on multifaceted ways - age, location, gender,
seniority, income, interest, behaviour, lookalike, CRM data, remarketing, device, etc. The communication
can be highly personalised and interactive. Targeting on digital platforms is very sophisticated using
algorithms and technology to precisely reach the intended audience. It is targeting of one and not many.

Hence, unlike spray and pray approach of mass media where we hope that some consumers will be in
the market to buy our product, in digital marketing we precisely know how many consumers are in the
market to buy and how to target them. Hence, while mass media focuses on minimising waste, digital
media has no wastage.

Level Playing Field

Digital marketing creates a level playing field for all marketers. It does not require big budgets, and hence
small and medium businesses can also leverage it. It does not have huge costs as an entry barrier like
traditional advertising.

Measurability

Digital marketing has given power back to marketing as it enables measurement of performance and
calculation of return on investment which has always been the holy grail of marketing. With digital
marketing, marketers can close the loop as they precisely know how many people saw the ad, how many
people clicked, how many visited the website, how many registered and how many bought.

Push and Pull

Within digital marketing, marketers have the choice to go for either push or pull medium. Whereas
'search' is more of pull medium, banner ads on websites chosen based on context is push marketing.
Digital marketing enables brands to do both strategic brand building marketing and tactical sales-
oriented activities. On one hand, marketers can form communities on social media, thus nurturing
relationship with consumers; on the other, they can generate leads and sales.
Real-time

Marketers get instant feedback in digital marketing that enables them to optimise their campaigns. They
know what is working and what is not, and hence can tweak the campaign mid-way. This improves the
Return on Investment (ROI) of digital marketing. Since marketers must modify the plan based on
feedback, digital marketing requires short planning cycles. The plans should be short-term and flexible so
that one can improvise on them based on real-time metrics.

Zero Moment of Truth

In marketing, there are moments of truth which are instances when a customer interacts with a product
or service to form an impression about it. In earlier times, the first moment of truth was the point of
sale, the second moment of truth was when the consumer bought the product and third was when a
consumer used the product. The Internet has preceded all these moments of truth and has become zero
moment of truth as consumers look for information or reviews about a product or service on a search
engine, social networks, websites and forums before they visit a store. Hence, it is imperative for
marketers to be present on digital marketing sites as consumers start their journey there.

Internet vs traditional marketing communication

1. Emergence & availability of Internet

2. Rise of millennial generation

3. Technology advancement in devices

4. Advancements in user interface (UI)

5. Rise of consumerism (global economies)

Benefits of digital marketing

1. Enhancement of revenues

2. Brand presence amplification

3. Support information-seeking & customer validation

4. Develops customized forms of consumption (Apps, pages)

5. Fusion of digital & offline media

6. Instant response to customer feedback

Opportunities

1. Reaching out to new customers (Prospects & leads)

2. Improving customer connect (brand credibility)

3. Increasing availability (distribution)

4. Multiple pricing & payment options

5. Ease of comparison & evaluation

6. Faster buying process

7. Easy understandability of consumer behaviour

Challenges

1. Investment in technology

2. Adoption of strategy

3. Resources to execute strategies

4. Providing right training

5. Cross-functional integration

6. Establishing RoI
Internet microenvironment

B2b and b2c internet marketing

Internet marketing strategy

7ps

Managing the online customer experience

Planning website design

Understanding sire user requirement

Site design and structure

Developing and testing control

Iimc

Obj and measurement of interactive marketing communication