Building Online Marketing Components and Capability

Content, Brand and Demand Generation

Being different and standing out in a crowd has been getting tougher by the day for retailers. Potential customers get the same product or service from a number of companies or service providers. In such a scenario, how do companies then ensure their brand gets noticed? How can they effectively incorporate the human touch into their digital marketing strategies? In the next set of blogs, we will explore the use of technology to help retailers leverage the power of digital platforms for creating differentiated customer engagement

Online marketing platforms are cloud-based marketing automation platforms that make effective use of web communities, while also focusing on key areas such as brand development, marketing collateral development, online identity, localized re-branding, product/service video promotion, online credibility management among others.

These are per-packaged, out-of-the box integration solutions that complement popular CRM systems. They offer a wealth of core functionalities that are designed to help digital marketers improve their capabilities in ‘lead and demand’ generation and maintain unique brand identity while not compromising on the human touch. This could include areas such as web solution, web development, hosting, content management, user interface among other features.

Content Management & Branding

As they say, “content is king” and hence retailers can benefit from the platforms ability for efficient content management. The platform’s Content Management Solution is easy-to-use and with an intuitive user interface can help marketing teams to create, manage content effectively. The platform also offers an opportunity for digital Marketers to publish the client’s value propositions and product information on various types of sites such as information site, news site, mirror site, rating & review sites, social media channels, web portals among others. These offer an opportunity to digital marketers to engage the target audience better across various online channels available at their disposal.

Lead Generation and Demand Creation

Listening closely to the target audience’s online conversations regarding a product or service category and devising communication accordingly, is very critical for digital marketers as part of their human touch centric – lead generation efforts. Across the lead generation cycle of capture, nurture and convert, digital marketers can leverage the platform effectively. The platform supports lead generation efforts across marketing channels like emails, Ads, SEO and CRM, among others that can enable retailers to generate a good pipeline of prospects, who can then be converted to clients eventually. 

Generate more value for marketing investments

Digital marketers reach out to masses everyday through various advertising channels as part of their lead generation campaigns. This platform has a robust advertising module that enables targeting customer segments based on their geography, demography, income levels etc. The platform also offers the advantage of creating e-brochures, e-catalogues and other marketing collateral that can facilitate better call to action. With this wide range of advertising networks, sales partners and content publishers can take further advantage of a digital marketing platform’s mobile advertising functionality.

Further, another vital component of any online platform is the customer data analytics capability that will help marketers to strategize quantifiable marketing campaigns. These campaigns are not just restricted to online but also extended across mobile platforms. Content publishers for mobile devices and online retailers – can also go a step further and help integrate mobile payment solutions.

The online marketing platforms enable new age marketers to open up additional revenue streams – digital ads through the pay-per-call functionality – connecting online prospects and clients (advertisers/organizations). Marketing campaigns will now be in a position to deliver qualified prospects (clicks on a digital advertisement and provide his/her contact details directly to the customer engagement and sales team via telephone or drive online customers to clients’ websites). Now the marketers will be able to adopt different business models that will help their clients see increased traffic to their websites but also bring down the cost of adopting a holistic online marketing.

All these clearly point out the positive impact of an holistic digital marketing platform can offer to retailers and marketers, facilitating them to build desirable brands that offer a non-pervasive yet pleasing customer experience that is not just product or service centric but with an element of human touch.

Part 4: Role of the Digital Marketers in the retail sector

In the earlier blogs we tried to draw readers’ attention to changing landscape of the retail sector, the emergence of new age consumers and their buying patterns, among other things. The crux of the matter in all expert discussions worldwide is about the onslaught of digital marketing is the human touch in the era of e-retailing.

The digital world today is a medium that is being largely being adopted by retailers to target the new age consumer. The trend that has surfaced and would change the face of marketing – make every marketer a digital marketer retaining the flare of traditional marketing.

Digital marketing in the retail sector has its own challenges. Besides facing the task of establishing e-commerce platforms for their clients, marketers will also have to establish robust strategies and consumer engagement methodologies. Digital marketers will not only be tasked with enhancing brand identity, but will also be responsible for offering a great customer experience.

Objectives for digital marketers

The ‘right timing’ is very crucial in the world of digital marketing. Every digital marketer needs to make it his/her objective to interact with potential online buyers during key points of their online experience. New age technology, linked to websites and apps can be used to establish this interaction and maintain it.

Besides this, digital marketers will also have to focus on a few tactical objectives, which could include elements such as increasing web traffic, engaging and attention grabbing content, building brand loyalty, generating leads and managing customer experience across all platforms, among others.

Strategically, a digital marketer’s objectives are well cut out. Enhancing brand credibility and positive reputation for a client’s products or services is priority. This can be best achieved through a low cost platform that is scalable, modular and customizable to specific requirements within short span of time.

Leveraging Analytics to measure Accountability and Return of Investment (RoI) of marketing initiatives / campaigns, while formulating actionable insights accordingly, will also be the core objective of any marketing manager.

Challenges along the way

Challenges are faced in every walk of life and a digital marketer’s life is no different. The digital world offers innumerable challenges, all ranging from meeting requirements of fast paced consumers, overcoming their complex buying behavioral pattern, breaking the clutter to showcase your brand as a favorable choice, showcasing clear differentiation in marketing communications and the readiness to adopt new and emerging technologies, while keeping the costs low.

For every e-commerce business, each abandoned online transaction reduces revenue, increases acquisition costs and most important of all – represents a lost opportunity to land a long-standing, loyal customer.

Technology to the rescue:

Technology today seems to have answers and solutions to everything. Being faced with the task of achieving their objectives and facing the obstacles that come their way, digital marketers should come up with a technology based marketing framework that enables following key functionality:

• Organizing and managing frequently changing marketing (web) content
• Building and collating all types of digital assets and content – written, images/rich media
• Clearing confusion over content and process ownership that could affect ‘Time-to-Market’
• Introducing new features and marketing techniques (polls, surveys, etc.) without constant intervention from the IT department
• Deployment of an ‘All-in-One Customer Engagement Solution’ – that includes various functions such as content management, analytics, feedback, etc. Cost effective and practical engagement methods to enhance and reinforce a customer’s brand loyalty
• Engaging customers first over online channels and then also influence their offline customer behavior seamlessly
• Adopting customer friendly navigation, layout, etc. based on customer feedback and intelligence
• Providing sales team with a consistent flow of high quality leads
• Sustaining a prospective buyer’s interest in products/services over a long period of time

In forthcoming blogs, we will examine the necessity of a vital element – the human touch – that every digital marketer has to incorporate as a part of overall digital strategy.