DIGITAL ADVERTISING

What is Digital Advertising?

Is Traditional Advertising dead?

Why go Digital?

How to make most of Online / Digital Advertising?

What is the difference in social media platforms in terms of advertising utility?

What Meaningful metrics should we track on Social Media Platforms?

What are the 5 phases of digital marketing?

How big brands use digital advertising?

How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of your advertisement/campaigns?

Ignoring online advertisements is like opening a shop and not telling anyone about it!

So what is Digital Advertising?

Digital advertising is the method of advertising on any digital platform. It is a recent, more effective way of advertising products, services, and businesses and can be done online, via social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and search engines; and offline, via digital billboards etc.

Is traditional advertising (e.g. radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, flyers etc.) dead?

No, it is still in use today, but it must evolve and integrate with digital advertising. However, it stopped being the main method of advertising a long time ago and now is used just to reinforce the brand name in potential customer’s minds.

Why go digital?

- Both customer and competition are present online.

- It is communicative

- It’s convenient and cost effective,

- It also facilitates data driven strategy

How to make the most of Online / Digital Advertising?

Take advantage of available tools like -

• Social media channels: Social media channels are the stepping stones of any digital marketing strategy. They are the best medium to introduce your brand, product or service to your customer for the first timer and establish brand-recall thereafter.

• Automated customer services: Integrated digital platforms like mass email marketing services or integrated logistics platforms ensure timely communication with customers and thus enhance brand reputation. Small gestures like sending birthday discount emails or a heads-up confirming that the parcel is out for delivery can go a long way in winning a customer's trust.

• PPC/SEO/Keyword Marketing: Pay-Per-Click / Search Engine Optimisation / Keyword Marketing were first pioneered by Google Ads. Having been picked up by other platforms now, it is a sharpened approach to targeted marketing where you bid for keywords to win space in search ads and pay only when the customer clicks on your link. SEO is the set of techniques to optimise your web front with Keywords and other strategies so as to ride up the google ranking ladder and appear in early pages of organic search results.

• Seamless Ecommerce Platforms: Provide a smooth shopping experience to the customer. A seamless website would take the customer on a smooth journey from product selection to purchase while simultaneously dealing with the delivery logistics, payment verification, order communication via email or SMS, collecting customer behaviour data and interpreting it for future marketing decisions at the back-end. A seamless platform might actually make a 1-5 people micro-business give the impression of a well-staffed, established e-commerce platform.

• Analytic tools & Reporting: Keep a constant watch on the analytics data provided by social media platforms, website analytics etc. These reports constantly help in aligning the digital advertising journey in the right direction. In short, it tells you 'what is working and what is not working in your digital advertising strategy' and helps you refine your strategy.

What is the difference in social media platforms in terms of advertising utility?

• Facebook: has the best reach amongst all the social-media platforms. No other platform has as wide-spread reach across all age-groups. It is a must-do for first-time advertisers while you are still testing waters and collecting clues about which sociography & demography responds best to your product or service.

• Instagram: This platform helps you define the personality of your brand. Here you can post short pictures and videos to define your brand and tap the right customer group.

• Pinterest: It is the digital form of personal archiving of information. This can be extremely useful for businesses which offer products, solutions or services that the customer needs to refer repeatedly. can effectively help in developing a dedicated fan-following.

• Twitter: This is where you take a stand on behalf of your brand. This platform reinforces the socio-political & non-commercial stance of the brand and helps you communicate with your customers directly.

What Meaningful metrics should we track on Social Media Platforms?

It is important to keep a close watch on the following metrics and identify trends. These metrics would fluctuate with certain category of posts, politico-social environment etc. Keeping a close tab would help you keep a check on your brand's popularity with the customers and specific reasons behind it.

• Views

• Clicks

• Comments

• Searches

• Reach

What are the 5 phases of Digital Marketing?

1. Understand customer: Collect analytics data about the demography and psychography of your target customers and plan further advertisements accordingly

2. Plan a timetable: Plan a monthly or quarterly time-table of your adverts keeping in mind factors like advertisement objectives, festivals, shopping seasons, preferred time of the day and message sequence. Apply this time-table on all the social-media handles simultaneously.