Yet another marketing term!

Okay let’s be honest whenever we hear the term ‘Marketing’ we think about the beautiful Yami Gautam in ‘Fair & Lovely’ is now ‘Glow & Lovely’ ad or ‘2x stronger hair because you are worth it’, so and so. Now a question arises, when the base is same in all kinds of marketing then, why is there a need for hordes of names to confuse us? Well, just as we need names to identify different kinds of dishes made from a single ingredient, say Popcorn is a corn but, it popped so got its name Popcorn, similarly names are provided based on different areas of application.

For e.g. while watching a daily soap on TV, an ad plays showing the unique features of a Water purifier and how it can save us from drinking unhealthy, bacterial water until now. This is a type of Television Marketing, an offline category of Digital Marketing.

So, the term Digital Marketing is a form of Marketing used to promote the features of a product or service, the only difference is with the application. First, we need to know about how it all started. The first use of Digital Marketing lies way back in the 1896, no it’s not a mistake in numbers! Digital Marketing is way older than you think!

It was when Guglielmo Marconi first demonstrated a ‘Public Transmission of Wireless Signals”.

This guy invented the RADIO! It didn’t take the creators long to realize that they can monetize it.

Now, we will look into more professional definition provided by Wikipedia, “Digital Marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services.” But here’s the catch, Digital Marketing is not limited to internet and online based digital technologies only (we will discuss them later in the article).

Let’s dig deeper into the two major kinds of Digital Marketing with real life examples.

First goes the Online Digital Marketing type that requires an internet connection and a suitable device to connect.

Another example- 

Savita is a full-time employee at an IT firm, working 5 days a week from 9-6pm. She lives alone in a rented flat, cooks her own meals and enjoys being an independent woman. Living on her own, she is a little bit picky on her expenses, which is absolutely normal for her group of people. It was her routine to check the online shopping platforms on her way home to kill the traveling boredom. She logged into one of the biggest online shopping (e-commerce) platform, Myntra and saw some beautiful winter collections. She browsed for a while but, the price range didn’t interest her to ‘make the purchase’. However, she added the dress to her ‘Private Wishlist's in hope of getting it later in case the price drops (you know the end of season sale, festive sale, garage sale, blah..blah..blah!). She really wanted to buy that ‘one puffer black hooded jacket’ but, the price was too high for her, she used to check her wish-list to see if there’s any sale going on. She even looked for other platforms but, couldn’t get the desired brand in the price range. There were times when she used to get recommendations on winter fashion trends on YouTube or on Facebook or Instagram (Myntra page with the price label of the ‘Puffer Black Hooded Jacket’ along with other items from her wish-list or recent searches with a buy now option). Days went by and she stopped looking at the jacket and indulged herself with her work, suddenly around noon, she got a text message from Myntra,

Special 10% Discount Up to Rs.500!!

On Purchase above 2000 | Valid between 6pm-10pm | Hurry!!!

She checked her wish-list, the price was now Rs.1800 after the discount with free delivery but, she thought to wait for better discounts. A week went by, and she got another ‘Push notification’ from the Myntra that read,

!!! FLAT 50% OFF!!!

Redefining Epic offers | Drop everything and shop on!

Choose from over 10k Styles | Till Midnight only, Hurry!!

She checked the time at it was 10:34 pm, she had only one and a half hour left. She immediately opened the app, went o her wish-list and it showed- ‘Hurry, only 3 left!’ that made her panic so, she hurried to add in the cart then click on ‘Buy Now’. She got the necessary details and made the payment, received the confirmation message after some time.

She experienced the few of the following categories of Online Digital Marketing:

1. Search engine optimization (SEO) - a process of optimizing your content to show up as a top result in a search engine for a certain keyword. Have you noticed while browsing through your Facebook/Instagram/simple google search, you see ads of that same 'chic black puffer jacket' you were searching for in a shopping app?
2. Search engine marketing (SEM) – promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages majorly through paid advertising/channels.
3. Content marketing - creating, publishing, and distributing contents in the form of words, for a certain segment of audience online.
4. Social Media Marketing (SMM) – promoting products or services over social media platforms, which includes e-posters across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, etc.
5. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) – advertisers have to pay each time their ad is clicked.
6. Affiliate marketing – a kind of partnership between two physical entities to promote a product or a service in exchange of rewards or commissions.
7. Email marketing – sending a mass commercial message which typically involves an advertisement or requesting for a donation from a certain group of people, over the email.

Second goes the Offline Digital Marketing type that only requires a digital media to perform the task. The 4 big categories of Offline Digital Marketing are:

1. Enhanced offline marketing- upgraded existing marketing type. For e.g. light emitting diodes (LED) at the Times Square, New York, have enhanced the traditional billboards. Other examples would be the use of digital menus provided at the restaurants or eating outlets.

2. Radio marketing- advertising a product/ service at the beginning of shows (Since social media is a hot marketing tool these days, it wouldn’t be hard to find a local radio station nearby to get on a show, be interviewed or crack a deal with them. Also don’t forget to get sponsorships for a prime airtime possible).

3. Television marketing is like “baa” of the famous Smriti Irani daily soap- ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, who never agrees to rest even when the 6^th generation is there. The Water Purifier ad explained above would be the best example of this type.

4. Phone marketing- over 80% of internet users’ stream through their smart phones as compared to the desktop or laptop. Cold calling is used by companies to directly reach out to their customer base whether existing or new and it still helps in securing a good number of connections.

1. Increasing brand loyalty and driving online sales.

2. Targeted audience can be reached in a cost-effective and measurable way.

3. A hassle-free use of technology for reaching a large pool of people.

4. The ease of application anytime, anywhere at your comfort.

5. Full control over the customer base for increased customer satisfaction. 

Don't be a dumb chap, upgrade yourself with the time. We have plenty of resources and platforms to gobble up the data from. Some restaurants are hiring "Yellow Robot Waiters" while others are still stuck with manual bills! Create a food for your mind and think, "Do we really know what Marketing stands for?"

Mr. Manoj Rawat has been running his Family Store, by the name Rawat General Store, for more than 5 years now. He sells at a wholesale price which attracts a good amount of local customers, majority are his loyal to his products. You can find items from stationary to grocery which defines his variant customers. It was a sudden seal on his business when the Lockdown was announced which made people afraid to leave their homes for anything. They did panic shopping and limited their consumption to avoid going out. There used to be a time when the 'Rawat General Store' employees had no time to sip water until it was closed and now the shutter has been down for a month. Mr. Rawat was getting worried comparing his savings with his expenses when he suddenly realized about his now 'unemployed staff'. How are they going to survive in this pandemic? He needed to do something fast but, the question was- what and how?

His elder daughter was a second year college student, she saw her father's dilemma and thought of an idea. She suggested her father to go digital in this era of technology. At first, Mr. Rawat was little hesitant as he does not know anything about the online world but, after a little persuasion from his children and wife, he agreed for an alliance.

To make it easier for her father to understand, the elder daughter drafted few steps to begin with:

1.   First- we need to register our shop in the "Local Business Directory". It will make our shop's details appear on a digital screen whenever people search for a local general/ kirana store on Google or any other search engine. We will mention our shop's name, address and contact details to make them aware of our presence.

2.   Second, we will sign up with ''Google Know my Business" and mention our opening hours, variety of the items we sell and the additional services we provide. We are doing this as our target segment is the local customers who are looking to buy general items used on daily basis.

3.   Third, we will setup a "Social Media Page", probably on Facebook, for connecting with our target customer base; we will also share about some promotional services that we may provide to our loyal customers. This page will help us to have a two way communication with our customers as we can answer their queries on time. We will also share some pictures of our store, the newly arrived stocks, how the packaging is done for items like Tamarind, Chickpeas, etc. We can also post pictures on Instagram or Pinterest, of cleaning the store area to ensure the customers feel safe and satisfied. We need to create an interactive website with good and interesting contents. There are various sites where we can create our own website at dirt cheap cost; the cost is for buying the domain name only. We need to make sure the website is mobile friendly as most of our customers are mobile users. The 'Title page' of the website plays a vital role in getting the attention of the readers.

*Points to keep in mind:

• Addition of attractive and relevant Title page, extra attention to the font size and style, use of same background image and fonts to save the loading time.
•  Small and low resolution images for speedy and smooth page loading. 
• Interesting and engaging contents in the form of blogs, we may write about the different types of lentils (daal) and their benefits, the 'daadi maa ke nuskhe' for the common illness, etc. 
• We will attach a Google form to get their feedbacks and email address to send promotional mails, which will help us form a better connection with our loyal customers.

 Note: we will use the term 'SEO' (Search Engine Optimization), in layman language, we need to use relevant words or phrases that define our shop's goals and services, and it will help us to appear in the organic search area without spending a penny. We can also bid on certain keywords to let our ads be displayed on relevant web pages, certainly when the right kind of customer visits the right kind of page at the right time. The ad will contain our shop's name, our products & services, a link to our website whether to learn more about us or to make a purchase. Various tools are present in the market to improve the businesses' effectiveness such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner or Bing Keyword Research Tool, and much more (you can learn more in details by clicking on them).

4.   Last but a continuous process: are the observation, analysis, implementation and improvements. This is the most important step as it determines whether the efforts are rewarded or not. We need to observe the patterns of our online customers, if they are spending a specified time at a certain area of the page or just visiting and leaving. This helps to understand their buying personas and set a conversion point to accumulate the success rate. This also helps to draft a plan whether to run a campaign or not, what promotional tactics will grab their attention, how to make them do the purchase, and so on.

As we have also decided to start home delivery services to attract those customers who have limited time for grocery shopping, our conversion point will be the “add to cart” or “Buy now” option. Customers can place order either by calling directly at the shop or using the "adding to cart" option on our website.

Many businesses indulge in launching a mobile application rather than a website without doing a proper research of their target audience. Studies have shown that out of 80% population using internet, 60% access the online sites through Smartphone mostly while outdoors. People tend to search for online presence before taking any action. So, building up an interactive and informing website would be advised for a growing business. 

Conclusion

Coming at the end of this topic, I have lined up few points below to look after:

1. Determine the right Business model- we need to draft a model about our objectives, vision, mission, market place, and much more before going online.

2. Conduct an online market research- as offline and online market have different working modules. We will have to look for the competitors, what platform they are using, how they are driving customers to their business, and so on.

3. Determine the products or services- try to question oneself what problem our product/ service is solving?

4. Identify the target audience- try to identify the people who may benefit from our products/services, they may either be actively searching for our products or relevant to them.

5. Select the most suitable platform- after identifying the business model, we need to choose the most suitable platform/ channel to launch our product/ service. The suitability is defined on the basis of our target audience.

6. Set-up an interactive website- try to make the website device friendly on basis of our target audience. The content of the website’s home page (or landing page) should consist of a relevant title, high quality image, relevant contents, and the loading time should be less.

7. Use relevant tools- there are numerous tools to maintain our business online. We can analyze who are visiting our site, what keywords to use, where to place our ads, what contents to focus on, and so on.

8. Keep updating- the Indian market is a dynamic place with no limitation on opportunities. We must always have a continuous research process to monitor the market changes and tackle them at the earliest.

References

1. The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Google Analytics 

     By: Kristi Hines  

https://moz.com/blog/absolute-beginners-guide-to-google-analytics

2. How to Use Google Search Console for SEO: A Complete Guide.  

By: Anna Crowe 

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-search-console-guide/209318/#close

 3. The Beginner's Guide to SEO    

      By: Moz PRO

https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand"

-By Neil Armstrong

Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog!

Mystery, curiosity, eagerness- these traits make a deadly combination, especially when added a pinch of hunger to dig deeper and deeper to the roots. When you are young, your surrounding appears to be filled with glitters and laughter with no "what ifs". A new day brings out a new challenge for the parents, the same old question, "What will the baby do today?" While the baby has no clue why he/she is being held under strict observation. But I was different.

My parents used to think, "When will she go out to play like normal kids?"

Since my childhood, I have been a curious child who loved to question at everything (providing answers as well!) I was never satisfied with what people used to recite from a book. I have always wanted answers from real life experiences, they provided depth and relevance to the core. I never wanted to restrict myself to one thing forever, be it a place, a skill or a hobby! 

Reading has been my favorite, especially the romantic genre. I remember my first novel back in 2009, we used to have one Library period once a week for 25 minutes. I used to hop on a nice comfortable spot and pick an encyclopedia. Those were the days when even the Encyclopedia was filled with colors and diagrams instead of boring black & white words. Or someday I would pick a children's fairy tales book. They were full of imaginary creatures and incidents.

One day while I was looking for something to read, my eyes were pulled towards a book cover that had this girl in a pretty blue gown (*reminded me of Cinderella) with a long blonde hair just like Rapunzel.

Pic credits- diancurtisregan.com

She was standing on a bridge over a wishing pond, eyes sparkling with the glimpse of tall and strange buildings standing on the other side of it. It wasn't an appealing one but it somehow wanted me to read it, and just like that I grabbed it and unfolded the pages, one by one. It was a fantasy story about a wishing well, a breathtakingly beautiful Princess with a pet Dragon, a handsome and a kind high school boy with a little sister, magic, adventure, heartbreak, High School prom, and everything that made it to my list of routine. I used to wait for that day, that 'one day' of the week to read that story. It took me 4 months to complete it (*see my dedication). There were times when I couldn't find the book because someone was reading it before me and forgot to put it back. I took the responsibility to hide the book at my favorite spot, which was only known to me.. sleek!

Let me know if you want me to talk about the book in details with you. I can share my insights, my way (*if you will like to, that is). I have loads of other supernatural, fantasy, romantic stories to share. Ping me*

 Dear Diary,

*someday I don't remember*

The day is falling short and the night is approaching to wrap the eyes into the dark and a silent place. I am somewhat excited about the winter, it's better to wear more clothes than to soak in sweat all day without doing anything! Winter time brings out the cool breeze and silent eerie that soothes my tired soul. The clock ticks 8 o'clock, it's time to bring out that cute elephant cup from the shelf, pour some hot chocolate, turn on the TV and dash inside my comfy blanket with my baby boo (*and that's my stuffed bear*). Its been with me since 2015, not a typical childhood buddy but a companion who was with me during my late teens. People call this "the rebellious age group", if you come out sparkling and *kachi-ka* (go watch Cars please) then you are safe for your whole life (*which is not true entirely, just for the knowledge). The world is changing and so are we, then why stick to those old sayings! There's no harm in being cautious with your surroundings, but don't follow the overly cautious Hero- Ryuuguuin Seiya (*click on the name to take a peak!).

"Are you still inside your blanket?" shouted my mother in a distance. "You have been sitting all day since morning, ain't you gonna stretch your bones, you will become a granny if you continue this routine".

You know she is right. I have a full-time job (*which has new challenges each day, will talk in details later*) which keeps me stuck with the laptop in front, a pen in one hand, another busy with the phone. My butt is glued with the bed, inside my blanki (*I sit on the desk during summer *cough*). This brings out the grizzly bear from inside of me, ready for the hibernation mode! I had always been a lazy sloth (*to be exact) since my birth. I used to sleep all day long until noon then grab some food (*milk to be precise till I turned 3) and roll down again. Those were the happiest moments of my life, the most satisfying ones till I started working in a Hotel. I mostly had morning shifts (*7-5pm) and sometimes right after the afternoon shift where I would reach home by 11pm and had to report back sharp at 7am. It was slowing me down, limiting my meal time, my nap time, my spare time and most importantly my whole life!

COVID-19 has brought a lot of positive change in my life (*it's safe to say that it's long gone now). I got home in May, 2020 and haven't left since. It gave me plenty of spare time which I thought was not in my plate, a few months back. However, that spare time is not going exactly the way I thought it to be. I planned to wake up early, do stretching or yoga, have my brunch (we don't have breakfast & lunch rather we have brunch & snacks) and get ready for the work. As I am writing this blog, it's obvious that's not happening around, not anymore! When I was living with my other 2 roommates (*will talk later about them) we had divided our daily chores into 3. So, it was pretty much a routine to follow. That kind of made us active on our day offs. Rather than drooling over takeaways, we preferred 'home-cooked' food because it was healthy (and affordable).

Since the Lockdown happened, one of us 3 mates left for home leaving us 2 back. We were tenants and must mention thing we scratched our landlord's family almost everyday for various things. Sometimes our flush wasn't working, our gas cylinder went empty, lost our source of drinking water, our grinder broke, our dustbin was piled up and a lot more. And when I say more, I meant it! It didn't feel as we were the tenants and not living with a relative. They even stopped taking the rent for months! The nationwide lockdown happened on 22nd March and people already got the hint that it's not for a day only. We knew 2020 was not gonna be as awesome as we planned it to be. The first thing people did was the panic shopping and leaving for their home. The overly crowded, scared buyers at malls, supermarkets, kirana stores, and the huge line of metal horses created a wave of worry over the happy faces. Even in this situation, few were in disbelief and tilted towards the ignoring sides. According to them, you won't get infected as it spreads through touch only which they can easily avoid. But little did they know that this was just the beginning of the tornado forming behind our eyes.

The days were going with growing numbers of victims and we two were confined to our rooms. I was working in a hotel which had paused it's operations till infinite date so, I had all the time of the day. And this made me realise what I was missing in my life. As I didn't have much time before to pamper myself, the lockdown made me promise to achieve a healthier lifestyle. We used to wake up early, do yoga and indoor workout for atleast 20mins. Followed by light but healthy breakfast then watch k-drama (the most important thing). The one thing I never left doing was the habit of reading atleast one book a month, be it an e-book to the least. The genre was majorly about drama, romance and fantasy.

Always remember, "Healthy body homes a healthy mind". Stay happy, stay healthy!

Leave a comment, subscribe to my blog post for latest updates! And I'll visit you next time with good stories.

Udi thinks beating up his kids, threatening to abandon them is the best way to discipline them. The more they fear him, the better they will obey their father.

To Udi, Discipline is fear.

Let's go back a little...

…when Udi was about 5, he has always been a good obeying son to his parents. It was his first day of school, his parents were so proud of him getting into an elite school fully depending upon his abilities. Inside the huge school building, the premises was full of loud noises from the crowd, some were crying on their first day, some were super excited to meet new environment while Udi had a neutral face. The expressions were a nuisance to him, “they should be more brave and not a crybaby- we are 5 not 1. What are their parents doing? They should be beaten till they choke on their own tears”, thought Udi with a huff. The chilling words a 5 year old developed in his mind were coming from his own experiences.

His daily routine was fixed by his father in the name of disciplining his son for a better life. Udi would wake up at 5am, freshen up and get ready for a brisk walk through the park with his father. Return home at 5:45am, take bath, get ready for school and have breakfast at 6:15am. The bus came at 6:45am and he came back home at 3pm. After getting changed and freshening up, 15 mins. break was given for entertainment purpose, he then had to get ready for his Judo classes at 4pm. Udi was enrolled in various extra-curricular activities such as horse riding, judo, coding classes, etc as his father thinks that a child should never be kept unoccupied; it makes them weak and emotional fools. He would return home by 7pm, freshen up, get changed and have his dinner at 8pm. He used to receive an hour long lecture from his father how his day was wisely spent because of him and how he could have got lost due to his childish immaturity.

The father was proud as he saw his son’s calm nature as compared to the havoc the other kids were making. He has always taught his son to hide his true feelings to the world because it shows their weakness and men are not weak. Men need to have a disciplined life as a supreme being among the other creations of God. The father had asked him to be at the top of his class otherwise he will never be acknowledged by other people.

Moving forward to 12 years in time...

Udi excelled his intermediate and emerged as the district topper just as his father advised him. He was at the top of everything he applied at but, there was a gap that he felt but never understood. He had no one to call a best friend but his father said friends are for weak people to lean on and he’s not weak. Everything that happened in his life was planned out by his father, what to eat, what to wear, when and with whom to talk, which school to attend, which friends to make, which subject to choose and even his career decisions. His father saw his son as a chief engineer at an MNC (not taking any names here).

The other father...

Rudra on the other hand, thinks of Discipline as a learning the kids get from their experiences and surroundings. The kids are a blessing from the God and they are to be treated as one. They need to be taught with love and honesty.  He has never beaten his kids for silly mistakes such as a quarrel with other kids, them wanting ice-cream, not willing to go school or asking for a toy. He would gladly fulfill their wishes but with a lesson that their tiny head could store up. 

Rudra and Udi both were residing in the same colony. One time their neighbors' kids, were caught red-handed by their father. They were twins in their late teens and Rudra's oldest kid was in his early teens. The neighbor couple had a habit of going on an evening walk after their dinner. They would usually go for around 45 minutes and come back till 10pm. Their kids found this as an opportunity and escaped outside with their father's scooty.  The night was chilly as it was a night before Dhanteras (Hindu Festival) so the couple decided to come back within 15 minutes of walk. To their surprise, the gates were open, there was a metal chain on the floor and their scooty was not there. The father dashed inside with thumbing heart beat fearing for his sons, who were also there. They checked with the neighbors who told them the shocking truth which they were already having a hunch. The mother sat on the stairs outside their home waiting for their sons to return. While she was lost in her thoughts and storm of worries, a little hand was placed on her shoulders. It had a warmth to it, not because of the weather, it was enough to calm her down. Those hands were of Rudra's youngest one, he was trying to soothe the mother while wiping her tears away.

The mother couldn't hold up and began to sob while telling everything to him. This was heard by both Rudra and Udi on which Udi shouted at the kid, "Is this a way a kid should behave? Can't you see she's already in a sensitive position, why are you making it harder for her? A kid should always stay inside their room and not like this gossiping".

The little kid got a shook, he was tight lipped by the loud voice. Udi turned towards Rudra thinking he would do the same, beat his kid and lock him up. But to his surprise he gave him a stern look and with a sigh sat down to his son's height, "I am so sorry my boy, you had to go through all this. Sometimes grownups do things that are not right but, you don't have to be afraid because of that. I know you were trying to console the lady and that's kind of you but, it is not a time for you to be awake. Let us grownups handle this case, Alright Buddy?" The boy shook his head with a smile gave his father a peck on the cheek and went inside.

Rudra said, "You can't teach discipline to a kid like this. It is not a lesson to be taught but, to be learnt on their own. He is just a little boy, let him stay like that".

To Rudra, Discipline is the way one leads their life efficiently.

Which face do you follow?