We are living in an era where everything is just one click away. Ever wondered, how it is what it is? The Internet is not just an abstract entity anymore, it is not just signals. The signals can transform into real tangible things. The everyday products we adorn on ourselves that make us smile like an idiot in front of our bedroom mirrors are brought to our attention in the first place by something called digital marketing.
Unprecedented rise
The world has seen an unprecedented rise in audio-visual and digital forms of expression against print media. This has transformed the relationship between the buyers and sellers like never before. It has indeed brought them more closely. This is done through data mining which in turn helps the sellers to personally know their customers and hence enable them to send customized product lists. The increasing scale of competition between the global networks of commercialization has accelerated this process to no bounds.
Window-shopping
When consumers started getting obsessed with window-shopping, integration of digital technology with the market became a necessity. Also with the rise of social media to ignore it is to accept defeat. Then started the non-stop trend of getting hold of a user’s online activities from wherever it is possible to do so. It is nothing like the traditional strategy of one way messaging. It is something beyond that where the consumer as well as the seller both will consume each other.
The former will consume products, the latter data. This rather indirect and dynamic approach is carried forward by targeting large social media following personalities. You see, now the consumers will themselves advertise the products. The users will generate the content. They will create “the brand”. This is like a win-win to the companies as it will reduce the cost incurred and hence increase their profits exponentially. Another way to do it is via ‘search engine marketing’ which will enhance brand recognition even further. The searchers wield power, they will be heard. Studies say, you buy the brand you know of. It is 82% more likely. Several software’s like the ‘Social Customer Relationship Management’ aka SCRM have also been developed to tap the right spot.
But as there are always two sides of the same coin, online behavioral advertising came with its own disadvantages. It raised concerns regarding the violation of consumer privacy and data protection. Now we ask, how much is too much? They say digitalization has democratized and we ask again, at what cost? Sometimes, the recipients find this overload of communication too irritating and hence marketing has to be now too appealing to be noticed or else the arrow will die down long before the target eye is reached.
