Digital Marketing

Marketing is two things: Data and Creativity. Kinda like Spock and Captain Kirk. Marketing requires enterprise. And so does digital marketing. But is Digital Marketing gaining so much traction? Partly because it is here and partly because, it is the future. Personally I have had my share of digital marketing shaped by exploration and experience: Hands on activity on social media covering Facebook to Google, Instagram to Whatsapp and then some. Data itself, not my core strength, was easy to garner using free and paid analytical tools that gave some succinct information – on markets, user demographics and to some extent, direction to creativity.

There are many aspects that come into play to make marketing successful and so it is for Digital Marketing. Knowing your customer (KYC) is the biggest and most important aspect of marketing. And unlike traditional marketing and the cliché “which half of my money is being wasted” digital marketing makes no allowance for that. You get to know your customers – demographics and if you pry further – even psychology and personality. Boom! You can have a tailor-made strategy. But alas, like the shifting sands of the deserts, humans tend to deviate every other moment because they are multiple personalities. So digital marketing requires constant shift in gears, direction and momentum. Fortunately for us, it offers flexibility, instant correction facility and, the ability to affect changes overnight!

I believe that in India digital marketing is making strong inroads, but it is not there completely, just yet. So it has to be used cautiously as it can tend to make you promise more than you can deliver. Today there are too many digital specialists banking on data analytics and lacking in creative direction. This is not an exact science, to be clear, requiring much more than number crunching and arrive at arbitrary conclusions. There are two issues to be confronted – one is excessive data and the other is data in the hands of the imbecile – much like the sword in the hands of a monkey guarding its king. So if you are looking for a digital marketing specialist, go for the one who can process the analytics for a more creative way to use it.

Content is king and that is very evident in Digital Marketing. Data is like Data in Star Trek in the later version: The perfect foil for Captain Piccard. Data can be accessed and analysed using a million apps available on the net. Unfortunately creative is not. So if you are looking for a Digital person to steer your way through the digital galaxy, make sure the person understands that behind the numbers are living, breathing, complex human beings, who, while being a culturally alike, pride themselves on their individuality. And create content accordingly.

And just because the Star Trek analogy has been strong in this monologue let me end by saying – Live long and prosper, the digital way!

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