BVIMR SNAPSHOT

Established in 1992, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Institute of Management and Research (BVIMR),
New Delhi focuses on imbibing the said values across various stakeholders through adequate creation, inclusion and
dissemination of knowledge in management education. The institute has over the past few years emerged in the lead
with a vision of Leadership in professional education through innovation and excellence. This excellence is sustained
by consistent value enhancement and initiation of value-added academic processes in institute’s academic systems.

Based on the fabulous architecture and layout on the lines of Nalanda Vishwa Vidyalaya, the institute is a scenic marvel
of lush green landscape with modern interiors. The Institute which is ISO 9001:2015 certified is under the ambit of
Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVU), Pune as approved by Govt. of India on the recommendation of UGC under
Section 3 of UGC Act vide its letter notification No. F. 9 – 16 / 2004 – U3 dated 25th February, 2005.

Strategically located in West Delhi on the main Rohtak Road, BVIMR, New Delhi has splendid layout on sprawling
four acres of plot with 'state-of-art' facilities with all class rooms, Library Labs, Auditorium etc., that are fully air-
conditioned. The Institute that has an adjacent Metro station “Paschim Vihar East ”, connects the entire Delhi and NCR.

We nurture our learners to be job providers rather than job seekers. This is resorted to by fostering the skill and
enhancement of knowledge base of our students through various extracurricular, co-curricular and curricular activities
by our faculty, who keep themselves abreast by various research and FDPs and attending Seminars/Conferences. The
Alumni has a key role here by inception of SAARTHI Mentorship program who update and create professional
environment for learners centric academic ambiance and bridging industry-academia gap.

Our faculty make distinctive contribution not only to students but to Academia through publications, seminars,
conferences apart from quality education. We also believe in enhancing corporate level interaction including industrial
projects, undertaken by our students under continuous guidance of our faculty. These form the core of our efforts which
has resulted in being one of the premier institutes of management.
At BVIMR, we are imparting quality education in management at Doctorate, Post Graduate and Under Graduate levels.
*********

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FACULTY PROFILE

PROFILE

Ms. Megha Singhal

Ms. Megha Singhal is currently working as visiting faculty with bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management
& Research, Delhi. She completed her masters (MBA) form Bhagwan Parshuram Institute of Technology in
Marketing & Finance and scored 5th position in university. She has 5 years teaching experience with post
graduate students of GGSIPU affiliated college, pursuing Ph.D from BVIMR. Her focus has always been to
make her sessions interactive and innovative so that they can be applied in the practical world. She motivates
her students to do the same.

Ms. Muskan Sharma

Ms. Muskan Sharma is currently working as visiting faculty with Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management
& Research, Delhi. She completed her master’s (MBA) from Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management &
Research, Delhi in Marketing & Human resource and now pursuing her Ph.D in Management from BVIMR,
Delhi. She has total 1 year of corporate experience in marketing. Beyond the pursuit of knowledge, she is
passionate about education itself. She sees the value in fostering critical thinking, creativity, and a love for
learning in her students.

Ms. Jhanvi Khurana

Jhanvi Khurana is an Assistant professor with teaching experience of 2 years. She is B.com (H) graduate from
University of Delhi, Deen Dayal Upadhaya college in first division. Then she pursued her Master of
Commerce from Atma Ram santan Dharma college, University of Delhi in 2021 with First division. She is
also pursuing PHD in management in the field of Digital Marketing. Her key areas of interest is Marketing
and Accounting. She has completed many certifications in field of marketing and tally Prime. She has
participated in various National and International conferences and has also published research papers in
various peer reviewed journals.

3
 Table of Contents

S.no Particulars
Page no

1 About BVIMR 3
2 Teaching plan 5-10

3 Study Material

Unit -1 11-35

Unit-2 36-56

Unit -3 57-72

Unit 4 73-91

Unit 5 92-114

Unit 6 115-131

5 MCQ for practice 132-151

6 Case Studies 152-168

7 Research Papers 169-246

8 University /internal question paper 247-256

4
 TEACHING PLAN
1- OBJECTIVES OF THE BBA PROGRAM
Objectives: At Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Pune, the objective of BBA Program is to
provide students with a solid foundation in various business disciplines, including accounting, finance,
marketing, management, and economics. Enhance students' employability by providing practical skills and
experiences relevant to the business world, including internships, case studies, and real-world projects. The
Program aims to enhance decision making capabilities of upcoming HR managers, Marketing managers,
leaders and entrepreneurs by imparting critical thinking and analytical abilities in leading dynamic
organizations. The contents of this degree are determined in terms of knowledge and understanding,
expertise and skills that a student intends to acquire. Students/ qualify for joining a profession or to provide
development opportunities in particular employment settings. Graduates are enabled to enter a variety of
jobs or to continue academic study at higher level.

2-PROGRAM OUTCOMES (PO)

On the successful completion of this Program a student shall be able to:
PO 1: Apply the knowledge of management theories and practices to solve business problems.
PO 2: Foster analytical and critical thinking abilities for data-based decision making.
PO 3: Learn new technologies with ease and be productive at all times
PO 4: Ability to understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects of
business.
PO 5: Read, write, and contribute to Business literature
PO 6: Ability to lead themselves and others in the achievement of organizational goals, contributing
effectively to a team environment

3- COURSE OUTCOMES:
On completion of this course, the learner will be able to:
CO1: Understand and apply digital marketing functions for effective promotion of a product.
CO2: Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media, search
engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising.
CO3: Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing campaigns
aligned with business objectives.
CO4: Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search rankings and
visibility.
CO5: Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights.
CO6: Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and tailoring
marketing strategies to meet customer needs.
.

4-MAPPING OF CO WITH PO

PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6

CO1 3
CO2 3
CO3 2
CO4 1
CO5 2
CO6 2

Where 1- LOW MAPPED, 2- MEDIUM MAPPED, 3- HIGHLY MAPPED

5
5-Rationale for Mapping Program Outcomes and Course Outcomes:
CO1 & PO1 Application of the knowledge of management theories and practices to solve business
problems and apply digital marketing functions for effective promotion of a product. Hence
Mapped at 3 alignment of CO1 with PO1 has been kept at high.
CO1 & PO 2 Foster analytical and critical thinking abilities for data-based decision making cannot be
Mapped at 0 achieved only by Understand and apply digital marketing functions for effective
promotion of a product. It is possible to very limited extent. Hence alignment of CO1 with
PO2 has been kept at zero.
CO1 & PO 3 Learn new technologies with ease and be productive at all times is not possible only by
Mapped at 0 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
campaigns aligned with business objectives. Hence alignment of CO1 with PO3 has been
kept at low.
CO1 & PO 4 Ability to understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects
Mapped at 0 of business cannot be achieved only by gaining insights into optimizing websites for search
engines to improve organic search rankings and visibility. Alignment of CO1 with PO4 has
been kept at zero.
CO1 & PO5 Read, write and contribute to Business literature is not primarily aimed analyzing consumer
Mapped at 0 behavior, which can provide valuable insights. Hence alignment of CO1 with PO5 has been
kept at zero.
CO1 & PO6 Ability to lead cannot be achieved only through learning how to interpret data and trends
Mapped at 0 helps in making informed business decisions and tailoring marketing strategies to meet
customer needs. Hence alignment of CO1 with PO6 has been kept at zero.
CO2 & PO1 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 0 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising cannot only make learners to learn and apply knowledge of management
theories and practices to solve business problems. Hence alignment of CO2 with PO1 has
been kept at zero.
CO2& PO2 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 2 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising will help learners to develop analytical and critical thinking abilities for data-
based decision making. Hence alignment of CO2 with PO2 has been kept at medium.
CO2& PO3 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 3 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising can make learners to learn new technologies with ease and be productive at
all times. Hence alignment of CO2 with PO3 has been kept at 3.
CO2& PO4 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 0 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising cannot alone make learners to understand, analyze and communicate global,
economic, legal and ethical aspects of business. Hence alignment of CO2 with PO4 has
been kept at zero.
CO2& PO5 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 0 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising cannot alone make the learners to read, write, and contribute to Business
literature. Hence alignment of CO2 with PO5 has been kept at zero
CO2& PO6 Gain a deep understanding of various digital marketing channels, including social media,
Mapped at 0 search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and paid
advertising can not alone make learners to lead themselves and others in the achievement
of organizational goals, contributing effectively to a team environment. Hence alignment
of CO2 with PO6 has been kept at zero.
CO3 & PO1 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 0 campaigns aligned with business objectives can make learners to apply management
theories and practices to solve business problems. Hence alignment of CO1 with PO1 has
6
 been kept at 0.
CO3 & PO2 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 0 campaigns aligned with business objectives cannot make learners to develop analytical and
critical thinking abilities for data-based decision making. Hence alignment of CO3 with
PO2 has been kept at zero
CO3 & PO3 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 1 campaigns aligned with business objectives will help learners to learn new technologies
with ease and be productive at all times Hence alignment of CO3 with PO3 has been kept
at high.
CO3 & PO4 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 0 campaigns aligned with business objectives can not make learners to have ability to
understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects of
business. Hence alignment of CO3 with PO4 has been kept at zero.
CO3 & PO5 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 0 campaigns aligned with business objectives cannot make learners capable of reading,
writing and contribute to Business literature Hence alignment of CO3 with PO5 has been
kept at low.
CO3 & PO6 Develop strategic thinking and planning skills to create effective digital marketing
Mapped at 0 campaigns aligned with business objectives cannot make learners to lead themselves and
others in the achievement of organizational goals, contributing effectively to a team
environment. Hence alignment of CO3 with PO6 has been kept at zero.
CO4 & PO1 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 0 rankings and visibility cannot make learners to develop ability to understand, analyze and
communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects of business. Hence alignment of
CO4 with PO1 has been kept at zero..
CO4 & PO2 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 0 rankings and visibility cannot make learners to develop analytical and critical thinking
abilities for data-based decision making. Hence alignment of CO3 with PO2 has been kept
at zero.
CO4 & PO3 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 0 rankings and visibility is not aligned with learning new technologies with ease and be
productive at all times. Hence alignment of CO4 with PO3 has been kept at zero.
CO4 & PO4 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 1 rankings and visibility slightly make learners to understand, analyze and communicate
global, economic, legal and ethical aspects of business. Hence alignment of CO4 with PO4
has been kept at low.
CO4 & PO5 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 0 rankings and visibility cannot make learners to read, write, and contribute to Business
literature. Hence alignment of CO4 with PO5 has been kept at zero.
CO4& PO6 Gain insights into optimizing websites for search engines to improve organic search
Mapped at 0 rankings and visibility cannot make learners to develop ability to lead themselves and others
in the achievement of organizational goals, contributing effectively to a team environment.
Hence alignment of CO4 with PO6 has been kept at zero.
CO5 & PO1 Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights cannot make learners
Mapped at 0 to learn application of the knowledge of management theories and practices to solve
business problems is possible only. Hence alignment of CO5 with PO1 has been kept at
zero.
CO5 & PO2 Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights cannot make learners
Mapped at 0 to develop ability to understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and
ethical aspects of business Hence alignment of CO5 with PO2 has been kept at low.
CO5 & PO3 Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights it is not aligned with
Mapped at 0 learning new technologies with ease and be productive at all times Hence alignment of CO5
with PO3 has been kept at low.
CO5 & PO4 Understanding about components of wages, salary and factors affecting it cannot make
7
Mapped at 0 learners to understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical
aspects of business. Hence alignment of CO5 with PO4 has been kept at zero.
CO5 & PO5 Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights cannot make learners
Mapped at 0 to read, write, and contribute to Business literature is slightly aligned as studying leadership
styles in organization will help learners to develop this perspective. Hence alignment of
CO5 with PO5 has been kept at zero.
CO5 & PO6 Analyzing consumer behavior, which can provide valuable insights it will slightly help to
Mapped at 2 learners to lead themselves and others in the achievement of organizational goals,
contributing effectively to a team environment. Hence alignment of CO5 with PO6 has been
kept at medium.
CO6 & PO1 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 0 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs cannot make learners to learn
application of the knowledge of management theories and practices to solve business
problems is possible only. Hence alignment of CO6 with PO1 has been kept at zero.
CO6 & PO2 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 0 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs cannot make learners to develop
ability to understand, analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects
of business Hence alignment of CO6 with PO2 has been kept at zero.
CO6 & PO3 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 0 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs is not aligned with learning new
technologies with ease and be productive at all times. Hence alignment of CO6 with PO3
has been kept at zero.
CO6 & PO4 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 0 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs cannot make learners to understand,
analyze and communicate global, economic, legal and ethical aspects of business Hence
alignment of CO6 with PO4 has been kept at zero.
CO6 & PO5 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 2 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs is slightly to some extent make the
learners to read, write, and contribute to Business literature. Hence alignment of CO6 with
PO5 has been kept at medium.
CO6 & PO6 Learning how to interpret data and trends helps in making informed business decisions and
Mapped at 0 tailoring marketing strategies to meet customer needs cannot make learners to lead
themselves and others in the achievement of organizational goals, contributing effectively
to a team environment. Hence alignment of CO6 with PO6 has been kept at zero.

6. UNIVERSITY SYLLABUS
Unit Contents Sessions COs Teaching Cognition Evaluation Tools
(Hrs) Number Methodology Level
1 Basics of Digital Marketing: Introduction to
PPT and Remembering
Digital Marketing: Fundamental concepts of
Discussion CES (class test or
marketing. Digital revolution in India. assignment or end
Nature, scope and significance of Digital 6 CO1 term)
marketing Difference between traditional
marketing and digital marketing. Digital
marketing platforms.

2 Digital Consumer: Understanding

Consumer behavior in digital world.
Marketing Funnel. Digital marketing funnel. Flip class or End
The digital revolution in India. 6 CO3 PPT and case understanding Term internal)
study

3 Digital marketing Strategy : STP for digital

8
 marketing. Concept of Digital/Online 6 CO4 PPT and case Create and Flip class or End
study evaluate Term internal)
marketing Mix. Introduction to Digital
marketing Platforms

4 SEO & SEM: WEBSITE

PLANNING, SEARCH ENGINE
MARKETING, SEO: SEM in digital 6 CO5 PPT and case Applying End Term internal
marketing - Need & Types. study
Introduction to SEO-Benefits and
Challenges. Difference between SEO
and SEM

5 E-MAIL MARKETING, MOBILE 6 CO 6 PPT and Applying Flip class or End

MARKETING and AFFILIATE Think –Pair – Term internal)
MARKETING: Share
Email marketing- Meaning, Basics, (TPS)
Types and benefits. Mobile
Marketing Definition & Types.
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
Need & Skills required.

7. EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR INTERNAL ASSESSMENT (Marks 100)

Component Description Weight Objective

Only one Internal First internal would be of Marks 40 based on Marks To evaluate student’s
first five units 1, 2 , 3,4 & 5 40 cognitive skills (Think, read,
learn, remember, reason, and
pay attention) for first half of
the course.
Two CES There would be a class test /quiz/cases study Marks To recall their subject
(Quiz or class test or for which individual assessment will be done. 10 learning.
/ Case study or PPT)
Class participation Class notes and involvement of students will Marks To encourage and enhance
& attendance be checked by faculty during semester. 10 class participation
There would be a MOOC related to digital Marks To evaluate their
VIVA marketing subject, students need to submit 40 technological learning and
Grade sheet along with certificate and one page cognitive skills
write up of key learning

(Rationale for Evaluation)

Internals: 100%
Total : 100%

8. Internal Assessment Mapping

Parameter Marks CO1 CO2 CO3 CO4 CO5 CO6
Class 1 1
Participation/ 10 2 2 2 2
Attendance
PPT /Class Test 5 - - 1.5 1.5 1 1

Case study - -
discussion or
5 2.5 2.5 - -
assignment
/projects

9
Internal Exam 40 5 5 7 7 10 6
VIVA 40

9. RECOMMENDED/REFERENCE TEXT BOOKS AND RESOURCES:

Text Books
1. Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice" -
Dave Chaffey and Fiona Ellis-Chadwick 2019 (7th Edition)
2. "Digital Marketing Excellence: Planning, Optimizing and
Integrating Online Marketing" by Dave Chaffey and PR Smith
(2017)
3. "Digital Marketing: A Practical Approach” by Alan Charlesworth
2019 (3rd edition)
4. “Digital Marketing Analytics: In Theory And In Practice” by
Kevin Hartman
5. “Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online
Marketing” by Simon Kingsnorth 2016
6. Digital Marketing by R Prasad

Internet sources https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/what-is-digital-

marketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-revolution-sunil-notani
https://www.businesstoday.in/opinion/columns/story/strong-digital-ecosystem-key-
to-india-5-trillion-dollar-economy-vision-digitalisation-indian-economy-modi-
government-231347-2019-10-10
https://pbgdigital.co.uk/digital-marketing-strategy-guide
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/380513
https://www.orderhive.com/digital-marketing-mix-online-business
https://youtu.be/7-yqbJeMFzQ
https://youtu.be/80N8cBp2LvU
https://youtu.be/V9tzamn3F1o
https://youtu.be/a3-92UtPeUA
https://youtu.be/I2pwcAVonKI
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide
https://www.marketingevolution.com/marketing-essentials/what-is-a-digital-
marketing-platform-marketing-evolution
https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/search-engine-marketing/
https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/search-engine-marketing/
https://www.marketo.com/mobile-marketing/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3545505,
http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmt&volume=4&issue=4&art
icle=010

10
Notes/Reading Material:
UNIT 1

Introduction to Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes internet and online based digital
technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to
promote products and services. Its development during the 1990s and 2000s, changed the way
brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As digital platforms became increasingly
incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly use digital devices
instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing
combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content
marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven
marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail
direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games have become
commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such
as television, mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones. The
extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.

Uses of Digital Marketing

1. Digital marketing is the most powerful form of marketing.

Digital marketing has the potential to transform the way that you reach and engage your customers.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. Here are some real examples of how digital marketing
tactics are helping businesses just like yours reach their target market and influence conversions:

• Ecommerce candle company, Nidhi increased their sales by 714% over a 3-month period

using social media (with a little help from LYFE marketing).

• Forever Diamonds, a Georgia jewelry company, was able to reach and engage its fans

for less than $1 per engagement over the course of a year, increasing foot traffic and leading

to real conversions.

11
 • We helped a snow motorcycle business selling snow equipment, generate $96,664.98

worth of SEO results in just 5 months!

• Our team also helped a local gym convert 210 new leads over 90 days at a cost of just $4.33

per lead through effective and targeted Google ads.

These cases are a true testament to the benefits of digital marketing. With the right strategies and
effective implementation, small businesses can increase their reach and conversions in just a matter
of months.

2. Using digital marketing tactics is the most cost-effective way to market your business.

One of the most important benefits of digital marketing is that it is the most cost-effective ways to
market your business. When it comes to traditional marketing, it’s very difficult for small
businesses with limited budgets to compete with larger businesses for ad space. However, with
affordable digital marketing tactics, small businesses can get more for their marketing spend.

Consider this – a small business can expose over 1,000 people to its products and services for less
than $3 using social media. While that same exposure through direct mail costs about $57 and
through television ads costs about $28.

While traditional marketing tactics also often come with various hidden costs, the only cost to
digital marketing is time. SEO, content marketing, and social media engagement take time to work
their magic. However, there are still digital marketing tactics such as pay-per-click, display, and
social media advertising that can produce quicker results.

3. Digital marketing is the most measurable form of marketing.

How do you know if your marketing is working?

The only way to know for sure is to measure your success over time. While it can be difficult to
track the success of a traditional marketing campaign like a radio advertisement or mailer, every
digital marketing tactic that you use is measurable. This benefit is every reason why you need to
invest into digital marketing.

Digital marketing analytics takes the guess work out of determining whether your marketing is
actually working. By measuring your digital marketing campaigns in real-time, you can see which
tactics are working and which are not. Then, you can adjust your campaigns for greater success.
You can also take the insights that you’ve gained from the process to improve future campaigns.

12
For instance, let’s say that you want to create a social media marketing campaign for a new
product. You’ve decided to publish a series of social media posts over a two-week period. With
social media analytics, you can see which posts were the most popular with your target audience
and which drove the most conversions. You can then use this insight to try to reproduce this success
with future campaigns.

Digital marketing analytics allows you to more effectively use your resources and allocate your
marketing budget. Since you are no longer guessing about what’s working and what isn’t, you can
reduce unnecessary expenses and focus your efforts on the strategies that are most likely to
improve your ROI.

4. One of the greatest benefits of digital marketing is that it allows you to target your ideal buyers.

When you purchase billboard space or place an ad in a magazine, you’re taking a shot in the dark
that this messaging will reach its intended audience. Though there are certainly ways to increase
your chances of success with traditional marketing tactics, it just doesn’t offer the same targeting
capabilities as digital marketing.

With digital marketing, you can ensure that the right consumers are viewing your content. SEO
allows you to reach those consumers who are searching the web for content and topics that are
relevant to your business. While pay-per-click, display, and social media advertising enables you
to target those who are most likely to be interested in your products or services based on
demographic information and general characteristics.

By improving targeting, you can work to get more for your marketing budget and resources. With
digital marketing, you no longer have to worry that you are spending money on ads that won’t
reach those who are likely to be interested in your products. With sophisticated targeting abilities,
digital marketing tactics allow you to take comfort in knowing that you are focusing your
marketing efforts on strategies that actually work.

5. Most people are starting their buyer’s journey online.

Think about how often you turn to Google or another search engine to find the information you
need. Your customers are no different when they start to research the products or services that can
help them solve their biggest problems.

In fact, according to Vimeo, 93% of online experiences start with a search engine. Before
consumers even know what product or service they need, they are going to the search engines to
look for answers to their questions and to learn more about their challenges. It was actually shown
in a recent study that 59% of consumers prefer to check several channels first before they decide
on getting in touch with a business. These channels include the business’s social media profiles,

13
email and online ads which are all digital.

This presents a great opportunity for small businesses to connect with potential customers and
educate them during the beginning stages of the buyer’s journey. By creating relevant and
engaging content that’s optimized for the search engines, you can improve your visibility online
and reach customers when it matters most.

6. Your customers are on social media, and digital marketing helps you reach them.

Perhaps the most important on our list of benefits of digital marketing is this. In using the
traditional techniques in marketing, you will definitely experience a limit in scope and size. Print
ads are limited to a certain location, market and time. And if you wish to broaden its scope, then
prepare your budget for it.

But in digital marketing, your reach will be farther but more targeted. The only limitation is your
creativity and strategy.
No matter what industry your business is in, there’s a good chance that your buyers are spending
their time on social media channels like Facebook or Twitter. According to eMarketer, 2.34 billion
people, or about one-third of the earth’s population, uses social media platforms regularly. Check
out this graph from Statista.

Digital marketing helps you reach these engaged consumers. Not only are you able to publish and
promote unique content on these social sites, but you’re also able to reach consumers through
advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook offer sophisticated targeting options that help
you reach the consumers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services.

What’s more is that social media also provides an effective platform for communicating with and
engaging your target audience. Rather than just posting content and never hearing from your
consumers, you can have one-on-one conversations in real-time that allow you to gain valuable
insight into your brand. That’s something that traditional marketing tactics just don’t allow for.

7. SEO and local SEO helps you reach more qualified buyers online.

SEO is another powerful digital marketing tactic that offers a variety of benefits. By optimizing
your site content for the search engines, you can work to reach more buyers online. Using relevant
keywords that help describe your product or service offering can help you bring more targeted
traffic to your site, which increases conversions over time.

SEO isn’t just for national businesses. Many consumers are searching for local companies online,
and these searches eventually lead to a purchase. In fact, according to Google, 28% of searches for
something nearby result in a purchase. Local SEO, or optimizing your website for local search
14
results, can also be a valuable digital marketing tactic for businesses that operate in specific
geographic locations, such as brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants, and other service-based
business.

8. Digital marketing helps you connect with mobile customers.

Yet another one of the many benefits of digital marketing is that it allows you to connect with
consumers who are browsing and consuming content on their mobile devices. Over half of all
online users are accessing the web from a mobile device. Digital marketing can help you reach
people on mobile devices, tablets, and desktop computers.

9. You can easily and quickly adapt your strategy and tactics for best results.

With traditional marketing tactics like television or newspaper ads, you have to wait until after the
campaign is complete to see the results. And although you can use what you learn to adjust later
campaign tactics, there isn’t much you can do “in-the-moment” to adapt your strategies for best
results.

While traditional marketing tactics may require you to wait weeks or even months to determine
which strategies are working, digital marketing allows you to view the real-time results of your
campaigns and adapt your tactics to improve results as you go.

10. Digital marketing levels the playing field, allowing your business to be more competitive.

It’s often difficult for small businesses to compete with their larger counterparts due to a limited
budget and resources. However, digital marketing helps to level the playing field by allowing
smaller brands to remain competitive online.

Traditional marketing tactics like print advertising are expensive and require big business budgets
for effective placement. However, digital marketing tactics are more affordable, allowing
businesses of all sizes to gain exposure online.

With digital marketing, small businesses can also market their products and services nationally or
even internationally. If your business is not limited to a specific location, you can use digital
marketing to reach your target audience across the globe. This allows small businesses to find new
audiences for their products and services.

Scope of Digital Marketing

As we know that the digital marketing industry is growing, which brings more opportunities to
professionals in this industry? Following are opportunities available for professionals.

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Get a Job in Industry:

The simple and best way to start your career in digital marketing is to find a job. In digital
marketing, we have many different specialisations so you will have different options to start your
career.

Junior & Mid Level Career Options

• Digital marketing intern
• Digital marketing executive
• SEO Executive
• Link Building specialist
• Social media specialist
• Google Ads specialist
• Email marketing specialist
• Web Analyst
• Online reputation executive
• Content marketing executive
Higher Level Digital Marketing Job Titles
• Digital marketing strategist
• Digital marketing manager
• Social media manager
• Digital Marketing Head
• Paid Advertising manager
• Digital Branding Head
Apart from above list, there are more specialised job roles to choose in digital marketing.

Scope of Digital Marketing in Online Business:

1. Become a Professional Blogger:

Many digital marketing professionals choose full time blogging as their career choice. With
dedication and hard work, many professionals are not successful bloggers in their chosen niche.
Bloggers can generate income with advertising & affiliate marketing strategies.

2. Earn with Affiliate Marketing & AdSense:

You can start your blog/website/app in a specific niche of your interest and initially work hard to
build traffic & viewers. After generating good traffic, you can make a good income with AdSense
& affiliate marketing techniques.

3. Start Freelancing Services:

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Freelancing is the concept of offering your services to clients on a part-time basis from your home.
Sitting at your home you can build your clients globally. Thanks to online websites like fiverr.com,
freelancer.com etc. you can start offering your freelancing services.

4. Start your own agency:

If you have experience in managing a business & have resources, contacts. You can start your own
full-time digital marketing agency. With your agency, you can able to build marketing strategies
for clients and implement them with digital marketing.

5. Become a YouTuber:

You can choose to become a full-time YouTuber in a selected niche. You need to focus on the
quality of content and building your audience base on YouTube. Once you start getting subscribers
and views, you can make money with YouTube monetisation.

6. Start your Drop shipping business:

Drop shipping a business model in which you can sell products online to customers without owning
the inventory physically with you. Generally in this business you need to develop an e-commerce
website in Shopify and select your products based on your research. Then you connect your store
with manufacturer and online retailers from China from Ali Express. All the product prices are
marked up and when your sell a product, the manufacturer will directly send the product to
customer and you make a profit.

Difference between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing

Traditional Marketing is when the marketing activities are undertaken in a conventional fashion,
i.e. by way of newspaper, television radio and magazine. As against, digital marketing is when
we use the online platform to promote the products and services of our company.

Marketing involves those activities which assist the company in promoting the offerings and
converting the prospects into leads. In today’s scenario, marketing has completely changed its
form, i.e. from physical to digital. So, it is not wrong to say that an average individual comes across
thousands of ads in a single day, no matter the mode traditional or digital.

Now coming to our topic of discussion, traditional marketing differs from digital marketing in a
number of ways, and one such difference between the two is that in traditional marketing the
reach is local, whereas digital marketing is known for its global reach, i.e. the ads that have

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been placed on the internet can be seen by people belonging to all walks of life and that’s the
power of digitalization.

Content: Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing

1. Comparison Chart

2. Definition

3. Key Differences

4. Forms

5. Examples

6. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR
TRADITIONAL MARKETING DIGITAL MARKETING
COMPARISON

Meaning Traditional Marketing refers to the Digital Marketing implies the

marketing that uses traditional marketing of products and services
channels or media, for the purpose via digital channels, such as the
of marketing communication. internet, smartphone, display ads, and
other digital medium.

Nature Static Dynamic

Conversion Slow Comparatively fast

Engagement Low Comparatively high

Return on Cannot be measured easily. Can be measured easily.

Investment

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 BASIS FOR
TRADITIONAL MARKETING DIGITAL MARKETING
COMPARISON

Effectiveness and Less effective more expensive Less expensive more effective
expensiveness

Tracking Not possible Possible

Targeting Standardized Customized

Tweaki\g Not possible once the ad is placed. Can be performed anytime, even after
the ad is placed.

Reach Local Global

Results Delayed results Quick and real-time results

Interruptions Consumers cannot skip the ads, as Allows the consumers to avoid or skip
they are bound to see them. the ads which do not interest them.

Communication One-way Communication Two-way Communication

Definition of Traditional Marketing

Traditional Marketing means the marketing of goods and services using those platforms, channels
and techniques that involve one -way communication tool, instead of two-way flow. It integrates
different forms of advertising which are easily recognizable yet expensive.

In finer terms, traditional marketing is the typical form of marketing which helps to reach the
customer via offline advertising modes, like television, newspapers, magazines, posters, banners,
radio, hoardings, etc.

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Traditional Marketing is mainly concerned with reaching a wide range of audience and competing
by numbers. This means that the larger the number of people watching or going through the ad,
the higher will be the leads that you attract.

Why Traditional Marketing?

The reasons why traditional marketing is preferred are:

• Easy Connectivity with the target audience: Advertisements can be placed on the local
news dailies and channels of the concerned geographical area to target the prospective
customers easily.

• Save hard copies: Customers can save the hard copies of the ads placed in the newspaper
or magazine, which they are interested in, so as to refer them when they wish to buy that
product or service. They can also share those copies with their friends, relatives and
acquaintances, who require that product.

• Easily recognizable: People are quite accustomed to the conventional ads, as they are
being used for a long time and so they understand and recognize it easily.

• High Reach: Traditional marketing channels have a large customer base, and so a single
ad can reach millions of customers of the area in just one circulation. Further, people living
in those areas where there is no internet access or there is a lack of network connectivity
can also be reached through this medium.

Definition of Digital Marketing

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Basically, digital marketing is the fundamental term that includes each and every online marketing
effort. In digital marketing, companies make use of all the digital channels to reach the existing
and potential customers. The channels may include Google search, social media, email, websites,
so on and so forth. Further, the most important technology, upon which digital marketing relies is
‘Internet‘.

Simply put, any kind of marketing which is carried out online, comes under the periphery of
digital marketing.

Nowadays, there are a number of digital marketing agencies which helps companies connect with
their target audience, convert leads into customers and retain the customers by building strong
relationships.

1. Use of tools like Email, website, Smart Television and wireless media.

2. Focuses on building and maintaining a relationship with the customers through electronic
communication channels.

3. Concerned with gaining new customers through digital communication.

What makes Digital Marketing a powerful tool?

In digital marketing, the market is an even playing field. This means that a start-up company will
have the same opportunities as an established enterprise have. And that is why the company that
actually performs well usually wins the race.

Why Digital Marketing?

The reasons why digital marketing is preferred are as under:

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 • Highly Cost-effective: Small scale business or startup with minimum capital investment
can find a better and budget-friendly channel to promote their products and services.

• Levels the playing field: Digital Marketing evens the playing field for all, i.e. it provides
equal and similar opportunities to all the enterprises be it a multinational corporation or a
start-up company, to attract the targeted customers.

• Connect with customers via powerful content: On the internet, content is regarded as
king, that can influence your audience right away if you have the powerful content.

• Increases conversions: The rate of incoming traffic converted into the customers often
determines the success of digital marketing.

• Higher revenue generation: When customer engagement and conversion is higher, it will
reap higher profits for your business. And so, the businesses can expand both domestically
and internationally.

• Creating brand awareness: Digital marketing helps the firm in creating brand awareness
among customers, by keeping them updated about the new products, offers, discounts, etc.

• Realise Higher ROI: When the company reaps higher revenue at low costs, it will
ultimately help in reaping a better return on investment.

Key Differences Between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing

The difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing are stated hereunder:

1. Traditional Marketing implies any sort of promotion, advertising or campaign, used by the
companies over the years for publicizing the products and services, by using conventional
channels like radio, television newspaper, etc. On the other hand, Digital Marketing is the
process of promoting and selling the company’s products and services by using online
marketing channels and tactics.

2. While traditional marketing is static, whereas digital marketing is dynamic in nature.

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3. The rate of conversion from a prospect to lead is faster in digital marketing as compared
to traditional marketing. This is because, digital marketing is data-driven marketing and
ads are shown to people according to their likes and interests, and this helps in generating
qualified leads.

4. Customer engagement refers to the interaction between a customer and a company via
different online or offline channels. So, the rate of customer engagement is higher in digital
marketing as compared to traditional marketing. This is because, the customers can directly
view the product details and other offers, just by a click in case of digital marketing and
they don’t need to visit the showroom or the company to get the details of the product.

5. Return on Investment cannot be calculated in the case of traditional marketing, but one can
easily calculate the same in the case of digital marketing.

6. While traditional marketing is less effective more expensive, digital marketing is less
expensive more effective.

7. With digital marketing, one can easily keep an eye on where the buyer is coming from,
which is the most viewed product, how many customers are actually buying the product,
who are interested in the product, etc. On the other hand, in traditional marketing, tracking
the customer is not at all possible.

8. Traditional Marketing uses standardized methods to target customers, and therefore, it

involves mass marketing with a very low personal touch. On the contrary, digital marketing
uses personalization in the sense that only those products are shown to the customers in
which they have shown interest recently or they are searching for it over the internet for
quite some time.

9. In the case of traditional marketing, tweakings are not possible once the ad is placed. As
against, tweaking can be performed anytime, even after the ad is placed.

10. As the traditional marketing caters the audience of the specific geographical area only, so
the reach is local or limited to the concerned area where the ad is shown. On the other hand,
as digital marketing uses the internet, the products and services that are being promoted
can fetch demand globally. Thus, digital marketing is not confined to a specific area only.

11. Coming to the results, traditional marketing takes time to show the results of the marketing
activities. But, digital marketing shows quick and real-time results to the marketer.

12. In case of traditional marketing, consumers cannot skip the ads, as they are bound to watch
them, however, there is no such limitation in case of digital marketing as it allows the

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 consumers to avoid or skip the ads which they do not find useful or they are not interested
in.

13. While traditional marketing is a one-way communication, where the company spreads
information about the product or services offered, digital marketing is two-way
communication, where along with the ads placed by the company to spread information,
customers also provide their feedback about the products and services, in the form of
reviews, etc.

Forms of Traditional Marketing

The various forms of traditional marketing are presented below:

Now come let us discuss them one by one:

Print Marketing It includes newspaper, journals, posters, magazines, pamphlet, etc. that offer
daily news, classifieds, interest-based periodical, which earns revenue by way
of promotions and local advertisements.

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 Broadcasting It may include television and radio, which provides knowledge, information,
news along with the entertainment. It is sponsored by advertisements.

Outdoor Billboards and Hoardings are two ways of home marketing that plays an
Marketing important role in influencing consumers over time.

One-to-one It covers telemarketing or SMS marketing, which involves promoting the

marketing product or services to the consumers via telephone or SMS.

Direct Mail Also called as advertising mail or mailshot. It is the process of delivering the
advertising material to the people via postal mail. It includes brochures,
postcards, catalogues, flyers, newsletters and sales letters.

Referral Otherwise known as 'word of mouth' marketing which depends on the

Marketing customers to convey information relating to the products or services.

Forms of Digital Marketing

Some of the most common digital marketing forms or say tactics are:

Search Engine To optimize your website in such a way that it ranks at top spots, in the search
Optimization results. Hence, increasing the organic traffic on the website.
(SEO)

Content Developing, publishing and promoting contents for the targeted group, so as
Marketing to create brand awareness, increase traffic, generating leads, etc.

Inbound The process of assisting prospective customers in finding your company, via
Marketing social media, branding, content marketing, etc. It involves attracting,
converting, closing and delighting customers.

Social Media It is the process of promoting your brand over social media platform such as
Marketing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc. This helps in creating
(SMM) brand awareness, drawing traffic, and generating leads.

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 Pay Per Click It is an advertising model, generally used to drive traffic to the website,
(PPC) wherein the advertiser pays the publisher a specified sum, every single time
when the advertiser company's ad is clicked. You might have seen ads in the
search result pages of Google and Bing.

Affiliate It is a practice of promoting other company's offerings on your website and

Marketing earning a part of the profit, for each sales conversion.

Native A form of advertising that resembles the type and function of the media upon
Advertising which the ad appears. These are named so because the customer might not be
able to identify that it is an ad, as it would blend the ad into the native or non-
paid content. 'Sponsored Ads' on Facebook or Instagram is a common example
of such ads.

Marketing A software designed to perform marketing functions in an effective manner

Automation on various platforms and automate repetitive tasks, like emails, etc.

Email Marketing Email marketing is a method of communication with customers by sending

emails, to the targeted audience relating to discounts, events, new products,
offers, etc. and directing the audience to the company's website.

Online PR It stands for online public relations which involves public relations activities
of the marketers using an available online platform, such as social media,
blogs, websites, etc.

Example

Suppose there are two friends Jack and Joe. At the age of 25, they both decided to start shoe
business. While Jack decided to open the shop at the market area, Joe decided to do business online
via an e-commerce website. Jack used channels like radio, televisions, hoardings, newspapers etc.
to place ads, so as to attract more and more customers. Joe hired a digital marketing agency to
promote the products over the internet using online platforms, i.e. social media, websites, blogs,
etc.

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After some days, Jack succeeded in gaining thousands of customers, however, the cost of placing
the ads was also quite high and the reach was also limited to the concerned geographical area. On
the other hand, Joe also succeeded in tapping customers globally at a low cost.

So, the marketing pursued by Jack is Traditional Marketing, whereas Joe pursued Digital
Marketing.

Conclusion

To wrap up the discussion, we can say that digital marketing has evolved in recent years but it
became more popular than the traditional marketing due to its various advantages, one of which is
effectiveness over expensiveness. However, smart organizations use both of them to develop
strong relationships between prospects, leads and customers.

Digital Marketing Platforms

8 common platforms for digital marketing include social media, influencer marketing, content
marketing, email, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), affiliate, and mobile.
Let’s take a deeper look at each:

1. Social Media Marketing Platforms

Todays’ consumers are highly reliant on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn, and Snapchat. This is why it is essential that brands are active across accounts. Consider
these stats:

• On average users have about 8 social media accounts.

• An average of 2 hours and 22 minutes are spent on social per person per day.

• Out of the 5.11 billion people who have a phone, 3.26 billion access social media using it.

• People spend about 1/7th of their waking time on social platforms.

Social media platforms allow marketers to reach their prospects in a myriad of ways. First,
marketing teams can use these channels to distribute paid ads and sponsored content. Each
platform has a way for marketing teams to create paid ad campaigns and segment users so these
ads appear on the feeds of target audience members. While each platform is different, most have
capabilities that allow marketing teams to place ads based on location, job title, interests, age, etc.

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Social media is also a great way to promote products or resources organically to your followers,
and engage with consumers. Chances are, people that follow your brand on social media have
likely purchased from you in the past. Interacting with them on social media or answering customer
service-oriented questions is a great way to ensure continued engagement with the brand and
cultivate positive experiences and customer loyalty.

Credit

Domino’s Pizza customer service on Twitter

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Finally, marketing teams can use social media to build their brand and establish a voice that can
make them popular to follow and share. For example, Wendy’s flippant and funny tone has made
them exceptionally popular on Twitter, commonly earning likes, retweets, and responses.

2. Influencer Marketing

Another effective way to harness digital channels to reach target audiences is with influencer
marketing. Brands can partner with celebrities, sites, or others that are considered experts in their
field, that share similar values. Brand can then reach these influencers’ followers with branded
content and offers. Many marketers have found success with influencer marketing, with 9 out
10 noting that it was the same or better than other channels they use. Additionally, 1 out of 2
women based a purchase decision on a recommendation from an influencer.

Here is an example of influencer marketing: GoPro partnered up with this Colorado-based

influencer, Loki, whose followers include many outdoor enthusiasts. This put their product in front
of their target audience, with a recommendation from a like-minded, trustworthy source.

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3. Email Marketing

Email marketing campaigns allow organizations to stay connected with prospects and customers,
sending them customized newsletters or offers based on past shopping history or brand
engagements. If an individual has interacted with a few of your branded touchpoints – like an email
offer for 10 percent off the items they have been considering, or free shipping - that may be what
ultimately brings about a conversion. Nearly 60% of consumers say that email plays a role in their
purchase decisions. Furthermore, transactional emails are more likely to be opened by subscribers.

4. Content Marketing

Content marketing allows marketing teams to be proactive in answering their users’ questions.
Marketing teams create content, videos, and other assets to answer questions or provide context to
consumers throughout the three stages of the buyer’s journey:

• The awareness stage: Buyer realizes they have a need

• The consideration stage: Buyer determines a course of action to meet this need

• The decision stage: Buyer decides on a product / service to purchase to meet the need

For example, a consumer might realize they need new shoes to wear to the gym. The marketing
team for an activewear company may produce a piece about what features you need from a running
shoe, as opposed to what you need if you focus on strength training. Looking at this content, the
buyer determines they need a pair of running shoes that meets that criteria. Another piece of
content might show the most popular running shoes and their price points. Once they are educated
on these factors, they decide. The guidance offered by your brand throughout will likely result in

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them purchasing from you. Content marketing is often less expensive than other forms of
marketing, while producing nearly 3 times as many leads.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing

Search engine optimization often goes hand in hand with content marketing. When the customer
from the above example is conducting research for which gym shoes to buy, they will probably
click on one of the first three results that appear on Google. With this in mind, the athletic shoes’
marketing team wants to ensure their article appears in those top results. This is done by optimizing
content for user experience and ensuring the technical elements are in place to enable search engine
crawlers to easily find and index this content.

Top search engine results are often dictated by SEO

6. Pay-per-click (PPC)

Pay-per-click is a form of paid advertising that allows marketing teams to essentially purchase
traffic to their website. Marketers place ads on websites or search engines such as Google and
Microsoft Bing, and pay a fee each time the ad is clicked on. These ads often appear at the top of
the search results page, andare typically determined by bids on specific keywords, while banner
ads on websites usually have set prices.

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PPC ads are often shown at the top of search engine results

7. Affiliate Marketing 8. Mobile Marketing

Affiliate marketing is similar to referral programs, it involves working with outside individuals or
companies under the agreement that they promote your product in exchange for a commission
from each sale that can be attributed to their efforts. This is a way to cut down on costs and
outsource some of the heavy lifting of promotion, however, you’re putting your brand's
reputation in someone else’s hands, so this type of marketing often requires more extensive
monitoring and tracking.

An example of affiliate marketing would be when an ad running on a podcast or radio show offers
a discount code for listeners to use when purchasing the product. The customer may receive 30%
off their purchase, for example, and in return, the show gets a small percentage of each purchase
that is made using the code. Mobile marketing initiatives can include many of the digital marketing
strategies mentioned above, and typically leverages a combination of text messages, social media,
email, push notifications, and mobile applications. The importance of mobile marketing is rising,
as it is expected that by 2024, the number of mobile shoppers will rise to approximately 187.5
million users. With the clear move to mobile, marketers need to think about how they can optimize
their current marketing efforts for mobile to be able to deliver a seamless and user-friendly
experience.

8. Mobile Marketing

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Mobile marketing initiatives can include many of the digital marketing strategies mentioned above,
and typically leverages a combination of text messages, social media, email, push notifications,
and mobile applications. The importance of mobile marketing is rising, as it is expected that by
2024, the number of mobile shoppers will rise to approximately 187.5 million users. With the clear
move to mobile, marketers need to think about how they can optimize their current marketing
efforts for mobile to be able to deliver a seamless and user-friendly experience.

What Are the Benefits of Digital Marketing Platforms

Digital marketing platforms span several functions in one solution – allowing marketing teams to
get a more integrated / holistic view of their campaigns. When selecting a digital marketing
platform, consider the following advantages of partnering with the right marketing
attribution software provider:

1. Track and Allocate Spend

Many marketers struggle with determining which channels are driving the most value, and
therefore the ones they should spend more on. This challenge is exacerbated by the increasingly
wide variety of digital channels they need to be present across. With this in mind, marketing teams
should leverage a platform that uses advanced attribution modeling. This will give them insight
into spend and success rates across multiple digital channels, and actionable suggestions on how
to then optimize ad spend.

There are many types of attribution models - and if your team is using outdated models (like last-
click attribution), you could be missing out on opportunities to make the most of your digital
channels. Using a digital marketing tool, marketing teams are more likely to be getting updated
attribution modeling abilities, such as unified measurement.

2. The Right Ads to Drive Conversions

With the right digital marketing platform, you can gain a better understanding of what type of
content resonates with your customers across platforms. This allows marketers to understand
which voice and creative elements garner the most engagement.

These platforms can also assist in building out more comprehensive user profiles that help
marketers to understand when to show their target audience an ad, and on what device.

3. Correlate Qualitative and Quantitative Results

The right digital marketing platform will help you make better choices to drive revenue when
planning media, tracking your brand across channels, leveraging new advertising techniques or
conducting media buys. A major part of this is assisting marketers in understanding both direct
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response campaigns and more qualitative campaigns, such as brand building. Digital marketing
platforms can assist in developing the KPIs to test these, and provide metrics into how their value
compares over time.

Digital Marketing Era and the Way Forward

Digital Marketing is the weapon of innovation driven strategy of the Indian small and medium
sized firms willing to work hard and gain traction in the competitive Indian market. Digital
Marketing has been in the lexicons of the decision makers in the top echelons of management, but
the terms of engagement has much changed with the advent of technology focused strategy. Using
internet and the mobility of the emerging smartphone world to change the dynamics of engagement
with the user and gaining new users is the motto.

Technology has changed the narrative of the cliched marketing terms and brought a new fresh edge
allure to digital marketing. Technology driven Digital Marketing will be the clinching factor for
the upcoming, small sized or medium staged business as they seek to bring in new customers,
growth and success. Digital Marketing is a nascent one, yet it guarantees big bucks on low
investment as it incorporates technology. In India, consumption of content is on a high scale plus
unprecedented in the world. With rising use of internet enabled smartphones, access to content
from anywhere across the vast world of web is easy while leading to digestion of information from
the brands.

Indian smartphone industry is growing at a speed that is defying the expectations, Apple considers
India the biggest market for its products overlooking China and all. India digital age is pushing the
companies to look at the internet as the biggest base for consumer growth. Brick and Mortar shops
are using the internet to reach out to a wider base of consumers who might be hitherto unknown
to the business. Technology advancements like the Apps which allows the companies to touch and
reach the high point of consumer success chart. Digital Marketing is a unique form that has access
to the internet-savvy population, there are immense opportunities in digital marketing for Indian
SMEs to explore and gain from. Technology is one common theme across the business plan of
every firm willing to leverage the economic potential of India.

We haven’t seen the enough of technology platforms, but in the near future we are going to see
the full impact of technology on the lives of people in India. With so many different ways that
customers access media, whether through Facebook, YouTube, news websites, via mobile or tablet
apps, a strong idea can quickly gain huge scale and traction.
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Messages can be targeted with a laser focus to very specific groups offering them relevant content.
The modern-day digital marketing strategy is built on the rocks of the creative side of the
discipline. It’s all about the futuristic sounding albeit realism principles –Data analytics is a core
part of any strategy. Many organizations are leveraging data from different sources to improve
upon the previous digital marketing campaigns. Removing rough estimates from the calculation
allows marketers to detect changing trends and therefore use them for more targeted campaigns.
Ability to uncover new insights built on the analysis of data with technology aid culminates in
better ability to spot opportunities, correct courses and engage with customers.

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UNIT II: Digital Consumer
Changing customer behaviour in the digital world
The Onset of Digital Marketing has disrupted the way business is done which has impacted the
way customers buy. With 5.27 billion unique mobile phone users in the world today, customers of
the digital age have the power of technology at their fingertips to help them in their buying
decision.

However this has not been the case always. Customers took their time to get comfortable with e-
commerce and online buying. Online marketplaces like Amazon have been around for decade but
it’s only in recent years that a huge customer shift has happened from traditional to online
marketplace.

Technology Features of social media like automated retargeting which helps with personalized
following up on customers who have shown interest in particular product or service and hence
influence them to engage and convert.

With more than 1 million new smart phones coming into use every day, business owners have to
be proactive and must stay up-to-date with to the changing customer behaviour and adapt in order
to survive and thrive.

In 1997 there were only 70 million online. This figure today is 4.72 billion with the addition of
332 million users in last 12 months alone and an average global internet user spends 7 hours online
each day.

The Covid era has further accelerated internet adoption customers to go the digital way and even
forced the laggards to adapt as well.

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Let’s have a look how the customer behaviour has evolved ever since the rise of the digital age

1. Today’s customer demands efficiency and quality of products and services

2. Customer’s demand above par buying experience

3. Enjoys and appreciate personalized service

4. Today’s customer is low on patience and wants instant gratification

5. Today’s customers trust online reviews and influencers

6. Today’s customers want the freedom of time, place and channel to make a purchase

7. Today’s customers do not mind paying more for faster delivery

9. They look forward for a very responsive customer care

10. They want lightening fast grievance redressal mechanism

11. More and more people are buying grocery online

12. People are replacing all routine buying from the stores to buying them online

13. Professionals consider ordering food online convenient and save their productive time

14. The world is fast moving towards a heavy mobile usage

15. Online videos impact buying decisions in a big way. Product videos have the power to
influence buyer decision. The engagement rate is significantly higher as compared to other forms
of content like text or images. 64% of the buyers close the deal after getting influenced by a video.

16. There is a rise in hyperlocal searches.

17. People are shifting from making searches to simply asking Alexa

With newer tools and tactics coming up every single day, digital marketing is continuously
evolving and so is the buyer behaviour. How customers shop today may see a drastic change within
next few months. The key for a business is to stay updated and prepare itself to meet and exceed
customer’s expectations in the digital world

What is the marketing funnel?

The marketing funnel is a visualization for understanding the process of turning leads into
customers, as understood from a marketing (and sales) perspective. The idea is that, like a funnel,
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marketers cast a broad net to capture as many leads as possible, and then slowly nurture prospective
customers through the purchasing decision, narrowing down these candidates in each stage of the
funnel.

Ideally, this marketing funnel would actually be a marketing cylinder, and all of your leads would
turn into customers. Though this is not a reality for businesses, it is part of a marketer's job to turn
as many leads into customers as possible, thus making the funnel more cylindrical.

It's important to note that there is not a single agreed upon version of the funnel; some have many
"stages" while others have few, with different names and actions taken by the business and
consumer for each. In the diagram below, we've done our best to pull out the most common and
relevant funnel stages, terms, and actions so this information is useful to as many marketers as
possible.

Marketing funnel stages and conversions

I'll take you through the funnel stage by stage so you have a full understanding of how it works.

Awareness: Awareness is the uppermost stage of the marketing funnel. Potential customers are
drawn into this stage through marketing campaigns and consumer research and discovery. Trust
and thought leadership is established with events, advertising, trade shows, content (blog posts,
infographics, etc.), webinars, direct mail, viral campaigns, social media, search, media mentions,

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and more. Here, lead generation takes place, as information is collected and leads are pulled into
a lead management system for nurturing further down the funnel.

Interest: Once leads are generated, they move on to the interest stage, where they learn more about
the company, its products, and any helpful information and research it provides. Here is an
opportunity for brands to develop a relationship with the people in its lead database and introduce
its positioning. Marketers can nurture leads through emails, content that is more targeted around
industries and brands, classes, newsletters, and more.

Consideration: In the consideration stage, leads have been changed into marketing qualified leads
and are seen as prospective customers. Marketers can send prospects more information about
products and offers through automated email campaigns, while continuing to nurture them with
targeted content, case studies, free trials, and more.

Intent: To get to the intent stage, prospects must demonstrate that they are interested in buying a
brand's product. This can happen in a survey, after a product demo, or when a product is placed in
the shopping cart on an ecommerce website. This is an opportunity for marketers to make a strong
case for why their product is the best choice for a buyer.

Evaluation: In the evaluation stage, buyers are making a final decision about whether or not to
buy a brand's product or services. Typically, marketing and sales work together closely to nurture
the decision-making process and convince the buyer that their brand's product is the best choice.

Purchase: You're here! This is the last stage in the marketing funnel, where a prospect has made
the decision to buy and turns into a customer. This is where sales takes care of the purchase
transaction. A positive experience on the part of the buyer can lead to referrals that fuel the top of
the marketing funnel, and the process begins again.

How does the marketing funnel differ for B2C and B2B brands?

To help you better understand how the marketing funnel differs for B2C and B2B brands, take a
look at the modified diagram below, which outlines B2C and B2B consumer actions and
conversions in each stage of the funnel.

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Key differences between B2C and B2B marketing funnels:

• Most B2C consumers navigate the funnel alone or with a small group of trusted advisors
(usually friends and family), while B2B consumers typically have a larger, cross-
departmental buying group. The average B2B buying group is 5.4 people.

• B2C consumers may never directly interact with a company representative, especially on
ecommerce websites, while B2B consumers typically interact with a sales representative
in the lower end of the funnel.

Nonlinear funnels

Some experts argue that the marketing funnel is no longer relevant because the buying process is
no longer linear.

Leads are coming into the funnel at different stages. Sometimes this happens because they are
referred and already know they want to buy a brand's product, so they jump in at the intent stage.
It also might happen because they have pursued their own education and jump in at interest or
consideration.

As access to information has increased due to technological advances (meaning, the rise of the
internet), customers are increasingly doing their own research and depending on digital content to
inform them about products. In fact, CEB reports that B2B customers are traversing 57 percent of
the funnel on their own, before encountering a sales rep.

One alternative to the marketing funnel is McKinsey's consumer decision journey, which employs
a circular model to show how the buying process fuels itself and to highlight pivots or touch points.
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However, some experts also doubt this approach. "Brands may put the decision at the center of the
journey, but customers don't," write Mark Bonchek and Cara France in a Harvard Business
Review article.

There still isn't a perfect model, so both the customer decision journey and the marketing funnel
will continue to be used by marketers, and are therefore still relevant.

Marketing vs. Sales: Owning the funnel

There is a heated debate happening in the marketing and sales worlds over who exactly owns the
funnel.

One side argues that as consumers have become more dependent on digital content to inform their
purchasing decisions, marketers have taken on more responsibility for the funnel, as they continue
to nurture prospects through the purchasing process. Take a look at the diagram below to see how
marketing and sales ownership of the funnel has changed.

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However, there are even some who see the funnel as being split vertically, with both sales and
marketing owning the full funnel. They argue that the sales people are increasingly becoming
thought leaders to drive awareness by doing outbound outreach. In this scenario, both marketing
and sales would work to nurture leads and prospects from awareness to purchase.

Flipping the funnel: Marketing and the customer experience

An increasingly common practice for marketing, sales, and customer service and experience
managers is to "flip the funnel" into a customer experience funnel. This funnel outlines the process
of turning customers into advocates, which in turn refuels the top of the marketing funnel by
driving awareness and lead generation. Here's our diagram of the customer experience funnel:

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The customer experience funnel explained

We've distilled the most important stages of the customer experience funnel and explained them
below.

Repeat: After a customer has made a purchase, the next step is to make them a repeat customer.
This means improving retention and nurturing customers to make more and bigger purchases.
Marketers continue bottom of funnel activities to encourage repeat actions by the consumer.

Loyalty: In the loyalty stage, customers develop a preference for a brand, beginning to identify
with it and personalize products. This is where engagement is key, and marketers can help nurture
this personal connection to a brand through community development, engagement, and outreach.

Referral: Once a customer is loyal to a brand, they are more likely to provide business referrals
and recommend brand products.

Advocacy: Turning your customers into advocates is the ultimate evolution for nurturing current
customers. Evangelism in the form of writing product reviews, posting about products on social
media, and more can help drive more new leads for your marketing funnel. Having an external
recommendation not connected to a brand can strongly influence prospects. Marketers can work
to develop their communities to better support advocates, ask them to participate in case studies,
or engage them around consumer-generated content on social media.

The ultimate goals are to increase number and size of purchases and to drive more awareness and
referrals to fuel the marketing funnel.

Digital Marketing Funnel

The Digital Marketing funnel is a strategic model that represents the entire buying journey of
the personas, from the moment they know your brand until the time they become customers.

This concept is widely used among salespeople but has also become a fundamental resource for
the success of marketing actions.

There are numerous approaches to the funnel concept, but the model we will present in this article
is divided into six stages:

• exposure

• discovery

• consideration

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 • conversion

• customer relationship

• retention

The funnel serves so marketing professionals can understand what to offer users at each of the
stages within this entire convincing process.

With so much competition among companies for the attention and resources of consumers, it’s
necessary to prepare and, as a consequence, enhance their communication actions, impacting who
matters.

The Digital Marketing funnel will guide all strategies that your company should adopt in
search of more conversions.

Why is it so important for your strategy?

In practice, why is the funnel concept so crucial in any Digital Marketing strategy?

The first and primary benefit is precisely to perform a better segmentation of your marketing
actions, directing content, ads, and other strategies with messages that will be useful for your
audiences throughout the buyer’s journey.

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As a consequence, lead generation work also becomes more efficient, delivering more qualified
leads to your sales team, making the conversion challenge easier.

When the funnel is approached correctly, you get closer and closer to the consumers, always being
relevant in their journey.

Also, the productivity of your entire team tends to increase, once professionals dedicate
themselves to, for example, producing the right content at the right time, without wasting time and
resources on actions that aren’t effective.

Since the main advantage of digital advertising is precisely the segmentation of your
communication actions, you will be able to talk to the right audience and, of course, offer the
most appropriate content for each stage.

What’s the point of creating an ebook on a certain subject if your public is not yet prepared for it?
What’s the point of impacting users who don’t understand they have a problem to solve with a
more advanced content? You need to be more precise in your actions.

This would represent a waste of time and resources for your company. The Digital Marketing
funnel serves to guide all these actions, following each step to deliver the most accurate content.

As important as it is to respect the user’s time to leave each stage of the funnel, having this broader
view of the consumer’s journey allows you to urge them to move from one stage to another.

In short, the Digital Marketing funnel is crucial to make better use of your company’s resources
and improve your bottom line.

How to create a funnel for your business

Even though it’s so crucial to the success of your Digital Marketing strategy, not everyone knows
what needs to be done to create a funnel for your business.

The first step is simple: create a goal for your actions — it may be to sell more or increase the
Return On Investment (ROI) of your business. In short, a goal to be achieved.

Then you need to structure the funnel, defining the steps that are part of the sales cycle.

By creating the visual image of the stages, it’s easier to know precisely what is the best model for
your business.

With your funnel established, it’s time to understand what you need to do to generate the
expected traffic in each stage.

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In this way, your target audience will be impacted by material that is aligned with their level of
knowledge.

What is the best type of content for each stage of the funnel

Understanding how Digital Marketing funnel works will ensure that your actions are more
accurate, making better use of your company’s available resources and impacting users who may
become consumers of your brand.

That’s why we separated the best type of content for each stage. Check it out!

Exposure

No matter which Digital Marketing funnel is established for your business, it should start with the
exposure step.

After all, nothing will work if the consumer doesn’t know your company. What better way to do
this than by advertising and promoting your brand on the right platforms?

On average, there are about 75,000 searches per second on Google. In other words, you need to be
present and, more importantly, be seen within this channel.

Therefore, the idea is to start your Content Marketing strategy by strengthening your presence with
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques or even paid advertisements in search engines.

The important thing is that the user enters a specific keyword, and your page appears among the
main results.

At this stage, the goal is to produce content that captures the attention of users, such as
educational videos and infographics. Now it’s time to attract as much traffic as possible.

On your blog, focus on those materials directed to people who don’t know your company or the
fact that you can offer the solution to some of their problems.

The formula for this step is simple: to increase exposure, the company should work with subjects
that attract a high number of people and are related to her.

To do it, they can do researches focusing on a head-tail keyword, with thousands of searches per
month.

Discovery

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In this next step, it is ideal for focusing on producing content that encourages users to take an
interest in your brand.

After all, as much as the previous stage means that they already know your company, it is necessary
to make them stay on your page to discover your products, services, and solutions.

There is no point in taking a user to your website if they have no interest in your brand. This will
only serve to increase the bounce rate of your site, which can even harm the stage of exposure.

The main goal of this stage is to turn the visitor into a lead.

And now the first challenge arises: to offer some material or content that encourages the user to
leave contact information, for example.

The most suitable suggestion for this stage is to deliver rich and educational content that presents
a problem and offers a solution.

Consideration

The consumers are at a stage of consideration when they know your brand, and that they have a
problem your company can solve.

It is up to you, then, to deliver materials that facilitate their decision process. Therefore, the
most suitable materials are the ones that explain your company’s differentials and benefits.

At this stage, you already know a little more about the leads and exactly what they are looking for.

Your content must present facts and information that prove the efficiency of your solution.

Present a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that solve their main issues or relevant evaluations
from other customers.

After all, there is nothing better than the opinion of those who have already tried a certain product
or service to make their decision.

Investing in case studies, for example, is an excellent way to clear up any doubts they have
regarding what you offer.

The idea is to deliver everything that serves to confirm the efficiency of your work.

Conversion

Now that you have shown the pros and cons of your offer, it’s time to help them to make the
decision. After all, you want loyal customers.
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So, it’s time to focus on more and more personalized content and according to your goals,
preferences, and challenges. It’s time to create customized campaigns.

With sponsored links, you can draw the user’s attention to a specific landing page, focused almost
exclusively on its conversion.

A hint of content for these pages is the free trials, letting the user experience your product or
service for a while and know even more about its advantages and benefits.

In all communications, it is necessary to focus on the results that the user will be able to obtain
with your company’s help, leaving a little of the functionalities aside.

The idea is that he understands, in practice, how what you offer is better than what you offer in the
competition.

Customer relationship

With the lead conversion established, the next step is to get closer to your customers.

It’s increasingly essential to leave advertisements for your brand aside and focus on teaching the
client how to use your solution to solve their problems. This closer contact can become a
competitive advantage.

Investing in a drip campaign to further educate the customer and clarify their main
questions is an excellent alternative.

Being able to show that you aren’t just interested in getting a conversion but want to help the
consumer solve their problems and make their business prosper.

You can invest your resources on an email marketing strategy, strengthening your ties with the
lead even more.

This way, you can establish a direct channel with them and always be at their disposal to solve
their doubts. Now that they know your company and how you can help them, it’s time to stand
out from the competition.

Another option is using videos with tutorials to help the consumer use with your products and
services, showing that you care about its performance.

Also, exclusive content to present a product release, for example, is incredibly efficient to get even
closer to whoever is on the other side.

Retention
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The work has been long, but it is not over yet. It’s time to think about the actions and content
focused on the retention challenge.

In other words, make the consumer who already knows your brand and has bought your product
or service continue to make new transactions. Especially in the long term, this stage is
fundamental.

In addition to continuing the production of content from the previous stage, it’s essential
to monitor and analyze your communications with the lead regularly.

A very efficient way to do that is to interview the client to create a case study to be used in the
previous stages.

Creating a Digital Marketing funnel for your business is, therefore, fundamental to develop
increasingly accurate actions and generate an impact on your buyer persona.

With so many benefits of disseminating and promoting your brand digitally, it’s necessary to know
and apply all the concepts required to take advantage of the resources properly.

Now that you know the importance of this concept, and how to create a Digital Marketing funnel
for your business, how about ensuring that you will understand all of the terms of the Digital
Marketing ecosystem?

The Digital Revolution in India

ndia is a country that has manoeuvred its way through tough times and hurdles; sometimes slowly,
often rapidly, but always moving forward.

Since 2014, a slew of policy measures like Digital India, Skill India, Make in India, Startup India,
and ‘Smart Cities’ have been unveiled, while working to remove bureaucratic red tape and make
the country more investor-friendly.

At the heart of it, most of these efforts were aimed at ushering in transformation in governance
and accelerating socio-economic development — both through the optimum use of reliable
networks, widespread connectivity and intelligent technologies, including digital disruptors like
the cloud. The very acceptance of the need for a digital facelift for India and the slow, yet steady
steps in the right direction will make India the ‘mitochondria’ of the world.

With India’s GDP bouncing back to a growth rate of 7.2 per cent, it has once again become the
fastest growing economy in the world.

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India is experiencing a digital revolution that is triggering transformative changes in areas like e-
payments, e-health, digital literacy, farming, financial inclusion, geographic mapping, rural
development, social benefits programmes, language localisation, and much more.

Challenges abound

For a geography as vast and diverse as India, it is not surprising that challenges abound. However,
the resilience of our economy, how we transform these challenges into opportunities and the
collective resolve of its citizens to overcome roadblocks, have made India a force to reckon with.

With a median age that is the lowest among comparable major economies, our large workforce is
a considerable asset. As our working age grows, it will spur savings and investments and further
strengthen our economic competitiveness.

A young and diverse workforce also means more innovative minds. Therefore, India must leverage
technology to effectively teach and train people, increase efficiencies and keep its entrepreneurial
spirit burning. India’s diversity is also creating opportunities for women in technology, and as a
corporate citizen of India, we continue to invest in science and technology to provide excellence
in education to India’s young students.

Another driving force story is the mass migration to urban areas. This has created a huge demand
for infrastructure, particularly roads, transportation, buildings and next-gen digital infrastructure.
In an increasingly interconnected economy, India’s cities will become the hotspots that will drive
growth and spawn a new generation of industries around them.

The adoption of technologies like cloud platforms and applications has contributed significantly
to our digital momentum. The Make in India and Digital India programmes have already adopted
cloud and other digital disruptors to help build a modern and inclusive nation. The cloud is an
obvious fit for rapidly emerging economies like India as it helps remove barriers to expensive
technology, creating opportunities for new services and products while encouraging small
businesses, start-ups and non-profit organisations.

Further, it enables collaboration and knowledge-sharing between academia, the business world,
NGOs and the vast swathes of the Indian population that will most benefit from it — our farmers,
rural entrepreneurs and artisans.

New and emerging technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and
blockchain are permeating into nation-building.

India has leapfrogged more mature markets to embrace new technology, as demonstrated by the
adoption of mobile communications, smart phones and apps. We have also made significant strides

50
in moving towards a cashless economy. Moreover, India has also been a consistent source of
intellectual capital, especially in technology, strengthening our case to take Make in India to the
world. Engineers across the nation are developing next-generation software that powers some of
the world’s most successful and innovative businesses and ideas.

As India moves forward, in all seriousness, to becoming a vital engine of the world economy, we
are on the brink of a transformative opportunity for the country to achieve global leadership.

This is the time for cooperative and collaborative decision-making with our eyes firmly on the goal
of bringing real change for our people and making India a true world leader.

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING

1 Market Segmentation For E-commerce

The technology which the E-commerce industry is familiar with is able to track the behaviour of
their customers accordingly . This will make the process much simpler to segment the audience
depending upon their age group , education , interest , gender , occupation etc.. It can be called
demographic

This segmentation process helps the E-commerce industry to understand the market and its needs
within a short time .This segmentation process also helps the E-commerce industry to target the
audience by showing the relevant products as per their requirement . so that the business can adapt
to the market and be flexible towards their target audience .

This will help them to reduce their cost and time simultaneously . The segmentation process
provides hassle free shopping experiences for the users .

Examples of segmentation

Segmenting Newly married

• interests : home interiors , home decors , online shopping

• Age : 18-30

• Gender : both male and female

Segmenting salaried professionals

• interests : home interiors , home decors , online shopping

• Age : 22-35

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 • Gender : both male and female

2 . Targeting

It can be done efficiently by identifying the buyer’s journey of every customer .

Buyer journey

The buyer's journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, consider and evaluate,
and decide to purchase a new product or service.

The journey consists of a three-step process:

Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they have a problem.

Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it.

Decision Stage: The buyer chooses a solution.

The graphic below illustrates a sample buyer's journey for the simple purchasing decision .

Awareness Stage

During the Awareness stage, buyers identify their challenge or an opportunity they want to pursue.
They also decide whether or not the goal or challenge should be a priority. In order to fully
understand the Awareness stage for your buyer, ask yourself:

• How do buyers describe their goals or challenges?

• How do buyers educate themselves on these goals or challenges?

• What are the consequences of inaction by the buyer?

• Are there common misconceptions buyers have about addressing the goal or challenge?

• How do buyers decide whether the goal or challenge should be prioritized?

Consideration Stage

During the Consideration stage, buyers have clearly defined the goal or challenge and have
committed to addressing it. They evaluate the different approaches or methods available to pursue
the goal or solve their challenge. Ask yourself:

• What categories of solutions do buyers investigate?

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 • How do buyers educate themselves on the various categories?

• How do buyers perceive the pros and cons of each category?

• How do buyers decide which category is right for them?

Decision Stage

In the Decision stage, buyers have already decided on a solution category. For example, they could
write a pro/con list of specific offerings and then decide on the one that best meets their needs.
Questions you should ask yourself to define the Decision stage are:

• What criteria do buyers use to evaluate the available offerings?

• When buyers investigate your company's offering, what do they like about it compared to
alternatives? What concerns do they have with your offering?

• Who needs to be involved in the decision? For each person involved, how does their
perspective on the decision differ?

• Do buyers have expectations around trying the offering before they purchase it?

• Outside of purchasing, do buyers need to make additional preparations, such as

implementation plans or training strategies?

3 . Positioning

After a research on buyer’s journey , we should create campaigns in multiple channels like
facebook , instagram , youtube and also in google as per the buyer journey .we should position the
ad campaigns towards the user according to the stage of journey they are in . This will help the
user to get high clarity on the problem they had which motivates them to proceed further with a
brand . This will definitely helps the brand to gain trust with their user also may lead to conversion

There will be a frequent experimenting process to be done on the marketing campaigns for the
betterment in the results .

Concept of Online Marketing Mix

1.5 Online Marketing Mix

Just like a chef would get creative with the ingredients at hand and come up with an amazing dish
similarly a marketer also have access to 7 classic ingredients to mix in whatever proportion and
create marketing campaigns and strategies.

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The Online marketing mix draws its essentials from the traditional marketing mix. In addition to
classic 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) of the traditional marketing mix, the online
marketing mix also adds up 3 more elements namely: physical evidence, people and process.
Sometimes the 8th P of Performance is also added.

Fig: 1.13 Image Source: Venture Harbour

CoCMcblogNNeVirrReRERezoltoseopressor

Product

In an online marketing mix ideally the product must be completely online like educational and
informational products, music, video streaming etc

Price

This is the cost of your online product customers are expected to pay in exchange for the product.
Factors like perceived value and time to acquire a product also play a role in determining the price.
Creative use of discount coupons, product combos, bulk pricing, payment terms etc are elements
of pricing strategy. The right price point is generally the result of smart market segmentation which
is most likely to offer optimal value in return

Place

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The place in digital marketing ecosystem is social media, online store or an online marketplace
like amazon. Customers will buy from among these places which they find the most convenient
and overall buying experience. Most businesses however may feel the need for having a personal
branded website critical to run an ecommerce business.

Promotion

Promotion refers to the advertising, marketing and sales techniques a business uses to make the
target market aware of its offerings. Using online marketing techniques to reach out to your
customers with your products and services and using push and pull methods to convert prospects
to paying customers is the main function of use of digital marketing in business.

Product promotion can be done using several techniques like SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, and
Video Marketing and so on. It is important for a business to decide on the approach of promotion
like direct advertising or authority building and the channels it would use to achieve this. Right
marketing segmentation will ensure that you are promoting your product to the right people, at the
right time and place.

Limiting your channels and being effective rather than being omnipresent with little impact is the
key.

People

People in digital marketing ecosystem refer to the customer service. A great customer service can
add a lot of value to overall customer satisfaction by offering technical support and can be a
competitive edge. People buy from people they know, like and trust. Amazon has build a lot of
trust by taking several initiatives like Cash on Delivery, Return Policy, Refund Policy and so on
so as to make the purchase risk free for their customers.

Process

Putting robust systems and processes in place is critical to scaling up an online business. Online
businesses are different from a brick and mortar business in the sense that there is no salesman to
explain products to walk in customers and engage them. All engagement has to be achieved by
using processes in an online environment. Therefore an online business which has set systems and
processes for traffic generation, lead capture, lead nurture, and conversion can look forward to
engaging people and turn them into paying customers.

Physical Evidence

An online business does not have the tangibles to show and earn the trust of its customers.
Therefore an online business would look to digitalize the physical evidence. Number of likes,
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shares and comments do constitute as physical evidence. A prospective buyer is certainly
influenced by the number of positive reviews a business has. It replaces buyer anxiety with trust
and confidence. Receipts, packaging, marketing collaterals, brochures all convey evidence of your
existence and stellar service. The design of the website also goes a long way in establishing trust
and credibility in the minds of the prospects. This is the reason one website may have prospects
surfing for hours while one website may be facing the challenge of people immediately leaving
the website.

Performance

The 8th P is all about your ability to stand the trial by fire – your ability to deliver what you promise,
to generate high customer satisfaction ratings and to meet or exceed customer expectations.
Getting it right would mean generating positive word of mouth which is a huge asset to have in
the digital world. Performance also includes measurable results aligned to your overall strategy.

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UNIT 3: Digital Marketing Strategy

What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A Digital Marketing Strategy is a plan or course of action towards achieving set marketing goals.
Goals are determined by what your business objectives are and in order of priority. Once these
goals are set, digital marketing campaigns will be developed and executed to achieve them.

A digital marketing strategy is different from a digital marketing campaign. When talking about
digital marketing strategy, we are referring to a master plan or a blueprint to achieve a long-term
or macro goal. Campaigns on the other hand are the specific tactics used to achieve more micro,
short-term goals within the digital marketing strategy.

Why is Having a Digital Marketing Strategy Important?

Having a strategy is about as important as having a plan to achieve any goal. It fully optimises the
workflow implementation, allowing high efficacy while overlooking various areas to review data
analytics and acting upon them accordingly.

This makes way for continuous improvement in the various digital marketing strategies ranging
from search marketing (SEO/SEM), conversion rate optimisation (website user experience), email
marketing & social media marketing to build towards your business goal, gaining new customers
and building deeper relationships with existing ones.

Your business also needs a competitive and sustainable content marketing strategy to reach and
convert more customers through leveraging on the power of online content, while integrating the
different digital marketing channels with traditional media.

As businesses continue to adopt digital transformation in their core operations and in new channels
of reaching customers, having a good digital marketing strategy is vital for this success.

Key Components of a Digital Marketing Strategy

Some key components of a digital marketing strategy include:

• Defining the brand: Utilise brand guidelines to define your brand. Consider the Unique
Selling Points (USPs) of your business.

• Developing customer personas: Understand demographic information such as age,

gender, location, as well as the motivations that drive people to choose the products and

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 services. Use Google Analytics to assist in creating buyer’s persona and segment them
according to the keywords in organic traffic

• Defining S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

goals.) marketing objectives and KPIs: E.g. Achieve a 20% increase in leads generated
from contact form within the next 6 months

• Identifying target markets: Use market research tools such as Google Keyword Planner,
Google Trends, and Facebook Audience Insights to conduct market research and identify
potential target markets

• Performing competitive analysis: Use web and social analytics tools such as similarweb,
Semrush, and SocialBakers to analyse your competitors and conduct a SWOT analysis.

• Managing and allocating resources appropriately to achieve objectives: Resources

include manpower (in-house team or outsource, external marketing agencies) and budget.

• Reviewing and optimising campaign performance: Use digital marketing analytics tools
such as Google Analytics to track, measure, and report your digital marketing campaigns’
performance

These are just some of the components of a digital marketing strategy.

How Do You Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy involves setting marketing objectives based on the analysis of market
information and target audiences, selecting digital marketing channels and platforms, determining
channel-specific delivery tactics, and defining macro marketing KPIs to measure the performance
of the digital marketing strategy.

On the other hand, an example of a digital marketing campaign centres around creating brand
awareness (micro objective) through launching a viral marketing campaign (tactic) on a specific
social media channel like Facebook. Short term (micro) KPIs are used to keep track of the progress
and success of the digital marketing campaign.

Before developing any digital marketing campaigns, you should first have a strategy. Part of the
strategy includes creating a customer journey and touchpoint map that looks something like this:

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Customer Buying Journey and Touchpoint Map

This map will act as a key reference document when determining which digital marketing channels
to target and which digital marketing tactics your team should execute.

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Digital Marketing Strategy Implementation Process

Digital Marketing Examples

There are many types or categories of digital marketing. Examples of digital marketing include:

• Social Media Marketing (SMM)

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• Email Marketing

• Marketing Automation

• Digital Advertising

• Content Marketing

Let’s have a look at how Equinet Academy integrates and implements several Digital Marketing
Strategies such as SEO and Content Marketing, Email Marketing, and Social Media Marketing.

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Digital Marketing User Journey and Conversion Funnels Example

In the Awareness stage:

1. Equinet markets the Digital Marketing Career Handbook to aspiring digital marketers via
Facebook sponsored posts. (Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing)

2. Equinet also ranks on top of Google for digital marketing career-related keywords such
as “digital marketing career progression” and “digital marketing salary singapore”.
(Search Engine Optimisation and Content Marketing)

In the Evaluation stage:

1. Equinet sends out emailers to subscribers on the upcoming course schedules. (Email
Marketing)

2. Equinet also has a course recommendation tool for users to answer questions and receive
course recommendations (Content Marketing)

In the Purchase stage:

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 1. Equinet runs retargeting campaigns by targeting display and social media ads to users who
have visited any course pages. (Digital Advertising and Social Media Marketing)

2. Equinet also ranks on top of Google’s organic and paid search results for course-related
keywords such as “digital marketing courses” and “seo course singapore”. (Search
Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing)

In the Advocacy stage:

1. Equinet emails course followup surveys to graduates of each course and sends followup
reminders to attend group mentorship sessions. (Email Marketing and Marketing
Automation)

In the above example, you can see that multiple digital marketing strategies and digital channels
are applied in an integrated manner throughout different phases of the user journey.

Also, creatives and content are present at every stage of the user journey, allowing users to interact
with the ads, emails, and website content.

Summary

The overall digital marketing strategy can be summed up into this framework:

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Digital Marketing Strategy Framework

The user journey or buying funnel starts from the awareness stage and progresses down to the
interest (evaluation/consideration), action (purchase) and loyalty stages.

Throughout the user journey, the customer interacts with the brand via different digital channels
(organic search, social media, email) and takes actions via CTAs or calls-to-action on ad creatives
or website content (e.g. landing pages).

What is a digital marketing plan?

Digital Marketing Plan

DEFINITION

A digital marketing plan is a document in which you strategically map out your digital
marketing objectives, as well the actions you’ll take to achieve those objectives.

Among other things, it can include business goals, digital strategies you’ll use to meet those goals,
competitive landscape analysis, timelines, budgets, digital channels, and more.

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Think of a digital marketing plan like a roadmap of sorts. You know where you want to go, and
the plan provides you with a specific route to follow.

Without a well-defined plan in place, your digital marketing efforts will be inefficient and
ineffective. You’ll likely end up wasting money and not making the impact you want.

How to create a digital marketing plan

Now, let’s talk about the various digital marketing plan components as well as the specific steps
to follow as you develop your strategy.

1. Define your digital marketing goals and business objectives

Clear, measurable, and attainable digital marketing plan objectives help you define exactly what
you want to achieve and measure. When setting these goals, be as concrete as possible. Include
specific numbers and timeframes that can serve as benchmarks for your progress.

For example, avoid goals that state you will increase lead generation, boost conversion rates, or
improve digital customer experience. Those are a bit too vague. You can’t measure your results
and it’s not apparent what steps you should take to reach that goal.

A much better goal is to double organic search traffic in the next 12 months. This provides you
with a deadline, a framework for setting milestone goals, and specific actions to take (optimize
your site, create amazing content, and conduct strategic outreach for SEO, etc.).

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Smart goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) give you clarity on the
actions you need to take to achieve those things.

2. Define audience segmentation and buyer personas

For any digital marketing campaign to be successful, you need to know who you’re targeting.
Segmenting your audience and then building buyer personas for each of those segments can
provide you with insights about what types of marketing will be most effective.

For example, say you sell IT services. Part of your audience might be small businesses with less
than $500,000 in revenue. You might also sell to large corporations with significant IT needs. Your
buyer personas and marketing strategies for each of these segments will look very different.
Messaging that resonates with a small business owner probably won’t resonate with the head of a
large IT department, and vice versa.

Start by defining the different segments in your target audience. From there, begin building out
the personas of your ideal customer within each segment. Your buyer persona information will
vary depending on whether you’re B2B or B2C and the price of your product/service. Some
demographic and additional information you may want to include is:

• Age range

• Income

• Job title

• Location

• Priorities

• Goals

• Challenges

• Interests

• Social media platforms

• Industry

• Pain points

• Products/features desired

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Your goal in creating personas is to get inside the minds of your target customers and to see things
from their perspectives. When you understand what matters most to them, you can make a digital
marketing plan that speaks to their deep desires and big challenges.

3. Conduct a competitive analysis and determine market share

If you want your marketing efforts to be effective, you need to know who you’re up against.
A competitive analysis allows you to identify your competitors, calculate your market share, and
determine the marketing strategies they employ.

When doing your competitive analysis, consider the following types of things:

• Which audience segments are they targeting?

• What digital marketing channels are your competitors using?

• Where are they strongest?

• Where are they weakest?

• What portion of their traffic is earned/owned/paid?

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 • What’s their positioning in the market?

• What’s their claimed differentiation?

• What type of messaging and specific language do they use?

• What is their tonality and brand personality?

A thorough competitive landscape analysis will give you insights into how you can use online
marketing to surpass your competitors. For example, you may realize that your competitors’
positioning and differentiation are well known, so you’ll benefit from crystalizing your own in
contrast. Or, you may discover they’re strong in social media marketing but weak when it comes
to search engine optimization (SEO) performance.

4. Conduct a SWOT analysis

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is the other side of the coin from
a competitive landscape analysis. It provides you with a framework for analyzing your business in
the overall framework of your market. It enables you to identify what is and isn’t working, spot
potential organic growth opportunities, and prepare for external threats.

Start by analyzing the strengths of your company. What are your primary advantages over your
competition? Which things do you do particularly well? What unique resources do you have at
your disposal?

Next, look at your weaknesses. What elements of your business aren’t working particularly well?
What things keep you from making sales? Where do you fall short of your competitors?

The third step is to look closely at the opportunities available to your company. Are there any
market trends you can take advantage of? Can you utilize new technology that your competitors
can’t? Is there an under-served segment in your audience?

Finally, identify any potential threats to your business. Could a competitor steal market share? Are
there any obstacles blocking your growth? Are there potential financial issues on the horizon?

The data from your SWOT analysis will help you develop your digital marketing plan. Your plan
should cater to your strengths, mitigate your weaknesses, move toward opportunities, and
proactively avoid potential threats. All in the name of helping you to increase sales.

5. Calculate your digital marketing plan budget

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The next step in creating the best digital marketing plan for your brand is to calculate your budget.
The budget will define how much you have available to spend on digital marketing activities, as
well as guide you toward specific channels, strategies, and tactics.

The amount you budget for digital marketing will vary based on a number of factors, including:

• Revenue

• Position within the industry

• Previous results

• Goals

• Location

• Profitability of a strategy, tactic, or campaign

How much will you allocate to building brand awareness? What about to specific campaigns and
offers? Are you going to allocate a certain amount of digital marketing budget for customer
retention? Do you know how much to spend on SEO?

It’s important to establish your budget upfront. However, remain flexible so you can capitalize on
opportunities for greater SEO ROI. If you notice that a certain campaign just isn’t generating
positive ROI, then you may be better off eliminating that spend. Similarly, if you see that a certain
campaign (or channel) is producing outsized results, consider shifting the budget and allocate
additional dollars towards what’s working well. If you have a specific return-on-spend in mind
that’s highly profitable, then keep increasing the budget as long as you’re keeping your acquisition
costs under the target.
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In this way, your budget can be a dynamic, evolving support mechanism of your digital marketing
initiatives.

6. Define your digital channels

Before you develop a content strategy, you’ll need to define the primary digital channels you’ll be
using. Your choice of channels needs to take into account your audience, goals, and budget.

For example, say your goal is to drive 30% more targeted traffic to your website. One way to do
that is through PPC ads, which can give you an immediate boost. However, Google Adwords can
also be expensive.

If you have a limited budget, you’ll need to turn to more cost-effective channels, like SEO and
content marketing. These channels take longer to produce results but also deliver a far lower
acquisition cost, giving you more bang for your buck. Plus, SEO and content marketing results
compound over time, setting you up for longer-term sustainable success.

When defining your digital channels, consider where your audience spends most of their time. If
you’re in a B2B industry, you may want to focus on channels like LinkedIn or webinars. If your
audience is younger, you may want to consider influencer marketing on Instagram. Focus on how
you can deliver value to your audience within the channels they favor most.

7. Develop your digital marketing strategies and tactics

After defining your channels, you need to develop the digital marketing tactics and strategies you’ll
use within those channels.

For example, if you’re going to focus on search engine optimization, you need to determine the
keywords you’re going to target and how you’re going to target them. You may decide to create a
comprehensive content hub, online courses, SEO topic clusters, or a series of online tools. Or you
may decide to provide more detailed, superior how-to information, or to deliver insights on
upcoming trends, or to deliver content featuring celebrities.
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Or, if you’re focused on b2b lead generation, you may want to create case studies that showcase
your results.

Next-Generation Enterprise SEOUncover Powerful Enterprise SEO Strategies as Part of an

Effective Digital Marketing Plan.LEARN MORE

As you think through your digital marketing strategies and tactics, look for ways to differentiate
yourself from the competition. If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll have a hard time
standing out.

• Dollar Shave Club caught people’s attention by being funny and irreverent in a traditionally
boring industry.

• Tableau offered a free online tool and garnered backlinks from more than 56,000 websites.

• LEGO created an online, interactive community with more than 300,000 in monthly
organic traffic.

The more crowded the market space, the harder you’ll need to work to capture attention and
achieve true optimization across your digital marketing portfolio. Whatever you do when
developing your digital marketing strategies and tactics, be true to your brand.

8. Create a marketing calendar

A marketing calendar allows you to map out exactly when you’ll implement your digital marketing
campaigns and initiatives. It also creates accountability, ensuring that you hit deadlines and
effectively execute the plan throughout the year. A calendar also helps ensure that you are
consistently reaching each of your various audience segments throughout the year.

Try to map out 12 months in advance, and break down your calendar into each month of the year.
This will provide you with an overall framework, along with sufficient time to prepare and execute
on each delivery. For example:

• In January you’ll release a training webinar. Before you can release it, you need to create
a slide deck, build a landing page, design social media graphics, etc.

• Throughout January and February, you’ll promote the training webinar across multiple
channels, including social media, email, video, and PR.

• In March, you’re going to start a blog that will be updated weekly. To make this happen,
you need to decide on topics, assign them to writers, coordinate with a designer, create a
blog calendar, organize videos to be embedded, etc.

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Be realistic when creating your calendar. Give yourself sufficient time to get everything done in a
quality manner, and make sure that each deliverable is clearly assigned to a specific individual.

Popular marketing scheduling tools include CoSchedule, Contently, and Trello.

9. Measure the results and KPIs of your digital marketing plan

The final step in creating a digital marketing plan and strategy is to measure your results through
the definition of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). You need to compare the
outcomes of your marketing efforts to the baseline as well as original goals. If the results are
underwhelming, adjust and optimize, and then measure again.

Be sure to measure each channel so that you, as a marketer, can identify what’s working most
successfully for your brand, and what may need to be cut.

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Keep your entire marketing team informed through dashboards. Popular dashboard software
includes Klipfolio, TapClicks, Grow, and Domo.

Great digital marketing plans encourage integration

The process of developing a digital marketing plan encourages marketing integration which fuels
greater business impact. Customers can’t ignore your brand when you consistently engulf them in
your messaging, offers, and calls to action. As a result, you will achieve more, with less, by
efficiently and intelligently repurposing and atomizing your marketing assets.

Whether your company is an established ecommerce brand or a brick-and-mortar juggernaut, you

need to have a digital marketing plan. Although it takes time, effort, and coordination, it’s worth
the work. Your marketing will be much more effective, and you’ll achieve greater marketing
results for the business.

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UNIT IV: Digital Marketing Platforms
Search Engine Optimization or SEO

A simple explanation of SEO is to prepare your website so that it is liked by search engines and
hence is picked up and shown when a user searches for keyword which corresponds to the
information mentioned in the website. To understand Search Engine Optimization we need to
understand how the search engines work.

The job of a search engine is to categorize information from all over the internet. Once the user
punches in specific keywords into the search bar, it looks up into the vast amount of data which it
has already categorized and looks for the best match depending on various factors, and pulls up
that information as search results for the user to refer. For the website to be eligible to be
categorized and presented to the user in response to a search query when required, a search engine
lays down several guidelines.

The website which fulfills all desired actions as required by the search engine thereby ‘optimized’
itself to be accepted by search engine. The website will now start appearing in the search results
where users can click on its URL (uniform resource locator) and get routed to the website.

This way a website which optimizes itself for the search engine gets well positioned to appear in
the search results and can expect to receive traffic (flow of visitors) from the search engine.

However, if a website fails to ‘optimize’ itself as per the requirements of a search engine, say
google, it will not appear in the search results when a customer is searching for similar information
and hence will miss out on lot of traffic which other could have been routed to it.

The better optimized a site, the better the chances to rank higher in results. Please note that it is
only the first page results which matter as practically no one bothers to check the second page of
search results. Since appearing in the first page of search results may mean massive traffic for a
website, hence there is a fierce competition among websites to appear on the first page of search
results which makes Search Engine Optimization a critical milestone to achieve for any website.

Let’s now understand how a website can optimize its content for a search engine to be eligible to
appear in the SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page).

Types of SEO

There are mainly five types of SEO a website needs to accomplish:

1. On Page or On Site SEO: On Page, as the name suggests is all the adjustments you can do ‘on’
your website, i.e to the pages of your website to make it more acceptable to the search engine. It
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would mean having original content, no duplication of content in the website, right keyword
density and original pictures. Besides it requires the website to be high on relevancy for the
information searched on the search engine.

2. Off Page or Off Site SEO: All the actions you take on the web to promote your website and
impact the website’s ranking within the Search Engine Page Rank (SERP). This includes a third
party website vouching for the quality and genuineness of your website along with its relevancy,
trustworthiness and domain authority. Off Site SEO related factors impacts around 50% of the
ranking of a website on Google.

Local SEO/Google My Business: When someone searches for a business or place near their
location, they’ll find local results across Google, in places like Maps and Search. For example,
you can probably find local results if you search for “Italian restaurant” from your mobile device.
Google will try to show you the kind of nearby restaurant that you’d like to visit. To improve your
business’s local ranking, it is important to use Google My Business to claim and update your
business information.

Local SEO is done to promote your business in a local area. If your business has multiple branches
or even if it’s a small business/service it is essential to provide your address/location, phone
number, timings etc. The idea is to make the user connect with your business easily and effectively

Google Local Search Results

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Technical SEO: Technical SEO is part of on-page SEO, which focuses on improving elements on
your website to get higher rankings. This is the most important type in SEO. It refers to the process
of optimizing your website for the crawling and indexing phase. With technical SEO, you can help
search engines access, crawl, interpret and index your website without any problems. It is called
“technical” because it has nothing to do with the actual content of the website or with website
promotion. The main goal of technical SEO is to optimize the infrastructure of a website. The goal
here is to upgrade the framework of your site to improve ranking on SERP.

2.3 Search Engine Marketing

Now we have understood the importance of ranking high on SERP and the mechanism to get there.
However, have you ever thought that there could be thousands of websites wanting to be on the
first page of Google or any other search engine in response to a particular keyword typed into the
search bar by the user? Can every website reach the first page of Google? Can every website can
be so consistent with their SEO efforts that they will make it? May or may not, but one thing is
clear – there is some serious completion out there. Even if you do everything right there is no
guarantee you will see your website achieving top ranks and even if you do there is no guarantee
that your website stays there on the summit for long. It may very well be knocked down by some
other website which does better than yours. SEO therefore is a continuous process. It could be
more difficult to maintain a rank than to achieve it in first place.

You must now be thinking, is there any way your website can be on the first page of Google
without having to go through the grind of SEO?

Yes there is! Read on.

Google has come up with a win-win situation for the websites wanting to appear on the first page
of search results and for itself.

Google has a progam called Adwords where in it gives websites an opportunity to be on the first
page by paying for it. However your listing will not appear as a search result or an organic listing
but as an Advertisement with AD written next to it so that the customers can clearly know that this
is an Advertisement and may not be the most genuine result they are looking for, but since these

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Ads appear on the first page the likelihood of people checking them out is very high and advertisers
seem to be getting a high enough ROI to continue advertising with Google.

Features of Google Ads

1. It is a paid program

2. An advertiser can decide on the keywords for which the website must appear on the search page

3. It has no binding of advertising fee. Advertisers choose their own budget

4. The budget is decided by the keyword pricing prevailing at the time of running the
advertisement.

5. There is a bidding system for keywords. Multiple advertisers bid for the keyword price. The ads
of the highest bidder are shown with greater frequency.

6. You may get creative with keywords. You may bid on keywords where the competition is low
but you are still able to reach the target audience at lower cost than your competitors

7. You can decide the duration for which you want to run your ads

8. The best feature however is that there is NO COST to get your ads displayed on the first page.
It is only when some user gets attracted to your offering and wants to check it out and clicks on
your advertisement that you are charged a fee which is the keyword price which you have already
agreed while creating your advertisement. This feature is what is also famously called PAY-PER-
CLICK

9. You can stop and start your ads whenever you want to. If you have been running your
advertisement on Google and there is some unprecedented situation where you cannot fulfill the
orders, you may simply stop the ads so that there are no more enquiries until you are done with the
backlog.

10. You can choose the geography where you want to run your ads. So if you run a bakery and can
only deliver to clients within 5 miles of your establishment, you can choose to run your ads within
that radius only.

11. Google has tied up with several other websites with quality content and traffic and if you give
Google the permission to show your ads on its partner websites, you will be visible to a huge
number of audiences and can expect quality traffic to your website depending on your budget.

12. Google has a whole range of ad formats to choose from. You can have a text ad or you can
have a display ad with a photograph of your product as well or you may want to have a video ad
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which will play in between video content the user is consuming. There are several other formats
to choose from.

Isn’t it exciting! Google Pay Per Click ads have made it affordable for small businesses to advertise
and grow their business. It has leveled the playing field and truly democratized advertising on
Internet

Example of Display Ads

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 Google display ad Results

As you can see an advertisement starts looking far more appealing when it is supported by a
picture. It gives a compelling reason for the user to click on it. The moment the user clicks on the
ad, money is deducted from the advertisers account and the user is routed to the website the ad is
linked to where the user can know more about the product or service offered and can complete the
page. According to wordstream Google Ads is the single most popular PPC advertising system in
the world. The Ads platform enables businesses to create ads that appear on Google's search engine
and other Google properties.

2.4 Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Definition

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which
an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites)
when the ad is clicked

Social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter have also adopted pay-per-
click as one of their advertising models. The amount advertisers pay depends on the publisher and
is usually driven by two major factors: quality of the ad, and the maximum bid the advertiser is
willing to pay per click. The higher the quality of the ad, the lower the cost per click is charged
and vice versa.

Some terminology associated with PPC Model

1. Keyword – A word or phrase that PPC advertisers use to target and display their ads in the
sponsored search results.

1. Impressions – Number of people who see your PPC ad.

2. Cost per thousand impressions (CPM), is a term used in traditional advertising media
selection, as well as online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. It refers to the cost of
traditional advertising or internet marketing or email advertising campaigns, where advertisers pay
each time an ad is displayed

3. Cost-per-click (CPC) is calculated by dividing the advertising cost by the number of clicks
generated by an advertisement.

4. Click-Through Rate (CTR) – A way of measuring the success of an online advertising

campaign. CTR is determined by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad by the number
of impressions.

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5. Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) – Also referred to as Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA), this refers to
the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other internet publishers for a lead
generated on its advertisement.

By now you must got a good idea of how SEM or Search Engine Marketing works. We can now
define it as Form of online marketing that involves the promotion of web properties by increasing
their visibility in search engine results pages and through paid online advertisements like PPC.

Pay Per Click on Facebook

Facebook also runs a PPC program and allows advertisers to create their own PPC ads within
the Facebook Ads Manager.

Just like Google, Facebook ads also gives choice of ad formats like standard photo, video ads, or
carousel ads (lets advertiser to use multiple images in a single ad linking to different pages on the
website)

Once created, the ads can be used in a variety of spots on Facebook, including the sidebar, desktop
or mobile newsfeed, and audience network. Since Facebook owns Instagram, your ads will also be
displayed on your audience’s Instagram feed.

The ads you see while you are scrolling your facebook page are the same ads we are talking about!

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Facebook Photo Advertisement

Google and Facebook Ads can help you:

• Increase brand awareness

• Reach more customers
• Drive buyer behavior
• Laser target your target market
• Use repetition to improve sales
• Reconnect with visitors to your site
• Measure your performance consistently

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 Facebook Ads V/s Google Ads

Image Source: Growmap

Pay Per Click Ads V/s Search Engine Optimization

SEO and PPC are two very powerful traffic generation techniques and there is a lot of debate
around which is better than the other. It actually depends on your objective.

SEO works the best when:

1. When you value consistency: When you want to rank on SERP and maintain your rank you need
quality content. Your SEO campaign can help you to maintain your rankings.

2. When you want to build domain authority. Domain authority websites have a huge URL recall
and attract consistent traffic.

3. When budget is a challenge: PPC ads need money to run. If you are just starting up or low on
budget but have the advantage of creative people in your team, SEO is the way out for you.

PPC works best when:

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1. You value time: If there is an event coming up and you want to reach out to maximum number
of people in very less time PPC can do the job for you. You can expect leads coming in just a few
hours of setting up your PPC campaigns

2. You want accurate targeting: PPC platforms offer several targeting options to connect with your
target audience on a deeper and more personal level.

3. When you don’t have creative people in your team: If you are facing challenges on the creative
side, PPC is the way to go.

Fig 2.10: Image Source: Rory Martin

Using SEO and PPC together for great results

Now that you have understood SEO and PPC in detail along with their advantages and
disadvantages you may be tempted to think of both these approaches are rivals. However this is
far from truth. You must think of these two as tools available to you to reach your objectives. In
real life marketers deploy both SEO and PPC approaches to boost each other and achieve goals.

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They employ hybrid strategies and think of ways how one tool can compliment another tool or
approach.

SEO and PPC may differ with each other on many points; they also have their own set of
similarities.

1. Both aim to drive traffic to website

2. Both aim to generate conversions

3. Both are keyword driven strategies

SEO and PPC also complement each other:

1. Using PPC a marketer can push the site up the rankings and buy time for the SEO efforts to bear
fruits.

2. Visibility on PPC as well as SEO helps site build credibility faster and encourage click throughs

3. PPC can guide the users to the website, while SEO will make the site ‘sticky’ and hold their
interest

4. PPC can provide an immediate feedback on best performing keywords which eventually can
help SEO by knowing which keywords to focus on

Introduction to Email Marketing

Did you know that Email is among the top 3 distribution channel for both B2B and B2C marketers
and is trusted by 87% of B2B marketers and 79% of B2C marketers to promote products or services
through email? The number of people using email exceeds 4 billion across the world with 42% of
the users accessing it on a mobile device.

Email is an affordable tool to use in nurturing leads using email to send advertisements, request
business, or carry out sales. Email marketing strategies work very well in moving a customer along
all the stages of the customer funnel right from awareness to conversion. Email marketing keeps
all the people in your email list informed about new products and services, offers, discounts,
summer sale a so on. For high value products email marketing is a very good tool to gently educate
people till they peeceive the value proposition and press the buy button. Email marketing is thus
an integral part of the entire marketing process.

Definition

According to mailchimp “Email marketing is a powerful marketing channel, a form of direct

marketing as well as digital marketing, that uses email to promote your business’s products or
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services. It can help make your customers aware of your latest items or offers by integrating it into
your marketing automation efforts. It can also play a pivotal role in your marketing strategy with
lead generation, brand awareness, building relationships or keeping customers engaged between
purchases through different types of marketing emails.”

Benefits of Email Marketing

• High ROI: It shows a staggering high ROI (return of investment). Email marketing can
have up to 38 times return on the money invested.
• Customer Acquisition: It’s an active channel to acquire new customers. Email marketing
is 40 times more effective for getting new customers than Facebook or Twitter.
• Integrate with other channels: It’s easily integrated with other communication channels.
Use your chance to enlarge your audience, blending emails with your profiles on social
media platforms, SMS, or web push notifications.
• It helps your SEO: Create content worth sharing, send it to your subscribers, get
backlinked, and drive traffic to your website.

Introduction to Mobile Marketing

Marketo defines mobile marketing as a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching
a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites, email,
SMS and MMS, social media, and apps. In recent years, customers have started to shift their money
and attention to mobile. Because of this, marketers are doing the same in order to create true
omnichannel engagement. As technology becomes more fragmented, so does marketing. And in
order to earn and maintain the attention of potential buyers, content must be strategic and highly
personalized.

According to eMarketer, the mobile-only audience will grow to 55.7 million (nearly 19%) by 2022,
and Adweek estimates that 79% of smartphone users have their phones on or near them all but two
hours a day. Today, there are more mobile devices in the world (8.7 billion) than people (7.1
billion), due largely in part to our voracious appetite for new technology. U.N. data analysts have
found that in the United States, 71.5% of citizens over the age of 13 have a smartphone, and 66.5%
have smartphones globally (WorldoMeters U.N. data, GSMA Intelligence). This shows a big
opportunity in the area of mobile marketing.

4.6 Benefits of Using Mobile Marketing

Targeting mobile customers is essential in an increasingly mobile-first environment, especially for

ecommerce businesses. You'll lose ground to your competitors if you don't actively engage with
customers where they are. That is why it is critical for both small and large organisations. There
several other compelling reasons to employ mobile marketing tactics.

1. Convenient access
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Unlike certain marketing initiatives, such as SEO, many mobile techniques have a low barrier to
entry. You don't need much technological knowledge to try SMS marketing or a social media
campaign. You also don't require any high-tech equipment. You can easily get things started with
great collaboration across your organisation.

Mobile marketing efforts are also frequently easier to track. Metrics that are simple to grasp, such
as click-through rates (CTRs), are helpful in determining success. Mobile-specific reports are
available on platforms such as Google Analytics. In addition to providing a wealth of other
information, they assist you in keeping track of your site's and content's mobile optimization.

2. Less spending

The term "mobile marketing" refers to a wide range of activities. You have a variety of strategies
and techniques from which to choose. As a result, you'll be able to choose campaigns and channels
that fit your budget. You might be amazed at how powerful a mobile strategy can be with very
little investment. You can better pinpoint your target audience with the use of intelligent analytics
and research. That way, you may concentrate your marketing efforts on those who are most likely
to become consumers.

3. Quick transactions

The mobile phone is an instant medium. You may engage with people in real time by reaching out
to mobile users. It doesn't matter if they're at home, at work, out and about, or anywhere else. As
a result, every aspect of mobile marketing resembles point-of-sale (POS) advertising. You're
always reaching out to people who are just a couple of clicks away from making a purchase.

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 Image Source: Marketing Charts
Mobile marketing strategies can take advantage of this if they are well-designed. You can reach
out to a customer when they're most likely to buy. This might be accomplished by strategically
placing an ad on social media. It could mean making sure your mobile site shows up in local search
results.

4. Localization

Smartphones are now more of a necessity than a luxury.We carry it with us everywhere we go.
That means you can use localization with mobile marketing. This entails tailoring content or offers
to the physical circumstances in which prospects find themselves.

One example is Geofencing. This is where you create a virtual region encircled by a barrier or a
'fence.' When someone using your mobile app enters the area, they will receive a specific push
notice. Ever experienced receiving several promotional messages on your phone the moment you
enter a mall? That’s Geofencing and localization is action!

With the data of your target audience, you may discover more about their needs and wants. As a
result, you'll be able to customize your mobile SEO and marketing initiatives to meet their needs.

Mobile Marketing Strategies for Ecommerce

You should by now, be in no doubt as to the importance of mobile marketing. We’ve also shared
some tips on how to build a successful general plan. What’s left is to look at the precise types of
strategy best suited to ecommerce firms.

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1. Mobile-friendly content

As an ecommerce business, your webpages are your most vital resource. They’re where you do all
your business. One fundamental mobile marketing strategy, then, is to ensure all your content is
mobile-friendly. That’s from a simple landing page to your online store’s checkout.

That means ensuring a robust user experience for mobile users. It also means meeting the mobile-
friendliness requirements of search engines. For that, your mobile web page’s content must fit well
on a smartphone screen. It also needs to load quickly on any device and return no mobile-specific
errors. All in all, you’re looking for a responsive design which best showcases your products.

2. Voice search optimization

We're all much more accustomed to speaking into our phones than into our desktops. Consider
phone conversations, virtual assistant chats, and video conferencing. In recent months, many of us
have been adopting Zoom alternatives for that purpose. We're always chatting with our devices in
some form. As a result, voice search is becoming increasingly popular. By optimizing your
webpages for voice search, you may have a leg up on your competitors.

3. Text message marketing

It's easy to focus solely on internet connectivity when discussing modern phones. They do,
however, allow for more traditional forms of communication. A good example is text messaging.
It's also a great marketing platform for ecommerce companies to consider.

Image Source: Timely

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Text messages have an astonishingly high open rate. Consider this: how frequently do you ignore
an SMS? Marketing texts, like email marketing, have far higher response rates. You should text
individuals if you have the ability to.

Texting someone is a very personal way to communicate with them. Many individuals still
consider it to be a means of communicating with family and friends. Make it work for you rather
than against you. Keep marketing texts short and personalized, and be sure to provide something
of true value for recipients.

4. Videos

Video material is consumed at an incredible rate by mobile users. Marketing videos are also quite
efficient at persuading customers to make a purchase. The information that people watch on video
is remembered.

When it comes to using video in a mobile marketing plan, the possibilities are endless. Examples
include Instagram Reels, YouTube advertisements and product explanatory videos on your
website. Videos, on the other hand, are a fantastic method to engage your audience on social media

Image Source: Jeff Bullas

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Given above in the Instagram video strategy suggested by Jeff Bullas, speaker, entrepreneur, and
creator of the award-winning Jeff Bullas blog, which has over 20 million views every year. Using
this strategy, one can grow their social media presence.

5. Personalized campaigns

Consumers don't enjoy being viewed as a number, marketers and businesses have discovered.
Customers form lasting bonds with companies that engage on a personal level. You may provide
personalized campaigns in a variety of ways using mobile marketing. Whether you communicate
with customers by SMS, email, or social media, makes them feel as though they are the only ones
you are talking to. Engaging on a personal level makes lasting connections with customers.

6. Mobile apps

If you’re genuinely motivated about mobile marketing, you might want to develop your own
mobile app. There are lots of ways to support your ecommerce efforts with an app that customers
can download. Mobile apps can also be scaled up easily whenever required.

7. Search and display ads.

In your mobile marketing approach, both search and display ads can be very useful. What matters
is that you understand when and how to use each. Ads in both formats have advantages and
disadvantages.

Brand recognition is greatly enhanced through display adssuch as banners or pop-ups. They
promote your brand and products in locations where potential buyers are likely to be found. A
reader of an interior design site, for example, could notice a banner advertisement for a home
furnishings store.

Meanwhile, search adverts, such as those from Google Ads, serve a different purpose. They're your
pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and they're great for narrowing down your target market. A well-designed
mobile PPC campaign will increase website traffic and conversion rates. That's because the terms
customers use to find your products indicate that they're already interested in them.

Affiliate Marketing

At the most basic level, affiliate marketing involves a company paying a commission or some
other bonus to a person (the affiliate) who understands effective customer engagement and
promotes the company to a friend or acquaintance who then becomes a new customer of that
company.

As you can see, there are generally three key players in an affiliate marketing program:
1. The merchant (the person or company selling something)
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 2. The affiliate (the person promoting the product)
3. The customer (the person buying the product based on interaction with the affiliate)

The affiliate is simply a customer telling his/her friends about a company, product, or service. As
that promotion generates sales, the company then thanks the affiliate by providing some sort of
perk or commission.

The customer is happy because they’ve discovered a product or service they hadn’t known about
before. The affiliate is happy because they’ve earned a bonus. And the company is happy because
they’ve increased sales with minimal marketing investment. It’s a win-win-win!
Everyone is online

These days, spreading information via word of mouth is easier than ever. Rather than waiting to
talk about a company, service, or product in a face-to-face conversation, we can copy an internet
address and paste it into a personalized email, Facebook post, or tweet.

Almost everybody is online and virtually connected. Recent Facebook reports claim that more than
50% of the adult population in the US has a Facebook account and that nearly 60% of Facebook
users are connected to one hundred or more friends.

And chances are that if an individual is not connected to Facebook or another social network, they
live near or are closely associated with someone who is. Whether or not these figures are totally
accurate, they illustrate that most people are connected online in one way or another.

Taking it to the next level

As a person starts to see commissions, it’s likely they’ll be more motivated to expand their referral
process. An individual may even seek out affiliate marketing opportunities as a way to supplement
income.

Financially motivated individuals can take their affiliate marketing efforts to the next level by
recommending products or services through their own commercial web presence, whether that be
a professional blog, Facebook group, or multifaceted corporate web presence.

Trusted commercial Internet professionals can easily recommend products and services for another
company and increase revenue to both businesses – to one business through increased traffic and
sales and to the other through commissions generated through the affiliate program.

While personalized Facebook, Twitter, or email referrals will generally not extend beyond a
person’s friends or family, a commercially minded affiliate will seek out ways to extend the reach

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of his or her referral link to as many people as possible, often referring customers he or she has
never interacted with directly.

Getting started

If you want to set up an affiliate marketing program, you’ll need to create and maintain a database
of your affiliates, create and track their unique links, and integrate those custom links into your e-
commerce process so you can pay them the appropriate commissions.

Affiliate Networks

In an affiliate program, affiliate networks typically handle all tracking, reporting and payment to
affiliates. In addition to providing tracking technology, some affiliate networks also provide full-
service management or self-service management of a program. Affiliate networks also give brands
access to a network of affiliates who apply to join their network, which also gives these affiliates
access to hundreds, even thousands, of affiliate programs.

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UNIT V: Digital Marketing Analytics
Digital Marketing Analytics

With digital marketing analytics, you are looking at a more holistic picture of your business that
is much more user-centric and includes data from multiple locations:

• Email engagement
• Offline sales
• Online sales and leads
• Website Traffic
• Social media interactions
• Website Events
• SEO/SEM
• Digital advertising
It's tough to overestimate the value of analytics in digital marketing, especially when you consider
the capability of comparing different marketing platforms and the opportunity to shift your
marketing spend to where it produces the best results.

Marketing Analysis Tools

1. Mixpanel- Advanced Web and Mobile Analytics

First up in our list of marketing analysis tools is Mixpanel, a powerful suite of analytical tools that
can offer invaluable insights into audience behavior.

Image Source: Mixpanel

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What Does It Do?

Mixpanel provides users with a variety of data on how people interact with websites and mobile
apps. You may track overall user activity with your app or website, or dig down to individual
buttons and features to discover how your customers are using your product. All of this
functionality is possible without requiring a single line of code, meaning that even non-technical
personnel can access important data about your site or app.

Who Is It for?

Mixpanel has a long list of impressive clients, including Autodesk, Salesforce, and Twitch, but its
affordable cost makes it accessible to even tiny firms. Mixpanel's insights could be extremely
useful for users that have complicated websites or mobile apps.

How Much Does It Cost?

Mixpanel is free for up to 25,000 data points per month (a data point is any defined user action on
your site or app, such as clicking a button or taking a specific action). The cost of the monthly
subscription varies according to the amount of data being analyzed.

2. The AdWords Performance Grader- A Complete PPC Audit in 60 seconds

PPC is a terrific way to attract new customers and develop your brand, but it's an understatement
to say there are a lot of variables that might decide your success. Even identifying the correct areas
to focus on can be overwhelming for those new to paid search, which is why thousands of small-
business owners and advertisers have turned to the AdWords Performance Grader for assistance.
It’s essentially an agency-level PPC audit in 60 seconds.

What Does It Do?

The AdWords Performance Grader quickly and securely evaluates the strength of your Google
Ads account (formerly known as AdWords)in 60 seconds or less.After the Grader has completed
its audit of your account, you'll be given a full report outlining your account's strengths and
problems based on ten key parameters such as mobile optimization, ad text optimization, and
impression share.

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This data allows you to focus on the zero in of your account that require the greatest attention,
potentially resulting in a significant improvement in account performance right away.

Who Is It For?

From tiny businesses to mid-sized agencies, everyone with an active Google Ads account can
benefit from the AdWords Performance Grader's insights.

How Much Does It Cost?

It is totally free to utilize the AdWords Performance Grader.

3. Formisimo- Insight into Web Form Abandonment

Web forms are a necessary aspect of utilizing the internet, but their widespread use doesn't make
them any less of a conversion issue. That’s what makes Formisimo so potentially valuable to
marketer.
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What Does It Do?

Formisimo gives users practical information on why individuals don't complete web forms. The
software analyses real-time data from your site and generates easy-to-understand reports based on
a comparison of your forms to 54 different criteria. This kind of knowledge may tell you, among
other things, which elements of your forms are preventing prospects from converting.

Who Is It for?

Formisimo is useful for everyone who utilizes web forms on their website or app. Formisimo, like
Mixpanel, is utilised by some of the web's most well-known companies and sites, including Toyota
and Uber, but small businesses may profit even more from the software's actionable data.

How Much Does It Cost?

Formisimo costs $50 per month for the “Startup” package to $180 per month for agencies.

4. CrazyEgg- Heat Maps Done Right

Heat map data is one of the most valuable marketing analytics insights. Seeing exactly
where your users are focusing their attention on your site (among other things) can give
marketers a lot of information about their audience's behavior.

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What Does It Do?

CrazyEgg is a website analytics tool that tracks and analyses user behaviour. It keeps track of the
elements of a page visitors interact with, creating a heat map of their behaviour over time.
CrazyEgg can also determine the scroll depth of web pages, demonstrating when visitors' attention
begins to wane. (This is one of the so-called “attention metrics”)

CrazyEgg also has a really amazing function that can tell you a lot about where your clicks came
from in the first place. In addition, depending on the subscription you choose, you can supplement
your existing audience profile data with information from CrazyEgg, which can provide incredibly
granular data and statistics.

Who Is It For?

CrazyEgg is for you if you want to stop guessing what your users are doing and start getting actual
statistics on what they're doing. Heat maps – and the decisions you make based on them – may
have a huge impact on your conversion rates since they allow you to see exactly what users are
doing on your site while also highlighting areas that are being ignored.

5. BuzzSumo-Laser-Focused Content/Social Analysis

Despite the wealth of tools available to quantify and measure our social media and content
marketing efforts, we can't always forecast The Next Big Thing. However, we can use
BuzzSumo to see what's actually resonating with our customers and use that as a starting point.
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 Image via BuzzSumo

What Does It Do?

BuzzSumo is a powerful social media and content analysis dashboard that shows users which
subjects are trending on all of the main social media platforms. You can examine data from a
variety of time periods, including the last 12 hours or several months. This allows you to quickly
discover which issues in your industry are garnering the most momentum on social media.

BuzzSumo has a lot of other features, such complex keyword search operators, content type filters,
backlink information, and even influencer marketing tools. The data can then be sorted and
exported into a spreadsheet-friendly format for further analysis or use as the basis for your next
content initiative.

Who Is It For?

Although practically everyone could benefit from being able to identify the signal from the noise
online, BuzzSumo will be most useful to content marketers, social media specialists, and
established bloggers. Larry Kim, the Founder and CTO of WordStream, is a big admirer of
BuzzSumo and uses it all the time to stay on top of the latest search trends and find new content
ideas. If you work in content or social, you owe it to yourself to give BuzzSumo a shot.

BuzzSumo also offers convenient monthly or annual billing options, through paying yearly offer
a significant cost savings.
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 6. Convertable-Go Beyond Form Data
Data from forms can reveal a lot about your visitors. However, with the “need” for more
information comes the temptation to ask too much of your users, potentially alienating them and
harming your conversion rate. Convertable, a tool that goes far deeper than standard form data, is
one analytical tool that can be useful if you're relying on web forms to gather data.

Image via Convertable

What Does It Do?

Convertable analyzes the metadata of your web forms to provide you with a great deal more
information about your users than form fields will allow. For example, Convertable will tell you
potentially crucial information like how that person found you (organic, paid, etc.), relevant
keywords they used to find you, user location, which pages they viewed (and for how long), and
even the operating system and device they were using – all of which could be useful to marketers
looking to learn more about their audiences.

Who Is It For?
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Convertable can help anyone who uses web form data in their marketing campaigns. Due to
Convertable's keyword functionality and compatibility with both search and display campaigns,
marketers who are sending visitors from PPC advertising directly to unique landing pages (e.g.,
all advertisers in an ideal world) may get even more out of using this software. There’s even a
handy WordPress Plugin, too, so bloggers can also access this data about their users.

7. Crowdbooster- Social Media

There are many different social media analytics tools available, but some are more effective than
others. Despite the fact that many social media marketers rely on Twitter and Facebook's strong
built-in data to acquire insights into their audience engagement, these tools can be missing at times.
That's when Crowdbooster enters the picture.

Image via Crowdbooster

What Does It Do?

Crowdbooster is a social media analytics platform that uses a number of easy, well-designed
dashboards to show you how well your social media initiatives are performing. One of the most
intriguing elements of the software is its real-time reporting capability, which provides up-to-the
second data on who is connecting with your social content and how.

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However, it doesn't end there. Crowdbooster can also help you discover your most engaged fans
and followers, as well as make advice on how to reach out to more of these brand evangelists and
improve the content of your social updates to increase engagement. Of course, Crowdbooster also
offers scheduling and automation functionality you’d expect from any social media management
platform.

Who Is It For?

Crowdbooster appears to be best suited for social media managers who are in charge of several
branded or corporate social media accounts. That said, even small businesses just getting started
with social could benefit from the insights offered by Crwdbooster, especially given the tool’s
emphasis on targeting high-engagement users and audiences.

8. Open Site Explorer- Advanced link Profile Diagnostics

Nobody knows SEO like our esteemed friends at Moz. Moz is well-known not only for the breadth
and depth of its SEO expertise, but also for its software tools, one of the best of which is Open Site
Explorer, one of the best competitive intelligence tools for SEOs available.

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What Does It Do?

Open Site Explorer (sometimes abbreviated OSE) is a link analysis tool that evaluates the link
profile of a URL that the user has provided. You can look at a lot of information about your site's
link profile from here, including domain and page authority, total number of inbound links, top
pages, anchor text, and more. Virtually everything you need to know about your link profile can
be quickly and easily found in OSE, making it almost indispensable to SEOs and marketers
seeking to increase their site’s visibility.

Who Is It For?

While novice digital marketers can get a lot out of OSE, professional SEO are the product’s
primary target market, particularly when it comes to OSE’s advanced reporting features. However,
Many of the capabilities in OSE, such as the software's spam analysis, link opportunity discovery,
and anchor text optimization tools, may be valuable to content managers and even webmasters.

9. Semrush
Semrush is a comprehensive toolkit for increasing web exposure and uncovering marketing
insights. Marketers that work in the following services can benefit from our tools and reports:
SEO,PPC, Keyboard Research, SMM, Competitive Research, Content Marketing, PR, Campaign
Management, Marketing Insights. Semrush is a critical solution for all companies serious about
online presence, with over 50 products, tools, and add-ons across online visibility management,
including tools for search, content, social media, and market research, data for over 140 countries,
seamless integration with Google, and task management platforms.

10. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is used to track website activity of persons using the site, such as session
duration, pages per session, bounce rate, and so on, as well as information on the source of the
traffic. Google Analytics is a straightforward, user-friendly tool that allows website owners to
track how visitors interact with their content. As a user navigates between web pages, Google
Analytics provides website owners JavaScript tags (libraries) to record information about the page
a user has seen, for example the URL of the page.

HTTP cookies are used by the Google Analytics JavaScript libraries to "remember" what a user
did on previous pages / interactions with the website.

Google Analytics

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Google Analytics is used to track website activity of persons using the site, such as session
duration, pages per session, bounce rate, and so on, as well as information on the source of the
traffic. It can be linked to Google Ads, which allows users to design and evaluate online campaigns
by monitoring landing page quality and conversions (goals).

Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page or downloading a particular
file. Google Analytics has the technique of showing high-level, dashboard-style data to casual
users, and more in-depth data deeper down in the report set. With techniques like funnel
visualization, where visitors came from (referrers), how long they spent on the website, and their
geographic location, Google Analytics analysis helps uncover poorly performing pages.More
advanced options, such as custom visitor segmentation, are also available.

E-commerce reporting in Google Analytics helps track sales activity and performance.
Transactions, revenue, and a variety of other commerce-related metrics are displayed in the e-
commerce reports.

Google Analytics for Marketers

The Google Analytics dashboard is organized in four sections:

• Audience: Audience allows you to learn more about your clients by providing data on
demographics, geography, retention, and device technology. You may interpret the
impact of your marketing activities on distinct user segments using these data.

• Acquisition: Acquisition demonstrates how customers arrive at your website. You may
investigate which channels (organic traffic, social media, email, advertisements, and so
on) give the most traffic under the Channels area under All Traffic. You can compare
incoming visitors from Facebook versus Instagram, determine the efficacy of your SEO
efforts on organic search traffic, and see how well your email campaigns are running.

• Behavior: Customer behavior describes what they do on your website. Which pages
do they go to? How long do they intend to stay? These metrics can help you understand
the overall user experience and how it affects retention and engagement.

• Conversions: Conversions monitors whether customers perform the actions you want
them to. This usually entails creating funnels for crucial behaviors like purchases to
examine how well the site encourages them over time.
Data is divided into dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics. Metrics are quantitative data,
such as the number of sessions or pages per session, whereas dimensions are categorical features,
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such as the city where a user is situated or the browser they use. “Not every metric can be coupled
with every dimension,” according to Google. A scope is assigned to each dimension and metric:
user-level, session-level, or hit-level. In most circumstances, combining dimensions and metrics
that have the same scope makes sense.” Use the Dimensions and Metrics Reference to find a list
of valid dimension-metric pairs.

Dashboards typically allow segmentation by one or more dimensions to narrow down sets of
metrics. These data points can also be accessible using the ga:identifier syntax in the Google
Analytics Core Reporting API. You can query the metrics and dimensions via the API, or you can
use a third-party ETL tool like Stitch to integrate them into a data warehouse for more extensive
analytics.

14 metrics that marketers should export from Google Analytics

When analyzing Google Analytics data, there are 14 metrics that all marketers should include and
understand:

Audience

1. Number of users and sessions

The number of individual persons visiting a website during a certain time period is provided
by the user’s metric, whereas sessions represent the number of times users are actively engaged
with the site. If you have 100 users and 200 sessions, for example, it's acceptable to assume
that each user viewed the site twice on average within the stated time period.

You can access user and session data in the Audience> Overview. You can then select Sessions or
Users in the dropdown directly above the primary graph:

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If you’re accessing the metrics through the API, use ga:users and ga:sessions.

These metrics provide a quick and coarse-gain analysis of marketing efforts. You can see how
your campaigns create traffic and how many times users interact with the site by plotting the data
over time.

2. Average session duration

The average length of time a user spends on a website in a single session is known as the average
session duration. You can locate this in Audience > Overview, then click on the dropdown above
the first graph, or use ga:avgSessionDuration if you're using the API. This metrics is a good proxy
for user involvement at a high level.

3. Averages page per session

The average number of pages a user views in a single session on your site is known as average
pages per session. You can find this in the Audience dropdown in the Overview section, or use
ga:pageviewsPerSession if you're using the API to retrieve the metric. Another strong indicator of
user engagement is the number of pages a person interacts with.However, because the layout of
user funnels or the amount of content (e.g., big text blocks) might alter the ratio of session time vs
page views, it's a good idea to look at both this measure and average session duration.

4. Ratio of new to returning visitors

You can also compare two metrics in Audience > Overview by selecting the “Select a metric” link
to the right of the major dropdown:

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If you’re accessing the metric through the API, use ga:users and ga:newUsers.

By comparing the ratio of new users to returning user, you can determine how well your campaigns
drive new or existing user traffic. Both are important metrics as, returning users can suggest a rise
in lifetime value (LTV), whereas an increase in new users can show growth.

5. Bounce Rate
The percentage of users who visit only one page on a website before departing is known as the
bounce rate. This metrics may be found in the Audience dropdown in the Overview section, or you
can use ga:bounceRate if you're using the API.A high bounce rate could suggest a technical issue,
insufficiently addressed user needs, a page lacking internal connections or calls to action (CTA),
or inadequate user targeting in marketing campaigns.

If your bounce rate is high, segment your site visitors to see if you can pinpoint the source of the
problem. For example, at the bottom of the Overview page, you can select Browser to determine
if the site performs better or worse for visitors using different browsers:

Acquisition

6. Organic vs. Paid sessions

Users who come through a non-paid search engine results page are referred to as organic search
traffic (SERP). Paid Search refers to traffic generated by visitors who clicked on an ad on a SERP.
This information can be found under All Traffic section under Channels.

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Use ga:acquisitionTrafficChannel if you're using the API to get the analytics.

The effectiveness of your SEO strategy is measured by Organic Search, whereas the effectiveness
of your ad efforts is measured by Paid Search. Both metrics are significant, but organic traffic is
crucial to your site's long-term viability.

In addition to comparing organic versus paid searches for the purpose of analyzing marketing
campaigns.You should use organic search engine result page traffic to establish how well your
content performs relative to other organic material on a SERP, notably on Google.

7. Google Ads
By connecting your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account, you can get precise
metrics on your Google Ads campaigns. This might assist you in analyzing customer behavior on
your website following an ad click or impression. When you need precise data — like as click-
through and conversion rates — for each search query that resulted in a site session, the Search
Queries section comes in handy:

If you’re accessing the metrics through the API, use ga:adMatchedQuery.

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 8. Search Console- Queries
The Search console section provides detailed analytics on organic searches. Here, you can look at
queries with strong positions but low click-through rates, as well as landing sites with high click-
through rates but poor positioning.

Behavior

9. Newsletter opens
You can monitor the success of email campaigns and break down traffic by additional criteria,
such as browser and demographics, by integrating email tracking into your Google Analytics
account. This information can be found in the Behavior section, under Events and Overview.Then,
at the bottom of the page, go down to the events section and select the name of your newsletter
click event. You may then pick "Secondary dimension" at the bottom of this page to break down
the findings by other metrics:

You can evaluate whether the email campaign is improving or deteriorating by breaking down
newsletter open events by device, for example. Mobile devices click-through rate vs. desktop and
tablets click-through rate.

10. Average time on page

You may look at how long users spend on a page to get a better idea of how nice the user experience
is and how well your marketing initiatives are reaching out to the right people. To view your
historical average time, go to the Behavior section, click Overview, and then select “Avg. Time
on Page” from the option above the major graph:

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Use ga:avgTimeOnPage, if you’re using the API to get the metric.

A high averge time on page and/or low bounce rate indicates customers are interested in your
content and in exploring your website. You can look at this metric for individual pages for
additional context on what content performs better or worse.

11. Top queries to search

By looking at the terms put in the search bar, Google Analytics allows you to examine site search
data from your website to track queries and customer information. By clicking on Site Search in
the Behavior section, you may find this metric.You may track your users' search queries after you
start delivering site search data; this is a sign of what content they expect to find on your website,
as well as which terms lead to high engagement as measured by metrics like time after search or
exit rates.

12. Top 12 landing pages

The Landing Pages metric can assist you in determining which pages receive the most traffic,
allowing you to assess user experience, content quality, and marketing campaign effectiveness.
You can find it in the Behavior section under Landing Pages.

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 13. AdSense revenue
By connecting your AdSense account to Google Analytics, you may track advertising analytics.
After the accounts are linked, the data will appear in the Publisher area's Behavior section. This
section includes metrics like impressions, clicks, and income that can help you determine how well
you monetize your pages and how to improve them. If you’re accessing this through the API, use
metrics such as ga:adsenseRevenue and ga:adsenseAdsViewed.

Conversions

14. Goal conversion rate

Specific interactions with the website that specify a particular objective are referred to as goals. A
purchase or user registration are common goals, but a goal can also be specified as a user visiting
a certain number of pages or downloading a piece of content.You may assess how well marketing
activities lead to goal conversions by measuring conversion rates over time, and you can use other
user metrics to discover what factors influence their success or failures by tracking conversion
rates. Goal conversion rate may be found under Conversions > Goals > Overview; then, above the
graphs, select the dropdown menu:

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If you’re accessing the metrics through the API, use ga:goalXXCompletions, where XX is the
name of your goal.

The limitations of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a useful tool for learning about users and their habits, but it has limitations,
especially for large enterprises with rigorous access control and permissioning systems. Google
Analytics doesn't provide you a lot of control over multiuser access, thus sharing dashboards with
a lot of analysts might be a bad idea. In addition, not all dimensions and metrics can be queried at
the same time.

You may want to combine Google Analytics data with indicators from other platforms to gain a
more complete picture of your organization's website performance. Many firms use third-party
analytics apps like Heap, Snowplow, and Mixpanel, and by combining this data for analysis, you
can make useful findings.

Most businesses want a cloud data warehouse to combine data from different sources, where they
may utilize an ETL solution to extract data from Google Analytics and other apps, replicate,
process, and analyze the data.

Integrate and analyze your marketing data

Analyzing marketing and website data begins with determining which metrics are important to
your business, then using an ETL tool to bring them into a single repository on which you can run
your analysis.

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Google Analytics Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It assists the site in
remembering information about your visit, making it easier to return to the site and making it more
helpful to you.

When the JavaScript library is run, a cookie is formed, and it is updated every time data is
transmitted to Google Analytics. Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is
created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable.

A Privacy Policy is required because Google Analytics tracks data about visitors to your website
by putting cookies on their devices. If you use Google Analytics but don't include a Privacy Policy
on your website, you're breaking your Google contract and using the technology unlawfully.

First-party cookies are used by Google Analytics. One primary reason for this is that third-party
cookies are often blocked by browsers.

Types of cookies used by google.

Your browser may store some or all of the cookies listed below. You can control how cookies are
used at any time by visiting g.co/privacytools and disabling certain cookies in your Google
customization settings. In your browser, you can also manage cookies (though browsers for mobile
devices may not offer this visibility). For example, if you use Google Chrome as your browser,
you can visit chrome ://settings/cookies.

Functionality

Cookies that are used for functionality allow users to engage with a service or website in order to
gain access to features that are essential to that service. Preferences such as the user's preferred
language, product optimizations that assist maintain and develop a service, and maintaining
information relating to a user's session, such as the contents of a shopping cart, are all regarded
essential to the service.

Some cookies are used to maintain a user’s preferences. Most users who use Google services, for
example, have a cookie named 'NID' in their browsers. This cookie stores a unique ID that is used
to remember your preferences and other information, such as your chosen language, the number
of search results you want displayed on a results page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you
want Google's SafeSearch filter enabled. Each NID cookie expire 6 months from a user’s last use.

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For YouTube, a cookie called ‘VISITOR INFO1 LIVE' serves a similar purpose and is likewise
used to detect and resolve service issues.

YouTube stores information like a user's preferred page configuration and playback preferences
like auto play, shuffle content, and player size in the 'PREF' cookie. Volume, repeat mode, and
auto play are all options for YouTube Music. This cookie expires 8 months from a user’s last use.

Some cookies are used to keep and improve a user's surfing experience during a given session.
YouTube, for example, uses ‘YSC' to remember user input and associate activities. This cookie
will be active as long as the user's browser is open. The 30-minute cookie ‘pm sess' also aids in
the maintenance of a user's browser session.Some cookies help Google services run more
smoothly. For example, by autocompleting search queries based on a user's initial input, 'CGIC'
optimises the delivery of search results. This cookie has a six-month shelf life.

Security

Security cookies allow users to be authenticated, avoid fraud, and protect themselves while
interacting with a service.Some cookies are used to authenticate users, ensuring that only the
account's legitimate owner has access to it. SID and HSID cookies, for example, store digitally
signed and encrypted records of a user's Google Account ID and most recent sign-in time.We can
blockvarioustype of attacks using this combination of cookies, including efforts to steal the content
of forms submitted through Google services.

Cookies are used to prevent spam, fraud, and misuse, among other things. The ‘pm sess' and ‘YSC'
cookies, for example, ensure that requests made during a browsing session are made by the user
rather than by other sites. Both cookies prevent malicious sites acting without a user’s knowledge
and as if they were that user.

Analytics

Analytics cookies collect data that allows services to better understand how users engage with their
services. These insights enable services to improve both content and features that enhance the
user's experience.

Some cookies assist websites in determining how visitors interact with their websites.Google
Analytics, for example, a Google product that helps site and app owners understand how people
interact with a service, uses a set of cookies to collect data and provide site usage statistics without
directly identifying individual visitors to Google. The major cookie utilized by Google Analytics
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is ‘_ga.' ‘_ga' is a two-year cookie that allows a service to distinguish one user from another. It’s
used by any site that implements Google Analytics, including Google services.

Google services also use analytics cookies like these, as well as others like “NID” on Google
Search and “VISITOR_INFO_LIVE” on YouTube.

Advertising

Cookies are used by Google for advertising purposes, such as providing and rendering ads,
personalizing ads (based on your ad preferences at g.co/adsettings), limiting the number of times
an ad is shown to a user, muting ads you've opted to stop viewing, and assessing ad performance.

• ‘NID’ is used for these purposes to show Google ads in Google services for signed-out
users.
• ‘IDE’ and ‘ANID’ are used for these purposes to show Google ads on non-Google sites.
Other Google services like YouTube may also use these cookies and cookies like
‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ to show more relevant ads.

If you have personalized advertisements turned on, ‘ANID' is used to remember your preferences.
It lasts 13 months in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom
(UK), and 24 months elsewhere. If you have turned off personalized ads, ‘ANID' is utilized to
keep track of your preferences until 2030. The ‘NID' expires 6 months after the user last used it.
‘IDE’ lasts for 13 months in the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK and 24 months everywhere else.

Some advertising cookies are set by users who sign in to utilize Google services. For example,
‘DSID' is used to remember whether a user has accepted to ad personalization and to identify a
signed-in user on non-Google sites. It has a two-week duration.

Businesses can advertise in Google services as well as non-Google sites that collaborate with
Google through Google's advertising platform

Some cookies are set in the domain of the website you visit to help Google show adverts on third-
party sites. For example, ‘_gads' permits Google advertising, including tailored ads, to be displayed
on websites. Advertisers utilize _gac_ cookies from Google Analytics to track user activity and
the effectiveness of their ad campaigns. The ‘_gads’ cookie lasts for 13 months and the ‘_gac_’
cookies last for 90 days.

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Some cookies are used by Google to track ad and campaign performance as well as conversion
rates on a website you visit. Cookies that begin with the letters ‘_gcl_', for example, are used by
Google Analytics to assist advertisers calculate how many times people who click on their ads
actually do something on their site, such as make a purchase. Cookies used for measuring
conversions rates aren’t used to personalize ads. ‘_gcl_’ cookies last for 90 days.

Personalization

Cookies used for personalization enhance the user’s experience by providing personalized content
and features.

Some cookies offer better recommendations within a service, depending on your choices at
g.co/privacytools. For example, on YouTube, ‘VISITOR INFO1 LIVE' allows for customized
suggestions based on previous views and searches. As users write search terms, ‘NID' provides
customized autocomplete functionality in Search. These cookies are only valid for 6 months after
a user has last used them.

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Unit VI: CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a critical component of a successful digital

marketing campaign.

CRM is the backbone that creates a sturdy base for the promotion and sales of any product or idea.

Basically, CRM refers to a set of applications that you will use to manage things like customer
databases, customer interactions, and everything that pertains to your customers, customer leads,
and customer satisfaction.

Improving sales requires you to improve your customer relationships. Your customer service has
to be impeccable if you want to keep customers happy. Keeping customers happy is the only way
to grow in business.

CRM can help you with this part of your business. Now the question is what is CRM actually?

CRM Explained

Customer relationship management software is a tool that companies can use to:

• Record customer data for future references

• Track sales figures and determine what promotions are being the most productive

• Keep every member of a sales team updated with customer information, potential client
leads, and pertinent information they need to close sales

• Improve follow-ups and gain customer approval

• Connect members of your sales team to the clients using GPS technology

• Allow the sharing of files and information between sales team members so when one team
member cannot make a follow-up or complete a promise they made to a client another team
member can step in and make the customer happy

Video source (BAASS Business Solutions Inc.)

Importance of CRM in Digital Marketing

One thing that every business person knows is that a happy customer will return. A happy customer
will likely tell three or more of their friends about your business.

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An unhappy customer will likely tell six or more people about their experience with your business.
So, no matter what business you are in, keeping the customer happy is the key to success.

1. Digital Marketing Strategies Connected to CRM

One of the biggest digital marketing strategies is to collect simple data on customers when they
are browsing the web and looking for particular items.

Then using that information about the person and the item they were interested in and letting sales
ads about those items pop up when the person is on Facebook or Twitter.

The sales ad would remind the person of the item they were looking at, and drive customers back
to the sites where the item was for sale.

2. CRM Personalizes the Digital Marketing Campaign

Using CRM to gather data about customers’ likes and dislikes allows you to target specific
customers with specific items that they are likely to have an interest in. CRM provides you with
the statistical data concerning what the customer has purchased in the past, what they browse for
when they are online, and other factors like their age sets, their gender, and the areas where they
live.

All of this personal data can be used in your digital campaign. Instead of doing just one broad-
based campaign and hoping that the people who will be interested in the advertising will see it,
you can make sure that the people who are going to be interested in something are the ones that
see that particular item.

3. Digital Connections

When you use CRM strategies to create data sheets concerning the customers you have, and the
leads you have on other customers, you can then approach those customers in a one-to-one digital
campaign.

You can connect with them by using their preferences to make suggestions on their social
networking sites so they see the advertisements and are reminded of the things they want or like.

You can send emails that personally suggest certain products and services, based on a previous
purchase the customer has made. You know how on Netflix you see the words “since you liked
this program” and there are links for you to follow to go to another program that is similar? You
can do that with your email campaign.

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You can create blogs and articles that address the things your customers might be interested in by
looking at the data to confirm their likes and dislikes. When you have relevant information on your
page, that your customer or future customer finds interesting, then they will visit you.

4. Satisfaction Guaranteed

When you use CRM applications to create databases about your customers and your products, you
can also create a database about customer service calls.

When you start to look closely at your customer service calls, what the customer liked or disliked,
and what things you did to satisfy the customer, you are able to create a training program for each
of your customer service representatives that will allow them to create satisfied customers out of
each call.

The 5 Best CRM Solutions for Digital Marketing Focused Brands

Monday.com

Monday.com is a comprehensive Resource Management software that provides a wide range of

capabilities, including Customer Relationship Management and Project Management.

The interface is designed in a flexible manner, which allows you to easily organize your projects
and customize your workflows.

The most important features of Monday.com’s CRM include managing leads and sales pipelines,
client tracking, contract management, and onboarding new customers.

The project management orientation of the software allows teams to easily collaborate on leads.

The best and most well-known feature of Monday.com is that it turns the to-do lists into a game,
encouraging all team members to complete their tasks on time.

The projects are broken into smaller tasks, which can be divided into even smaller subtasks.

Each task is color-coded, so the status and the progress of each member is quite clear. Green means
complete, red means stuck, and so on. The urge to turn every block green is what keeps the team
going.

The CRM solution was in fact introduced to allow the sales teams to collaborate more easily on
customer relationships and boost results. The tool also supports a number of integrations and
automations.

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Pros

• The dashboard has colorful crafted charts and graphs, which makes completing tasks an
enjoyable activity.

• Drag and drop functionality for most functions makes the workflow smooth.

• Progress on different clients can be tracked easily by everyone on the sales team.

• Automated follow-up reminders.

• Can be easily integrated with other business software to provide a one-stop solution.

• Customer service is almost instantaneous and always courteous.

Cons

• The scroll function on the Mac version can be problematic sometimes.

• Hyperlinks don’t always carry over when spreadsheets are imported into the software.

• The software often lags when navigating the UI.

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Pricing

• Free Trial: 14 Days

• Basic: $8/month per seat

• Standard: $10/month per seat

• Pro: $16/month per seat

• Enterprise: Custom Pricing, Billed Annually

Website: https://monday.com/s/crm

____________________________________________________________________________

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot is one of the world’s leading platforms for online marketing, sales and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM). With dedicated productivity tools and automations, it helps
reduce manual involvement in the process and saves time from menial tasks.

HubSpot CRM comes with free tools for lead generation and email marketing that help grow and
nurture the customer database. The service teams can stay organized through efficient
communication and elevate their productivity. The software supports all kinds of third-party
integrations and provides adequate reporting and tracking features.

The CRM tool gives full visibility into the sales pipeline in real-time. There is a detailed reporting
dashboard that gives information on sales productivity and individual performance. You can create
and organize your own sales pipelines with automated tracking. The pipelines will give you a good
idea of the various stages of customer relationship and where it goes off.

There is a free landing-page builder that helps create professional-looking landing pages. You can
use the free ad management tools to convert visitors from these landing pages to qualified leads.
Besides, you can connect with them via live chat or by setting up one-to-one chat conversations
with chatbots.

The Universal Inbox feature allows you to view, manage, assign, and reply to all customer
conversations irrespective of what channel they are coming from.

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HubSpot CRM supports over 300 integrations through which you can connect your existing
software for free, and get even more out of the tools and applications your business uses every
day.

Pros

• Most of the functionality is available for free so you can start without paying and grow a
lot before you have to pay anything.

• Customized messaging with sequences helps nurture client relationships.

• The reporting and analytics provide great insights into the effectiveness of different
customer acquisition and communication channels.

• There are 300 plus supported integrations so there is hardly any software that can not work
with HubSpot.

• The software has built-in Anti-Spam functionality that helps with legal compliance.

• Sales automation features like meetings links and email integrations are super helpful.

Cons

• The UX design is not very convenient and there is quite a learning curve when you shift to
the software.
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 • The custom forms have limitations on the tiers that can be created and the fields that can
be added.

Pricing

The CRM platform is 100% free for a lifetime. Additional premium productivity features available
for purchase.

Website: https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

____________________________________________________________________________

Keap CRM

Keap is an all-in-one sales and marketing platform that offers a wide range of services including
sales pipelines, marketing automations, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The
CRM helps businesses across various industries streamline their client relationships and manage
customer experiences.

The client database software helps improve organization and increases workflow efficiency.
Instead of maintaining huge databases for records, you can handle all client activity and
communications from a single place. The records can be easily edited and automatically updated,
requiring minimal human involvement.

The software can easily connect with Zapier, Gmail, Outlook, and AppointmentCore, streamlining
your communication channels and boosting email efficiency. You can send highly personalized
emails that drive action or sales. There are pre-written templates that can be edited and campaigns
can be automated.

Smart forms help collect and organize client information so that it can be used in automated
campaigns easily. The automation builder is really powerful and allows expert marketers to create
flexible campaigns and set triggers for various client actions. This way you can create repeatable
pipelines that make sure that leads do not leak away.

The reporting capabilities by Keap are extraordinary as it helps users run analyses on email
campaigns, sales pipelines performance, and ROI data. The software can also be remotely
managed from an Android or iOS device.

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Pricing

• Free Trial: 14 Days

• Keap Grow: $56/month

• Keap Pro: $105/month

• Infusionsoft: $140/month

Pros

• Client segmentation is quite useful and helps group similar prospects before running email
campaigns.

• The visualizations for automation and campaigns created by the software are really helpful.
They make the process fun and engaging for marketers using the software.

• The campaign builder tool is flexible, robust, and very easy to learn.

• The software has an API that can be easily integrated with other software you might be
using.
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 • The newsletter templates and web forms functionalities are great for building your database
and collecting leads.

• The responsive Drag & Drop email builder makes developing email campaigns easier.

Cons

• The software does not handle Spam very well and the contact forms on websites often get
bombarded.

• It uses a flat database which can be inconvenient for B2B communications.

Website: https://keap.com/

____________________________________________________________________________

ActiveCampaign CRM

ActiveCampaign is a Chicago-based Customer Relationship Management and Automations tool

that helps marketers and sales teams connect well with their customers and sell more, with less
effort.

You can see the complete sales cycle at a glance and track customers at every touchpoint.

The most important function of ActiveCampaign is its marketing automations, which help reduce
the time spent on each lead in the pipeline.

The sales teams that have used ActivecCampaign reported a significant increase in productivity
due this feature.

The level of automation ActiveCampaign offers is easily the best in the market. These automations
make sure that you’re not missing out on any important aspect of the customer lifecycle and,
eventually, help close sales.

Other important features, including lead scoring, win probability, and segmentation, also help
improve conversions.

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Pros

• Customer tagging and automated segmentation help create targeted campaigns.

• The auto-responder option helps improve communication with customers.

• Pre-made templates and flexible automations reduce the workload in performing different
tasks.

• The automations can be designed in visual builders which makes them easy to understand.

• A number of third-party integrations are supported.

• The webinars and training sessions offered for free are quite helpful.

Cons

• The dashboard can get a little busy at times, making the interface difficult to understand.

• Lead Management features are not as comprehensive and do not provide all the features
you might expect.

Pricing

• Free Trial: 14 Days

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 • Lite: $9/month

• Plus: $49/month

• Professional: $129/month

• Enterprise: $229/month

Website: https://www.activecampaign.com/sales-crm

____________________________________________________________________________

Freshworks CRM

Freshworks is an AI-powered Customer Relationship Management tool that enables sales and
marketing professionals to improve their understanding of their customers, through detailed
insights and analytics.

The most important features of Freshworks CRM include email marketing, lead scoring, market
segmentation, AI chatbots, and salesforce automation.

The software allows marketers to deliver a personalized marketing strategy to each customer, at
every touchpoint across their lifecycle.

This way they are able to boost their clicks, conversions, and overall engagement for the marketing
activities of the firm.

The 360 customer view provides complete details about customers and prospects, including
touchpoints, conversations, appointments, tasks, and much more.

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Pros

• Customer lifecycle can be easily tracked through AI-powered metrics.

• Migration to the software is super easy and does not require help from an outside resource.

• The activity feed is very comprehensive and does not require expensive third-party add-
ons.

• Customer fields are auto-filled based on lead/contact emails.

• Business view filters can be easily created and modified.

• A/B tests, heat maps, and other optimization tools make it easy to close customers.

Cons

• Error logs are not very helpful.

• If you mistakenly convert a lead to a contact, you can’t downgrade it back to a lead.

• Support is unresponsive at times.

Pricing
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 • Free Trial: 21 Days

• Growth: $29/month per user

• Pro: $69/month per user

• Enterprise: $125/month per user

Website: https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/

Improve your Sales with the Help of a CRM System

This is the digital age of business. People are doing more online business: shopping, researching,
banking and investing, than ever before. Companies are having a hard time keeping their digital
apps up and running because technology changes so fast and by the time they have an app
developed and ready to use, they need to make changes to it.

Customer Contact Information

The CRM software allows you to manage all of the data you have on each customer so you can
quickly see which customer might be interested in a new product or service you have to offer.
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You can generate leads through the data that shows you what the customer has liked in the past,
how to reach that customer, and the other criteria you have accumulated on the customer.

The information is easy to access and you can use different prompts to create a sales lead list. You
can also use the information to see which customers just need you to make contact and make
certain they are still happy, or see if there is anything you can do for them.

This builds customer service to a new level. Your customers will feel more appreciated and it will
seem that you remember them.

Share the Knowledge

Each sales team member knows certain information about the leads they have or their past
customers. They may know that Mr. Black does not like to be called before 4 pm, or that Miss
Smith lives alone and does not like strangers just showing up at her door. Some of the information
these sales team members have in their heads and in their notes are what will help your company
cement a sale.

If the team member that knows that information quits or gets sick, the information is lost. If you
use CRM software your team members can share information with each other and you will always
be ready and prepared to close the next deal.

This software compiles all of the potential leads and customer data so that everyone in your
company is up to date and has the information they need to serve your customers better.

Lead Building & Lead Scoring

Top executives say that building a quality lead for their sales team to contact is the most critical
aspect of making more sales and more profits. These executives use the data their software
compiles to:

• Create contact information on the possible lead.

• Connect the sales member with the client via GPS technology.

• Create a list of promotion ideas that have proved successful in the past so the sales team
member will have a variety of things to try.

• Make a list of the tools that are available for the sales team member to use.

• Allow the information to be accessed through smartphones, tablets, and computers.

Resourceful Follow-ups
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The biggest thing that this software data collection does is provide you with the ability to follow
up on potential leads so that fewer sales are lost.

You will have a reminder for your sales team on who they need to call back and when they need
to make those calls

The team member will know what has been tried in the past so they will know what they need to
say or do when they make the follow-up.

The Benefits of CRM

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's a CRM?

CRM is a set of applications that you will use to manage things like customer databases, customer
interactions, and everything that pertains to your customers, customer leads, and customer
satisfaction. Read this guide to learn more about CRM and its importance.

What's the importance of CRM in Digital Marketing?

What are the best CRM solutions for digital marketing focused brands?

CRM vs ECRM

Now a days internet has changed everything and also the business standards, procedures,
management are not out of it. Internet has brought a lot technological change to the business world.
In the beginning when CRM was the only way of establishing customer relationship and to take
business ahead now it has been slowly replaced by eCRM and it has a great impact on the growth
of business. So now lets understand the difference between them deeply.

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM):

CRM refers to Customer Relationship Management. It includes the processes and systems which
enable a business to form, manage and track relationships and communications with its customers
for the growth of the business but CRM is based on traditional system like web based and retail
store, telephone or fax customer contact. In Customer Relationship Management nature of
relationship is simple and static.

2. Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM):

eCRM refers to Electronic Customer Relationship Management. It is a step ahead of CRM and it
is the adaption of CRM in a E-Commerce environment and through internet. Here every
communication occurs through internet like from obtaining customer support to online purchase,
customer relationship management to customer feedback/suggestion collection everything. In
Electronic Customer Relationship Management the nature of relationship is complex and dynamic.

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131
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. What is mobile marketing?

a) Marketing products exclusively on mobile devices

b) Using SMS marketing only

c) Promoting products, services, or brands to a target audience through mobile devices

d) Marketing for mobile app development companies only

Answer: c

2. Why is having a mobile-friendly website important?

a) It reduces website loading speed

b) It increases desktop traffic

c) It improves the user experience on mobile devices

d) It allows mobile users to make phone calls to the company

Answer: c

3. Which mobile marketing channel provides real-time updates, personalized offers, and

reminders?

a) Mobile apps

b) SMS marketing

c) Mobile payments

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d) Mobile search optimization

Answer: a

4. What type of mobile marketing ad appears within mobile apps, websites, or in-game

placements?

a) Native ads

b) Video ads

c) Push notifications

d) Banner ads

Answer: d

5. What is the main advantage of using SMS marketing?

a) Higher engagement rates

b) Rich media support

c) Wider reach than other channels

d) Offline accessibility

Answer: a

6.Which mobile marketing tactic uses a user’s location to deliver targeted content?

a) SMS marketing

b) Mobile payments

c) Location-based marketing

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d) QR code marketing

Answer: c

7. What are QR codes commonly used for in mobile marketing?

a) Sending text messages

b) Making mobile payments

c) Location-based marketing

d) Providing quick access to websites or promotions

Answer: d

8.Augmented Reality (AR) is commonly used in mobile marketing for:

a) Sending personalized offers via SMS

b) Displaying banner ads within mobile apps

c) Providing interactive and engaging experiences

d) Optimizing websites for mobile search engines

Answer: c

9. What does ASO stand for in mobile marketing?

a) App Search Optimization

b) App Store Optimization

c) App Social Outreach

d) App Security Overview

Answer: b

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10. In mobile marketing, what is the purpose of A/B testing?

a) Identifying the most popular mobile devices

b) Determining the best mobile payment options

c) Testing different ad creatives or strategies to improve performance

d) Analyzing user demographics of mobile app users

Answer: c

11. How can businesses benefit from integrating mobile payments into their marketing

strategy?

a) It reduces the need for mobile apps

b) It simplifies the purchasing process for customers

c) It eliminates the need for mobile-friendly websites

d) It improves website loading speed

Answer: b

12. What is the primary goal of a push notification in mobile marketing?

a) Encouraging users to make mobile payments

b) Driving engagement and retention for mobile app users

c) Redirecting users to mobile-friendly websites

d) Providing location-based offers

Answer: b

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13. Which mobile marketing channel is the most direct and immediate way to reach

customers?

a) Mobile apps

b) SMS marketing

c) Push notifications

d) Mobile search optimization

Answer: b

14. What is email marketing?

a) Sending promotional emails to random recipients

b) Sending unsolicited emails to a purchased email list

c) Sending targeted and personalized emails to subscribers

d) Sending emails only for internal communication within a company

Answer: c

15. What is the primary goal of email marketing?

a) Increasing website traffic

b) Generating leads

c) Driving sales and conversions

d) Building brand awareness

Answer: c

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16. What is the importance of obtaining permission from recipients before sending

marketing emails?

a) It is not necessary as long as the emails are relevant.

b) It ensures compliance with anti-spam regulations.

c) It increases open rates of email campaigns.

d) It guarantees immediate conversions from recipients.

Answer: b

17. Which type of email is typically sent to welcome new subscribers to an email list?

a) Newsletter

b) Promotional email

c) Transactional email

d) Abandoned cart email

Answer: c

18. What is the purpose of A/B testing in email marketing?

a) To identify the best time to send emails

b) To test different email subject lines and content variations

c) To verify email deliverability

d) To measure the click-through rate of emails

Answer: b

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19. Which email metric measures the percentage of subscribers who opened an email?

a) Open rate

b) Click-through rate

c) Conversion rate

d) Bounce rate

Answer: a

20. What is the term for the practice of personalizing email content based on recipient data

or preferences?

a) Segmentation

b) Targeting

c) Automation

d) Dynamic content

Answer: d

21. Which type of email is typically sent to re-engage inactive subscribers?

a) Welcome email

b) Newsletter

c) Promotional email

d) Re-engagement email

Answer: d

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22. What is the recommended approach for optimizing emails for mobile devices?

a) Use small font sizes to fit more content in the email.

b) Avoid using images in emails.

c) Implement responsive design to ensure proper display across devices.

d) Use only plain text in emails.

Answer: c

23. Which email metric measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in an

email?

a) Open rate

b) Click-through rate

c) Conversion rate

d) Bounce rate

Answer: b

24. What is the purpose of a drip campaign in email marketing?

a) To send time-sensitive offers to subscribers

b) To encourage subscribers to make a purchase immediately

c) To nurture leads and build engagement over time

d) To promote multiple products or services in a single email

Answer: c

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25. Which type of email is typically sent to remind subscribers about items they left in their

online shopping cart?

a) Welcome email

b) Newsletter

c) Promotional email

d) Abandoned cart email

Answer: d

26. What is the term for the practice of dividing an email list into smaller segments based on

specific criteria?

a) Targeting

b) Personalization

c) Segmentation

d) Automation

Answer: c

27. Which of the following is the best description of SEO?

a) A paid advertising technique that boosts website traffic

b) A technique for designing visually appealing websites
c) A way to improve website ranking in search engine results pages
d) A method for increasing website security

Answer: c) A way to improve website ranking in search engine results pages.

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28. Which of the following is the most important factor for ranking in search engine results
pages?

a) The number of backlinks to the website

b) The age of the website domain
c) The quality and relevance of the website’s content
d) The number of social media shares the website receives

Answer: c) The quality and relevance of the website’s content.

29. Which of the following is a black hat SEO technique?

a) Writing high-quality, informative content

b) Keyword stuffing
c) Optimizing images and videos for search engines
d) Building a strong social media presence

Answer: b) Keyword stuffing.

30. Which of the following is an on-page SEO factor?

a) The number of backlinks to the website

b) The website’s loading speed
c) The quality and relevance of the website’s content
d) The number of followers on social media

Answer: c) The quality and relevance of the website’s content.

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31. Which of the following is an off-page SEO factor?

a) The website’s loading speed

b) The quality and relevance of the website’s content
c) The number of backlinks to the website
d) The use of header tags on the website

Answer: c) The number of backlinks to the website.

32. Which of the following is the best way to optimize images for SEO?

a) Use small image file sizes to decrease loading times

b) Use descriptive filenames for images
c) Use alt tags to describe the content of the image
d) All of the above

Answer: d) All of the above.

33. Which of the following is the best way to optimize videos for SEO?

a) Use descriptive filenames for videos

b) Include keywords in the video title and description
c) Use closed captions to increase accessibility and keyword density
d) All of the above

Answer: d) All of the above.

34. Which of the following is the best way to optimize a website for local search?

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a) Include the business’s physical address and phone number on the website
b) Use location-specific keywords in the website’s content
c) Create a Google My Business profile
d) All of the above

Answer: d) All of the above.

35. What is a sitemap?

a) A file that lists all of the pages on a website

b) A map that shows the location of a business
c) A visual representation of a website’s layout and design
d) A file that contains information about a website’s backlinks

Answer: a) A file that lists all of the pages on a website.

36. Which of the following is the best way to improve website loading speed?

a) Optimize images and videos for faster loading times

b) Minimize the use of plugins and third-party scripts
c) Use a content delivery network (CDN)
d) All of the above

Answer: d) All of the above.

37. Which of the following is the best description of a keyword?

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a) A word that appears frequently on a website
b) A word that accurately describes the content of a website
c) A word that is used in advertising campaigns
d) A word that is popular on social media

Answer: b) A word that accurately describes the content of a website.

38. What is the purpose of a meta description?

a) To provide a brief summary of the website’s content

b) To improve the website’s loading speed
c) To include keywords that improve search engine rankings
d) To provide a link to the website’s social media pages

Answer: a) To provide a brief summary of the website’s content.

39. Which of the following is a white hat SEO technique?

a) Keyword stuffing
b) Cloaking
c) Guest blogging
d) Buying backlinks

Answer: c) Guest blogging.

40. Which of the following is incorrect about digital marketing?

144
 a) Digital marketing can only be done offline
b) Digital marketing cannot be done offline.
c) Digital marketing requires electronic devices for promoting goods and services.
d) In general, digital marketing can be understood as online marketing, web marketing, and
e-mail marketing.

Correct answer
Digital marketing can only be done offline

41. ____, social media, mobile apps, and other digital channels are all examples of digital
marketing used by companies and companies.

a) Search Engines
b) Websites
c) Emails
d) All of the above
Correct answer
All of the above

42. What is the full form of SEO?

a) Search Engine Optimal

b) Social Engine Optimization
c) Search Engine Optimization
d) Social Engine Optimal
Correct answer
Search Engine Optimization

43. Using ____, you improve your site's structure and content and conduct promotional activities
to enhance your ranking on search engines.

145
 a) Search Engine Optimization
b) Social Media Marketing
c) Social Media Optimization
d) Search Engine Marketing

Correct answer
Search Engine Optimization

44. Which of the following is not a common online marketing channel?

a) Email marketing
b) Social media marketing
c) Television advertising

d) Search engine optimization

Correct answer
Television advertising

45. What is the primary objective of online marketing?

a) To generate leads
b) To increase brand awareness
c) To make sales
d) All of the above

Correct answer
All of the above

46. Which of the following is a paid advertising model used in online marketing?

a) SEO
146
 b) Content marketing
c) Affiliate marketing
d) PPC

Correct answer
PPC

47. What is the purpose of a marketing funnel in online marketing?

a) To measure website traffic

b) To optimize user experience
c) To track user engagement
d) All of the above
e)
Correct answer
All of the above

48. How can social media marketing benefit businesses?

a) By directly influencing search engine algorithms

b) By improving website loading speed
c) By enhancing the website’s design and layout
d) By increasing brand awareness, engaging with the audience, and driving conversions

Correct answer
By increasing brand awareness, engaging with the audience, and driving conversions

49. Google is the world’s most popular

a) Social Media

147
 b) Search engine
c) Browser
d) Application

Correct answer
Search engine

50. What is the primary goal of the Exposure stage in the digital marketing funnel?

a) Generate leads
b) Convert prospects into customers
c) Increase brand visibility and reach
d) Drive immediate sales
e)
Correct answer
Increase brand visibility and reach

51. What is the main focus of the Consideration stage in the digital marketing funnel?

a) Building brand awareness

b) Convincing prospects to make a purchase
c) Nurturing leads and providing more information
d) Increasing website traffic

Correct answer
Nurturing leads and providing more information

52. In the digital marketing funnel, what is the primary objective of the Decision stage?

a) Creating brand awareness

b) Educating prospects
c) Encouraging immediate purchases
148
 d) Building customer loyalty

Correct answer
Encouraging immediate purchases

53. What is a common tool used in the Decision stage to prompt prospects to take action?

a) Social media engagement

b) Product demonstrations
c) Blog posts
d) Infographics

Correct answer
Product demonstrations

54. In the consumer decision-making process, what stage is characterized by the consumer
recognizing a need for a product or service?

a) Consideration stage
b) Purchase stage
c) Evaluation stage
d) Awareness stage

Correct answer
Awareness stage

55. What role does emotional appeal play in influencing consumer behavior in digital marketing?
a) No impact on consumer decisions
b) It is the primary factor for decision-making
149
 c) It complements rational decision-making
d) Only affects impulsive purchases

Correct answer
It complements rational decision-making

56. What is the primary goal of understanding consumer behavior in digital marketing?
a) To increase website traffic
b) To improve product design
c) To enhance marketing effectiveness
d) To reduce advertising costs

Correct answer
To enhance marketing effectiveness

57. How can social media platforms be utilized to understand consumer behavior?

a) By avoiding social media altogether

b) Through targeted advertising
c) Ignoring comments and feedback
d) Focusing only on organic reach

Correct answer

Through targeted advertising

58. Which platform is famous for visual content and is particularly effective for lifestyle and
product marketing?

a) Twitter
b) Pinterest
c) Snapchat
d) YouTube
150
Correct answer
Pinterest

59. Which phase involves potential customers actively seeking information about a product or
service?

a) Consideration
b) Loyalty
c) Advocacy
d) Awareness

Correct answer
Consideration

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Case study

AirBnB's "Live There" Campaign Digital Marketing Case Study

The goal of Airbnb's "Live There" campaign was to promote real, local travel experiences and
show that Airbnb is a place where travelers can fully experience the culture of their chosen
destinations. The goal of the campaign was to use digital marketing channels to get travelers'
attention and encourage them to try new, unique things.

Objective-

• Increase brand awareness: The goal of the campaign was to make more people aware of
Airbnb's unique value proposition and set the brand apart from other hotels.

• Promote local experiences: Airbnb wanted to show people the benefits of staying in local
neighborhoods and the chances to learn about other cultures.

• Drive user engagement: The goal of the campaign was to get people interested in
traveling by showing them unique experiences and places through content and
partnerships.

• Boost bookings: Airbnb wanted to get more bookings and more people to use its service,
so it focused on how appealing local travel experiences were.

Strategies Used-

• Influencer collaborations: Airbnb worked with popular bloggers, Instagrammers, and

content creators in different cities around the world. The goal of these partnerships was to
make personalized city guides, show off unique experiences, and encourage travelers to
check out neighborhoods in other cities.

• Social media engagement: The campaign asked people to share their travel stories on
social media using hashtags related to the campaign. Airbnb used user-generated content
to make the campaign feel more like a community and more real.

• Multimedia content: Airbnb made interesting multimedia content, like videos and blog
posts, that showed how living like a local can be beneficial. This content was shared on
many digital platforms, like Airbnb's website and social media.

Results-
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 • Increased brand visibility: The "Live There" campaign got a lot of attention from the
media and social media, which made the brand more visible and known.

• Higher user engagement: The campaign encouraged user-made content and social media
interactions, which helped Airbnb users and potential travelers feel like they were part of
a community.

• Growth in bookings: The campaign's focus on local experiences and cultural immersion
made more people book on Airbnb and use the platform.

• Positive brand sentiment: Users and travelers liked that the campaign focused on being
real and making connections with people in the area.

Key Takeaways-

• The power of authenticity: By promoting real and local travel experiences, Airbnb tapped
into a growing consumer desire for unique and personalized travel adventures.

• Influencer partnerships increase participation: By working with well-known bloggers

and content creators, Airbnb was able to reach more people and make more interesting,
locally relevant content.

• Personalization enhances user experience: Using user data to personalize travel

suggestions and recommendations makes users more interested and happy.

In conclusion, Airbnb's "Live There" campaign used digital marketing strategies well to promote
real travel experiences and get people to interact with the site. Airbnb was able to increase brand
awareness, build a sense of community, and get more bookings by working with influencers and
making personalized content. The campaign's focus on authenticity and customization gave
valuable information about what consumers want and showed how important it is for the travel
industry to offer customized experiences.

Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" Campaign Case Study

The "Share a Coke" campaign by Coca-Cola was a very successful digital marketing effort that
tried to get to know consumers on a personal level. People were asked to share their experiences
on social media using the hashtag #ShareACoke and famous names were printed on Coca-Cola
bottles as part of the campaign. The goal of the campaign was to give people a sense of being
unique and help them feel more connected to the brand.

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Objectives-

• Boost brand engagement: The goal of the campaign was to get people more involved by
getting them to share their custom Coca-Cola bottles and stories on social media.

• Generate social media buzz: Coca-Cola wanted to get a lot of user-created content and
conversations going on social media sites.

• Increase brand loyalty: The campaign's goal was to make people feel more connected to
and loyal to the Coca-Cola brand by putting popular names on the bottles.

• Drive sales: In the end, the goal of the campaign was to boost sales of Coca-Cola by
making people excited about and want to collect the personalized bottles.

Strategies-

• Customized bottles: Coca-Cola put the names of famous people on their bottles, so people
could find their own names or the names of people they cared about. The goal of this
method of personalization was to make a strong emotional connection and get people to
talk about their experiences.

• Social media integration: Coca-Cola actively encouraged people to share photos and
stories about their personalized bottles on social media sites with the
hashtag #ShareACoke. This strategy took advantage of user-generated content and the
power of sharing on social media.

• Influencer collaborations: Coca-Cola worked with influencers and celebrities who shared
their own personalized bottles and experiences on social media. This made the campaign's
reach and impact even bigger.

Results-

• Massive social media engagement: The #ShareACoke hashtag was used in millions of
posts and interactions during the campaign, which led to a lot of user-generated content on
social media sites.

• Brand visibility: Because of the personalized bottles and user-generated content, the
campaign got a lot of attention from the media and went beyond traditional marketing
channels.

154
 • Increased brand loyalty: The campaign gave people a sense of personal connection and
emotional attachment, which made them more loyal to the brand and made them feel good
about it.

• Sales impact: Coca-Cola's sales went up because of the "Share a Coke" campaign. There
was more demand for personalized bottles, and overall sales went up.

Key Takeaways-

• Consumers respond positively to customization: The personalization strategy of the

campaign hit a nerve with consumers, giving them a sense of ownership and making them
feel closer to the brand.

• User-generated content drives engagement: By asking customers to share their

experiences on social media, a huge amount of user-generated content was created, which
increased engagement with the brand and made it more visible.

• Using influencers increases reach: Partnering with celebrities and people with a lot of
influence helped the campaign reach more people and create more buzz and excitement.

In the end, Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign was a success because it used digital marketing
techniques to give customers a personalized and interesting experience. The campaign's focus on
personalization, integration of social media, and partnerships with influencers led to more brand
engagement, loyalty, and, in the end, sales. The success of the campaign showed how important it
is to appeal to the emotions of consumers, use user-generated content, and personalize marketing.

155
156
157
Short Case Studies On Digital Marketing

1. Intuit Digital Marketing Case Study

Intuit is a software company. The organization found that its customers wanted simple tools for all
other aspects through their research when they were planning to add a new operation to their
product portfolio.

To gain a solution to the problem of the competitors they chose to gain visibility in organic results.

With the use of relevant most searched keywords and leveraging social media, they succeeded in
connecting the new users to the website in an engaging fashion.

2. DisabledGo Digital Marketing Case Study

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DisabledGo was stuck with the complex issue of migrating the SEO strategy from an old platform
to a new platform.

Keeping in view the idea of keeping the migration as smooth as possible from an SEO view they
took up the challenge of implementing 301 redirects to new URLs from the old ones.

They even transferred metadata and set up a new site map. By effectively using the technique of
URL restructuring they not only achieved the aim of retaining the old users but also boost up the
visitors by ranking up the competitors in the niche.

3. Harris Teeter Digital Marketing Case Study

Being a grocery business, this setup did not have much of a margin and that was a task in itself.
This made the task of boosting social media visibility look huge for Harris and Teeter.

By using the strategy of behavioral targeting, many options of combinations were found that
provided visibility in terms of the fan base.

The reason that this boosted the post engagement by 400% surely proves why this is regarded as
one of the best case studies on digital marketing.

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4. Health Republic Insurance Digital Marketing Case Study

Health Republic Insurance of New Jersey had to face the issue of low lead generation and poor
market position. In response, it came up with a strategy that lets Health Republic Insurance secure
its place in top case studies on Digital Marketing,

The goal of HRINJ was to grow fast to improve coverage and reduce premiums.

With the introduction of a new tagline, they were positioned as a values-driven insurer that boosted
their enrolment and the business.

Paper Boat Digital Marketing Case Study

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The company managed to get an online appearance by choosing to allow people to share their
childhood memories as the brand itself deals with manufacturing drinks which are common
household drinks.

The idea to float a paper boat and share it on social media was brought into Advent.

This surely made the brand name famous with the audience proving them with an extra customer
base to target. This is rightly a part of great case studies of digital marketing.

KKR IPL Team Digital Marketing Case Study

In order to maintain a connection with the fans of the team, the management decided to launch a
blog to increase the fan base as it was solely for Shahrukh Khan Fans who is the co-owner of the
team.

This allowed the viewers insight into the team and dressing room.

This instance of digital marketing surely increased the fan following of the team just by the idea
of utilizing the fan base of its celebrity co-owner.

The intelligent idea surely adds it to the unique digital marketing case studies PDF.

Hubspot case study

We all know how popular Hubspot has become today and widely it is being used, the credit goes
to digital marketing and especially content marketing. The contents on Hubspot are of top-notch
and that has attracted users towards it.

The blogs on Hubspot target users to attract to its funnel. Today the company is worth a billion
dollars and it has become possible due to its effective content marketing strategies.

It also sells Marketing along with sales and service software that play quite a significant role in
growing different businesses without any sort of compromises. The motivation to consider “good
for the business” would be something that is also “good for the customer” which makes it one of
the best Digital Marketing Case Studies you need to pay attention to.

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Case Studies
1. DOVE

Dove is an American company that manufactures healthcare, beauty, and hair products for men
and women. They have no age bar to use their product. Their products are suitable for everyone,
from kids to old-age people. The company is famous for its thought-provoking campaigns that
cannot be ignored.

Through its innovative approach, Dove aims to connect with their customers emotionally,
highlighting an individual’s natural human flaws, which brands usually whitewash to align their
products with the ever changing unrealistic beauty standards.

Other factors that set Dove apart from other competitive brands are – they deeply analyze the
audience, their problems, and solution. Dove’s unconventional approach to promoting the ‘real’
you make it a champ in its field. Their recent campaign, “#stopthebeautytest”, gave voice to the
stories of thousands of women who have faced rejection due to their physical appearance.

Marketers can learn how prioritizing a customer-centric approach while championing a good cause
can lead to better audience engagement. Even with your digital marketing campaigns. Emotional
connection is the key to an advertisement. Moreover, expanding your reach to all social media
channels and using it as one of your USPs can attract more attention.

Learn Digital Marketing Course online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive
PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career.

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 2. BURGER KING

Another company that uses online marketing every step of the way is Burger King. They always
find out a way to come into the spotlight. Their ads and innovative strategies always become a
topic to discuss. Some of the elements that Burger King has incorporated into their digital
marketing strategies are– remaking the company’s logo more creatively. They have also used a
competitive advantage by putting slogans targeting competitors.

One of their ads highlighted the drawbacks of using preservatives in products that McDonald’s
was once accused of. It gained views and connected with the audience due to health and well-
being. They believe in the strategy of highlighting the problem and fixing it. Moreover, Burger
King implemented touchless technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This hints towards their activeness and preparedness in times of crisis. Other attractive components
in their digital marketing are attention-seeking slogans, big quotes on billboards, hoardings, and
collaboration with popular American TV shows such as Stranger Things’ collaboration– the upside
down.

A creative, informative, fresh, and consistent social media feed is what makes Burger King an
actual king of its domain. Marketing personnel can take notes from BK to ensure consistency in
their digital media projects and roll out fresh campaigns every once in a while.

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 3. SLACK

Slack is one of the most prominent business management tools designed specifically to assist team
communication within organizations. It is one of the fastest-growing tech startups to reach a
valuation of $1 billion. There is something about Slack that makes it stand out. And it’s not just
about marketing; it’s about how many ways you can attract your customers’ attention.

Slack is one of those companies that believe in traditional marketing strategy. They implemented
word-of-mouth marketing by giving it a modern touch. The founder of Slack spread the word
through Twitter and assembled customers with the help of social media. They also believed in the
power of storytelling, which led to the company’s success.

Moreover, they innovatively used media, spreading their published media articles on social media
platforms to converge the attention towards themselves. Another thing that Slack focused on was
content marketing, where they ranked for keywords related to their 3rd party. This gained them a
wide audience on their website.

The takeaways for us from this case study are– to look for the authentic source of marketing tools
and to work on building the effectiveness of your products instead of numerous features.

The Freemium plan was also one of their USPs. Attract the audience by providing them with
products free of cost so they can understand your product better. Slack presented a fresh take on
leveraging social media to promote services, and aspiring digital marketers can surely take notes
from their SEO case studies!

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 4. TESLA

Tesla is one of the biggest American automotive companies receiving audience attention
worldwide. Tesla has always been in talks for numerous reasons. Amongst these, the main reason
is its social media presence. Before discussing their online presence, let’s look at their product.

Tesla has successfully combined the four Ps– Product, Price, Place, and Promotion with marketing
strategies. They have also incorporated solar power technology into their vehicles. Moreover, the
quality of automobiles is also top-notch. Looking at their digital marketing, they have constantly
engaged with customers. Tesla is known for its consistent online interaction with the audience.

Using his massive popularity, Elon Musk has attracted attention by communicating with people
and sharing memes on his official social media handles. Besides that, Tesla also creates buzz
around the product, which is one of the most powerful elements of digital marketing.

Tesla’s digital marketing case study promotes amplified audience engagement, excellent customer
support, authenticity, and little to no support from paid advertising. While a big chunk of marketing
success came unknowingly to Tesla, thanks to its CEO, it still works as an example for marketing
aspirants to learn how authenticity and customer engagement can reap exceptional results.

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NOKIA case study
Nokia Increased Its Reach By 9252 Unique Participants Through Social Media Campaign Nokia
is a Finland based company. They are pioneers in the field of communication. Nokia has its
presence in various industries like rubber, cable, forestry, electronics etc. Their venture into the
field of telecommunication took place in 1960. Since then, Nokia has grabbed their unique space
as a market leader. Their continuous effort to outperform others in innovation and technology has
helped them to attract customers like a magnet. Nokia’s Business Objective Nokia launched an
online campaign to identify ‘Brand Ambassadors’. Usually, companies identify various positive
conversations about the brand on an online media and tap them gradually. But in this unique move,
Nokia organized an online campaign to find brand ambassadors by conducting an online contest.

The following were the objectives of the campaign:

• To increase the brand reach.

• To improve Nokia’s overall online presence.

Strategies Used by Nokia

Nokia used ShortStack in order to start with the campaign. ShortStack is a campaign building tool,
which helps to understand the visitors and provide an opportunity to engage your customer. It can
be used on any social networking site like Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ etc and it is very
easy to use.

Below are the strategies implemented by Nokia in their online campaign.

• Identifying three brand ambassadors was the prime motive. Usually, organizations use passive
approach to identify their brand ambassadors but here, Nokia chose to campaign in order to select
suitable brand ambassadors.

• The visitors could choose one of the celebrities, out of five, to play with. This allowed the
customers to choose from various options thereby, making it interesting.

166
• Visitors were asked a simple question ‘What are you willing to do to be an Ambassador?’ People
were given the flexibility to respond to this question in the form of an image, video or just a simple
comment. People have different ways to express their opinions. The campaign gave them their
freedom of expression which was well appreciated.

The visitors could share their responses on Facebook or Twitter. This was the most exciting part
for a visitor as it gave them a platform to express themselves. What they feel about the brand?
Why are they attracted towards Nokia? Why do they consider themselves suitable for being the
brand ambassador of Nokia? These were the questions that got clarified because of this online
campaign. The campaign was live for 12 days. The responses, engagement of people and the
publicity were beyond imagination. Results Achieved by Nokia The online campaign to identify
Brand Ambassadors turned out to be a hit campaign. Nokia could tap more customers and thereby,
their online presence also improved.

The following results were achieved by Nokia:

• The promotional images were liked by many. There were around 5550 shares and that’s a huge
number.

• Comments were flowing on the Facebook page. Nokia, on their part, proved capable to respond
to the queries promptly. The number of comments reached 5493.

• Highly appreciated and Increased customer participation. This online campaign allowed Nokia
to connect to its customers, earn their appreciation and extract valuable suggestions further
development. This approach provided a sense of belonging to the customers. The number of likes
on posts touched 61,781.

• Nokia witnessed an amazing growth in their fan base. This is a huge achievement for a brand.
Number of fans touched 68,469. This was because of prompt responses from Nokia. This
automatically resulted in increased online discussion about the brand.

167
 Increased App views. With the help of social media strategy and usage of Facebook as a platform
to connect to its people, Nokia increased its app viewership rate.

• Unique Participants. The number of participants touched 9252, making the whole campaign
successful.

Learnings

Nokia’s success as an organization to improved their fan base and to reach out to thousands of people
is really appreciable. The application of social media marketing strategy with proper planning
helped Nokia to achieve this success. A simple strategy to identify their brand ambassadors using
Facebook as a medium was a smart move. The presence of an organization on a social networking
site and their ability to keep their visitors engaged gave a definite boost to its reach.

168
RESEARCH PAPERS

169
 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 6 (2021) 92–102

Journal of Innovation
& Knowledge
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-innovation-and-knowledge

Using Data Sciences in Digital Marketing: Framework, methods, and

performance metrics
Jose Ramon Saura
Department of Business Economics, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the last decade, the use of Data Sciences, which facilitate decision-making and extraction of action-
Received 30 March 2020 able insights and knowledge from large datasets in the digital marketing environment, has remarkably
Accepted 3 August 2020 increased. However, despite these advances, relevant evidence on the measures to improve the man-
Available online 15 August 2020
agement of Data Sciences in digital marketing remains scarce. To bridge this gap in the literature, the
present study aims to review (i) methods of analysis, (ii) uses, and (iii) performance metrics based on
JEL classification: Data Sciences as used in digital marketing techniques and strategies. To this end, a comprehensive lit-
M15
erature review of major scientific contributions made so far in this research area is undertaken. The
M31
results present a holistic overview of the main applications of Data Sciences to digital marketing and
Keywords: generate insights related to the creation of innovative Data Mining and knowledge discovery techniques.
Data Sciences Important theoretical implications are discussed, and a list of topics is offered for further research in this
Digital Marketing field. The review concludes with formulating recommendations on the development of digital marketing
Knowledge discovery strategies for businesses, marketers, and non-technical researchers and with an outline of directions of
Literature review further research on innovative Data Mining and knowledge discovery applications.
Data Mining
© 2020 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction (2012) sought to understand the key ways to improve profitability

or ROI (Return of Investment) in DM. Furthermore, Kumar et al.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, both Digital Marketing (2013) measured the influence of data on the DM ecosystem. Like-
(DM) and Data Sciences (DS) have remarkably evolved in terms wise, Saura, Palos-Sánchez, and Cerdá Suárez (2017) identified the
of use and profitability (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). This has led to metrics to measure the efficiency of each of the DM actions devel-
the emergence of a digital ecosystem, which connects users 24/7 oped by a company on the Internet.
and which has shaped users’ new habits and behaviors (Mayer- Numerous studies demonstrated that a key way to increase the
Schönberger & Cukier, 2013). effectiveness of DM strategies is the application of DS techniques
DM is defined as a set of techniques developed on the Inter- in this industry (Braverman, 2015; Dremel, Herterich, Wulf, & Vom
net with to persuade users to buy a product or service (Avery, Brocke, 2020; Sundsøy, Bjelland, Iqbal, & de Montjoye, 2014). For
Steenburgh, Deighton, & Caravella, 2012). Today, the daily roadmap example, Kelleher and Tierney (2018) argued that DS can increase
for companies that operate on the Internet includes techniques the effectiveness of DM by improving issues such as (i) companies’
such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), i.e. optimization of management of the information collected from users; (ii) the type
search results from major search engines; Search Engine Marketing and source of data from the companies’ datasets, and (iii) appli-
(SEM) or programmatic advertising, i.e. strategies to sponsor ads in cation of new data analysis and innovative techniques to create
search engines or in advertising space on banners in websites; as knowledge (Palacios-Marqués et al., 2016).
well as Social Media Marketing (SMM), i.e. strategies of interact- Furthermore, Fan, Lau, and Zhao (2015) and Saura and Bennett
ing with users on social networks through social ads (Lies, 2019; (2019) underscored the importance of several important aspects,
Palos-Sanchez, Saura, & Martin-Velicia, 2019). such as the type of data collected from different online sources,
In recent years, DM has spurred a considerable research inter- purchases made by users, and their digital habits or behaviors.
est among scholars (Kannan, 2017). For instance, Rogers and Sexton Likewise, Wedel and Kannan (2016) demonstrated that, in order
to increase the chances of success on digital and social media
platforms, companies should identify unsuspected patterns using
Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) techniques.
E-mail address: [email protected] Accordingly, the DM industry has been increasingly influenced by

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2020.08.001
2444-569X/© 2020 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
J.R. Saura Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 6 (2021) 92–102

research areas such as Information Sciences (IS) or Computer Sci- Table 1

Types of patterns and descriptions in Data Sciences.
ences (CS), as well as by all other areas of research that facilitate
collecting, ordering, and managing data (Provost & Fawcett, 2013). Type of patterns Patterns description
Until now, the key tasks of DS have included improving the stor- Clustering Known as segmentation in business,
age capacity of company data, performing market research and clustering consists of the identification
consumer segmentation, or extracting key information regarding of behaviors, tastes, or habits that
company problems (Loebbecke & Picot, 2015). However, DS is a identify the same group of consumers
among other uses
broad ecosystem that encompasses different pattern identification
Association rule ARM consists of identifying patterns of
strategies, models of analysis, performance indicators, statistical mining (ARM) products purchased at the same time
variables, and technicalities skills linked to a great technological Outlier Identification of unusual or uncommon
expertise (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlström, & Freundt, 2014). How- detection/anomaly patterns that could be fraudulent, such
as in financial or insurance sectors
ever, several studies have highlighted that there is a skills gap in
Prediction patterns A pattern that predicts a missing value
this industry (e.g., Ghotbifar, Marjani, & Ramazani, 2017; Royle & (PP) of an attribute (product, service, etc.)
Laing, 2014). Specifically, both marketers without expertise in IS, instead of predicting the future
CS, or DS and non-technical researchers who lack the knowledge
of data management have faced the challenge of acquiring such
knowledge and skills and using them not only technically, but also
strategically and operationally. These challenges and the ways to In this relation, it is important to note that, in terms of detect-
overcome them are the motivation of the present study. ing patterns, humans can identify a maximum of three attributes,
In order to analyze the impact of the increase in companies’ or characteristics of an item (product, services, community, etc.).
use of DS on DM, the present study performs an in-depth review These attributes are also known as features or variables (Saura &
of (i) methods of analysis, (ii) uses, and (iii) performance metrics Bennett, 2019). However, with DS patterns, hundreds and thou-
based on DS applied in the scientific literature to DM strategies. sands of attributes (variables) can be simultaneously identified
The aforementioned three aspects will be studied, explained, and (Berry & Linoff, 2004).
analyzed from the marketer’s point of view, rather than from that of Patterns identified with DS techniques help to obtain action-
a data scientist. By reviewing the main concepts of DS framework able insights, i.e. what researchers or data scientists want to extract
applied to DM, the present study will allow marketers and non- from the identified patterns (Kelleher, Mac Namee, & D’arcy, 2015).
technical researchers to better understand the main applications Therefore, the term ‘insight’ is this context refers to the capacity of
of DS to DM, as well as to become more aware of the importance of patterns to provide meaningful information that can help to solve
each such application. the problem at stake. The word ‘actionable’ here means that insights
Considering the scarcity of previous research on the relationship extracted from patterns can in some way be used by the company
between DS with DM, the present review both bridges a gap in (Davenport, 2014). In DS, there are different types of patterns that
the literature and offers directions of further research in this area. can be applied to the DM industry (see Table 1).
The results of this review will allow marketers and non-technical Depending on the company’s goals when developing DM, dif-
researchers to better understand how the DS ecosystem applied to ferent types of patterns can be used to improve these strategies,
DM works, and what the key points of and alternatives to applying as well as to enhance the company’s ability to understand and
these techniques to DM are. structure the main attributes, features, or variables extracted from
Therefore, the present study addressed the following two companies’ databases (Berry & Linoff, 2004). In this sense, the type
research questions: of collected data is also important, from the company’s perspec-
RQ1: What are the main methods of analysis, uses, and perfor- tive, as the developed strategies that target digital platforms and
mance metrics of Data Sciences applied in Digital Marketing? social networks should be data-driven (Shareef, Kapoor, Mukerji,
RQ2: What are the areas of further research on the use of Data Dwivedi, & Dwivedi, 2020).
Science in Digital Marketing? Large volumes of data are referred to as Big Data (BD) (Gandomi
To address these two questions, a Systematic Literature Review and Haider, 2015). Big Data are characterized by the three Vs: (i) vol-
(SLR) is performed based on the publications available from sev- ume, i.e. excessive amounts of data, (ii) variety of data types, and (iii)
eral scientific databases, such as ACM Digital Library, AIS Electronic velocity at which the data must be processed (Kelleher & Tierney,
Library, IEEE Explore ScienceDirect, and Web of Sciences. 2018). The foundation of BD as they exist today was laid down by
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The fol- Codd’s (1971) Relational Data Model (RDM) that allowed for col-
lowing section presents the theoretical framework of DS. In the lecting and storing information, as well as making direct queries
second part, Theoretical background, the main concepts of the DS on information in databases. This advance removed the concern of
framework are presented. Sections “Methodology development” the physical location of a database. This was an important mile-
and “Analysis of results” present the methodology and report the stone in the DS industry—previously, databases were in separate
results, with a particular focus on the development of descriptors physical storage (Dwork & Roth, 2014).
that define the key aspects of DS in DM. Finally, the last section Codd (1971) also laid the foundations of Structured Query Lan-
draws conclusions and outlines directions of further research. guage (SQL), the current standard for querying databases. The latest
developments in data storage have led to the generation of new
databases known as NoSQL databases. NoSQL databases store vari-
Data science: theoretical framework able data and their attributes with languages such as JavaScript
Object Notation (JSON). JSON weighs less, has a higher process-
Overall, the major goal of DS is to extract knowledge from data ing speed, and is self-describing, rather than based on table-based
analysis to answer specific research questions (Kelleher & Tierney, relational model like SQL. Today, data warehouses (DW) are more
2018). By analyzing the data, DS techniques make it possible to easily available for analysis, measurement, and control ( Janssen
extract patterns from databases to explain a problem or to formu- et al., 2020).
late hypotheses. In DS, a key idea is that the patterns identified in The origin and sources of the data are also important in DS.
the data are (i) non-obvious and (ii) useful for companies (Berry & Depending on the origin of the data, different types of DS-based
Linoff, 2004). approaches are available for each type of analysis. Table 2 shows

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Table 2 Table 4
Types of data sources and descriptions in Data Sciences applied to Digital Marketing. Main machine learning models.

Type of data Data description Type Description

Transactional data Information regarding sales, invoices, receipts, Ensemble models EM are used to make predictions using a model
shipments, payments, insurance, rentals, etc (EM) source where each model votes on each query
Non-transactional data Demographic, psychographic, behavioral, Deep-learning Deep-learning neural networks have different
lifestyle data, etc neural networks layers of networks that discover patterns and
Operational data Data on strategies and actions related to can be trained. Models can also learn these
logistics and business operations patterns from complex datasets and can be
Online data (Sources) User Generated Content (UGC), emails, photos, applied to others later by following the learned
tweets, likes, shares, websites, web searches, criteria
videos, online purchases, music, etc Machine Vision Within the deep-learning neural networks, MV
(MV) allows for a visual identification and
recognition of objects, people, products, etc
Natural-Lenguage Based on text analysis and predefined patterns,
Table 3
Processing (NLP) NLP works with language and text to identify
Datasets indicators in Data Sciences.
insights that explain patterns non-identifiable
Dataset Indicator description by humans

Variable Denotes an individual abstraction in the dataset

Attribute Attributes are generally composed of numerical,
ordinal, and nominal values. Attributes are Table 5
characteristics of a variable Machine learning approaches applied to Digital Marketing.
Feature Features respond to the characteristics of variables
Type Description
such as attributes
Entity Entity is normally defined with a number of attributes Supervised SL the action of the ML that allows an
Instance In DS terms and indicators like instance, the terms learning (SL) algorithm to map an input to an-output
example, entity, object, case, individual or record could normally known as input–output pairs
be used in the DS literature to refer to a row Unsupervised SL is the action of the ML that allows the
learning (SL) function of identify for previously undetected
patterns in a dataset with no pre-existing
labels
the main data sources managed by companies that work with DS Support Vector Support vector is a one-class support vector
Machines (SVM) machine algorithm that classifies data into
in DM.
simple units and examines how similar
In DS, databases are made up of different variables or indica- instances are in a dataset
tors. These databases are known as “datasets” or “data records”
(thereafter, the term “dataset” will be used). Each of the variables
contained in the datasets denotes a specific characteristic (see
Table 3). Datasets can contain (i) structured or (ii) unstructured Next, within the ML area, there are two main types of analy-
data. Structured data can be stored in tables, with each table hav- sis approaches: (i) Supervised Learning (SL) and (ii) Unsupervised
ing the same structure or attributes. By contrast, unstructured data Learning (UL) (see Table 5). SL involves training a set of samples,
have their own internal structure and, consequently, attributes can including pieces of text, User Generated Content (UGC), such as
be organized in different ways in each table. tweets or Facebook posts, feelings about a product, and so forth. All
To provide an idea of the organization of datasets used by mar- these samples can be used to train an algorithm. Once the expected
keters applying DS, Table 3 presents the main characteristics of the success rate (accuracy) of the algorithm is achieved, the algorithm
indicators typically used in such datasets. that works with ML can automatically perform the analysis auto-
Attributes sometimes come from raw data. Raw data include matically.
different types of data that can offer insights to solve a problem. Unlike SL, Unsupervised Learning automatically identifies pat-
According to Kitchin (2014), raw data can be divided into (i) capture terns that have not yet been detected in the data. In this case, human
data and (ii) exhaust data. Capture data include measurements and supervision is minimal. The algorithms that work with ML are called
observations that have been designed to collect data. By contrast, as Support Vector Machines (SVM), known as one-class classifiers.
exhaust data do not include such measurements and observations An SVM examines the dataset to identify the main characteristics
and must be structured based on the problem to be solved. In previ- and similar behaviors of the instances that make up the database
ous research, case studies on metadata—i.e., data that contain files and can be trained on a recurring basis. SVM will classify the dis-
uploaded to the Internet—are analyzed by researchers as exhaust similar values of the instances so that the investigator can study
data (Janssen et al., 2020). the identified anomalies.
For dataset analysis, DS rely on the models based on Machine Data analysis processes should be framed using relevant con-
Learning (ML). The core of modern DS, ML provides algorithms to cepts. Accordingly, in the DS field, the concepts of Data Mining
automatically analyze large datasets. These models can be trained (DMI) and Knowledge Discovery (KD) have been introduced. At
by researchers (also non-technical researchers) or marketers to present, these two concepts (DMI and KW) are used indiscrimi-
extract actionable insights and identify patterns. A wide array of nately by researchers to refer to dataset analysis strategies. The
algorithms is available. These algorithms can be used and trained concept of DMI, proposed by Lovell and Michael (1983), initially
by connecting to companies or researchers’ databases (Dwork & emerged in the business world to make sense of the datasets devel-
Roth, 2014). oped in data warehouses. Accordingly, today, the concept of DMI
ML has evolved into what is known as Deep Learning (DL), a is more used in the world of business and marketing to refer to
technology that has allowed us to change how computers process processes of discovery and identification of patterns in datasets.
language and images. DL consists of a set of neural network mod- By contrast, KD stems from the concept of Knowledge Discovery
els with multiple layers and units on the same network. DL is the in Databases (KDD) (Shapiro, 1989), a concept that is now more
newest form of ML; however, it is not the only one used in DS (Lies, extensively used in the scientific world. It is a more technical con-
2019). There are different other approaches to the data using ML cept to refer to processes of discovery and identification of patterns
(see Table 4 for a summary). in datasets (Rudder, 2014).

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Table 6 Table 7
Search terms used in the SLR. SLR results.

Search terms Data bases Fields Database Number of results Number of relevant results

Data sciences AND digital ACM Digital Title ACM Digital Library 136 13
marketing Library AIS Electronic Library 5 2
OR data OR online AIS Electronic Abstract IEEE Explore 79 10
mining* marketing* Library ScienceDirect 34 9
OR knowledge* OR internet IEEE Explore Keywords Web of Sciences 105 15
discovery marketing* Total 354 49
ScienceDirect
Web of
Sciences
Table 8
* These terms were only used when the search of the terms “Data Sciences and Number of article classifications by results.
Digital Marketing” did not yield the expected results.
Article classification Data Sciences Digital Marketing Mixed Articles

Classification 16 13 20
Methods 12 4 11
Methodology development Uses 6 6 11
Performance metrics 4 11 11
In this study, in order to address the research questions for- Future topics 4 5 9
mulated in the previous section, the methodology of a Systematic
Literature Review (SLR) was used. SLP is defined as a method that
enables tackling “an emerging issue that would benefit from expo- Thirdly, selected articles were categorized as relevant follow-
sure to potential theoretical foundations” (Stieglitz, Mirbabaie, Ross, ing the definitions, applications, and theoretical concepts regarding
& Neuberger, 2018; Webster & Watson, 2002). As discussed previ- the importance of applying DS techniques in DM. Therefore, the
ously, the emerging area of DS applied to the DM sector will benefit articles that contained inadequate terms or were not conclusive,
from a logical conceptualization of the application of DS to this did not contain the search terms, had no relation to the research
digital environment. topic, offered no quality evaluation, or contained no description
For the development of SLR, the following three steps are usu- and specification of terms were removed (see Fig. 1).
ally used (Stieglitz et al., 2018). First, the theoretical foundations The steps of the development of the SLR undertaken in the
of a framework are presented for the classification of the main DS present study, performed following vom Brocke et al. (2015) and
concepts used in the literature. In doing so, we follow Bem (1995) Stieglitz et al. (2018) and enriched by the SLR presented by the
who argued that a coherent review requires a conceptual coherent PRISMA diagram (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & T, 2009), are
structuring of the topic itself. Therefore, the present review focused shown in Fig. 1.
on the analysis methods, uses, and performance metrics for the use Table 7 shows the total number of articles identified based on
of DS in DM. The main contributions of relevant studies were iden- each of the objectives proposed in the SLR process.
tified and categorized in terms of their priority for the theoretical While the very nature of the SLR indicates that the results from
framework. the databases should be related to both DS and DM, the articles
In the second step, according to Stieglitz et al. (2018), the litera- were classified from the point of view of the factors analyzed. That
ture is systematically examined to identify similarities and details is, if some articles were classified as having the main focus of DS, the
of the DM sector in DS. This step is used to inductively synthesize analyzed factors were justified from the DS point of view. On the
prior research and group basic concepts and definitions (Devece, other hand, for those articles classified as focusing on DM, the con-
Ribeiro-Soriano, & Palacios-Marqués, 2019). In the third step, the cepts analyzed were from the point of view of DM and its influence
main findings of the analysis of DS in DM in the literature are con- on DS. Furthermore, there were articles analyzed from a broader
sidered, highlighting the main uses, applications, indicators and point of view as they focused on methods, uses, performance met-
techniques, as well as outlining directions of further research in rics and future topics for both categories. In addition, articles that
this field. presented different categories (methods, uses, performance met-
In the present study, we followed the guidelines proposed by rics and future topics) within the same article were also analyzed
vom Brocke et al. (2009, 2015) and Stieglitz et al. (2018). First, (see Table 8).
the predefined and selected terms were searched in the databases Table 9 summarizes all studies included in the review, with the
regarding title, abstract, and keywords. The irrelevant results were specifications of authors, journals, research category, and content
eliminated. The search terms were chosen to identify the main uses, (specifically, main topic and main focus).
applications, indicators and techniques, as well as the future of
DS in DM according to the theoretical framework (see Table 6).
The results were classified by categories and filters related to CS, Analysis of results
IS, DM, marketing and business. Furthermore, only original arti-
cles and reviews were analyzed. Proceedings, books, chapters or DS provide different perspectives and approaches to statistical
magazines were not included in the SLR process. data analysis. Statistics is a set of rules to quantitatively analyze
This study is database-oriented and took into account all articles any type of data. However, with the evolution of mathematics and
published and indexed in the following scientific databases: ACM the development of DS, statistical learning has been defined as a
Digital Library, AIS Electronic Library, IEEE Explore, ScienceDirect, theoretical framework that works with ML from the point of view
and Web of Science. The detailed list of search is shown in Table 6. of DS (Tsapatsoulis & Djouvas, 2019). Therefore, the objective of the
Second, to identify the potential of the found articles, titles, methods used in DS applying statistical learning is to perform (i)
abstracts, and keywords were read in detail. For our review, rel- functional analysis, (ii) exploratory analysis, and (iii) prediction of
evant research studies were those that identified the main analysis results based on the analyzed data. Table 10 provides a summary of
methods, uses, performance metrics and future of DS research in the main methods identified in and applied to the DM ecosystem.
DM; therefore, the type of analysis and methodologies used in the After the analysis of the main methods applied to the study of
studies were not taken into account when selecting the articles. DM using the DS techniques, we identified the uses and applications

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Table 9
Relevant studies found in the Systematic Literature Review.

Authors Journal Category Main topic Main focus

Data Sciences Digital Marketing Methods Uses Perform. Metric Future Topics

Alrifai (2017) The Journal of Computing Sciences in Computer Sciences • • • •

Colleges
Arias, Arratia, and Xuriguera (2014) ACM Transactions on Intelligent Intelli. Sys. & Tech. • • • •
Systems and Technology
Ballestar, Grau-Carles, and Sainz (2018) Journal of Business Research Business • • •
Beaput, Banik and Joshi (2019) The Journal of Computing Sciences in Computer Sciences • •
Colleges
Cassavia, Masciari, Pulice, and Sacca ACM Transactions on Interactive Interactive Intelli. Sys. • • • •
(2017) Intelligent Systems
Cheng and Wang (2018) Journal of Business Economics and Business, Economics • • • •
Management
Dadzie, Sibarani, Novalija, and Scerri Journal of Web Semantics Information Systems • •
(2018)
De Caigny, Coussement, and De Bock Decision Support Systems Computer Sciences • • • • •
(2020)
Debortoli, Müller, and vom Brocke Business & Information Systems Business, Info. Systems • • • • •
(2014) Engineering
Dwivedi et al. (2019) International Journal of Information Information Sciences • • •
96

Management
Fan et al. (2015) Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment Computer Sciences • • •
Guinan, Parise, and Langowitz (2019) Business Horizons Business • • •
Haq, Li, and Hassan (2019) IEEE Access Computer Sciences • • •
Hodge et al. (2018) IEEE Transactions on Games Computer Sciences • • •
Jacobson, Gruzd, and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Business • • • •
Hernández-García (2020) Services
Jiao, Wang, Feng, and Niyato (2018) IEEE Internet of Things Journal Computer Sciences • • •
Lagrée, Cappé, Cautis, and Maniu ACM Transactions on Knowledge Information Science • • •
(2018) Discovery from Data
Lau et al. (2012) ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems • • • •
Information Systems
Liu et al. (2016) ACM Transactions on Knowledge Information Sciences • • • •

Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 6 (2021) 92–102

Discovery from Data
Liu, Gu, Ko, and Liu (2018) IEEE transactions on cybernetics Automa. & Control Syst. • • • •
Miklosik, Kuchta, Evans, and Zak IEEE Access Computer Sciences • • • •
(2019)
Milovanović, Bogdanović, Labus, Barać, Future Generation Computer Systems Computer Sciences • • •
and Despotović-Zrakić (2019)
Naqvi, Awais, Saeed, and Ashraf (2018) Inter. J. of Advanced Computer Science Com. Sc.,The. & Metho. • • •
and Applications
Papoutsoglou, Ampatzoglou, Mittas, IEEE Access Computer Sciences • •
and Angelis (2019)
 J.R. Saura
Table 9 (Continued)

Authors Journal Category Main topic Main focus

Data Sciences Digital Marketing Methods Uses Perform. Metric Future Topics

Poddar, Banerjee, and Sridhar (2019) Journal of Business Research Business • • •

Roundy and Asllani (2018) Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business, Economics • • • • •
Management and Innovation
Ruggieri, Pedreschi, and Turini (2010) ACM Transactions on Knowledge Information Sciences • • •
Discovery from Data
Saleemi, Anjum, and Rehman (2017) IEEE Access Computer Sciences • • • •
Salminen, Yoganathan, Corporan, Journal of Business Research Business • • • • •
Jansen, and Jung (2019)
Sang and Xu (2011) ACM Trans. Mult. Comp., Commu., and Computer Science • • • • •
Applications
Saura and Bennett (2019) Symmetry-Basel Multidisciplinary • • • • •
Saura, Herráez, and Reyes-Menendez IEEE Access Computer Sciences • • • •
(2019)
Spiekermann, Korunovska, and Proceedings of the IEEE Engineering • •
Langheinrich (2018)
Troisi, Maione, Grimaldi, and Loia Industrial Marketing Management Business, Management • • •
(2019)
Tsapatsoulis and Djouvas (2019) Frontiers in Robotics and AI Robotics • • •
97

Wu and Holsapple (2013) ACM Transactions on Knowledge Information Sciences • • • •

Discovery from Data
Wymbs (2016) Journal of Information Systems Information Systems • • •
Education
Yeo, Hwang, Kim, Koh, and Lipka IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Information Sciences • • • •
(2018) Data Engineering
Zannettou, Sirivianos, Blackburn, and Journal of Data and Information Quality Data and Infor. Quality • • • •
Kourtellis (2019)
Zhu, Peng, Chen, Zheng, and Zhou ACM Transactions on Knowledge Information Sciences • • • •
(2016) Discovery from Data
Wang, Zhang, and Yuan (2017) Foundations and Trends® in Computer Sciences • • • •
Information Retrieval
Song et al. (2014) Personal and ubiquitous computing Computer Sciences • • • •

Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 6 (2021) 92–102

Chang, Kauffman, and Kwon (2014) Decision Support Systems Computer Sciences • •
Kaiser and Bodendorf (2012) Internet Research: Electronic Netw. Business & Info. Sci. • • •
Applic. and Policy
Archak et al. (2011) Management science Management • • • •
Liao, Chen, Hsieh, and Hsiao (2009) Expert Systems with Application Computer Sciences • • • • •
Su, Chen, and Sha (2007) International Journal of Technology Management • • • •
Management
Su, Chen, and Sha (2006) Technovation Engineering & Managem. • • •
Kwan, Fong, and Wong (2005) Decision Support Systems Computer Sciences • • • • •
J.R. Saura Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 6 (2021) 92–102

Fig. 1. PRISMA flow diagram of SLR.

Table 10
Type of methods used in Data Sciences as applied to Digital Marketing.

Type of analysis Description

Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics is used to quantitatively summarize features from a collection of information or a dataset. It
includes the measurement of central tendency, arithmetic mean, or measures such as variance or the range
Bayes’ rule Bayer’s rule is used for the description of probabilities of events. It is based on knowledge about the conditions that
could have caused a specific event
Method of least squares The method of least squares makes it possible to find the best theoretical model made up of variables or constructs
that fit a dataset and allows for a quantitative validation
Linear regression Linear regression is used to model the relationship between a scale and an exploratory variable. When there is more
than one analysis variable within the linear regression, it is called multiple linear regression
Logistic regression Logistic regression is a regression analysis used to predict a categorical variable. A categorical variable is a variable
that can be subdivided into more categories. It is used as a general rule to model the probability of an event and the
factors that compose it
Artificial neural network Artificial neural networks are self-learning systems made up of interconnected neurons of nodes that have an input
and an output. They are used to find or detect solutions or features that are otherwise difficult to identify using
standard programming
Multivariate analysis Multivariate analysis is an analysis model focused on the multiple analysis of data collected from more than one
dependent variable. Multivariate analysis involves the analysis of variables and correlations among them
Maximum likelihood estimate Maximum likelihood estimate is a method for estimating statistical parameters in an observation. Its results show the
highest probability for the estimation of the analyzed parameters
Discriminatory analysis Discriminatory analysis is known as classification or pattern-recognition (nearest-neighbor models). It automatically
recognizes patterns or regularities in a dataset and is widely used in research focused on DM or KDD
Information theory Information theory is used to analyze and study the quantification and communication of information to find the
limits of communication processing
Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence is focused on the simulation of human intelligence by machines. In the present study, Artificial
Intelligence refers to using machines automatically focused on machine learning and problem solving

pursued by the DS in the tactical strategies and developments of the new vaccines, fighting diseases that can cause an uncontrolled epi-
DM (see Table 11). demic (such as the coronavirus known as COVID-19), and predicting
In the DM ecosystem, one of the main challenges is controlling possible deaths. Marketing must promote companies’ use of such
and defining the success of a DS strategy. To this end, marketers and strategies to collect data for further analysis.
researches should choose and understand the main performance Smart cities & governance: Efficient management of energy
metrics for the measurement of the models and methodologies resources, as well as sustainable and intelligent construction and
used. The results of our SLR analysis highlighted the following indi- development are based on automation and artificial intelligence
cators to measure the success of these SD strategies applied to the of large structures (Ismagilova, Hughes, Dwivedi, & Raman, 2019;
DM sector (see Table 12). Janssen, Luthra, Mangla, Rana, & Dwivedi, 2019). Social or responsi-
Fig. 2 shows the main topics DM research using DS. These ble marketing, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR),
research areas were selected taking into account the recommen- is driven by DM-based communications through digital platforms
dations of the studies analyzed and their discussions of further and social media channels (Orlandi, Ricciardi, Rossignoli, & De
research in the field. Marco, 2019).
In what follows, each of the topics and the influence that these Internet of Things (IoT): IoT refers to management and collec-
topics may have on the development of DM strategies using DS are tion of daily use data from connected devices. This also includes
explained in detail. order and identification of new features that help personalize and
Medical data and eHealth strategies: Analysis of users’ medical offer new products and services and to create new needs (Brous,
data can help to find trends and thus facilitate the creation of Janssen, & Herder, 2020). DM adapts to the mobile environment

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Table 11
Mean uses of Data Sciences in Digital Marketing strategies.

Type Description

Analyzing User Generated Content Analysis of the content publicly published by users on social networks and digital platforms. Some examples include
(UGC) tweets, reviews, reviews, comments, shares, likes, meta data, etc
Optimize customers’ preferences Optimization of user preferences in products or services customizable based on the analysis of large databases
containing information about customer preferences
Tracking customer behavior online Tracking and predicting consumer behavior on digital channels. In this way, companies can anticipate their marketing
and advertising actions and better understand users
Tracking social media Tracking user-company responses and interactions in digital ecosystems. Based on the results, marketers can transmit
commentary/Interactions more relevant messages
Optimize stock levels in ecommerce Optimization of the stock in e-commerce websites for better management of both the information and the products
websites and services to anticipate sales and request products from suppliers in advance
Analysis of online sales data Sales analysis to find patterns that explain trends, current demand and customers’ interest in specific products
Introducing new products Market research to find implausible patterns that can offer new products to sectors saturated with offers
Analyzing social media trends Analysis of the trends in social media to avoid, for example, crisis of reputation of companies or social movements that
require attention by the company. Also known as Social Listening
Analyzing product recommendations Analysis of consumer reviews and recommendations to identify key points and characteristics of companies’ products,
and reviews services, or customer service
Personalizing customer’s online Improving customer shopping experiences by offering personalized experiences based on information from previous
experience users who visited a website
Building recommender systems Creation of automatic recommendation systems that establish priorities and predictions of purchase success for
certain customers based on the analysis of their purchase history
Measure and predict clicks online Prediction of user clicks on web pages and social networks. Based on this information, companies can improve the
(Social and Paid Ads) profitability of their ads and increase the visibility of impressions and clicks, also known as Click Through Rate (CTR)
Measure and predict user’s behavior Predicting how users will behave to offer or avoid problems before a purchase, e.g. sending emails in email marketing
campaigns to offer additional products and thus increase profitability
Improve User Experience (UX) Improving user experience in terms of graphic and visual design of web pages, mobile applications, etc. focused on the
“user-friendly” movement
Analyze real-time data Facilitation of direct decisions regarding certain situations of sales, visibility, or dissemination of information
Identify online communities Identification of online communities and their influential and leaders. Analysis of the user considerations and loyalty
to opinion leaders and their messages
Identificar fake news y contenidos Identification of false content about companies or shared advertising messages; alternative terms are “fakenews” or
falsos “deepfakes”

Table 12
Mean performance metrics to measure the success of DS approaches in DM.

Indicator Description

Reliability Reliability is the metric of accuracy and exhaustiveness of the processing of a dataset linked to its use
Accuracy Accuracy, also referred to as precision, shows the quality and accuracy of hit of a model or method
Precision Precision, also known as Positive Predictive Value (PPV), is a metric that measures the relevance and success of the approach of a
method within the database where DS has been applied
Validity Validity is the measure that indicates whether the data support the results and conclusions obtained in a truthful and accurate way.
Consistency Consistency evaluates whether the values represented in data from one dataset are consistent with the values represented in the data
from another dataset at the same point in time
Recall Recall, also called sensitivity, generally refers to the number of correct results divided by the number of discarded values
Sensitivity Sensitivity, sometimes referred to as probability of detection or positive rate, measures the proportion of positive values or points
identified in a dataset
Specificity Specificity is the metric that evaluates the prediction characteristics of true negatives in the variables within a category in a dataset
Prevalence Prevalence refers to the proportion of population with specific common characteristics during a specific period of time

with mobile-friendly design initiatives and strategies that fosu on els focused on solving specific problems. These models should
connected devices. be created, trained, and debugged for a specific purpose. Other
Data privacy and management: Mass data management: This tasks include designing user-friendly algorithms and ML models to
includes rights, access, and legitimate profitability of large pub- break the technical barrier between marketers and data specialists
lic databases (Nissenbaum, 2009). One of the functions of DM is (Caseiro & Coelho, 2019).
to raise consumer awareness about how companies will make use Operational CRM and data management: This includes the cre-
of their data (emails, phones, demographics, and so forth) (Lee & ation of automatic company information management systems that
Trimi, 2018). can identify better unsuspected patterns and extract actionable
People: movement, organization and personalization: This insights to help company to manage their information in real time
includes analyzing the movement and organization of people and to enable marketing experts to take better decisions (Ricciardi,
through the analysis of large databases of citizens or vehicle pur- Zardini, & Rossignoli, 2018).
chases (Aladwani & Dwivedi, 2018; Höflinger, Nagel, & Sandner, Sustainable strategies based on data: This includes the study of
2018). The DM has the challenge of personalizing massive mes- the sources of data resources and management of globalization
sages and, using the DS methods, identifying specific habits processes to increase sustainable strategies and actions based on
according to the type of people and their demographic and psy- data analysis. Relevant research areas in this field include social
chographic characteristics to increase the ROI of digital campaigns marketing or green marketing (Archak, Ghose, & Ipeirotis, 2011).
(Palacios-Marqués, García, Sánchez, & Mari, 2019). Social media listening: This includes automated research on
Development of new Machine Learning models: This includes new important trends in social networks and messages released by
Machine Learning models that companies can train and apply in opinion leaders, as well as exploring the responses of communi-
their projects. There is a growing need for the creation of mod- ties to massive messages in the face of crises, epidemics, as well

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Fig. 2. Main topics of research in Digital Marketing using Data Sciences.

as environmental or social movements (Reyes-Menendez, Saura, specific ML models to each of these topics will define the future of
& Stephen, 2020). DM should understand how these communi- the sector in terms of the effectiveness of its data-driven strategies.
ties are organized and take adequate action with persuasive and As for the theoretical implications, the present review has iden-
responsible messages. tified a total of 11 methods, 17 uses, 9 performance metrics, and
9 research topics that can be used by researchers as the starting
points of their research focused on the use of DS in strategies of
DM. Regarding the methods, when considering their DM research
Conclusions using DS analysis, non-technical researchers can take into account
which of these models best fit the objectives of their research based
In this review article, we have defined the main concepts, meth- on the definitions presented. Furthermore, for the elaboration of
ods, and performance metrics used in DS throughout the last two new studies, researchers in the DM sector can use the nine iden-
decades and their applications in DM. We have provided a struc- tified topics to formulate new hypotheses or to find new research
tured account of the main concepts that marketers should take questions that need be addressed.
into account when considering a DM strategy based on data intelli- Furthermore, the present review offers important practical
gence. Pertinent methods used in DS to extract actionable insights implications for the industry. Today, companies are increasingly
from large amounts of data have also been identified. We have developing data-driven strategies. Therefore, the best use of these
also outlined major performances metrics used to measure the strategies requires an in-depth understanding of all necessary
DS performance in the DM environment. These results respond to steps. The results of the present review can be meaningfully used
first research question addressed in the present study (What are to familiarize companies’ experts with the main DS indicators and
the main methods of analysis, uses, and performance metrics of Data metrics in the DM ecosystem.
Sciences applied in Digital Marketing?). Consequently, companies can use the results of the present
Today, companies are involved in an increasingly data- review as the starting point in the elaboration of new DM strate-
driven ecosystem. Accordingly, the number of ML-based user- gies. Companies can consider implementing any of the 17 identified
friendly applications that companies, marketers, and non-technical uses of DS in DM to obtain actionable insights from their datasets.
researchers can use has considerably increased. However, the In addition, in terms of performance metrics, companies can take
understanding by marketers and marketing researchers of the main the definitions and descriptions provided in this review to make
notions of DS is essential to be efficient and lasting over time, as reports and present their contingency and control plans, as well as
the lack of such understanding has already become a skill problem to measure the success of their digital campaigns.
(Ghotbifar et al., 2017; Royle & Laing, 2014). The limitations of this study include the number of databases
Specifically, businesses have been reported to waste a lot of time analyzed and the criteria used to collect the articles from the
organizing, cleaning, and structuring the databases of their users databases. In addition, the selection of the articles and their classi-
and customers (Kelleher & Tierney, 2018). In this context, the use of fication could have biased the final results. Further research should
relevant indicators and performance metrics will help companies, focus on the topics similar to the 9 topics identified in the present
marketers, and non-technical researchers in the marketing area to review, In addition, the improvement of DS processes in the DM
conduct better research and to more efficiently measure the time ecosystem, which has not been identified in this review, should
they spend analyzing and structuring their databases. also be considered.
With regard to our second research question (“What are the areas
of further research on the use of Data Science in Digital Marketing?”), in
our results, we have identified a total of 9 topics for future research
on DS in the DM ecosystem. Undoubtedly, the application of new

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102
 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, no 12, pp 2248-2252, December 2022

International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews

Journal homepage: www.ijrpr.com ISSN 2582-7421

A Study on the Consumer Buying Behaviour towards Online Marketing

Dr. Rachita Ota1, Dr.Sushree Sangita Ray2, Ms. Kavya Kumari3

1
Assistant Professor, Amity Global Business School, Bhubaneswar
[email protected]
2
Assistant Professor, Amity Global Business School, Bhubaneswar
[email protected]
3
Student of BBA Marketing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55248/gengpi.2022.31269

ABSTRACT

In this dynamic world every day, we come to acknowledge shift of technologies and adopting different managerial skills, there is a shift of technology in
approaching toits customer or find its consumer base while this study will be based on as the worlds are shifting there techniques how the customers are
responding towards new marketing strategies and leaving behind old formula or traditional marketing. This paper begins with an introduction of online
marketing then it highlights the customer dependency on online marketing and end with the pros and cons on the people of online marketing.

Keywords: Online Marketing, Customer Dependency, Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

Marketing is the process of developing a strategy to deliver information about a product or service to its targeted audience. For connecting to our
targeted audience, marketer can opt for various platforms. With the advent of the internet and social media, another platform has taken the front seat.
This is the online platform and the marketing done at this platform is the Online Marketing. Hence, one can define Online Marketing as the process by
which a company targets its audience using various websites and apps, with the internet acting as an intermediary. Online marketing allows a marketer
to reach their targeted audience and communicate about their products through a variety of channels, such as email marketing, social media, websites,
e-commerce, and so on.
The world is rapidly adopting the internet. Users are drawn to the internet, and their use of the internet is increasing as their reliance on the internet
grows. Trends show that marketers have adopted new strategies to generate leads, attract new customers, and work on customer retention. These online
platforms are not just used to attract customers, but also to acquire them as well as retain them.
Before launching any products or services, a marketer can conduct an online survey and collect responses from potential customers, allowing the
marketer to launch according to the needs of customers after analysing their responses. Online marketing, also known as internet marketing, is a subset
of digital marketing that includes strategies marketer use to market themselves online. To qualify as an Internet marketing strategy, it must require the
Internet to work and connect with leads. Internet marketing focuses on building a presence on the web.
Consumer behaviour is a rapidly growing area of study. It is a broader concept that investigates the factors that influence a consumer's decision to buy a
product that meets their need (or) desire. Consumer behaviour is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the dynamic interaction of affect
and cognition, behaviour, and the environment through which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives." There are various factors that
influence consumers' online purchasing behaviour. These are perceived ease of use, perceived risk, perceived usefulness, website design effect,
economic factor, product availability, and customer satisfaction. This study aims to understand the buying nature of the consumers towards the online
market shopping.

Growth of Digital Marketing in India Through the Pandemic

The scope of digital marketing has significantly expanded in 2020 and 2021. Despite the fact that the pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives
for the second year in a row, growth in the digital space has been strong and surprising. A larger increase is expected in 2023.
India has the world's second-highest number of internet users. In the country, internet penetration is at an all-time high. The number of active Indian
internet users is expected to reach 666 million in India and over 5.3 billion globally by 2023. This indicates that more people are moving online,
making it prudent and advantageous for retail brands to engage in digital marketing.
Even during the pandemic, the amount of money spent on digital marketing and advertising has increased. Even the largest corporations are
reorganising their marketing budgets and shifting their emphasis to digital. Due to the pandemic and multiple lockdowns, statistics show that India's e-
commerce market is expected to grow to Rs 7 trillion by 2023. This strongly suggests that digital marketing's growth is accelerating and has a positive
impact on both businesses and people's lives.
 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, no 12, pp 2248-2252, December 2022 2249

Digital marketing has a bright and secure future. Any business today must establish itself in the digital world with the assistance of creative, innovative,
and modern digital marketers. This growth in digital marketing will continue. With more opportunities on the horizon, meeting new consumer demands
is critical. Future generations will be raised in the digital age and will be accustomed to doing everything online. Organizations and businesses must
begin digital marketing efforts today in order to serve these future customers.
Data consumption is on the rise. People are increasingly subscribing to various platforms for watching videos and engaging in other internet addictions
such as online shopping. This is expected to rise further as a result of the ongoing digital revolution.

Literature review

To survive in the market for the longer period of time, every business will have to be customer focused, mark-driven, global in scope and flexible in its
ability to deliver superior value to customers whose preferences and expectations change continuously as they are exposed to new product offering and
communication about them. Online customers are constantly looking for new products, new attractiveness, and, most importantly, price compatibility
with their budget and with these attributes, internet turns out to be the best solution. It’s a mode by which consumers can save time and money by
shopping online at home or anywhere within their budget. Online shoppers have no restrictions when it comes to online shopping (Bashir, 2013).
According to Adrita Goswami et al. (2013), online marketers should place a greater emphasis on price and after-sale factors. To retain existing
customers and attract new customers in this competitive era, all online marketers must focus on customer satisfaction and offer new schemes on a daily
basis.
According to Garg and Bansal, 2020, consumer preferences are not permanent. It is constantly evolving, with a diverse range of options, prices, and
other factors influencing consumer behaviour. Digital marketing and consumer behaviour are inextricably linked. Consumer purchasing behaviour has
been shown to benefit from digital media. Digital marketing generates direct demand for products, assisting businesses in increasing sales.

Objectives of the Study

Based on the extensive review of literature the following objectives have been framed for the study:
1. To study the awareness of Online Marketing
2. To Study the impact of Online Marketing on Consumer buying behaviour

Research Methodology

The researchers have adopted a descriptive research design for the study, where both primary and secondary data were utilized. To fulfil the objectives
of the study responses were collected from a sample size of 100 respondents who were identified by utilizing the convenient sampling method. For the
collection of the data, a structured and well-drafted questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Primary data in structured format was collected via
direct questioning to respondents, which is direct through survey method. The secondary data was collected through online journals and news articles.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

For the attainment of the objectives of the study, the researchers have undergone descriptive statistics to analyse the data collected through the
respondents. The analysis initiates with the complete description of the respondents and then the analysis of their responses towards online shopping.
Respondent Profiling: In this study the age parameter has been considered as there has been a great difference in the purchasing pattern of the
customers based on their age. Hence among the different demographics for this study we have considered age. Age distribution for the research where
distributed in below 18, between the age group of 19-24 and age of 25-30 and above 30.After collecting and analysing the data of respondent it is seen
that belong to 19-25 age group no respondent were from above the age group of 30.

AGE
[PERCENTA
GE]

[PERCENTA
GE]
age 19- 24 25 -30

Hours spend by the respondent over internet

The present generation have more inclination towards internet and social media and this nature has made the marketers to move towards online
 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, no 12, pp 2248-2252, December 2022 2250

platforms to encounter their customers. The study also highlights the growing usage of the internet by the customers.

Hours spend on internet

[PERCENT
AGE]
[PERCENT
AGE]

[PERCENT
AGE]
3Hr to 5Hr 6hr to 8hr 8 hr

There are 27% of respondent who spend their time on internet which more than 8 hours, whereas 37% respondent use internet for 3Hr to 5Hr and is
followed by 36% of respondent spend their time on internet around 6hr to 8hr.

Click on the advertisement displayed

Every now and then the social accounts of the consumers are being bombarded with various advertisements which are influenced by their interests and
preferences which are highlighted by their searches and limes and shares. The consumes end up clicking on these ads and finally they select their
preferred products. The following figure highlights the tendency of the consumers towards the clicking of these advertisements.

clicks on the advertisement

[PERCENTAGE
]

[PERCENTAGE
]

[PERCENTAGE
]

sometimes don’t touch most often

To analyse the visits on advertisement we have given the options to choose from sometimes they visit, don’t touch, most often. According to the data
received we found that 73% people sometimes visit the websites or click for the information, 18% respondent don’t touch the ads whereas, 9% of
internet users visit most often.

Purchase followed by Online Advertisements

Once the ad appears on the screen, the first challenge for the marketer is that whether the customer is going to click on the ad or not which depends on
how attractive, and alluring is the content of the ad. But the next biggest challenge is whether the ad was able to convert the interest of the customer
into a purchase or not. This second challenge is highlighted in the following figure.

Frequency of purchase Influenced by ads

[PERCENT [PERCEN [PERCEN
AGE] TAGE] TAGE]

[PERCENT
AGE]
[PERCEN
TAGE]
[PERCENT
AGE]

yes, very often yes often yes sometimes below 25% 25%-50% 50%-75%
 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, no 12, pp 2248-2252, December 2022 2251

When respondent was asked about the frequency of purchase it was found that a majority of the respondents have agreed to go for a purchase once they
click on the advertisement which has triggered their interest.
In that response, we found around 64% of respondent purchase a product due to the influence of 25% to 50% of digital marketing whereas 36% of
respondents are influenced by the 25% of digital marketing and highly influenced by 75% of digital marketing.

Significance of Online ads

As the target customers are mostly on the online platform, so now the market spaces have turned out to be the major transaction spot where the buyer
and seller meet. So on one side if the marketers get their prospective customers on this platform, the customers also get a chance to get the desired
products which has the capacity of fulfilling their demands. The following figure has attempted to highlight the significance of these online ads.

online ads useful

[PERCENTAGE]

[PERCENTAGE]

[PERCENTAGE]

yes no maybe

In response to this 73% which is majority of the respondents said it is useful to them where as 18% of respondent don’t find useful and 9% of sample
size sometime they find useful and sometime not.

Attitude towards the Online Ads

To identify the effects of online advertisement on respondents whichare displayed over the websites and apps whether are nagging or irritating while
visiting the website.

Online ads nagging/ irritating

[PERCENTAG
E]

[PERCENTAG
E]

I am not disturbed by online ads use ad blocking software

As the graph suggest in response 18% of respondent use ads blocking software whereas 82% of aren’t bothered by ads.After collecting the data we
found that they are 82% respondent not bothered by the advertisement shown on websites where as 18% said they use ad blocking software.

Results and Findings

This study shows a significant association between age and digital marketing awareness. Analysing the data collected from the respondents, it was
found that customers are satisfied with their online shopping experience and prefer online shopping to traditional store shopping. The frequency of
online purchases is influenced by digital channels such as e-commerce websites, blogs, social media and email. The research shows an association
between digital channels and purchase frequency.Product descriptions, blogs, websites, and product reviews have been shown to influence
e customers' online purchasing decisions. This study provides evidence that there is a significant relation between the age bracket and the frequency of
online purchases. The most active age group for online shopping is 18-30 years old.
 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, no 12, pp 2248-2252, December 2022 2252

Conclusion

Digital marketing is one of the most effective and cost-effective marketing techniques. With the right digital marketing implementation, your
business can reach new heights. For proper implementation, the company needs to understand the purchasing behaviour of their customers. The
study was primarily conducted to understand the impact of digital advertising, social media, blogs and websites on consumer buying habits.
The study focuses on customers who rely on online shopping and their customers who rely on traditional purchases. The availability of e-commerce
platforms, digital channels, social media, etc has an influence on their purchasing pattern. Through our research, we observed that social media and e-
commerce platforms have a significant impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Customers tend to shop more through online portals during sales,
clearance sales, and holidays. Through this research, it was observed that customers believe in the reliability of product information available online
and verify it before purchasing a product.
They are satisfied with both their online shopping experience and the products they have purchase on the onlineplatformand this satisfaction is driving a
shift in their preference from traditional shopping to online shopping. Effectiveadvertising, information, promotion through social media,
blogs, and websites can help a business increase company sale.

Reference

1. AJ Parsons M Zeisser, R Waitman (1996), “Organizing for digital marketing”, McKinsey Quarterly.
2. Mort, Gillian Sullivan; Drennan, Judy (2002), “Mobile digital technology: Emerging issue for marketing”, The Journal of Database Marketing”,
Volume 10, Number 1, pp. 9-23.
3. Becherer R.C. and Halstead, D. (2004).“Characteristics and internet marketing strategies of online auction sellers”, International Journal of Internet
Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 24-37.
4. Egan J. (2007). “Marketing communication”, Cengage Learning, London, UK4.Dr. S. Sivasankaran, “Digital Marketing and Its Impact on Buying
Behaviour of Youth”, International Journal of Research in Management & Business Studies (IJRMBS 2017), Vol. 4 Issue 3 (SPL 1) Jul. - Sept. 2017,
pp. 33-39
5. SayabekZiyadin, RaigulDoszhan, Alex Borodin, AizhanOmarova, and Aigerim Ilyas, “The role of social media marketing in consumer behaviour”,
E3S Web of Conferences (2019).
6. P.R. Kousalya, V. Vasanthakumar, “Youngsters Buying Behaviour in Digital Marketing: Special Reference to Gobichettipalayam”, International
Journal of Applied Social Science Volume 6 (3), March (2019).
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8.http://s3-ap-southeast 1.amazonaws.com/ijmer/pdf/volume10/volume10-issue11(3)/18.pdf
9. https://www.webfx.com/blog/marketing/digital-marketing-vs-internet-marketing/
10.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345634018_A_Study_on_Digital_Marketing_and_It's_Impacts
11 .https://www.webfx.com/blog/marketing/digital-marketing-vs-internet-marketing/
P. Ankita and K. Naveen, “Review of digital marketing with latest tools and its effect on business models,” International Journal for
Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology, vol. 8, no. 5, May., pp. 2321-9653, 2020. [Online Serial]. Available:
https://www.ijraset.com/fileserve.php?FID=29098. [AccessedSeptember 25, 2020].
12.M. Keerthi (2018), “Influence of Digital Marketing on Consumer Purchase Behaviour”, IJTSRD, Vol.-1, Issue- 1, Nov. Dec. 2018, pp.-836-839.
13. Panchal H. (2018), “A Study on Digital Marketing and Its Impact”, IJARIIE, Vol. 4, Issue-2018, pp. 1038- 1041
14. Malwana K, Sharma P., Pathak A. (2019), “Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Buying Behaviour A Comparative Study on the Gender
Basis”, JGRS, Vol.-21, Issue-16, Dec. 2019, pp.-478-490.
 CHAPTER

Digital marketing✩

a Rotman
Avi Goldfarba,b,∗ , Catherine Tuckerc,b
5
School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
b NBER, Cambridge, MA, United States
c MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, United States
∗ Corresponding author: e-mail address: [email protected]

Contents
1 Reduction in consumer search costs and marketing ...................................... 261
1.1 Pricing: Are prices and price dispersion lower online? ....................... 261
1.2 Placement: How do low search costs affect channel relationships? ....... 263
1.3 Product: How do low search costs affect product assortment? ............. 264
1.4 Promotion: How do low search costs affect advertising?..................... 265
2 The replication costs of digital goods is zero .............................................. 267
2.1 Pricing: How can non-rival digital goods be priced profitably?.............. 267
2.2 Placement: How do digital channels – some of which are illegal – affect
the ability of information good producers to distribute profitably? ......... 268
2.3 Product: What are the motivations for providing digital products given
their non-excludability? ........................................................... 268
2.4 Promotion: What is the role of aggregators in promoting digital goods? ... 269
3 Lower transportation costs..................................................................... 269
3.1 Placement: Does channel structure still matter if transportation costs
are near zero? ...................................................................... 270
3.2 Product: How do low transportation costs affect product variety?.......... 271
3.3 Pricing: Does pricing flexibility increase because transportation costs
are near zero? ...................................................................... 272
3.4 Promotion: What is the role of location in online promotion? ............... 272
4 Lower tracking costs............................................................................ 273
4.1 Promotion: How do low tracking costs affect advertising? ................... 273
4.2 Pricing: Do lower tracking costs enable novel forms of price
discrimination?..................................................................... 276
4.3 Product: How do markets where the customer’s data is the ‘product’
lead to privacy concerns?......................................................... 277
4.4 Placement: How do lower tracking costs affect channel management? ... 278
5 Reduction in verification costs ................................................................ 278
5.1 Pricing: How willingness to pay is bolstered by reputation mechanisms .. 278
5.2 Product: Is a product’s ‘rating’ now an integral product feature? .......... 279

✩ This builds heavily on our Journal of Economic Literature paper, ‘Digital Economics.’

Handbook of the Economics of Marketing, Volume 1, ISSN 2452-2619, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hem.2019.04.004

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
259
260 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

5.3 Placement: How can channels reduce reputation system failures? ........ 280
5.4 Promotion: Can verification lead to discrimination in how goods are
promoted? .......................................................................... 280
6 Conclusions ...................................................................................... 281
References............................................................................................ 282

Digital technology is the representation of information in bits, reducing the costs

of collecting, storing, and parsing customer data. Such technologies span TCP/IP
and other communications standards, improvements in database organization, im-
provements in computer memory, faster processing speeds, fiber optic cable, wireless
transmission, and advances in statistical reasoning.
These new digital technologies can be seen as reducing the costs of certain mar-
keting activities. Digital marketing explores how traditional areas of marketing such
as pricing, promotion, product, and placement change as certain costs fall substan-
tially, perhaps approaching zero. Using the framework in our recent summary of the
digital economics literature (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2019), we emphasize a shift in five
different costs in addressing the needs of customers.
1. Lower search costs for customers.
2. Lower replication costs for certain digital goods.
3. Lower transportation costs in transporting digital goods.
4. Lower tracking costs enabling personalization and targeting.
5. Lower verification costs of customers’ wishes and firms’ reputations.
We argue that each of these costs had the distinction of affecting marketing earlier
and more dramatically than many other firm functions or sectors. As a consequence,
marketing has become a testing lab for understanding how these shift in costs may
affect the broader economy. This link between marketing and economics is impor-
tant because each of these shifts in costs draws on familiar modeling frameworks
from economics. For example, the search cost literature goes back to Stigler (1961).
Search costs are lower in digital environments, enabling customers to find products
and firms to find customers. Non-rivalry is another key concept, as digital goods can
be replicated at zero cost. Transportation cost models, such as the Hotelling Model,
provide a useful framework for the literature on the low cost of transportation of dig-
ital goods. Digital technologies make it easy to track any one consumer’s behavior,
a theme of advertising models at least since Grossman and Shapiro (1984). Last, in-
formation models that emphasize reputation and trust help frame research that shows
that digitization can make verification easier.
Early work in digital economics and industrial organization emphasized the role
of lower costs (Shapiro and Varian, 1998; Borenstein and Saloner, 2001; Smith et al.,
2001; Ellison and Ellison, 2005). Goldfarb and Tucker (2019) analyzed how these
shifts have been studied in the economics literature. We aim to focus on the extent to
which quantitative marketing has led, and has been the first empirical testing ground
for, many of these changes. As such, we will focus on work in quantitative marketing
aiming to understand the effect of technology. In doing so, we will not emphasize
 1 Reduction in consumer search costs and marketing 261

work from the consumer behavior literature or methodology-focused work from the
marketing statistics literature. We will also not emphasize studies in the marketing
strategy literature that document correlations which are of managerial importance,
rather than measuring the causal effects of digital technologies.

1 Reduction in consumer search costs and marketing

Search costs matter in marketing because they represent the costs consumers incur
looking for information regarding products and services. The most important effect
of lower search costs with respect to digital marketing is that it is easier to find and
compare information about potential products and services online than offline. Many
of the earliest reviews about the impact of the internet on the economy emphasized
low search costs in the retail context (Borenstein and Saloner, 2001; Bakos, 2001) and
the resulting impact on prices, price dispersion, and inventories. These papers built on
a long-established economic literature on search costs (Stigler, 1961; Diamond, 1971;
Varian, 1980). Recent work in marketing has examined the search process in depth,
documenting the clickstream path and underlying search strategies (Bronnenberg et
al., 2016; Honka and Chintagunta, 2017).

1.1 Pricing: Are prices and price dispersion lower online?

Perhaps the dominant theme in the early literature was the impact of low search costs
on prices and price dispersion. Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000) hypothesized that low
internet search costs should lower both prices and price dispersion. They empirically
tested these ideas, comparing the prices of books and CDs online and offline. They
found that online prices were lower. Similarly, Brown and Goolsbee (2002) showed
that insurance prices are lower online and Orlov (2011) found that airline prices are
lower online. A series of related studies (Zettelmeyer et al., 2001; Scott Morton et al.,
2003; Zettelmeyer et al., 2006) showed how digitization reduced automobile prices,
though not equally for all types of consumers. While prices fell, the results of the
literature on price dispersion have been more mixed. Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000)
show substantial price dispersion online. Nevertheless, they find that online price
dispersion is somewhat lower than offline price dispersion. Baye and Morgan (2004)
emphasize persistently high levels of price dispersion online. Orlov (2011) suggests
that online price dispersion is higher.
The persistence of price dispersion is a puzzle. Broadly, the literature gives two
main answers. First, the earlier economics literature has emphasized that retailers
differ, so the service provided for the same item differs across retailers. Firms with
stronger brands command higher prices, though this has been decreasing somewhat
over time (Waldfogel and Chen, 2006). This decline in importance of brands in the
digital environment, as shown in Hollenbeck (2018), is related as we discuss to the
reduction in verification costs.
262 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

Second, as a counterpoint to the notion that there are exogenously given differ-
ences in seller quality that formed the basis of the early economics literature – the
marketing literature has emphasized the extent to which search can be influenced
by the seller. In other words, in marketing we recognize that search costs are en-
dogenous and a reflection of a firm’s marketing strategy. Honka (2014) and De los
Santos et al. (2012) provide surprisingly large estimates of the cost of each click in
the online context. By forcing customers to conduct an extra click or two, sellers can
increase the relative cost of search in areas where they are weak. For example, a high-
quality, high-price firm might make it easy to compare product quality but difficult
to find prices. Chu et al. (2008) show that price sensitivity is lower in online gro-
cery compared to offline grocery. Fradkin (2017) has shown a similar phenomenon
in the context of Airbnb. A number of scholars have shown that such endogenous
increases in search costs can be sustained in equilibrium (Ellison and Ellison, 2009)
and profitable (Hossain and Morgan, 2006; Dinerstein et al., 2018; Moshary et al.,
2017).
Ellison and Ellison (2009) showed how firms can obfuscate prices. They empha-
size a setting where search costs should be very low: An online price comparison
website. They show that retailers that display prices on that website emphasize their
relatively low priced products. Then, when consumers click the link and arrive at
the retailer’s own website, they are shown offers for higher prices and higher mar-
gin goods. Thus, price dispersion is low at the price comparison website where
search costs are low, but dispersion is high where comparison is more difficult. More
recently, Moshary et al. (2017) demonstrate the effectiveness of similar price ob-
fuscation in the context of a massive field experiment at StubHub. The experiment
compared purchase prices and demand estimates when the service fees for using
StubHub were shown early in the search process versus immediately before pur-
chase. The experiment showed that customers were less sensitive to the same fee
when it was shown late in the process. The company deliberately made some price
information more difficult to find, and this increased quantity demanded at the same
price.
Another area where search costs are endogenous to firm marketing strategy re-
flects the use of devices. Firms recognize that tablets and mobile devices, with smaller
screens, may facilitate this process of restricting the information that consumers see
initially (Xu et al., 2017; Ghose et al., 2013). A developing area of marketing is
trying to understand, given this different environment, how best to present price in-
formation to consumers to maximize profits in a mobile environment (Andrews et al.,
2015; Fong et al., 2015).
The early online price dispersion literature and the more recent literature demon-
strating endogenous online search costs show where a close study of marketing
contexts has been able to add nuance to a puzzle noted in the economics literature,
by exploring how firms can increase search costs for consumers in a digital environ-
ment.
 1 Reduction in consumer search costs and marketing 263

1.2 Placement: How do low search costs affect channel

relationships?
Reduced search costs facilitate exchange more generally, often enabled by large digi-
tal platforms. Many major technology firms can be seen as platform-based businesses.
For example, Google and Facebook are platforms for advertisers and buyers. Jullien
(2012) highlighted that digital markets give rise to platforms because of low search
costs that facilitate matching and enable trade. Horton and Zeckhauser (2016) em-
phasize that many large digital platforms are driven by low search costs that enable
efficient use of unused capacity for durable goods. This emphasis on unused capac-
ity, and the need to match supply and demand, means that much research takes a
market design perspective (Einav et al., 2018). Cullen and Farronato (2016) empha-
size the challenges of matching supply and demand over time and the importance of
economies of scale in matching. Zervas et al. (2017) emphasize how supply changes
in response to changes in demand. Bapna et al. (2016) emphasize that platform design
can also be informed by consumer theory.
These platforms often provide an alternative type of distribution channel, through
which sellers can reach buyers. This can enable new markets and affect incumbents.
For example, several papers have examined the accommodation industry (Fradkin,
2017; Farronato and Fradkin, 2018; Zervas et al., 2017). Zervas et al. (2017) examine
how the introduction of Airbnb as a channel for selling accommodations reduced de-
mand in the incumbent hotel industry in a particular way. Airbnb provided a channel
for selling temporary accommodation. This enabled accommodations to go on and
off the market as demand fluctuated. Consequently, the impact of Airbnb is largest in
periods of peak demand (such as the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas). In these peri-
ods, hotel capacity is constrained. Airbnb ‘hosts’ play a role in providing additional
capacity. This means that hotel prices do not rise as much.
Digital platforms serve as distribution channels in a wide variety of industries,
including airlines (Dana and Orlov, 2014), books (Ellison and Ellison, 2017), food
trucks (Anenberg and Kung, 2015), entertainment (Waldfogel, 2018), and cars (Hall
et al., 2016). In many of these cases, a key role of online platforms is to provide an
additional channel to overcome capacity constraints (Farronato and Fradkin, 2018).
These constraints may be regulatory, as in the case of limited taxi licensing, related
to fixed costs and technological limits as in the case of YouTube as a substitute for
television, or both, as in the case of accommodation, where hotel rooms have high
fixed costs and short term rentals are constrained by regulation.
Given that a key role of these online platforms is to overcome capacity constraints
in offline distribution channels, this provides a structure for understanding where new
online platforms may arise. They will likely appear in places where existing distri-
bution channels generate capacity constraints, particularly in the presence of large
demand fluctuations. Furthermore, it provides a structure for identifying which exist-
ing channels and incumbent sellers will be most affected by online platforms: Those
in which capacity constraints generate a key source of their profits. As Farronato and
Fradkin (2018) show, hotels lost their ability to charge unusually high prices during
periods of peak demand.
264 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

In summary, digital platforms facilitate a reduction in search costs. This creates an

opportunity for sellers working at a small scale to find buyers. By enabling an influx
of sellers, online platforms overcome capacity constraints, creating new opportuni-
ties for sellers, new benefits to buyers, and new threats to the existing distribution
channels and the larger incumbent sellers. Much of the initial literature on platform
or two-sided networks was led by economists inspired by antitrust litigation in credit
cards (Rochet and Tirole, 2003; Armstrong, 2006). However, recently the literature
has exploded in marketing because so many large platforms are primarily marketing
channels – such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. This means that the digital mar-
keting literature is at the core of much of the debate about the extent to which such
platforms represent a challenge for antitrust regulators (Chiou and Tucker, 2017b).

1.3 Product: How do low search costs affect product assortment?

Anderson (2006) emphasized that the internet increases the purchase of niche or ‘long
tail’ products relative to mainstream or superstar products. Consistent with this hy-
pothesis, Brynjolfsson et al. (2011) find that the variety of products available and
purchased online is higher than offline. Zentner et al. (2013) use a quasi-experimental
estimation strategy to show that consumers are more likely to rent niche movies
online and blockbusters offline. Datta et al. (2018) demonstrate that the move to
streaming, rather than purchasing, music has led to a wider variety of music con-
sumption and increased product discovery, which in turn increases the variety of
music available (Aguiar and Waldfogel, 2018). Zhang (2018) links this discovery
of relatively unknown products to low search costs. Empirical evidence suggests that
this increase in variety increased consumer surplus (Brynjolfsson et al., 2003).
Furthermore, Quan and Williams (2018) suggest that the increase in the variety of
products purchased by consumers has been overestimated by the literature. In partic-
ular, they note that tastes are spatially correlated, and examine the consequences of
spatially correlated tastes on the distribution of product assortment both online and
offline. The key finding is that offline product assortment has been mis-measured,
because products that might appear to be rarely purchased in a national sample could
still have sufficient local demand in certain markets that they would be available.
Drawing on this insight, they build a structural model of demand and show that the
welfare effects of the internet through the long tail are much more modest than many
previous estimates. These relatively low welfare benefits of the long tail or the bene-
fits of increased variety are consistent with Ershov’s (2019) research in the context of
online software downloads from the Google Play store, which emphasizes the general
benefits of a reduction in search costs for consumers.
While much of the popular discussion has emphasized the long tail, the effect of
search costs on product assortment is ambiguous. If there are vertically differentiated
products, low search costs mean that consumers will all be able to identify the best
product. Bar-Isaac et al. (2012) provide a theoretical framework that combines super-
star and long tail effects as search costs fall, demonstrating that lower search costs
hurt middle-tier products while helping extremes. Elberse and Eliashberg (2003) doc-
ument both effects in the entertainment industry.
 1 Reduction in consumer search costs and marketing 265

As noted above, search costs can be endogenously chosen by firms. Recommen-

dation engines are one tool through which firms choose which attributes to empha-
size, lowering search costs in some dimensions and not others. Fleder and Hosanagar
(2009) show that simple changes to recommendation engine algorithms can bias
purchases toward superstar or long tail effects. Superstar effects occur when the rec-
ommendation engine primarily suggests ‘people who bought this also bought’. In
contrast, long tail effects occur when the engine instead suggests ‘people who bought
this disproportionately bought’. Consistent with this framing, Zhang and Liu (2012)
and Agrawal et al. (2015) show how recommendation engines can lead to a small
number of products receiving the most attention when they focus on showing which
products are most popular. In contrast, Tucker and Zhang (2011) provide an example
in which a recommendation engine which highlights the popularity of a digital choice
has asymmetrically large effects for niche products. This occurs for a different reason
than the one highlighted in Fleder and Hosanagar (2009). In this case, the release of
popularity information allowed niche sellers to appear to be relatively popular and
consequently signal their quality or general attractiveness.
Overall, reduced search costs appear to increase product assortment while also
increasing sales at the top of the distribution. We have empirical evidence of both
long tail and superstar effects, probably at the expense of products in the middle
of the distribution. While the variety of products offered has increased, Quan and
Williams (2018) highlight that the welfare consequences of this appear to be small
in the context of a particular set of online products. This contrasts with the evidence
summarized in Waldfogel (2018) who argues that digitization has led to a substantial
increase in consumer welfare in the entertainment industry. Currently, the literature
does not have a systematic structure for identifying when increased product assort-
ment will have a large welfare impact. The evidence presented by both Quan and
Williams (2018) and Waldfogel (2018) is compelling. It suggests that the particular
characteristics of the product category will determine welfare effects. It remains an
open research question what those characteristics might be, and this is something we
feel that marketing contexts are well able to exploit.

1.4 Promotion: How do low search costs affect advertising?

Advertising is often modeled as a process for facilitating search (Bagwell, 2007).
Online search costs affect advertising in a variety of ways. For example, low search
costs online can also change the nature and effectiveness of offline advertising. Joo et
al. (2014) show that television advertising leads to online search. Such searches can
in turn lead to better information about products and higher sales. In other words, the
ability to search online can make other advertising more effective, and it can enable
advertisers to include an invitation to search in their messaging.
Modeling advertising as a search process is particularly useful in the context
of search engine advertising. This is advertising that responds directly to consumer
search behavior. Consumers enter what they are looking for into the search engine.
Advertisers respond to that statement of intent. Search engine advertising allows both
266 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

online and offline advertisers to find customers. Kalyanam et al. (2017) show how
search engine ads affect offline stores. Even within search engine advertising, search
costs vary. Ghose et al. (2012) demonstrate the importance of rank in search out-
comes. Higher ranked products get purchased more. Narayanan and Kalyanam (2015)
and Jeziorski and Moorthy (2017) both document that rank matters in search engine
advertising in particular, but that this effect varies across advertisers and contexts.
Despite the widespread use of search advertising, there is some question about
whether search advertising is effective at all. Li et al. (2016) discuss how industry
attributes consumer purchases to particular advertising. Search engine advertising
appears most effective because people who click on search ads are very likely to end
up purchasing and because the click on the search ad is often the ‘last click’ before
purchase. Many industry models treat this last click as the most valuable and hence
search engine advertising is seen as particularly effective. Li et al. (2016) argue that
the industry models overestimate the effectiveness of search ads.
Blake et al. (2015) describe why the effectiveness of search advertising may be
overestimated. They emphasize the importance of the counterfactual situation where
the ad did not appear. If the search engine user would click the algorithmic link in-
stead of the advertisement, then the advertiser would receive the same result for free.
The paper shows the result of a field experiment conducted by eBay, in which eBay
stopped search engine advertising in a randomly selected set of local markets in the
United States. Generally, eBay sales did not fall in markets without search engine
advertising compared to markets with search engine advertising. In the absence of
search ads, it appears that users clicked the algorithmic links and purchased at roughly
the same rate. This was particularly true of the branded keyword search term ‘eBay’.
In other words, careful analysis of the counterfactual suggested that search engine ad-
vertising generally did not work (except in a small number of specialized situations).
This research led eBay to substantially reduce its search engine advertising.
Simonov et al. (2018a) revisit the effectiveness of search engine advertising and
focus on advertisements for the branded keyword, but for less prominent advertis-
ers than eBay. Using data from search results at Bing’s search engine, they replicate
the result that search engine advertising is relatively ineffective for very well known
brands. They then demonstrate that search engine advertising is effective for less well
known brands, particularly for those that do not show up high in the algorithmic list-
ings. Overall, these papers have shown that understanding the search process – for
example through examining heterogeneity in the counterfactual options when search
advertising is unavailable – is key to understanding when advertising serves to lower
search costs. Coviello et al. (2017) also find that search advertising is effective for
a less well-known brand. Simonov et al. (2018b) show that competitive advertising
provides a further benefit of search engine advertising: If competitors are bidding
on a keyword (even if that keyword is a brand name), then there can be a benefit
to paying to search engine advertising even for advertisers who appear as the top
algorithmic link.
In other words, Blake et al. (2015), Simonov et al. (2018a), and Simonov et al.
(2018b) together demonstrate what might seem obvious ex post: Search advertis-
 2 The replication costs of digital goods is zero 267

ing meaningfully lowers search costs for products that are relatively difficult to find
through other means. This finding is nevertheless important. Search advertising is a
multi-billion dollar industry and many marketers appear to have been mis-attributing
sales to the search advertising channel.
These three papers provide a coherent picture of how search engine advertising
works. The open questions relate to how changes in the nature of search advertising
– and the addition of new search channels such as mobile devices and personal assis-
tants – might affect this picture. As we move off the larger screens into more limited
bandwidth devices, then search costs may rise and even strong brands may benefit
from search advertising.
Tools and questions from economics – such as thinking about the right counter-
factual – have led to an extensive and important literature on search engines that spans
marketing and economics. Even though search engines are so recent, the speed with
which this literature has sprung up reflects the growing importance of search engines
and other search mechanisms in the digital economy.

2 The replication costs of digital goods is zero

Digital goods are non-rival. They can be consumed by one person without reducing
the amount or quality available to others. Fire is a non-rival good. If one person starts
a fire, they can use it to light someone else’s fire without diminishing their own.
The non-rival nature of digital goods leads to important implications for marketing,
particularly with respect to copyright and privacy. The internet is, in many ways,
a “giant, out of control copying machine” (Shapiro and Varian, 1998). This means
that a key challenge for marketers in the era of digitization is controlling product
reproduction – free online copying – by consumers.

2.1 Pricing: How can non-rival digital goods be priced profitably?

Non-rival goods create pricing challenges. If customers can give their purchases away
without decreasing the quality of what they bought, this creates challenges to the
ability to price positively. The initial response by many producers of digital products
was both legal (through copyright enforcement) and technological (through digital
rights management). The effectiveness of such policies on consumer purchases is
theoretically ambiguous, and the empirical evidence is mixed (Varian, 2005; Vernik
et al., 2011; Danaher et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015; Zhang, 2018).
Non-rivalry can lead to opportunities for price discrimination. Lambrecht and
Misra (2016) examine price discrimination in sports news. In this context, the highest
willingness to pay customers appear all year, while casual fans primarily read news
in-season. Therefore, it is profitable for a sports website to provide more free articles
during periods of peak demand. During the off-season, more content should require a
subscription because that is when the highest value customers appear. Rao and Hart-
mann (2015) examine price discrimination in digital video, comparing options to rent
268 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

or buy a digital movie. The paper shows that in the zero marginal cost digital context,
dynamic considerations play an important role.
The marketing literature has long being focused on tactical and practical questions
about how to price (Rao, 1984). Therefore, it is not surprising that scholars at the
boundary between marketing and economics have been exploring the new frontier
question about how to price non-rival digital goods.

2.2 Placement: How do digital channels – some of which are

illegal – affect the ability of information good producers to
distribute profitably?
Digital channels affect the ability of the producers of information goods to distribute
profitably. For example, music industry revenue began to fall in 1999 and this has
been widely blamed on the impact of digitization generally and free online copying
in particular (Waldfogel, 2012). This leads to a question of optimal restrictions on free
online copying by governments through copyright and by firms through digital rights
management. While the direct effect of free online copying is to reduce revenues,
such free copying may induce consumers to sample new music and buy later (Peitz
and Waelbroeck, 2006). Furthermore, Mortimer et al. (2012) show that revenues for
complementary goods (like live performances) could rise. Despite this ambiguity,
the vast majority of the empirical literature has shown that free online copying does
reduce revenue across a wide variety of industries (Zentner, 2006; Waldfogel, 2010;
Danaher and Smith, 2014; Godinho de Matos et al., 2018; Reimers, 2016).
The core open marketing questions therefore relate to the development and dis-
tribution of complementary goods. To the extent that free and even illegal channels
for distribution are inevitable for many digital goods, what are the opportunities for
intermediaries to facilitate profitable exchange? In other words, besides selling tick-
ets to live music, it is important to understand the ways in which industry has reacted
to these changes. As free video distribution becomes widespread through platforms
like YouTube and through illegal channels, it may generate incentives to offer sub-
scription bundles (as in Netflix) rather than charging per view (as in the cinema). It
may also generate incentives to produce merchandizable content, and then earn prof-
its through toy and clothing licensing, theme parks, and other channels. This in turn
may affect the role of entertainment conglomerates in the industry. If merchandizing
is necessary, then companies like Disney may have an advantage because they own
theme parks, retail stores, and other channels. Aside from Mortimer et al. (2012),
our empirical understanding is limited as to how complements to digital information
goods arise, how they work, and how they change the nature of the firm.

2.3 Product: What are the motivations for providing digital products
given their non-excludability?
Intellectual property laws exist because they can generate incentives to innovate and
create new products. The non-rival nature of digital goods leads to widespread viola-
 3 Lower transportation costs 269

tion of copyright and questions about what constitutes fair use. Many people consume
digital products without paying for them. While the owners of copyrighted works are
harmed, the provision of a product at zero price increases consumer surplus and elim-
inates deadweight loss. It also allows for valuable derivative works. In a static model,
this is welfare-enhancing. Consumers benefit more than producers are hurt.
Therefore, the key question with respect to digitization and copyright is with
respect to the creation of new products. Waldfogel (2012) provides evidence that
suggests that the quality of music has not fallen since Napster began facilitating free
online copying in 1999. While digitization did reduce incentives to produce because
of online copying, the costs of production and distribution fell as well. For distribu-
tion, low marginal costs of reproduction meant that early-stage artists could distribute
their music widely and get known, even without support from a music label or pub-
lisher (Waldfogel, 2016; Waldfogel and Reimers, 2015). The title of the new book
‘Digital Renaissance’ (Waldfogel, 2018) summarizes a decade of his research em-
phasizing that digitization has led to more and better quality entertainment despite
increased copying, largely because of reduced production and distribution costs. In
our view, the argument Waldfogel presents is convincing. The challenge for market-
ing scholars is to extend this literature by understanding better the profitable provision
of goods which serve as complements to digital goods.

2.4 Promotion: What is the role of aggregators in promoting digital

goods?
Non-rivalry means that it is easier for companies to replicate and aggregate the dig-
ital content of other firms. Such aggregators both compete with the producing firms
content and promote the producing firm’s content (Dellarocas et al., 2013). Thus, the
distinction between advertisement and product can become ambiguous. This tension
has been empirically examined in the context of the new aggregators. Examining
policy changes in Europe, three different studies have shown that news aggregators
served more as promotion tools than to cannibalize the revenues of producing firms
(Calzada and Gil, 2017; Chiou and Tucker, 2017a; Athey et al., 2017b). For example,
Calzada and Gil (2017) show that shutting down Google News in Spain substan-
tially reduced visits to Spanish news sites. Chiou and Tucker (2017a) found similar
evidence of market expansion looking at a contract dispute between the Associated
Press and Google News. Therefore, in general empirical evidence suggests that news
aggregators appear to have a market expansion effect rather than being cannibalizing.

3 Lower transportation costs

Information stored in bits can be transported at the speed of light. Therefore digital
goods and digital information can be transported anywhere at near-zero cost. Further-
more, the transportation cost to the consumer of buying physical goods online can be
relatively low. As emphasized by Balasubramanian (1998), the transportation costs
270 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

of traveling to an offline retailer are reduced, even if an online retailer still needs to
ship a physical product.

3.1 Placement: Does channel structure still matter if transportation

costs are near zero?
Digitization added a new marketing channel (Peterson et al., 1997). For digital goods,
this channel is available to anyone with an internet connection. For physical goods
bought online and shipped, this channel is available to anyone within the shipping
range. In the United States, this means just about anybody with a mailing address.
A variety of theory papers examined the impact of the online channel on marketing
strategy (Balasubramanian, 1998; Liu and Zhang, 2006). These papers build on ex-
isting models of transportation costs that build themselves on Hotelling (1929). They
model online retailers as being equidistant from all consumers, while consumers have
different costs of visiting offline retailers, depending on their location.
Empirical work has generally supported the use of these models. The new chan-
nel competed with the existing offline channels for goods that needed to be shipped
(Goolsbee, 2001; Prince, 2007; Brynjolfsson et al., 2009; Forman et al., 2009; Choi
and Bell, 2011) and for goods that could be consumed digitally (Sinai and Waldfo-
gel, 2004; Gentzkow, 2007; Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011a,d; Seamans and Zhu, 2014;
Sridhar and Sriram, 2015). Forman et al. (2009) aim to explicitly test the applicabil-
ity of Balasubramanian (1998) to the context of online purchasing on Amazon. Using
weekly data on top-selling Amazon books by US city, the paper examines changes
in locally top-selling books when offline stores open (specifically Walmart, Target,
Barnes & Noble, and Borders). The paper shows that when offline stores open, books
that are relatively likely to appear in those stores disproportionately fall out of the top
sellers list. The paper interprets this as evidence of offline transportation costs by con-
sumers of visiting retailers: When a retailer opens nearby, consumers become more
likely to buy books offline. If the retailer is relatively far away, then consumers are
more likely to buy online. A key limitation of this paper is that the data are ranked
sales, rather than actual purchase data. Work with purchase data is more limited,
though Choi and Bell (2011) show similar evidence of online-offline substitution in
the context of online diaper purchasing.
This result of online-offline substitution is not always evident. For multi-channel
retailers, while substitution does occur in many situations, there are particular situa-
tions in which the offline channel enhances the online channel, such as when a brand
is relatively unfamiliar in a location where a new store opens (Wang and Goldfarb,
2017; Bell et al., 2018). In particular, Wang and Goldfarb (2017) examined US sales
at a large clothing retailer with a substantial presence both online and offline. During
the period of study, the retailer substantially expanded the number of offline stores.
Using internal sales data, as well as information on website visits, the analysis com-
pares locations in which sales were high at the beginning of the sample period with
locations in which sales were low. For places that already had high sales, opening an
offline store reduced online purchasing. In these places, online and offline served as
 3 Lower transportation costs 271

competing channels, consistent with the prior literature. In contrast, in locations in

which sales were low, the opening of offline stores led to an increase in online sales.
This increase occurred in a variety of product categories, not only those that required
the customer to know whether the clothes fit. The evidence suggests a marketing
communications role for the offline channel.
These results suggest more nuance than simply ‘online is a substitute for offline.’
They suggest some validity to the widespread use among practitioners of the jargon
term ‘omnichannel’ (Verhoef et al., 2015). In particular, while the previous paragraph
summarized a long and careful literature that suggests the arrival of online compe-
tition reduced offline sales – and that new offline competitors reduce online sales –
within a firm the results are more nuanced. The offline store can drive traffic to the
online channel and in doing this it serves two roles: Sales channel and communica-
tions channel. This suggests the possibility that an online store can also drive traffic
to an offline channel – there is a nascent literature that explores this but, as might be
expected, establishing causality is hard.

3.2 Product: How do low transportation costs affect product variety?

In the absence of the online channel, all purchases would be made offline. Each
person would be constrained to purchase the products available locally. As high-
lighted above in the context of the long tail, the online channel provides access to
a much wider variety of products and services. Sinai and Waldfogel (2004) show
that online media enables non-local news consumption. In particular, they show that
digitization makes it relatively easy for African Americans living in primarily white
neighborhoods to read similar news to African Americans living in African Ameri-
can neighborhoods. In addition, digitization makes it relatively easy for whites living
in African American neighborhoods to read similar news to whites living in white
neighborhoods. Similarly, Gandal (2006) shows that online media enables local lan-
guage minorities to read news in their language of choice. Choi and Bell (2011)
document that sales of niche diaper brands are higher online in zipcodes where such
brands are generally not available offline. Low transportation costs enable product
variety, by reducing geographic barriers to distribution. While tastes are spatially
correlated (Blum and Goldfarb, 2006; Quan and Williams, 2018), distribution is not
limited by local tastes. As discussed earlier, Quan and Williams (2018) show that spa-
tially correlated tastes are reflected in offline offerings. This means that the welfare
impact of online product variety is smaller than it might seem if measured by num-
ber of varieties available. Combined, these results suggest that the welfare impact of
increased product variety will disproportionately accrue to people with distinct pref-
erences from their neighbors, what Choi and Bell (2011) call ‘preference minorities’.
This provides an additional layer for interpreting the results of Quan and Williams
(2018). If the welfare impact of increased online variety accrues to local minorities,
then it might indicate a larger benefit than straight utilitarian analysis might sug-
gest.
272 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

3.3 Pricing: Does pricing flexibility increase because transportation

costs are near zero?
Low transportation costs constrain online pricing in several ways. First, there is the
competition highlighted above, both between the various online retailers and between
online and offline retailers. Second, one aspect of low online transportation costs
involves the reduced physical effort when consumers are not required to carry items
home from the store. Pozzi (2013) shows that online grocery buyers stockpile more
than offline grocery buyers, purchasing in bulk when a discount appears. This ability
to stockpile further restricts online pricing strategies. Third, it is difficult, though not
impossible, to charge different prices for the same item at different locations; the
media has not treated retailers well who have been caught charging different online
prices to buyers in different locations (even if to match local offline store prices)
(Valentino-Devries et al., 2012; Cavallo, 2017).

3.4 Promotion: What is the role of location in online promotion?

Location matters in online promotion. This is partly because – as mentioned above
– tastes are spatially correlated. In addition, a long sociology literature, at least since
Hampton and Wellman (2003), shows that social networks are highly local. Mar-
keters have long known that word of mouth is perhaps the most effective form of
promotion (Dellarocas, 2003). Online word of mouth has become increasingly im-
portant, as we discuss in the context of verification costs, but offline word of mouth
remains a key tool for promotion even for products sold entirely online. Even though
individuals can communicate with anyone anywhere, much online communication
is between people who live in the same household or work in the same building.
Promotion through local social networks can be effective (Bell and Song, 2007;
Choi et al., 2010). For example, in the context of online crowdfunding of music,
Agrawal et al. (2015) show that local social networks provided early support that
helped promote musicians to distant strangers. There is also suggestive evidence that
online recommendations are more effective if provided by people who live nearby
(Forman et al., 2008). In other words, although the transportation costs for digital
costs are near zero, and the transportation costs for consumers of visiting stores are
reduced, a different type of transportation cost persists. This leads to spatially cor-
related social networks, which in turn leads to spatially correlated word-of-mouth
promotion. While the online word-of-mouth literature has grown rapidly, there is still
little understanding of how online and offline social networks interact. We expect
the quantitative marketing literature to be well placed to address this. As Facebook
and online social network platforms become increasingly important promotion chan-
nels, this gap in understanding limits our ability to design online promotion strate-
gies.
 4 Lower tracking costs 273

4 Lower tracking costs

Literatures on search, replication, and transportation all began in the 1990s and were
well established in the early digital marketing literature. More recently, it has become
clear that two additional cost shifts have occurred: Tracking costs and verification
costs have fallen.
It is easy to track digital activity. Tracking is the ability to link an individual’s
behavior digitally across multiple different media, content venues, and purchase con-
texts. Often, information is collected and stored automatically. Tracking enables ex-
tremely fine segmentation, and even personalization (Ansari and Mela, 2003; Murthi
and Sarkar, 2003; Hauser et al., 2014). This has created new opportunities for mar-
keters in promotion, pricing, and product offerings. The effect in placement has been
weaker simply because often there are coordination difficulties between different ver-
tical partners that make tracking harder.

4.1 Promotion: How do low tracking costs affect advertising?

Marketing scholars have been particularly prolific in studying the impact of low
tracking costs on advertising. The improved targeting of advertising through digi-
tal media is perhaps the dominant theme in the online advertising literature (Goldfarb
and Tucker, 2011b; Goldfarb, 2014). Many theoretical models on how digitization
would affect advertising emphasize targeting (Chen et al., 2001; Iyer et al., 2005; Gal-
Or and Gal-Or, 2005; Anand and Shachar, 2009). Much of this work has emphasized
online-offline competition when online advertising is targeted, and the scarcity of ad-
vertising space online and offline (Bergemann and Bonatti, 2011; Athey et al., 2016).
A large empirical literature has explored various strategies for successful target-
ing. Goldfarb and Tucker (2011c) show that targeted banner advertising is effective,
but only as long as it does not take over the screen too much. Targeting works when
it is subtle, in the sense that it has the biggest impact on plain banner ads, relative
to how it increases the effectiveness of other types of ads. Tucker (2014) shows a
related result in the context of social media targeting. Targeting works when it is not
too obvious to the end consumer that an ad is closely targeted.
Other successful targeting strategies include retargeting (to a partial extent) (Lam-
brecht and Tucker, 2013; Bleier and Eisenbeiss, 2015; Johnson et al., 2017a), target-
ing by stage in the purchase funnel (Hoban and Bucklin, 2015), time between ad
exposures (Sahni, 2015), search engine targeting (Yao and Mela, 2011), and target-
ing using information on mobile devices (Bart et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2017). In each
case, digitization facilitates targeting and new opportunities for advertising.
In addition to better targeting, better tracking enables the measurement of adver-
tising effectiveness (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011b). Early attempts to measure banner
advertising effectiveness included Manchanda et al. (2006) and Rutz and Bucklin
(2012). Tracking makes it relatively straightforward to identify which customers see
ads, to track purchases, and to randomize advertising between treatment and control
groups. More generally, prior to the diffusion of the internet, advertising measure-
274 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

ment has relied on aggregate correlations (with the exception of a small number of
expensive experiments such as Lodish et al., 1995).
Perhaps the clearest result of the increased ability to run advertising experiments
because of better tracking is the finding that correlational studies of advertising ef-
fectiveness are deeply flawed. For example, Lewis et al. (2011) use data from banner
ads on Yahoo to show the existence of a type of selection bias that they label ‘activity
bias’. This occurs because users who are online at the time an advertisement is shown
are disproportionately likely to undertake other online activities, including those used
as outcome measures in advertising effectiveness studies. They show activity bias by
comparing a randomized field experiment to correlational individual-level analysis.
Measured advertising effectiveness is much lower in the experimental setting. One
interpretation of this result would be to treat correlational analysis as an upper bound
on the effectiveness of advertising. Gordon et al. (2019) demonstrate that this is not
correct, and instead it is best to treat correlational analysis as having no useful infor-
mation for measuring advertising effectiveness in the context they study. They exam-
ine a series of advertising field experiments on Facebook. Consistent with Lewis et
al. (2011), they show that correlational analysis fails to measure advertising effective-
ness properly. Importantly, they show that sometimes correlational analysis underes-
timates the effectiveness of an advertisement. Schwartz et al. (2017) demonstrate the
usefulness of reframing experimental design as a multi-armed bandit problem.
Measurement challenges extend beyond the need to run experiments. Ideally, ad-
vertising effectiveness would be measured based on the increase in long term profits
caused by advertising. Given the challenge in measuring long term profits, research
has focused on various proxies for advertising success. For example, in measuring
the effectiveness of banner advertising, Goldfarb and Tucker (2011c) used data from
thousands of online advertising campaigns and randomized advertising into treatment
and control groups. The analysis delivered on the promise of better measurement, but
the outcome measure was far from a measure of long term profits. In order to get
a systematically comparable outcome measure across many campaigns, the paper
used the stated purchase intent of people who took a survey after having randomly
allocated into seeing the advertisement or seeing a public service announcement.
Advertising effectiveness was measured as the difference in stated purchase intent
between the treatment and control groups. This is a limited measure of effectiveness
in at least two ways. First, only a small fraction of those who saw the ads (whether
treatment or control) are likely to take the survey and so the measure is biased to
the type of people who take online surveys. Second, purchase intent is different from
sales (which in turn is different from long term profits).
In our view, for the purpose of comparing the effectiveness of different types of
campaigns, this measure worked well. We were able to show that contextually tar-
geted advertising increases purchase intent compared to other kinds of advertising,
and that obtrusive advertising works better than plain advertising. Furthermore, we
found that ads that were both targeted and obtrusive lifted purchase intent less than
ads that were either targeted or obtrusive but not both. At the same time, this mea-
 4 Lower tracking costs 275

sure would not be useful for measuring the return on advertising investment or for
determining the efficient allocation of advertising spending.
To address questions like these, subsequent research has built new tools for mea-
suring actual sales. Lewis and Reiley (2014) link online ads to offline sales using
internal data from Yahoo! and a department store. The paper linked online user pro-
files to the loyalty program of the department store using email addresses. With this
measure, they ran a field experiment on 1.6 million users that showed that online ad-
vertising increases offline sales in the department store. While still not a measure of
long term profits, this outcome measure is more directly related to the true outcome of
interest. This came at the cost of challenges in comparing across types of campaigns
and across categories.
This study was possible because the research was conducted by scholars working
in industry. Such industry research has been important in developing better mea-
sures of outcomes, as well as more effective experimentation. Other examples include
Lewis and Nguyen (2015), who show spillovers from display advertising to con-
sumer search; Johnson et al. (2017a), who provide a substantially improved method
for identifying the control group in the relevant counterfactual to firms that choose
not to advertise; and Johnson et al. (2017a), who examine hundreds of online display
ad campaigns to show that they have a positive effect on average.
Even in the presence of experiments and reliable outcome measures, Lewis and
Rao (2015) show that advertising effects are relatively low powered. In other words,
the effect of seeing one banner ad once on an eventual purchase is small. It is mean-
ingful and can deliver a positive return on investment, but demonstrating that requires
a large number of observations. Johnson et al. (2017b) show that better controls can
increase the power of the estimated effects, though this effect is modest. In addi-
tion, they found that careful experimental design and sample selection can lead to a
substantial boost in power.
In general, given these findings, advancing the literature poses some challenges
for marketing scholars. This is because it appears increasingly necessary, given the
high variance of advertising effectiveness and small effect sizes, to work with mar-
keting platforms to calibrate effects. This need is magnified because of the use of
advertising algorithms in these platforms which make understanding a counterfactual
problematic (Eckles et al., 2018). It is unlikely that advertising platforms would en-
courage researchers to study newer issues facing their platforms such as algorithmic
bias (Lambrecht and Tucker, 2018) or the spread of misinformation through advertis-
ing (Chiou and Tucker, 2018).
This is important because some of the biggest research questions that are open in
digital marketing communications are no longer simply about advertising effective-
ness. Instead, there are now large policy issues about the consequences of the ability
to track and target consumers in this way. An example of the challenges facing the
online targeting policy debate, is the extent to which regulators should be worried
about advertising that is deceptive or distortionary. Though there has been much dis-
cussion about the actions of firms such as Cambridge Analytica that use Facebook
data to target political ads, as of yet there has been limited discussion in marketing
276 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

about the issues of deceptive uses of targeting. Again, we expect this will be a fruitful
avenue of research.

4.2 Pricing: Do lower tracking costs enable novel forms of price

discrimination?
Low tracking costs can enable new ways to price discriminate. Early commentators
on the impact of digitization emphasized this potential (Shapiro and Varian, 1998;
Smith et al., 2001; Bakos, 2001). Tracking means that firms can observe customer be-
havior and keep tabs on customers over time. This enables behavioral price discrimi-
nation (see Fudenberg and Villas-Boas (2012) and Fudenberg and Villas-Boas (2007)
for reviews). This literature emphasizes how identifying previous customers affects
pricing strategy and profitability (Villas-Boas, 2004; Shin and Sudhir, 2010; Chen
and Zhang, 2011). While digital price discrimination has received a great deal of at-
tention in the theory literature, empirical support is limited. Other examples of online
price discrimination include Celis et al. (2014) and Seim and Sinkinson (2016).
Perhaps the best example is Dube and Misra (2017), who document that target-
ing many prices to different customers can be profitable in the context of an online
service. This paper relies on a large scale field experiment to learn the optimal price
discrimination policy. It then demonstrates that the learned policy outperforms other
pricing strategies, using an experiment. In other words, the paper demonstrates the
opportunity in price targeting and convincingly shows it works in a particular context
using experimental design.
One area where we have seen high levels of price discrimination is online ad-
vertising. Individual-level tracking means that there are thousands of advertisements
to price to millions of consumers. Price discrimination is feasible but price discov-
ery is difficult. As a consequence, digital markets typically use auctions to determine
prices for advertising. Auctions facilitate price discovery when advertisements can
be targeted to individuals based on their current and past behavior.
In the 1990s, online advertising was priced according to a standard rate in dollars
(or cents) per thousand impressions. Early search engine Goto.com was the first to
recognize that an auction could be used to price discriminate in search advertising.
Rather than a fixed price per thousand on the search page, prices could vary by search
term. Today, both search and display advertising run on this insight, and a large lit-
erature has explored various auction formats for online advertising (Varian, 2007;
Edelman et al., 2007; Levin and Milgrom, 2010; Athey and Ellison, 2011; Zhu and
Wilbur, 2011; Arnosti et al., 2016). As long as an auction is competitive, the platform
is able to price discriminate with much more detail than before. While this might
generate more efficient advertising in the sense that the highest bidder values the ad-
vertisement the most, it also may enable the platform to capture more of the surplus
from advertising. In other words, by enabling better price discrimination, advertising
auctions likely lead to the familiar welfare effects of price discrimination between
buyers and sellers, in this case the buyers and sellers of advertising. The impact on
 4 Lower tracking costs 277

consumer welfare is ambiguous and likely depends on the particular way in which
advertising enters the utility function.

4.3 Product: How do markets where the customer’s data is the

‘product’ lead to privacy concerns?
Tracking is an opportunity for marketers to segment. It also creates privacy concerns.
Therefore, low tracking costs have led to a resurgence of policy interest in privacy.
A core question in the privacy literature is whether privacy is an intermediate good
that is only valuable because it affects consumers indirectly (such as through higher
prices) or whether privacy a final good that is valued in and of itself (Farrell, 2012).
The theoretical literature has focused on privacy as an intermediate good (Taylor,
2004; Acquisti and Varian, 2005; Hermalin and Katz, 2006), while policy discus-
sions often emphasize privacy as a final good. Research outside of marketing such
as Acquisti et al. (2013, 2015) have argued that this discussion has been complicated
by inconsistent behavior of consumers towards their desires for privacy – leading to
a privacy paradox – where consumers behave in a way which contradicts their stated
preferences (Athey et al., 2017a).
Many examples of privacy regulation have been aimed at marketers. Such regu-
lation limits what marketers can do with data. It affects the nature and distribution
of outcomes (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2012). For example, European privacy regula-
tion in the early 2000s substantially reduced the effectiveness of online advertising
in Europe (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011e). Assuming that opt-in policies mean that
fewer users can be tracked, Johnson (2014) builds a structural model to estimate the
financial costs of opt-in privacy policies relative to opt-out. The estimates suggest
that opt-in policies can have substantial financial costs to platforms. While negative
effects of privacy regulation have been shown in a variety of contexts (Miller and
Tucker, 2009, 2011; Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011e; Miller and Tucker, 2018; Johnson
et al., 2017c), firm-implemented policies that protect the privacy of their consumers
can have strongly positive effects (Tucker, 2012, 2014).
Privacy regulation also affects the nature of product market competition (Camp-
bell et al., 2015). It can either constrain the ability of smaller firms to compete
cost-effectively (Campbell et al., 2015), or lead firms to intentionally silo data about
consumers (Miller and Tucker, 2014).
In our view, the empirical privacy literature in marketing is surprisingly sparse.
Marketers have an important role to play in the debate about data flows because we
are among the primary users of data. While there has been some progress on research
with respect to marketing policy, we have little empirical understanding of the strate-
gic challenges that relate to privacy. How should firms balance customer demands for
privacy and the usefulness of data to provide better products? What is the best way
to measure the benefits of privacy to consumers, given that short term measures sug-
gest consumers are often not willing to pay much to protect their privacy, while the
policy debate suggests consumers may care in the longer term? Overall, there are a
number of opportunities for marketing scholars to provide a deeper understanding of
278 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

when increased privacy protection will generate strategic advantage. We expect that
one such opportunity will be regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) which came into effect in May 2018. It was significant as the
first privacy regulation which has had a truly global impact and therefore affects not
just firms within the EU but across the world.

4.4 Placement: How do lower tracking costs affect channel

management?
Lower tracking costs can make it easier for a manufacturer to monitor behavior in
retail channels by tracking prices available online. Israeli (2018) discusses the use-
fulness of minimum advertised pricing restrictions that manufacturers sometimes im-
pose on retailers to reduce downstream price competition. Using a quasi-experimental
setting, the paper demonstrates that easier tracking of online prices makes minimum
advertised pricing policies more effective. Easier tracking enables different levels of
control in channel relationships. We believe there are opportunities for further re-
search in this area, especially in understanding how conflicts over control of digital
technologies affects channel conflict. A recent example of such work is Cao and Ke
(2019), who investigate how channel conflict emerges when it is possible to pinpoint
precisely a pair of eyeballs that may be interested in a particular search query and try
and advertise to them.

5 Reduction in verification costs

Reduced tracking costs have had an additional effect of improving verification. This
was not anticipated in the early literature which emphasized online anonymity. Per-
haps the most familiar verification technology in marketing is the brand (Shapiro,
1983; Erdem and Swait, 1998; Tadelis, 1999; Keller, 2003). The ability to verify on-
line identity and reputation without the need to invest in mass market branding has
affected marketing in a variety of ways. Verification is likely to continue to improve,
with the advent of new digital verification technologies such as blockchain (Catalini
and Gans, 2016).

5.1 Pricing: How willingness to pay is bolstered by reputation

mechanisms
Digital markets involve small players who may be unfamiliar to potential customers.
An estimated 88% of online Visa transactions are with a merchant that the customer
does not visit offline (Einav et al., 2017). While brands do play a role online (Bryn-
jolfsson and Smith, 2000; Waldfogel and Chen, 2006), for small players to thrive,
other verification mechanisms are needed. Online reputation mechanisms reduce the
importance of established brands and enable consumers to trust small online sellers.
Furthermore, Hollenbeck (2018) provides evidence that online reputation mecha-
 5 Reduction in verification costs 279

nisms can reduce the importance of offline brands. In particular, the paper demon-
strates that high online ratings lead to higher sales in offline independent hotels. Luca
(2016) finds a similar result for restaurants.
There are many ways that a platform might regulate the behavior of its users. This
includes systems that ban users who behave undesirably. However, the majority of
platforms lean on online ratings systems. In such systems, past buyers and sellers
post ratings for future market participants to see. There is a large literature on the im-
portance of eBay’s online rating system to its success, as well as a variety of papers
that explore potential changes and improvements to that system and their impact on
prices, market outcomes, and willingness to pay (Resnick and Zeckhauser, 2002; Ba
and Pavlou, 2002; Lucking-Reiley et al., 2007; Cabral and Hortacsu, 2010; Hui et al.,
2016). For example, Hui et al. (2016) demonstrate that eBay’s reputation system is
effective in reducing bad behavior on the part of sellers, but it needs to be combined
with eBay’s ability to punish the worst behavior in order to create a successful mar-
ketplace on which small sellers can thrive. Perhaps the key theme of this literature is
that online reputation mechanisms increase willingness to pay and sometimes enable
markets that otherwise would not exist.

5.2 Product: Is a product’s ‘rating’ now an integral product feature?

In addition to enhancing trust and willingness-to-pay, ratings systems provide infor-
mation on product quality. The rating becomes a key feature of a platform. Ratings in-
form consumers about the best products available within the platform, and are there-
fore a key element of the overall product offering. Platforms benefit because rating
information guides consumers to the highest quality products. For example, Cheva-
lier and Mayzlin (2006) demonstrate that positive reviews lead to higher sales in the
context of online retail. Even online identities that are consistent over time but not
connected to a name or home address can influence consumption (Yoganarasimhan,
2012). For some online platforms, such as Yelp, their product is to provide ratings
about offline settings. As noted above, Luca (2016) and Hollenbeck (2018) show that
high online ratings improve sales in offline restaurants and hotels, particularly for in-
dependents. In both cases, the online rating system is a substitute for a widely known
chain brand. Godes and Silva (2012) also show that such ratings have the potential to
exhibit dynamics that reflect real economic effects. This insight is built on by Much-
nik et al. (2013), who document herding in ratings behavior on a news website.
In addition to the idea of a rating system controlled by the platform as being an
integral product feature, organic and digital forms of word-of-mouth are also essen-
tial heuristics that consumers use when making purchase decisions about a product
(Godes and Mayzlin, 2009). Work such as Toubia and Stephen (2013) has also stud-
ied why it is that consumers post word of mouth on platforms such as Twitter, and
has drawn a distinction between the intrinsic and extrinsic utility that consumers de-
rive from posting. Lambrecht et al. (2018), however, suggest that some of the most
attractive potential spreaders of word-of-mouth, people who start memes on social
platforms, are also the most resistant to advertising.
280 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

5.3 Placement: How can channels reduce reputation system

failures?
In addition to understanding the successes of reputation systems, a wide literature
has explored when reputation systems fail. A key source of failure is the inability to
verify whether the person doing the online rating actually experienced the product.
Mayzlin et al. (2014) and Luca and Zervas (2016) show evidence that firms seem to
give themselves high ratings while giving low ratings to their competitors. A related
issue is selection bias in who chooses to provide ratings (Nosko and Tadelis, 2015).
Anderson and Simester (2014) show evidence of a related problem: Many review-
ers never purchase the product. They review anyway and these reviews distort the
information available. In response to these and other concerns, platforms regularly
update their reputation systems. For example, Fradkin et al. (2017) document two
experiments made at Airbnb to improve their reputation system. What was striking
about these experiments is that rather than too many ‘fake’ reviews being a problem,
instead here the challenge the platform faced was incentivizing users to give accurate
accounts of negative experiences. This paper established that too much ‘favorable’
opinion can be a problem in such settings.
The existing literature has provided a broad sense of when and how online rep-
utation systems might fail. This suggests new opportunities for scholars focused on
market design. Given the challenges in building online reputation systems, it is im-
portant to carefully model and build systems that are robust to these failures.

5.4 Promotion: Can verification lead to discrimination in how goods

are promoted?
Improved verification technology meant that the early expectations of online
anonymity have not been met. For example, early literature showed that online car
purchases could avoid the transmission of race and gender information, thereby lead-
ing to a reduction of discrimination based on these characteristics (Scott Morton et
al., 2003).
As verification technology has improved, this anonymity has largely disappeared
from many online transactions. This has led to concerns that online identities can be
used to discriminate. For example, when information about race or gender is revealed
online, consumers receive advertisements for different products and may even receive
offers of different prices (Pope and Sydnor, 2011; Doleac and Stein, 2013; Edelman
and Luca, 2014).
One recent example of this has been the question of algorithmic bias in the way
that advertising is distributed – something that has been highlighted by computer sci-
entists (Sweeney, 2013; Datta et al., 2015). In Marketing and Economics, Lambrecht
and Tucker (2018) show that a career ad that was intended to highlight careers in
the STEM fields that was shown to more men than women, did so due to the price
mechanism underlying the distribution of ads. Male eyeballs are cheaper than female
eyeballs, so an ad algorithm that is trying to be cost-effective will show any ad to
fewer women than men.
 6 Conclusions 281

This type of apparent algorithmic bias is a surprising consequence of improve-

ments in verification technology. In the past, it was not possible to verify gender
easily. Instead, firms used content to separate out likely gender affiliation – such as
assuming men were more likely to read fishing magazines and women more likely to
read beauty magazines. However, in a digital ecosystem where characteristics such
as gender can be verified, it means that there is now the possibility that inadvertently
our ability to classify gender could lead to perceptions of bias in areas where the
distribution of content in a non-gender-neutral way is problematic.

6 Conclusions
Digital marketing is inherently different to offline marketing due to a reduction of five
categories of costs: Search, reproduction, transportation, tracking, and verification.
In defining the scope of this article, we drew boundaries. We focus on under-
standing the impact of the technology on marketing using an economic perspec-
tive. Therefore, we did not discuss much work written in marketing that focuses
on methodology, such as the statistical modeling in digital environments literature
(Johnson et al., 2004; Moe and Schweidel, 2012; Netzer et al., 2012). We also did not
detail the consumer behavior literature on the effect of digital environments (Berger
and Milkman, 2012; Castelo et al., 2015).
This overview highlights that changes to marketing that result from the change
of costs inherent in the digital context are not as obvious as initial economic models
may imply. Instead, as may be expected, the complexities of both firm and consumer
behavior have led to less than predictable outcomes. It is these less predictable out-
comes which have allowed marketing contexts to inform the economics literature on
the likely effects of digitization outside of marketing.
Going forward, we anticipate the most influential work to fall into one of three
categories. First, there are still many opportunities to unpack the existing models
and identify new complexities in how the drop in search, reproduction, transporta-
tion, tracking, and verification costs affect various aspects of marketing. Many recent
papers fall in this category, including Blake et al. (2015), Simonov et al. (2018a),
Hollenbeck (2018), and Farronato and Fradkin (2018). In the above discussion, we
have highlighted some areas that we see as particularly important topics for future
research.
Second, as policies change, new business models arise, and new technologies
diffuse, there will be opportunities to understand these changes in light of existing
models. Recent papers of this type include Bart et al. (2014), Miller and Tucker
(2018), Lambrecht and Tucker (2018), and Johnson et al. (2017c).
Third, some of the changes brought by digitization and other advances in informa-
tion technology will require recognition of different types of cost changes. Just as the
early internet literature emphasized search, replication, and transportation costs, and
only later were tracking and verification costs recognized as important consequences,
we anticipate technological change to lead to the application of other well-established
282 CHAPTER 5 Digital marketing

models into new contexts. For example, one recent hypothesis is that recent advances
in machine learning can be framed as a drop in the cost of prediction which can be
modeled as a reduction in uncertainty (Agrawal et al., 2018).
For each of these categories, economic theory plays a fundamental role. Search
theory provided much of the initial impetus for the digital marketing literature. It
provided hypotheses on prices, price dispersion, and product variety. Some of these
hypotheses were supported, but others were not. In turn, this generated new models
that could explain the data, and the cycle continued. Models of reproduction costs,
transportation, tracking, and verification played similar roles. This led to a much
deeper understanding of the consequences of digitization on marketing.

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International Journal of Management
Science and Business Administration

Vo lume 1 , Issu e 5, Apri l 2 015 , Pag e s 6 9- 80

Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age:

An Empirical Study

Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema

Department of Business Administration, Northern University Bangladesh
Department of Business Administration, Asian University of Bangladesh
Corresponding author (e-mail): [email protected]

Abstract: Marketers are faced with new challenges and opportunities within this digital age. Digital marketing
is the utilization of electronic media by the marketers to promote the products or services into the market.
The main objective of digital marketing is attracting customers and allowing them to interact with the brand
through digital media. This article focuses on the importance of digital marketing for both marketers and
consumers. We examine the effect of digital marketing on the firms’ sales. Additionally the differences
between traditional marketing and digital marketing in this paper are presented. This study has described
various forms of digital marketing, effectiveness of it and the impact it has on firm’s sales. The examined
sample consists of one hundred fifty firms and fifty executives which have been randomly selected to prove
the effectiveness of digital marketing. Collected data has been analyzed with the help of various statistical
tools and techniques.

Keywords: Digital Marketing, Promotion, Effectiveness, Customer Reach

1. Introduction
Digital marketing is one type of marketing being widely used to promote products or services and to reach
consumers using digital channels. Digital marketing extends beyond internet marketing including channels
that do not require the use of Internet. It includes mobile phones (both SMS and MMS), social media
marketing, display advertising, search engine marketing and many other forms of digital media.

Through digital media, consumers can access information any time and any place where they want. With the
presence of digital media, consumers do not just rely on what the company says about their brand but also

69
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ISSN 1849-5419 (print) International Journal of Management Science And Business Administration Vol 1. No 5. April 2015., pp. 69-80
 Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema
Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

they can follow what the media, friends, associations, peers, etc., are saying as well. Digital marketing is a
broad term that refers to various promotional techniques deployed to reach customers via digital
technologies. Digital marketing embodies an extensive selection of service, product and brand marketing
tactics which mainly use Internet as a core promotional medium in addition to mobile and traditional TV and
radio. Canon iMage Gateway helps consumers share their digital photos with friends online. L’Oréal’s brand
Lancôme uses email newsletters to keep in touch with customers and hence tries to strengthen customer
brand loyalty (Merisavo et al., 2004). Magazine publishers can activate and drive their customers into Internet
with e-mails and SMS messages to improve re-subscription rate (Merisavo et al., 2004).

Marketers increasingly bring brands closer to consumers’ everyday life. The changing role of customers as co-
producers of value is becoming increasingly important (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). Khan and
Mahapatra (2009) remarked that technology plays a vital role in improving the quality of services provided by
the business units. According to Hoge (1993), electronic marketing (EM) is a transfer of goods or services
from seller to buyer involving one or more electronic methods or media. E-Marketing began with the use of
telegraphs in the nineteenth century. With the invention and mass acceptance of the telephone, radio,
television, and then cable television, electronic media has become the dominant marketing force. McDonald’s
uses online channel to reinforce brand messages and relationships. They have built online communities for
children, such as the Happy Meal website with educative and entertaining games to keep customers always
close to themselves (Rowley 2004). Reinartz and Kumar (2003) found that the number of mailing efforts by
the company is positively linked with company profitability over time. The primary advantages of social
media marketing is reducing costs and enhancing the reach. The cost of a social media platform is typically
lower than other marketing platforms such as face-to-face sales or sales with a help of middlemen or
distributors. In addition, social media marketing allows firms to reach customers that may not be accessible
due to temporal and locational limitations of existing distribution channels. Generally, main advantage of
social media is that it can enable companies to increase reach and reduce costs (Watson et al. 2002; Sheth &
Sharma 2005).
According to Chaffey , social media marketing involves encouraging customer communications on
company’s own website or through its social presence . Social media marketing is one important technique in
digital marketing as companies can use social media form to distribute their messages to their target audience
without paying for the publishers or distributor that is characteristic for traditional marketing. Digital
marketing, electronic marketing, e-marketing and Internet marketing are all similar terms which, simply put,
refer to marketing online whether via websites, online ads, opt-in emails, interactive kiosks, interactive TV or
mobiles Chaffey & Smith, 8 . Giese and Gote (2000) finds that customer information satisfaction (CIS)
for digital marketing can be conceptualized as a sum of affective response of varying intensity that follows
consumption and is stimulated by focal aspects of sales activities, information systems (websites), digital
products/services, customer support, after-sales service and company culture.

Waghmare (2012) pointed out that many countries in Asia are taking advantage of e-commerce through
opening up, which is essential for promoting competition and diffusion of Internet technologies. Zia and
Manish (2012) found that currently, shoppers in metropolitan India are being driven by e-commerce: these

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 Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema
Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

consumers are booking travels, buying consumer electronics and books online. Although spending per online
buyer remains low, some 59% of online consumers in metropolitan India already make purchases online at
least once in a month. Dave Chaffey (2002) defines e-marketing as application of digital technologies -
online channels (web, e-mail, databases, plus mobile/wireless & digital TV) to contribute to marketing
activities aimed at achieving profit acquisition and customers retention (within a multi-channel buying
process and customer lifecycle) by improving customer knowledge (of their profiles, behavior, value and
loyalty drivers) and further delivering integrated communications and online services that match customers’
individual needs. Chaffey's definition reflects the relationship marketing concept; it emphasizes that it should
not be technology that drives e-marketing, but the business model. All types of social media provide an
opportunity to present company itself or its products to dynamic communities and individuals that may show
interest (Roberts & Kraynak, 2008). According to Gurau (2008), online marketing environment raises a series
of opportunities and also challenges for social media marketing practitioners.

The main objective of this paper is to identify the effectiveness of digital marketing in the competitive
market. The supportive objectives are following:
To show the various elements of digital marketing;
To focus on the basic comparison between traditional and digital marketing;
To discuss the effects of various forms of digital marketing on the firm’s sales and other
activities;
To show the various advantages of digital marketing to the customers.

2. Theoretical and conceptual framework

2.1 Traditional Marketing versus Digital Marketing

Traditional marketing is the most recognizable form of marketing. Traditional marketing is non-digital way
used to promote the product or services of business entity. On the other hand, digital marketing is the
marketing of products or services using digital channels to reach consumers. Some comparisons are
presented below:

Traditional Marketing Digital Marketing

Traditional marketing includes print, broadcast, Digital marketing includes online advertising, email
direct mail, and telephone marketing, social media, text messaging, affiliate
marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click
No interaction with the audience Interaction with the audience
Results are easy to measure Results are to a great extent easy to measure
Advertising campaigns are planned over a long Advertising campaigns are planned over short
period of time period of time
Expensive and time-consuming process Reasonably cheap and rapid way to promote the

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 Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema
Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

products or services
Success of traditional marketing strategies can be Success of digital marketing strategies can be
celebrated if the firm can reach large local audience celebrated if the firm can reach some specific
number of local audience
One campaign prevails for a long time Campaigns can be easily changed with ease and
innovations can be introduced within any campaign
Limited reach to the customer due to limited Wider reach to the customer because of the use of
number of customer technology various customers technology
24/7 year-round exposure is not possible 24/7 year-round exposure is possible
No ability to go viral Ability to go viral
One way conversation Two ways conversation
Responses can only occur during work hours Response or feedback can occur anytime

Table 2.1 Traditional marketing and digital marketing comparison

Advertising mediums that might be used as part of digital marketing strategy of a business could include
promotional efforts made via Internet, social media, mobile phones, electronic billboards, as well as via digital
television and radio channels. Digital marketing is a sub branch of traditional marketing and uses modern digital
channels for the placement of products e.g. downloadable music, primarily for communicating with
stakeholders e.g. customers and investors about brand, products and business progress.

2.2 Various elements of digital marketing

There are various elements by which digital marketing is formed. All forms operate through electronic
devices. The most important elements of digital marketing are given below:

(i) Online advertising

Online advertising is a very important part of digital marketing. It is also called internet advertising through
which company can deliver the message about the products or services. Internet-based advertising provides
the content and ads that best matches to consumer interests. Publishers put about their products or services
on their websites so that consumers or users get free information. Advertisers should place more effective
and relevant ads online. Through online advertising, company well controls its budget and it has full control
on time.
(ii) Email Marketing
When message about the products or services is sent through email to the existing or potential consumer, it
is defined as email marketing. Direct digital marketing is used to send ads, to build brand and customer
loyalty, to build customer trust and to make brand awareness. Company can promote its products and
services by using this element of digital marketing easily. It is relatively low cost comparing to advertising or
other forms of media exposure. Company can bring complete attention of the customer by creating attractive
mix of graphics, text and links on the products and services.

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 Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema
Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

(iii) Social Media

Today, social media marketing is one of the most important digital marketing channels. It is a computer-based
tool that allows people to create, exchange ideas, information and pictures about the company’s product or
services. According to Nielsen, internet users continue to spend more time with social media sites than any
other type. Social media marketing networks include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Through
Facebook, company can promote events concerning product and services, run promotions that comply with
the Facebook guidelines and explore new opportunities. Through Twitter, company can increase the
awareness and visibility of their brand. It is the best tool for the promotion of company’s products and
services. In LinkedIn, professionals write their profile and share information with others. Company can
develop their profile in LinkedIn so that the professionals can view and can get more information about the
company’s product and services. Google+ is also social media network that is more effective than other social
media like Facebook, Twitter. It is not only simple social media network but also it is an authorship tool that
links web-content directly with its owner.

(iv)Text Messaging
It is a way to send information about the products and services from cellular and smart phone devices. By
using phone devices, company can send information in the form of text (SMS), pictures, video or audio
(MMS). Marketing through cellphone SMS (Short Message Service) became increasingly popular in the early
2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia. One can send order confirmations, shipping alerts using text
message. Using SMS for campaigns get faster and more substantial results. Under this technique, companies
can send marketing messages to their customers in real-time, any time and can be confident that the
message will be seen. Company can create a questionnaire and obtain valuable customer feedback essential
to develop their products or services in future.
(v) Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing. In this type of marketing, a company rewards
affiliates for each visitor or customer they bring by marketing efforts they create on behalf of company.
Industry has four core players: the merchant also known as retailer or brand , the network, the publisher
also known as the affiliate and the customer. The market has grown in such complexity resulting in the
emergence of a secondary tier of players including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and
specialized third party vendors. There are two ways to approach affiliate marketing: Company can offer an
affiliate program to others or it can sign up to be another business’s affiliate. If company wants to drive an
affiliate program, then, the company owner has to pay affiliates a commission fee for every lead or sale they
drive to company’s website. Company’s main goal here is to find affiliates who can reach untapped markets.
For example, a company with an e-zine may become a good affiliate because its subscribers are hungry for
resources. So, introducing one’s offer through trusted company can grab the attention of prospects which
might not have otherwise reached.
(vi) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a
search engine’s natural or un-paid organic search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the
search results page), and more frequently a website appears in the search result list, the more visitors it will

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 Afrina Yasmin, Sadia Tasneem, Kaniz Fatema
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receive from the search engine users. SEO may target different kinds of search including image search, local
search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.
(vii) Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click marketing is a way of using search engine advertising to generate clicks to your website rather
than earning those clicks organically. Pay per click is good for searchers and advertisers. It is the best way
for company’s ads since it brings low cost and greater engagement with the products and services.

2.3 Advantages digital marketing brings to customers

With rapid technological developments, digital marketing has changed customers buying behavior. It has
brought various advantages to the consumers as given below:
(i) Stay updated with products or services
Digital marketing technologies allow the consumers to stay with the company information updated.
Nowadays a lot of consumer can access internet any place anytime and companies are continuously updating
information about their products or services.
(ii) Greater engagement
With digital marketing, consumers can engage with the company’s various activities. Consumers can visit
company’s website, read information about the products or services and make purchases online and provide
feedback.
(iii) Clear information about the products or services
Through digital marketing, consumers get clear information about the products or services. There is a little
chance of misinterpretation of the information taken from sales person in a retail store. However, Internet
provides comprehensive product information which customers can rely on and make purchase decision.
(iv) Easy comparison with others
Since many companies are trying to promote their products or services using digital marketing, it is becoming
the greatest advantage for the customer in terms that customers can make comparison among products or
services by different suppliers in cost and time friendly way. Customers don’t need to visit a number of
different retail outlets in order to gain knowledge about the products or services.
(v) 24/7 Shopping
Since internet is available all day long, there is no time restriction for when customer wants to buy a product
online.
(vi) Share content of the products or services
Digital marketing gives viewers a chance to share the content of the product or services to others. Using
digital media, one can easily transfer and get information about the characteristics of the product or services
to others.
(vii) Apparent Pricing
Company shows the prices of products or services through digital marketing channel and this makes prices
very clear and transparent for the customers. Company may regularly changes the prices or gives special

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offers on their products or services and customers are always in advantages by getting informed instantly by
just looking at any one mean of digital marketing.

(viii)Enables instant purchase

With traditional marketing, customers first watch the advertisement and then find relevant physical store to
purchase the products or services. However, with digital marketing, customers can purchase the products or
services instantly.

3. Methodology of the study

Methodology comes from systematic and theoretical analysis of the methods to evaluate suitability of one
specific method to apply to a field of study. It typically encompasses concepts such as paradigm, theoretical
model, phases and quantitative or qualitative techniques. This study is conducted based on both primary and
secondary data sources.

Primary sources:

Primary source is a source from where we collect first-hand information or original data on a topic. Interview
technique was used with structured questionnaire for the collection of primary data.

Secondary sources:
Secondary source is a source from where we collect data that has already been collected by someone. We
have collected secondary data from the published financial statements of the firms, newspaper and articles.
For the purpose of this study, we have selected one hundred fifty firms randomly which are using digital
marketing system to sell their products to customers. Additionally, we also collected data from 50 executives
from sample and other different firms to know their opinion on the effectiveness of digital marketing.
Collected data and information has been organized, explained and analyzed by using different statistical tools
and techniques. This study shows results both in descriptive and analytical way.

4. Analysis and discussion

4.1 Correlation analysis

To show the correlation between the various elements of digital marketing and increased sales, we have
collected data from one hundred fifty firms who are taking the various techniques or elements of digital
marketing. Results are given below:

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Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

Search Pay
Increased Online Email Social Text Affiliate Engine Per
Sales Advertising Marketing Media Messaging Marketing Optimization Click
(SEO) (PPC)

Pearson
Correla- 1 .869 .873 .840 .667 .560 .840 .560
tion(r)
Increased
Sales Sig. (2-
.056 .053 .075 .219 .326 .075 .326
tailed)

150 150 150 150 150 150 150

N 150

Table 4-1 Correlations

From the above table, we can conclude that the every element of digital marketing is positively related to
sales increase. It indicates that all elements of digital marketing show positive effect on firm’s sales. Online
advertising, email marketing, social media and search engine optimization (SEO) are highly positively
correlated with sales increase since showing value of r to be .869, .873, .840 and .840 respectively. The value
of r of text messaging, affiliate marketing and pay per click (PPC) are .667, .560 and .560 which also shows
low positive correlation with sales increase.

4.2 Analysis of digital marketing

Digital media is so pervasive that consumers have access to information any time and any place they want. It
was long ago when the messages people got about specific products or services consisted of only what a
company wanted them to know.
Model R square F
Stay updated with products or services .718 122.117
Greater engagement .516 51.276
Clear information about the products or services .629 81.254
Easy comparison with others .639 85.141
24/7 Shopping .749 142.868
Share content of the products or services .656 91.498
Apparent Pricing .636 83.962
Enables instant purchase .667 96.028

Table 4-2 Model Summary

From the above table, we can conclude that almost all the variables having weight explaining with great
extent its relationship with digital marketing. For example, stay updated with products or services is
explained by 71.80% of digital marketing and the remaining 28.20% is explained by other factor. Greater
engagement is explained by 51.60% of digital marketing and the remaining 48.40% is explained by other
factor. Clear Information about the products or services is explained by 62.90% of digital marketing and the

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remaining 37.10% is explained by other factor. We can also see from the above table that F value is bigger
more than 80 indicating the strength of the model.

Coefficient of Different Variables:

The coefficient of different variables in relation with independent variables will be discussed below:

Coefficients

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta (β) t Sig.

Constant 1.000 .215 4.649 .000

Digital Marketing 2.882 .261 .847 11.051 .000

Dependent Variable: Stay updated with products or services

Constant 1.000 .254 3.937 .000

Digital Marketing 2.206 .308 .719 7.161 .000

Dependent Variable: Greater engagement

Constant 1.000 .248 4.040 .000

Digital Marketing 2.706 .300 .793 9.014 .000

Dependent Variable: Clear Information about the products or services

Constant 1.000 .234 4.275 .000

Digital Marketing 2.618 .284 .800 9.227 .000

Dependent Variable: Easy compare with others

Constant 1.000 .215 4.649 .000

Digital Marketing 3.118 .261 .865 11.953 .000

Dependent Variable: 24/7 Shopping

Constant 1.000 .223 4.482 .000

Digital Marketing 2.588 .271 .810 9.565 .000

Dependent Variable: Share content of the products or services

Constant 1.000 .262 3.816 .000

Digital Marketing 2.912 .318 .798 9.163 .000

Dependent Variable: Apparent Pricing

Constant 1.000 .240 4.165 .000

Digital Marketing 2.853 .291 .817 9.799 .000

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Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

Coefficients

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta (β) t Sig.

Constant 1.000 .215 4.649 .000

Digital Marketing 2.882 .261 .847 11.051 .000

Dependent Variable: Enables instant purchase

Table 4-3 Coefficients Analysis for Dependent Variable -Stay updated with products or services

Unstandardized Coefficients (B) indicates that if independent variable is zero (0) then what is the impact on
dependent variable? Here if we don’t use digital marketing then stay updated with products or services will
be 2.882. Standardized Coefficients (β) indicates that if independent variable is increase by 1% then what will
be the impact on dependent variable. Here if the usage rate digital marketing is 1% then 84.70% stay
updated with products or services will be happened.

5. Concluding remarks and proposal

Digital channel in marketing has become essential part of strategy of many companies. Nowadays, even for
small business owner there is a very cheap and efficient way to market his/her products or services. Digital
marketing has no boundaries. Company can use any devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops,
televisions, game consoles, digital billboards, and media such as social media, SEO (search engine
optimization), videos, content, e-mail and lot more to promote company itself and its products and services.
Digital marketing may succeed more if it considers user needs as a top priority. Just like Rome was not built
in a day, so, digital marketing results won’t also come without attempt, without trial (and error). The
watchwords test, learn and evolve should be at the heart of all digital marketing initiatives. Companies
should create innovative customer experiences and specific strategies for media to identify the best path for
driving up digital marketing performance.

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Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study

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International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering
Vol. 8 Issue 10, October 2018,
ISSN: 2249-0558 Impact Factor: 7.119
Journal Homepage: http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected]
Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International Journal - Included in the International Serial
Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage as well as in Cabell’s
Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A

A Critical Review of Digital Marketing

Author :- Co-author :-
Dr. Madhu Bala Mr. Deepak Verma
(Ph.D, M.Phil, M.Com, B.Com, B.Ed, UGC-NET) (Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering)

Affiliation:- Affiliation:-

Assistant Professor, Senior Manager,

Department of Commerce, Business Development,
DAV College for Girls, ISGEC Heavy Engineering Limited,
Yamuna Nagar, Haryana – 135001 Yamuna Nagar, Haryana – 135001
India India

Corresponding Address :- Corresponding Address :-

Dr. Madhu Bala w/o Mr. Deepak Verma Mr. Deepak Verma
House No 152/5, Saraswati Sugar Mill House No 152/5, Saraswati Sugar Mill
Colony, District: Yamuna Nagar, Colony, District: Yamuna Nagar,
Pin: 135001, Pin: 135001,
State: Haryana, State: Haryana,
Country: India Country: India
Mobile Number: +91-8930111526 Mobile Number: +91-8930111526
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

321 International journal of Management, IT and Engineering

http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected]

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3545505

 ISSN: 2249-0558 !Impact Factor: 7.119

Abstract
This paper offers views on some current and future trends in marketing. The content is based on
recent literature and on what is happening in the business world. The paper is based on
secondary data. The paper is based on extant literature and internet sources. The various articles,
researches, reports, newspapers, magazines, various websites and the information on internet
have been studied. We experience a radical change in India towards the digitalization. The
consumer are looking and searching more on internet to find the best deal form the sellers around
India as compared to traditional or conventional methods. In this study, we acknowledged that
businesses can really benefit from Digital Marketing such as search engine optimization (SEO),
search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, e-
commerce marketing, campaign marketing, and social media marketing, social media
optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, optical disks and games and
are becoming more and more common in our advancing technology. It is demonstrated that we
all are connected through whatsapp and facebook and the increasing use of social media is
creating new opportunities for digital marketers to attract the customers through digital platform.
Awareness of consumer’s motives is important because it provides a deeper understanding of
what influences users to create content about a brand or store. Digital marketing is cost effective
and having a great commercial impact on the business. Based on this study, it can further be
argued that knowing which social media sites a company’s target market utilizes is another key
factor in guaranteeing that online marketing will be successful. The effectiveness of Internet
marketing with respect to different business can be analyzed. The study can further be extended
to compare the internet marketing techniques with specific to various businesses.

Keywords: - Internet, Marketing, Digitization, Social Media, Marketing Trends, Digital

Marketing

Paper Type: - Review and Viewpoint.

322 International journal of Management, IT and Engineering

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1. Introduction
Marketing is a restless, changing, and dynamic business activity. The role of marketing itself has
changed dramatically due to various crises - material and energy shortages, inflation, economic
recessions, high unemployment, dying industries, dying companies, terrorism and war, and
effects due to rapid technological changes in certain industries. Such changes, including the
internet, have forced today’s marketing executive to becoming more market driven in their
strategic decision making, requiring a formalized means of acquiring accurate and timely
information about customers, products and the marketplace and the overall environment. Internet
marketing involves the usage of the Internet to market and sell goods or services. Internet
marketing utilizes the power of electronic commerce to sell and market products. Electronic
commerce refers to any market on the internet. The electronic commerce supports selling,
buying, trading of products or services over the internet. Internet marketing forms a subset of
electronic commerce. With the outburst of internet growth, internet marketing has started
becoming very popular. It is said that Internet marketing first began in the beginning of 1990
with just text based websites which offered product information. With growth in internet, it is not
just selling products alone, but in addition to this, information about products, advertising space,
software programs, auctions, stock trading and matchmaking. A few companies have
revolutionized the way; internet can be used for marketing, such as Google.com, Yahoo.com,
Amazon.com, Alibaba.com and Youtube.com. This paper offers views on some current and
future trends in internet marketing.

2. Review of Literature
A number of research papers and articles provide a detailed insight on Internet Marketing. The
findings from the literature are presented below:-
Internet marketing has been described simply as ‘achieving marketing objectives through
applying digital technologies’ (Chaffey et al., 2009). Digital marketing is the use of technologies
to help marketing activities in order to improve customer knowledge by matching their needs
(Chaffey, 2013). In the developed world, companies have realized the importance of digital
marketing. In order for businesses to be successful they will have to merge online with
traditional methods for meeting the needs of customers more precisely (Parsons, Zeisser,
Waitman 1996). Introduction of new technologies has creating new business opportunities for

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marketers to manage their websites and achieve their business objectives (Kiani, 1998). Online
advertising is a powerful marketing vehicle for building brands and increasing traffic for
companies to achieve success (Song, 2001). Expectations in terms of producing results and
measuring success for advertisement money spent, digital marketing is more cost-efficient for
measuring ROI on advertisement (Pepelnjak, 2008).

Today, monotonous advertising and marketing techniques have given way to digital marketing.
In addition, it is so powerful that it can help revive the economy and can create tremendous
opportunities for governments to function in a more efficient manner (Munshi, 2012). Firms in
Singapore have tested the success of digital marketing tools as being effective and useful for
achieving results. (Teo, 2005). More importantly, growth in digital marketing has been due to the
rapid advances in technologies and changing market dynamics (Mort, Sullivan, Drennan, Judy,
2002).

In order for digital marketing to deliver result for businesses, digital content such as accessibility,
navigation and speed are defined as the key characteristics for marketing (Kanttila, 2004). Other
tried and tested tool for achieving success through digital marketing is the use of word-of-mouth
WOM on social media and for making the site popular (Trusov, 2009). In addition, WOM is
linked with creating new members and increasing traffic on the website which in return increases
the visibility in terms of marketing.

Social media with an extra ordinary example Facebook has opened the door for businesses to
communicate with millions of people about products and services and has opened new marketing
opportunities in the market. This is possible only if the managers are fully aware of using the
communication strategies to engage the customers and enhancing their experience (Mangold,
2009). Marketing professional must truly understand online social marketing campaigns and
programs and understand how to do it effectively with performance measurement indicators. As
the market dynamics all over the world are changing in relation to the young audience
accessibility to social media and usage. It is important that strategic integration approaches are
adopted in organization’s marketing communication plan (Rohm & Hanna, 2011). With the
above reviews we can assume that GST is a tax reform which will change the scenario of the
country as a support for this review study.

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Blogs as a tool for digital marketing have successfully created an impact for increasing sales
revenue, especially for products where customers can read reviews and write comments about
personal experiences. For businesses, online reviews have worked really well as part of their
overall strategic marketing strategy (Zhang, 2013). Online services tools are more influencing
than traditional methods of communication (Helm, Möller, Mauroner, Conrad, 2013). As part of
study, it is proven that users experience increase in self-esteem and enjoyment when they adapt
to social media which itself is a motivating sign for businesses and marketing professional
(Arnott, 2013). Web experiences affect the mental process of consumers and enhance their
buying decision online (Cetină, Cristiana, Rădulescu, 2012).

The Internet is the most powerful tool for businesses (Yannopoulos, 2011). Marketing managers
who fail to utilize the importance of the Internet in their business marketing strategy will be at
disadvantage because the Internet is changing the brand, pricing, distribution and promotion
strategy.

3. Rationale for the Study

The most interesting result of the technology explosion and easy access to it by consumers is the
disruption of the market and the marketing practice. The customer today is an empowered
customer, and in control of the interactive online media, content and communication process.
The power of the traditional marketing tools and communication is diminishing and the customer
has little trust to the corporate message and brand. Technology is changing the context of and
practice of marketing: marketers are increasingly forced to operate in a complex and changing
world where they do not have any more the full control of the media and the message. Customer
behavior is also changing: the customer is losing trust and becomes much more critical, smart,
well informed and proactive than ever before. New knowledge, new skills and new approaches
are required by today and future marketers not only for understanding the changing and
technology enabled marketing environment but also for comprehending and communicating with
the new customer. The Marketing becomes increasingly digital and continuous technological
developments present marketers with new challenges and opportunities: Mobile marketing,
Internet of Things, Analytics, Big Data, 3D printing, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence,
Consumer Neuroscience / Neuro marketing are some of the most interesting and challenging
domains where the future marketer are expected to must be able to function and deliver. With

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the ultra-rapid development of digital technology and social media, it is an enormous challenge
to keep track of those developments and to use them advantageously. That is why author felt a
need to focus on this in this study.

4. Problem Statement and Study Objectives

Seeing that the strength of internet & social media will not decrease the upcoming few years, this
topic will be crucial to every organization (Giedd & Chief, August 2012). The power of
smartphones in combination with social media is a constant expanding threat to many companies
(Felt & Robb, 2016). The second big point of consideration is related to the continuing trend of
children, adolescents, and teenagers using digital and social media more and more excessively
(Giedd & Chief, August 2012). That is why this study intends to focus on understanding the
internet marketing and its technique with following set of objectives:-

" What are the successful techniques of internet marketing used today?
" What is basic comparison between traditional and digital marketing?
" Which is the most preferred internet marketing approach?
" Do companies prefer internet marketing to traditional marketing?

These questions will help us predict the trends in internet marketing and make suitable
suggestions to companies.

5. Methodology
The exploratory research is designed to allow an investigator to basically look around with
respect to some phenomenon, with the aim to develop suggestive ideas (Reynolds, 1971). This
study is exploratory in nature and includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis. As a
purpose of this study (critical review), data have been collected on all India basis. The secondary
data & information have been analyzed for preparing this paper extensively. The secondary data
& information have been collected from different scholars and researchers, published e-books,
articles published in different journals, periodicals, conference papers, working paper, company
websites for annual reports & CSR activity reports and their internal newsletters. The company
related data and information are used which is available publically on the websites of the
companies. This is the best/standard practice for a research which is a critical review type.

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The methodology used was that of a critical literature review.

6. Analysis and Discussion of Study

6.1 Internet Marketing
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. It is a network of networks
that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks.
“Internet works thanks to combination of a range of technologies and it is the biggest source of
information mankind has ever had for its disposal. Internet also laid the foundations of more
information channels than people have created until the 20th century.” (Phillips, 2003). The term
Marketing has many definitions. One of the most well-known definition says that “Marketing is
the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through
creating and exchanging products and value with others.” (Kotler, Keller, 2007). By connecting
these two fields “We can apply marketing principles within the internet area. This can be done
mainly by creating a web pages, internet advertising, and also marketing research on the internet,
electronic commerce etc. However internet marketing demands a little bit different approach in
certain aspects than traditional marketing.” (Blažková, 2005). Simply speaking internet
marketing, also referred to as online-marketing, web-marketing, e-marketing, or i-marketing, is
the marketing of products or services over the Internet.

Fig. 1: Internet and Mobile Users

(Source: IAMAI, Feb 2016, Figures in Million Users, * Estimated Users)

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In fact, internet marketing includes the use of a company web site in conjunction with online
promotional techniques, such as banner advertising, search engines, PPC advertising, e-mail and
links or services from other web sites to acquire new customers. Many people can think that
internet marketing is just a website with its content, but it is much more complex. Internet
marketing is interconnection among the site portal, search engines, partner’s sites, blogs, other
site linking, B2B partners, customers, outsource partners and much more. For any type of
marketing is essential to have as large number of audiences possible, as long as Internet
marketing is concerned, the number of potential customers goes along with the usage of internet
itself, Refer Fig. 1.

6.2 Power of Internet / Digitization

The internet is most powerful tool in the emerging globalization. It is evident from the examples
given in Table-1. These companies have understood the power of Internet / digitization long
back and now they are the biggest user of Internet.

Table-1 :- Examples of Power of Internet / Digitization

The world's biggest bank, with no actual Cash –
Bitcoins.

The world’s largest Taxi Company, owns no vehicles –

UBER

The world’s most popular Media owner creates no

content - Facebook

The world’s most valuable retailer, with no inventory –

amazon, Alibab.com
The world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no
real estate – airbnb, booking.com

(Source: Compiled by author)

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6.3 Different Trends/Techniques of Internet Marketing

Internet marketing plan will help define specific e-marketing objectives and develop strategies to
ensure that resources are deployed to take advantage of the marketing opportunities provided by
the Internet, and to counter its threats. E-marketing is focused on how a company and its brands
use the web and other digital media such as e-mail and mobile media to interact with its
audiences in order to meet its marketing goals. We plowed through all the variety of marketing
arenas from content and social marketing to marketing technology, analytics and organizational
transformation, to find and establish the ultimate summary for marketing trends 2017. The
various marketing trends articles of different authors and experts were read, dissected, analyzed
and summarized as below:-

6.3.1 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

In layman’s terms, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is essentially tweaking your website so
that it comes up naturally or organically for search results in Google, Yahoo Bing or any other
search engine. Google updates its algorithms regularly so that only the relevant results come up.
From that perspective, many experts say that SEO is dead and the effort is futile. However, the
truth is that Google tries to prevent algorithm manipulation and filters sites that don’t deserve to
be on the top of SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). So there is no doubt you should invest in
SEO work. Your website should address the technicalities related to content and query matching,
spidering, indexing, and interpreting non-text content. Remember, it is the most cost-effective
marketing strategy that will bring organic traffic to your business.

6.3.2 Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is the comprehensive strategy to drive traffic to your
business, primarily through paid efforts. Hence it is also called Paid Search Marketing. The
universe of SEM is diverse and complicated. Based on your business structure, you may choose
PPC (pay- per-click) or CPC (cost-per-click) model, or CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions)
model. There are different platforms for SEM. By far, Google Ad Words (on Google Network)
and Bing Ads (on Yahoo Bing Network) are the most popular. SEM also includes Display
Advertising, Search Retargeting & Site Remarketing, Mobile Marketing and Paid Social
Advertising.

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6.3.3 Content Creation

Content can be presented in different formats, including blogs, white papers, e-books, case
studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, forums, news and updates, images, banners,
info graphics, podcasts, webinars, videos, or content for micro blogging and social media sites.
All recent changes to Google’s algorithm - be it Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird - point to the
fact that content is the most important metric while filtering search results. You can be creative
and create content on any topic and then skillfully link it indirectly to your business. You may
like to read our article on how to include content and market your startup or business free of cost.
Also, you need to customize your content for different platforms. For example, the content for
mobile phones should be crisp and short. Remember, an effective strategy will engage your
readers and leave them interested in more information from you. Good content is shared and is
the best way for branding your business.

6.3.4 Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing or SMM is an offshoot of your SEM efforts. It involves driving traffic
to your sites or business through social sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest,
Google+, LinkedIn, etc. As we mentioned above, good content is shared and liked. So create and
customize content for different social media platforms. Remember to be prolific and original;
you need to engage with users on a daily basis, at least four to five times a day. Your SMM
efforts can be especially helpful for branding and driving sales. The tools and approaches for
communicating with customers have changed greatly with the emergence of social media;
therefore, businesses must learn how to use social media in a way that is consistent with their
business plan (Mangold and Faulds 2099). In order to create a successful marketing campaign
via social media, a consumer must be open to the technology.

6.3.5 Digital Display Advertising

This again is a subset of your SEM efforts. You may use a variety of display advertising formats
to target potential audience - be it text, image, banner, rich-media, interactive or video ads. You
can customize your message based on interests, content topics, or the position of the customer in
the buying cycle. However, note that Digital Display Advertising is relatively costly. You need
experts to drive good ROI for your business.

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6.3.6 Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is a relatively new branch of marketing, referring to the two-way marketing
communication between company and customers that takes place via mobile devices. The
website, apps and content is being customized for mobile devices. The mobile users are growing
day by day and it is the most effective way of marketing. Dushinski (2009) in his paper defines
mobile marketing as a revolutionary tool for connecting companies with each of their clients via
their mobile devices in the right time, on a right place and with appropriate direct message.

6.3.7 Interactive Marketing

Make sure your advertising strategy engages the potential customer in a conversation. According
to a survey by ExpoTV.com, 55 percent respondents preferred to have ongoing communications
with the companies they buy from; and 89 percent felt more loyal to the companies if they were
invited to provide feedback. Use tools like widgets and opt-in features to make your website
interactive, solicit feedback and track user behaviour. Engage with the customers actively and
customize offers based on their preferences and browsing activities.

6.3.8 Viral Marketing

Viral is today’s electronic equivalent of old-fashioned word of mouth. Viral Marketing is a
strategy where a unique content spreads exponentially online, because the content is appreciated,
shared and liked immensely. This is a great way to brand and drive traffic to your website. The
content can take any format; all you need is to be creative. Marketers have caught the bug and
are increasingly weaving viral components into their marketing plans. Not only is the approach
relatively inexpensive, but also it can sometimes be more believable than standard ads.”
(Howard, 2005)

6.3.9 Email Marketing

When you send a commercial message through email to a list of potential customers, the strategy
is called Email Marketing. With effective email marketing software, you can maintain email lists
that are segregated based on several factors, including customers‟ likes and dislikes, and
spending habits. Remember to send personalized emails; this helps to develop trust. However,
note that Email Marketing may also be considered as spamming and there are laws against it in
some countries.

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6.3.10 Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a performance-based marketing program, where you pay publishers who
bring you customers. The performance may be based on conversions - promotions, leads or
simply sales. You may like to be part of the affiliate programs of different publishers.
Essentially, the publishers will give you space in their pages to advertise your business and help
you drive conversions; and you will pay them based on the compensation model. You may avail
the help from an Affiliate Network, which will give you a large base of publishers, and other
benefits like tracking and reporting technology. Affiliate Marketing is especially useful for
startups, as it will bring in more traffic to their business through high-traffic sites. In essence,
Affiliate Marketing is a win-win situation for both the merchants and publishers. Sites like
Amazon, eBay, LinkShare and Flipkart run Affiliate Programs. In fact, most online businesses
with appreciable traffic have their own affiliate programs.

6.3.11 Online Public Relations (Online PR)

Public Relation is significant part of modern marketing tools. Companies that do not consider PR
can loose customers. The question is how many customers they can loose? The answer of this
question is very difficult, because PR is much more difficult to measure than for example internet
advertising, however correctly realized PR brings always some benefits to the company. Online
PR has advantage over the traditional PR in the possibility of great and fast two way
communication on the internet. Companies running an online business can develop online public
relations through publishing PR articles in online PR catalogues, press releases in online media,
by sharing videos or music containing commercial message or advertisement, or by participating
in various discussion forums concerning the related topic or pro-ducts.

6.3.12 Digital Media Planning and Buying

When a media agency researches and makes a comprehensive strategy framework, we call it
Digital Media Planning. Be it in driving sales or conversions, launching a new brand or
promoting an established brand, or changing customer behavior, the media agency plans
different platforms and formats to reach the desired audience. It studies reach and frequency of
different web-based and mobile applications. The agency works with different partners and buys
relevant space and ideas. This is called Media Buying. In essence, Media Buying and Planning
entails all the strategies that we have discussed above.
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6.3.13 Web Analytics

Perhaps, the most important aspect of your Digital Marketing is Web Analytics. Essentially, Web
Analytics helps you to collect, measure, understand, analyze, plan, report and predict the web
activities for your business. Web Analytics should not be confused with Web Statistics. As
opposed to simple reporting, Web Analytics gives you analyses and different angles to ponder
vis-à-vis your business. Some of the important Web Analytics tools are Google Analytics, Spring
Metrics, Woopra, Clicky, Mint and Chartbeat. It goes without saying that every advertiser should
use Web Analytics to understand his business and improve the ROI and conversions.

6.4 Most Preferred Internet Marketing Approach

Ascend2 and its other research partners conducted a survey of 275 marketing professionals in
2016 around the world. The results are shown in the following Fig.2

Email 22%
61%

Website 18%
59%

SEO 45%
50% Most
50% Difficult
Social Media 41% Tactics

Paid Search 28%

34% Most
38% Effective
Mobile 13% Tactics

Display Ads 21%

11%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Fig.2: Preferred Internet Marketing Approach

(Source: MarketingCharts.com, Ascend2 and its research partners, 2016)

Fig. 2 shows that Email and Website constitute the most effective tactics and least difficult to
execute. In a study on “Digital Marketing Trends for 2017” by Dave Chaffey (April, 2017)
invited the views from Smart Insights reader for most important trends at a top-level. A total
2,352 responses from marketers around the world were received. The respondents were asked to
give their opinion on "Select one marketing activity that you think will give your business the
biggest incremental uplift in leads and sales in 2017 (or your clients if you work for an agency or
as a consultant)”. The following statistics show that various digital marketing activities with the

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greatest commercial impact in 2017. The content marketing communities is having the highest
impact on the business of the company.

Content marketing Communities 20.3%

Big Data 20.2%
Marketing Automation 10.3%
Mobile marketing 9.2%
Social media marketing 8.8%
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) 5.9%
Internet of Things (IoT) 5.4%
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 4.1%
Wearables 3.4%
Paid search marketing 3.3%
Online PR 2.7%
Communities 2.6%
Display 1.6%
Partnerships 1.5%
Other 0.9%
0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Fig. 3: Digital Marketing Commercial Impact

(Source: http://www.smartinsights.com)

6.5 Traditional Marketing v/s Internet Marketing

If we compare the methods of online marketing with conventional traditional marketing
practices, then there are ample areas and opportunities where online marketing is competent and
have its advantages and is always preferred over it.
" Unlike traditional marketing where we have to wait for stipulated time frame to find out the
response from the customers, online marketing is real time.
" Since we can the response of the customers in real time, it is easier to track if a particular
campaign is working for the product or not and based on the feedback marketer can made the
appropriate changes in the promotional campaign, in traditional marketing this flexibility is
not possible.
" In traditional marketing, it is difficult for small retailers to compete with the big competitors
in the market owing to the cost involved and strategy making expertise whereas in case of

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online marketing, through a crisp website you can reach your target audience with wider
reach with better service assurance.
" Cost involvement is another point which creates a lot of difference between the conventional
marketing techniques over online marketing; business house can create its respective digital
marketing strategy with very little cost and replace conventional costly advertising methods
such as print media, radio coverage, television and magazine.
" Through online marketing any business promotional idea have far greater reach and coverage
as it can be seen any part of the world via one marketing campaign in optimal cost compared
to conventional marketing campaigns and once any marketer optimized the important word
search criteria content in website then it is a great return on investment with very marginal
cost to maintain the positioning.
" With electronic marketing, marketer can create options to stimulate their target audience to
take favorable appropriate action, visit the respective website, to know about their products
and its features and different services, by this mechanism customers can express their view
about the product, their choice of buying the product and corresponding feedback, which is
also visible in the website thus by this way the marketer get an effective opportunity to
engage with the customers, which is usually diluted in case of traditional mode of marketing.
" Through online marketing brand development can be done better than traditional mode of
marketing, a well-designed website with quality information can target the requirement of
the customers and add significant value to their expectations with creation of greater
opportunities. Online marketing has the potential to create ripple and viral effect in
promotion over traditional mode marketing, for an instance using social media networking
website, email and social media channels promulgates the content of the message to be
shared incredibly quickly.

6.6 Advantages digital marketing brings for customers

With rapid technological developments, digital marketing has changed customers buying
behavior. It has brought various advantages to the consumers as given below: -
" Stay updated with products or services - Digital marketing technologies allow the
consumers to stay with the company information updated. Nowadays a lot of consumer can

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access internet any place anytime and companies are continuously updating information
about their products or services.
" Greater engagement - With digital marketing, consumers can engage with the company’s
various activities. Consumers can visit company’s website, read information about the
products or services and make purchases online and provide feedback.
" Clear information about the products or services - Through digital marketing, consumers
get clear information about the products or services. There is a little chance of
misinterpretation of the information taken from sales person in a retail store. However,
Internet provides comprehensive product information which customers can rely on and
make purchase decision.
" Easy comparison with others - Since many companies are trying to promote their products
or services using digital marketing, it is becoming the greatest advantage for the customer
in terms that customers can make comparison among products or services by different
suppliers in cost and time friendly way. Customers don’t need to visit a number of different
retail outlets in order to gain knowledge about the products or services.
" 24/7 shopping - Since internet is available all day long; there is no time restriction for when
customer wants to buy a product online.
" Share content of the products or services - Digital marketing gives viewers a chance to
share the content of the product or services to others. Using digital media, one can easily
transfer and get information about the characteristics of the product or services to others.
" Apparent Pricing - Company shows the prices of products or services through digital
marketing channel and this makes prices very clear and transparent for the customers.
Company may regularly changes the prices or gives special.
" Enables Instant Purchase - With traditional marketing, customers first watch the
advertisement and then find relevant physical store to purchase the products or services.
However, with digital marketing, customers can purchase the products or services instantly.

7. Conclusion
We experience a radical change in India towards the digitalization. The consumer are looking
and searching more on internet to find the best deal form the sellers around India as compared to
traditional or conventional methods. Cha (2009) also established in his study that more people

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perceive shopping services on social networking sites as useful and easy to use, the more likely
they are willing to shop for items on social networks. The wide range of consumers utilizing
social networks means that most target markets can be reached (Cha 2009). Shankar (et al. 2011)
also revealed in his study that more shoppers are using social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook,
MySpace, and LinkedIn) and rely on them for marketing shopping decisions; promotion through
these media has become important.

In this study, we acknowledged that businesses can really benefit from Digital marketing such as
search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing,
influencer marketing, content automation, e-commerce marketing, campaign marketing, and
social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising,
e–books, optical disks and games and are becoming more and more common in our advancing
technology. Vogus (2011) also determined that large companies are regarding social media sites
as strategic tools and some businesses are even hiring employees to oversee their social media
pages. Mangold and Faulds (2009) recommended that social media should be regarded as an
integral part of an organization’s integrated marketing strategy and should not be taken lightly.

It is demonstrated that we all are connected through whatsapp and facebook and the increasing
use of social media is creating new opportunities for digital marketers to attract the customers
through digital platform. Awareness of consumer’s motives is important because it provides a
deeper understanding of what influences users to create content about a brand or store. This is
also supported by Chu (2011), who examined the link between Facebook brand related group
participation, advertising responses, and the psychological factors of self-disclosure and attitudes
among members and nonmembers of Facebook groups. The study determined that users who
are members of groups on Facebook are more likely to disclose their personal data than
nonmembers are. Chu (2011) also found that users who are Facebook group members maintain a
more favorable attitude toward social media and advertising.

Digital marketing is cost effective and having a great commercial impact on the business. Indeed,
small companies are now able to reach targeted markets at a minimized cost and are able to
compete with bigger companies, on an equal footing (F. Palumbo and P. Herbig., 1998).

337 International journal of Management, IT and Engineering

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8. Limitations of the study

Based on this study, it can further be argued that knowing which social media sites a company’s
target market utilizes is another key factor in guaranteeing that online marketing will be
successful. The effectiveness of Internet marketing with respect to different business can be
analyzed. The study can further be extended to compare the internet marketing techniques with
specific to various businesses.

***

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