Are You an Old School Marketer Who’s Intimidated by Digital Marketing?

      

If you are, take heart, as you are not alone. For most people who started their career in the last decade of the last century, digital marketing is something that came as a rude shock. Many of these confounded people made their peace with it, not without their share of kicking and screaming though, and many never could reconcile themselves to it. This blog is addressed largely to the latter category of people and not necessarily of that generation, who consider themselves born marketers but for their inability to master digital marketing.

The biggest reason for people getting intimidated by digital marketing is the nagging feeling that you are not in control-everything that you thought defined marketing doesn’t matter a whit anymore.  That sure would scare everyone! Now this is a catch-22 situation if ever there was one. On the one hand you resist digital marketing as it negates everything you thought marketing was, yet you have the sneaking suspicion that digital marketing is the right way of going about things.

How do you resolve this impasse? Firstly acknowledge that digital market is indeed indispensable in today’s times. The digital revolution has brought about a paradigm change in the way business is carried out.  The situation today is akin to what it must have been when industrial revolution began to disrupt the traditional manufacturing processes. It was the same when air travel began to be the preferred method of traveling over very  large distances. So accept that progress can’t be rolled back  and the more efficient way of doing things will ease out the less efficient ones. This is truer of business and marketing than any other field of human endeavor.

Once you have that part out of the way, try and analyze what it is about digital marketing that you fear. Let’s check out the reasons that likely make people like you, perpetually wary of digital marketing-

1)    The known devil vs. unknown devil syndrome-Most people fear change-especially when you don’t know what the change entails. Adopting digital marketing might be akin to wearing a parachute and jumping off a plane, in that you don’t know how it will end.

            It might seem a lot like that to somebody new to it. 

           

           There are lots of new terms to get acquainted with and plenty of new information to take 

            in and process. With no idea as to whether one will get the hang of what the hell it is 

            that one is supposed to do with all the newfangled tools, one might well be excused

            for thinking- “Why not leave well enough alone and get involved with something that is 

            yielding fair results and not risk complete failure?”

            This is especially true if you have had a fair run of success doing things the old   

            fashioned way.

      2)    Imposter Syndrome- One of the most  intriguing phenomena that afflicts a surprisingly large  
            number of successful achievers is the so called imposter syndrome. These are  

            people who somehow feel that their success a fluke and they don’t deserve it. A fear 

            lurks somewhere in their minds that they will be found out and exposed for the 

            imposter that they are.

           This fear is possibly accentuated in some people when confronted with the seemingly 

            complicated and highly technical world of digital marketing. They probably tell

            themselves, “There is no way I can fake my way through this one. This is the real big 

            deal and now people will know me for the charlatan that I am.

          The irony is that they deserve every bit of the success that they have achieved and  

           their fear of digital marketing is likewise ill founded. Connected with the same 

           phenomenon is the fact that online marketing requires you to leave a digital trail of 

           your actions. You cannot be secretive or surreptitious the way you might be in the off- 

           line world

          3) The Belief That Digital Marketing Is Overrated- A surprisingly large number of 

              marketing professionals still believe that digital marketing is overrated and real 

              marketing  and selling happens off line. In their view real networking happens when 

              you meet someone in person and not the make believe virtual world- this when the 

              sheer efficiency and economic viability of digital marketing is obvious even by a 

              cursory understanding of its tenets.

Taking to Digital Marketing

What is it that one needs to do to stop being intimidated by digital marketing and leverage it to one’s advantage? There are a few steps that one can take-

●     Take the bull by the horns- What is the worst thing that can happen if you fail at your attempt at learning digital marketing? At least you will have tried and not always wondered if you could do it.

           

            On the other hand if you do succeed in learning it, of which there are far higher chances  

            you would have set yourself on an exciting new path that would provide a massive fillip

            to your marketing and sales efforts. There will be a number of things in life which you

            are afraid of doing because you don’t know how you will fare. The only way of finding  

            out is doing it.

             

             Digital market is nothing other than the most cost effective and efficient way of reaching

             out to your target audience- really nothing more, nothing less. What is there to not like

             about it or fear? Besides, the online world is a great place to seek help and advice. 

             There are thousands of blogs that will tell you of the last intricate detail of digital   

             marketing.

●     Digital marketing is time well spent- If you are one of those who keep postponing the decision to learn digital marketing because you would rather spend the time meeting real people in the real world, you need to do a rethink. Digital marketing will free up time for you to meet up with far more committed prospects than is ever possible with conventional marketing outreach.

                      

●      Inherent advantages of digital marketing- The reasons for digital marketing becoming so important for most businesses are found in the distinct inherent advantages that it possesses. These come in the shape of the very low cost of technology allowing unprecedented outreach, the ability to focus on a well-defined target audience and possessing the wherewithal to track every dollar spent. To top it all you are able to obtain instant real time feedback from your clients.

           

           

            Is there anything to not like in this?

●     Performance and growth- In the highly competitive marketing environment of today, only those businesses who are able to perform and grow have a future. There is no place for laggards. That is why it makes eminent sense for all businesses to turn to digital marketing to help them achieve these twin objectives, if they haven’t already.

           

           The greatest contribution of digital marketing has really been in creating a level playing  

           field for businesses irrespective of size, scale and resources. This is evident in the  

            exponential growth in the global digital economy which is expected to touch a size of   

           $1.36 trillion in a little over two years’ time. That is more than the size of the South     

            Korean economy!

Considering that the so called digital economy (it is much more than that) is barely more than two decades old, that is no mean achievement. But consider this. We are only at the start of a major disruption of the global economy that is no less momentous than the industrial revolution.

With wave after wave of new technology upsetting and replacing long held notions of running and managing myriad industries, the economy world is in the midst of unprecedented churning. The Internet of Things, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, more perceptive algorithms and of course artificial intelligence are already working in tandem to create a world whose ultimate shape  we possibly cannot even fully imagine fully.

For one to stand on ceremony about whether to adopt digital marketing or not is really beside the point. It is not a question of digitization being inevitable. We are past that stage. It is where it will take us.

The Role of Social Media in PR

The advent of the Internet has been no less revolutionary for the way people relate with the world around them, than the discovery of the use of fire or the invention of wheel was for early man. Among the most important advancements in communication technology that was spawned by the Internet revolution is the introduction of social media channels of communications.

While on the one hand these have diminished the importance of traditional media to communicate on behalf of brands; they have on the other hand provided communicators with a very powerful medium to reach out one's message in quick time to an extremely focused and targeted social media. What's more the effectiveness of the message can be measured on the basis of real time feedback from the recipients.

This has caused a paradigm shift in the way PR or Public Relations professionals have begun to practice outreach on behalf of their clients. The traditional rigmarole of shooting out press releases, holding press conferences, organising interactions and an occasional Op-Ed will no longer do. In an era where newspapers and TV channels struggle to survive and assorted bloggers, online news portals, and social media messaging redefine the rules of the game all the time, up-skilling is the need of the hour for communication and PR professionals.

The last Indian General Elections saw the now Prime Minister Narendra Modi leverage the power of social media to communicate directly with his target audience-young aspirational India and blow into smithereens the reputation and electoral chances of the more than a century old Congress party which had lorded over the country for more than sixty years. Modi continues to see no use for the cantankerous and noisy traditional media and treats them with the contempt they probably deserve. No more do you hear of expensive overseas junkets to self important journalist who think no end of themselves. Instead he would rather engage with the government owned Doordarshan or wires like PTI and ANI. Above all he continues to rely on social media, which keep him in direct and daily touch with millions of his followers in India and abroad.

There are a number of advantages that accrue to a communications professional, PR consultant or marketer by leveraging the use of social media-
.
1. You can publicly address an issue on an immediate basis:
If a car company has noticed that a lot of complaints have been coming in pertaining to issues with the brakes on a certain model of car, they can immediately address the owners of that particular model on social media, advising them to suspend the use of their car, and wait for the company to contact them for carrying out a rectification of the problem.

This could prevent a crisis in the making and forestall the necessity of an expensive recall across several models.

2. Mass sharing of information:
A company or for that matter a politician can show their concern for their constituency by sending them updates that concern them. A mobile phone manufacturer can let its customers know about upgrades that they can download or new models they can purchase online.

A politician can let the people know of the initiatives they have taken, and what else to expect going forward.

3. Direct and interactive access:
I was once informed about the cancellation of my flight a mere three  hours before departure and it took a great deal of effort to somehow get myself a ticket on another airline to make it back home in time. As I wasn't too happy with the way the cancelling airline handled the issue I tweeted about it.
By the time I landed, I had received a response from the airline's customer services department apologising for the inconvenience caused and expressing their desire to speak to me about it and assuage my feelings!

4.Inexpensive:
If you are a self published author who know that you have a masterpiece on your hands, yet don;t have the monetary muscle to publicise your work, get on board the social media marketing and PR express and see how with a relatively small sum of investment you can reach out to hundreds and thousands of prospective buyers.

PR practitioners have to master the art of creating engaging social media posts for their customers, Tools like Hootsuite enable one to post across multiple channels in a manner of minutes, thereby granting the ability to manage the social media campaigns of a large number of clients. What's more one no longer has to pitch to the mighty mandarins of traditional media hoping that the powers that be see merit in the message you want them to carry.

Social Media give you the wherewithal to send out the message that you want without having to worry about journalist oversight. Any tempering that your content might need will come from your intended target audience and not some self appointed arbiters of the kind of messaging that is right for your target audience.

The Changing Contours of PR

The way that people consume news has completely altered since the advent of social media. From being the main source of news and considered opinion, conventional media comprising of newspapers, magazines, television and radio are now referred to after the news has been consumed online in real time mostly from social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. The primacy of traditional media is therefore fading right before our eyes.

In the case of India things are a little different in that the growth of literacy accompanied by the growth of purchasing power has seen an explosive growth in vernacular print media. However in so far as the urban centres are concerned online and social media are beginning to rule the roost like elsewhere in the world.  With a gargantuan telecom subscriber base of 933 million, 117 million of which are smart phone users the reach of online and social media is not to be scoffed at. Internet connectivity as a whole is available to a mammoth 300 million Indians.

However it seems that Indian PR practitioners are yet to wake up and smell the coffee in that they still deploy most of their resources in chasing journalists representing traditional media. With bottom line pressures buffeting much of the traditional media outlets, objectivity and a professional approach to news inputs is quite often not quite visible. How many traditional  journalists care to attend press conferences these days? Besides even in the case of one on ones and interactions there is no guarantee that story will see the light of the day.

Rather than continue doing things the old way, PR practitioners should educate their clients about the advantages of online and social PR. Online news portal journalists and bloggers are generally not only more approachable, but in many cases better able to understand the nuances of the story and are able to render it better. Besides they always reach the right target audience. The ultimate PR vehicles in my opinion are social media with their enormous reach that can be targeted with infinite precision.

There are a whopping 112 million Facebook users in India, 33 million Twitter users, 26 million LinkedIn users, and 5.5 million people on Pinterest. The circulation and readership figures of most newspapers and magazines are almost puny in comparison. The key to leveraging these media lies not in cultivating indifferent and sometimes ignorant journalists, but in the ability to create and post relevant content on behalf of the clients.

This makes the task of the PR practitioners a lot less thankless, and they no longer have to  simultaneously contend with capricious clients and journalists. Social Media PR requires the regular creation of germane content, targeted with precision at the right target audience. There are tools that let you post simultaneously and quickly on multiple sites, while others help you give the posts a boost. The results are quick to come and can be easily tracked and analyzed.

This kind of outreach is far more dynamic and lets the client interact with their target audience in real-time and in a manner that is personal and intimate. In comparison the outreach obtained by traditional media is very vague and dispersed and one has no idea how the target audience perceive the message. Online PR is truly the not so distant future.