Unveiling the secrets to become a successful marketeer
Text: Parvathi Mohan Illustration: Jithin Mohan & TWBC
Across the globe, marketers are waging a war against click frauds and ad blocks, breeding chat bots, making people taste the tea and get intimate over the Internet. With the advent of ‘Digital India’ looming over our futures, the means to reach consumers are multiplying faster than we can count. With gradually reducing attention spans and multi-brand-loyalty, the new age consumer makes decisions in microseconds after spending hours brooding over small screens – which makes it tougher for a marketer to garner eyeballs. But, all is not lost. Strategic action, guided by meaningful insight may just become the guiding light. Kerala – being a conventional communication market is gearing up towards the digital era and here’s what we think are the 7-Must-Do-For-Marketers in 2017.
Insight First. Everything Else Next
Insight will rule all forms of communication – conventional or digital. Gone are the days of random stuff playing around on media. Insight drives instant connect to a customer. Research and analytics should no longer be ignored if you expect returns. The likes you see on your posts are not what they seem. The ‘haha’ reaction you saw could actually be a sarcastic taunt. Believe it or not, artificial intelligence will tell you quite precisely if the audience you targeted would or would not buy your product. Knowing where your targeted customers spend their time and capturing their imagination at that point will be what drives results. Technology offers you precision and insight. Stop ignoring it. Budgets are shrinking and media is expanding. Spend wisely.
Craft Experiences. Not Expectations
The old saying of ‘surprises are more joyful’ – well let’s just say that it’s old. Today’s consumer wants no surprises. They spend more time researching a purchase and options than the actual time taken to make a decision. So, if experiences can be offered right at the start of the purchase journey, decisions can be influenced. Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & The Internet of Things boom all around the globe is making it’s way into Kerala as well. In a market filled with identical products and offerings, the experience will become your distinction. Technology offers innumerable gears to bring your products to life, helping you address not just sight and sound, but provide a wholesome immersive experience which can transport the consumer into the world you create. Make it an interesting world, and it’s sold.
Go Video
Once, a picture used to speak a thousand words. But today, a video speaks much much more. An average of 74% of the content that is viewed & shared on social media is video. That figure itself reveals the effectiveness of video over other content when it comes to brand engagement. With constant improvements to videobased content, like the 360 video feature or the even more popular ‘Live’ feature in Facebook to Periscope by Twitter – the video has become the buzzword across all digital media. With everyone going viral on video, it is important to be distinct and not get lost in the crowd. This is where instinct and experiences come into play. Make videos personal – to everyone – and not just about yourself. Let your video make people cry or laugh, let it make people love, spread hugs, save trees, crack a joke or play in the rain. Make sure it moves them – or it will just be a waste of precious server space and time.
Content is King
Good content has always interested human beings. It may have started with cavemen sitting around a fire and gossiping about who killed the biggest beast and the story that ensues, but since time immemorial, we have always been suckers for good stories. That holds true for the digital space too. Content creators will slowly assume multiple roles such as the media, influencers, advertisers, critics and everything in the middle. From AIB, ScoopWhoop and Terribly Tiny Tales, to our very own Kichatube, content creators have suddenly landed on all our screen spaces. They are tattling tales, spewing news, making us spend and feeding us fresh steamed puttu (South Indian breakfast dish of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut). With a good number of “fans” who share the same interest as them, these content creators are influencing what people buy. By aligning with such content generators – thrive to create content, knowledge, stories, movies and experiences around your brand. Or, just go ahead and become an influencer, but remember, content is always king, and the best story always wins.
Native is the Future
Parvathi Mohan is currently heading Research & Strategy at TWBC MARCOM, She has 5 + years in Marketing and Advertising and has worked with clients from Hospitality, FMCG, Real Estate, Health and Retail industry.
With options to “Skip Ads” on Youtube to “Ignore” Ads on other platforms and change channels on TV, marketers are fighting to get consumers’ attention. Say hello to Native advertising. We would like to call it the art of talking to people without even letting them know you are talking to them. We have all experienced this. But never recognised it. Ever noticed how in an article listing 10 best resorts in India, all 10 belong to the same group? This is because you are being advertised to, within the context of your interest. Remember how Masterchef has contests centredaroundAmul products? Same logic. This is an evolutionary progress in advertising. We now have more information on our audience and native ads are one of its best uses. It will garner more interest, acceptance and trust. And technically, since the brand is not “selling” to me – I would be interested to know more about it. Check and Mate!
Think Mobile First
According to Google, Mobile is on top of the purchase journey. The search begins and ends on a mobile with only 24% actually moving to another “screen” to complete the purchase. Well, Google knows everything. From shopping for electronics to finding your life partner – mobile plays a very important role. And going ahead, mobile will be the most important platform. Going mobile doesn’t mean adapting artworks to a mobile size – but creating user experiences based on mobile screens. It means engaging consumers to experience your brand/ product / services on a mobile platform. It may be an app, or it may be how you have weaved your social presence into a mobile environment or it may even be your full fledged business model that is built for the mobile world. Leading global brands are thinking “Mobile First” today. Those who jump on now will reap benefits. Traditional media will continue to thrive in Kerala, but our audiences are global and you cannot escape global influences anymore.
Don’t Lose Focus
Random communication in random advertising media done by random agencies won’t work anymore. There is too much clutter and noise available already – and you will just be adding to it. And when noise adds to the noise, it’s just more noise. It is important for your voice to be heard clearly – so speak often. But speak where you know you are heard and more importantly, speak with consistency so that you are remembered. Stop thinking of how much you spend and start thinking about what you earn from what you spend. Platforms are many but equally available to all, how you use it will decide your fate.