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I know of no bigger karma than the knowledge of truth.
Gian Dhyaan Kich Karam Na Jaana
(Shri Guru Granth Sahib - Page 750)
UNIT III DIGITAL MARKETING PLANNING AND SETUP
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Preface
Digital marketing is all about the challenge of balancing both the sides of the marketing wheel while walking tightrope on the rim. On one side lies any marketer’s owned media (websites, apps, social media pages) while the other represents the ever-changing demands and perceptions of his target customer. And this is just the start of the balancing act; one which extends across an advertiser and a publisher’s needs, between CPM (Cost per mile) and CPC (Cost per click) and extends to measuring data and managing privacy concerns. The list is endless and so are the solutions available in the market.
It is these complexities and choices that make digital marketing unique and render a distinct flavor to this field of study. This book aims at helping both digital marketing enthusiasts and practitioners discern such nuances to make informed decisions right from digital marketing environment assessment and strategy development to marketing operations till refinement.
One of the key endeavors of authoring this title was to develop a textbook on Digital Marketing in India which starts from base zero and explains the key fundamentals to those new to the subject. This book will act as a primer not only for management students but also media professionals, marketing managers, brand marketers, budding entrepreneurs and even individuals looking to create a personal brand online and understand the basics of digital marketing concepts, tools, and techniques from grounds-up.
So why should you consider this text for academic, corporate, or personal needs? While there are many international texts available on multiple constituent areas of digital marketing like search, social, display, mobile, video marketing, etc., a need was felt for an India-specific standard text which lays the foundation for the genesis of digital marketing, explains the transition from traditional ‘E-marketing’ to ‘Digital Marketing’ and presents an integrated digital marketing framework to move step by step towards creating a digital presence, and finally benefitting from it.
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing provides unique features along the following lines:
• Outlines the move from ‘E-marketing’ to ‘Digital Marketing’: This is one of the first marketing titles in India which moves beyond the ‘E-marketing’ plank to cover the new digital paradigm which is in essence a movement from:
(a) ‘Traditional Channels’ marketing to purely ‘Digital Channels’ marketing
(b) ‘Supply Orientation’ marketing to ‘Personalized Consumer’ marketing
(c) ‘Product or Service’ marketing to ‘Digitized (Hybrid) Offerings’ marketing
• Underlines a practically-oriented digital marketing model (ASCOR Framework): This is one of the first Indian marketing texts which has a ‘Digital Marketing’ specific Framework: ASCOR (Assessment, Strategy, Channel and Communication, Operations and Refinement) that forms the backbone for the entire ecosystem of digital marketing activities and concepts.
• Provides a detailed orientation to Digital Transformation: To understand ‘digital’ as a concept and establish its importance for marketing, in the beginning of the textbook itself (Chapter 2) we have provided an extensive orientation to ‘digital transformation’ to help students/ business owners/entrepreneurs realize how they can best digitize any traditional business at hand through ‘Digital Marketing Models’ and identify key ‘Digital Value Elements’
• Showcases industry deployable frameworks: This title has been written in a manner which would help readers to deploy digital marketing concepts across each aspect of their industry, and be realistically ready to market each product digitally.
• Details concepts through topical Case Studies of Indian businesses: Each chapter starts with a case study on a prominent India-born or global India-based business, traverses through the company’s growth in digital marketing, key challenges faced and lessons the reader can learn from their business story.
• Includes Digital Application exercises on Indian brands: At the end of each chapter, application exercises on key digital marketing concepts (pertaining to each chapter) have been provided, for students to self-assess their concepts and also apply them to brands which they have seen around/grown with in India since the last decade.
• Devotes a complete chapter to careers in digital marketing: The last chapter of the book is devoted specifically to the kind of jobs available in the market and how to approach those career tracks. Once the reader has mastered the concepts in all preceding chapters, he/she would know exactly the areas where he can look to be employed across digital marketing.
Coming to the structure of the book, this book has been covered across eleven chapters which form a part of five core units as follows:
• UNIT I (Basics of Digital Marketing): The first part introduces the reader to the basics of digital marketing, its underlying technologies and frameworks and establishes the ASCOR digital marketing framework. It further delves into defining the concepts of value chain digitisation and digital marketing models creation. It also touches upon consumer behaviour aspects for digital marketing including consumer demand management and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) for digital platforms.
• UNIT II (Digital Marketing Strategy Development): This part begins with an elaboration of the Assessment stage of ASCOR Framework which covers the Ecosystem for Digital Marketing, key elements of Digital Marketing Assessment and Digital Marketing Objectives Planning. It is followed by an exploration of the Digital Marketing Strategy stage which includes developing an understanding of the Digital Marketing Mix elements and a deep-dive into the 6S Digital Marketing Implementation Stages.
• UNIT III (Digital Marketing Planning and Setup): In the third part we cover the planning and setup stages of the ASCOR Framework including Digital Marketing Communications and Channel Mix and Digital Marketing Operations Setup. It starts with the coverage of Digital Media Planning stages and provides an introduction to all key digital marketing channels. Apart from this it also covers the basics of conversion marketing, web development and management along with developing an understanding of User Experience, Usability and Service Quality Elements.
• UNIT IV (Digital Marketing Execution): The fourth part drills deep into the basic elements of digital campaigns and their execution across all key Digital Marketing Types (Search, Display, Social, Partner, Direct, Content, Platform marketing). It completes the ASCOR Framework stages with coverage of Digital Marketing Measurement and Refinement. This part concludes with a full chapter on Digital Marketing Execution Elements including Digital Marketing Revenue, Service Delivery & Payment, Security & Privacy Concerns, Legal and Ethical Issues.
• UNIT V (Digital Business-Present & Future): This last part sheds light on key present and future aspects of Digital Marketing starting with the latest trends in digital business to covering the rise of E-commerce along-with discussing emerging digital business models. The book ends with a dedicated chapter on emerging career opportunities for digital professionals which will help readers of the book decide on career tracks they could follow being digital marketing professionals.
This book comprises insights gained from my years of corporate work experience and industry interactions with clients/workmates across multiple sectors, domains and geographies, which I have aimed to transform into practical and actionable frameworks and models. The title has been authored keeping in mind the needs of students, faculty, corporates, entrepreneurs and individuals who want to master the core concepts of digital marketing. I believe the title will best equip readers to begin a career in digital marketing and use the concepts as a launchpad to venture into specific channels, platforms and techniques as they discover them during their digital marketing careers.
And as is beautifully put in the parting words of the iconic and inspiring Pixar animation ‘Ratatouille’, I hope that with the knowledge gained from this book, you don’t just ‘Inspire Others’ but regularly ‘Surprise Yourself’ in the true moments of exhilaration this journey presents!
We, at Pearson, wish you all the best for these digital expeditions.
Puneet Singh Bhatia
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Acknowledgments
Among the many endeavors of marketing is to make its way into one’s subconscious. And that is what this field of study probably did to me through mediums unknown and ways unsaid. The thrill of being able to reach out and influence even strangers through the written word and associated imagery is probably one of the most lucrative aspects of a marketing career (the ability to make a real dent in sales for business being the other).
It is between these traverses that one finds the inspiration and influence to write a book on marketing. And in this journey there are many who inspire you with their passionate conversations and those who make it real with their practical insights. From those who let marketing run breathlessly to those who let it tiptoe with a strict bridle, a marketer gets shaped through interactions across such multiple extremes. And it is these exchanges that have manifested themselves in the form of the text laid out in front of you right now.
From academic influences including Prof. Simran Singh (Simran Singh & Associates) who taught me the basics of Retail Marketing at NIFT, Delhi to Prof. Ramesh Kumar (IIM, Bangalore) who reiterated the fact that each word in Marketing had a meaning (to quote one of his most popular comments ‘There is a difference between Marketing and English and you should know when you are speaking what!’) to corporate gumption exemplified by Ganesh Venkataraman (AVP, Cognizant Technology Solutions), I have both been impressed and blessed to be associated with media, marketing and digital professionals who have shaped my understanding of the subject and brought me closer to viewing it through the lens of a regular observer (which has been my attempt in writing this book).
From ideation to the ink on this page there are special mentions which I have for Pearson India team whose support has been highly instrumental in bringing forth this book. I would like to thank Varun Goenka for believing in my idea and the need for a comprehensive India specific title on Digital Marketing. A big word of thanks to Jubi Borkakoti for making sure that not only do we have the best edited text at hand but also supporting introduction of new ideas and features and for the relentless hours of discussions, at times on just a single image or an inverted comma. My gratitude also goes out to Priyankita Dey and Anumeet Kaur from the Rights and Permissions team at Pearson for their painstaking work on obtaining the rights for each image along-with Neha Nupur and team for all her efforts on the marketing of the title. I am also deeply thankful to Vikram Singh (DGM Product & Senior Managing Editor, Pearson) for providing me this opportunity to convert and present my experiences in the form of this title. And finally coming to those who lay right to the major share of my gratitude: Family. My biggest indebtedness to my parents, especially to mom who taught me how to burn the brightest even when situations seemed tough- her strength and wisdom will always be the backbone for each of my endeavours. I also owe a lot to the endless technical and data related discussions with my brother (Avneet Bhatia) and content related feedbacks from my partner (Manpreet Kaur) both of whom have been my constant support throughout this extensive undertaking.
My final acknowledgment to the light of my life, my daughter Aarza, who lovingly (and unknowingly) gifted a lot of her hours which went into the making of this title for which I am obligated forever.
I hope that this edition provides you (the reader) the most simple yet practical way of learning digital marketing concepts from scratch and really helps in developing your knowledge to emerge as a strong digital marketing professional in future. Request each of you to share feedback and suggestions on topics you would like to extend or change in the book and I would try my best to include the same in forthcoming editions.
Thanks again for providing an opportunity for us to learn this wonderful and emerging area together.
Let’s be in touch at:
Email:connect.fodm@gmail.com
Skype ID: puneet.bhatia75
Puneet Singh Bhatia
About the Author
Puneet Singh Bhatia is a digital marketing and media professional with over 13 years of experience in providing marketing consulting, operations and delivery services for prestigious international and Indian clients including Google, Viacom, RTL Group, Wiley, New York Times, Apple, Twitter, Reliance, Hindu, Hindustan Times, Anand Bazaar Patrika, among others. Throughout his career, Puneet has led digital marketing projects across social, search, display, mobile, video, programmatic among other areas of digital marketing.
During his corporate stint, Puneet has been responsible for creating marketing strategies, developing digital domain and process transformation frameworks, and executing thought leadership in multiple positions he has held at Patni Computers (now CapGemini), Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Axtria Inc. At Axtria, he presently holds a leadership position at one of the fastest growing big data and decision sciences company serving global clients across sales and marketing functions.
Puneet has completed his Post Graduation from IIM-Bangalore, with a specialization in marketing. His interests include tracing the shifts in digital marketing landscape especially in upcoming areas including data-driven marketing, experiential marketing, conversion optimization, marketing automation, etc. He is a regular participant at key digital marketing forums and has been a guest speaker across major Indian campuses, promoting digital marketing knowledge and concepts. ‘Fundamentals of Digital Marketing’ is Puneet’s second book title. Prior to this, in 2015, he has adapted an academic textbook on ‘E-Marketing’ for Pearson India.
In recognition of his efforts across digital marketing, in 2016 he was cited with the ‘100 Most Influential Marketing Tech Leaders Award’ by World Marketing Congress and CMO Council.
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Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
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CHAPTER
1
Introduction to Digital Marketing
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain the evolution of digital marketing
• Define digital marketing and differentiate it from traditional ‘e-models’ like e-business and e-commerce
• Outline the underlying technology and frameworks within which digital marketing operates and gain an understanding of digital transformation models
• Describe the structure of digital marketing, opportunities, applications, business modes and challenges
• Understand key components and application of ASCOR Digital Marketing Framework across multiple stakeholder scenarios
CASE STUDY flipkart: heralding indian E-commerce
Flipkart, the poster boy of digital entrepreneurship and flagbearer of e-commerce in India, has had multiple firsts to its credit which has given it a distinctive advantage as well as a good positioning in India’s rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape. With the expected valuation of Indian e-commerce industry estimated to be $100 billion by 2020 (at currently $17 billion), Flipkart has undoubtedly showed stellar growth from being an exclusively online bookselling portal to garnering a valuation of $15 billion (figures as per May 2015 last fundraising round). According to Forbes.com, the e-commerce platform lists 30 million products, ships eight million packages a month, and has 45 million registered users (as declared on 18 May 2015). Flipkart delivers in over 1,000 Indian cities and towns. Flipkart began its operations in 2007, with the company’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (alumni at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi) pooling in ` 2 lakh
each and deciding to launch Flipkart, out of their two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, Bangalore. There was not a single transaction in the first 10 days, with the first order finally placed by a customer from Andhra Pradesh for the book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. From then to now, Flipkart has reported a revenue of ` 2,846 crore (FY 2014) with an estimated employee base of 33,000 (2015). In May 2014, Flipkart received $210 million from DST Global and raised $1 billion in July 2014. Led by existing investors, Tiger Global and South Africa’s media group Naspers, in May 2015, it raised $550 million. Till today, the company has privately raised about $2.7 billion through multiple rounds of funding.
What makes Flipkart so successful in the face of intense competition, difficult funding climate, and ever-changing preferences of digital customers? The key to their success is widely attributed to the unique marketing initiatives they had introduced early-on, including cash on delivery (CoD), on-time deliveries, mobile-first initiatives, strategic acquisitions, in-house product launches, and so on. Even on the promotional front, Flipkart has been known for running some unique advertising campaigns like dressing kids as grown-ups enacting key features of the brand and what it stands for. Exclusive branding through tie-ups with companies like Motorola (for the launch of their Moto-G Series) was also one of their digital marketing firsts in India. The impact of such initiatives can be judged from the fact that the entire stock of Xioami Mi3 took just five seconds to sell, when booking was opened for the second time for 20,000 phones. On the acquisitions side, Flipkart started its string of digital acquisitions in 2010 obtaining companies like WeRead (social bookdiscovery tool), Mime360 (digital content platform firm), Chakpak.com (bollywood news site), LetsBuy.com (electronics e-tailer), Myntra.com (a US$319 million deal of a competitor portal), Adiquity (global mobile network), and Appiterate (mobile marketing start-up). The company is also investing in four firms, including maps provider MapmyIndia, as it seeks to improve its supply chain efficiencies, an area where it plans to invest over $2.5billion in the coming years.
It also is a great case study on digital seller partnerships, warehousing, and inventory management. Key initiatives to help suppliers grow their businesses include F1 Stop campaign (offering registration, training, cataloguing, packaging, and financial assistance), Flipkart Seller Campus (special four-hour training sessions on inventory management during peak season), Growth Capital (helping SMEs leverage their business through the e-marketplace platform), Seller Hub App (supporting sellers reaching out to 45 million Flipkart customers on-the-go). Through these initiatives, Flipkart hit $1 billion in annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in 2014 (an year ahead of their target).
Since 2014, in their bid to improve margins, Flipkart has started concentrating on launching its own set of tablet, mobile phones, and even a phablet. The first among the series of tablet phones was Digiflip Pro XT 712 Tablet. In July 2014, Flipkart launched its first networking router, under its own brand name—DigiFlip WR001 300 Mbps Wireless N Router. In September 2014, Flipkart launched its in-house home appliances and personal healthcare brand (Citron) which includes a wide range of cooking utilities and grooming products.
With a lot going their way across their digital journey, there have also been incidents which have marred the brand’s reputation and posed execution-related challenges to Flipkart.
The key among them was the handling of their ‘Big Billion Day’ online sale on 6 October 2014, which exposed certain flaws like non-availability of products, out-of-stock listings, backend (technical) issues, post-booking cancellations, leading to customer dissatisfaction and apologies from the firm to all. A different kind of challenge included Flipkart receiving mass criticism on the subject of net neutrality after they announced a partnership with Airtel to use the Airtel Zero platform. On 14 April 2015, Flipkart had to move back to its decision on using Airtel Zero platform. On the product side, Flipkart faced some setbacks like the launch of Flyte Digtial Music Store, a legal paid-music download service, which did not get popular and had to be shut down on 17 June 2013.
With the target of becoming India’s first $100 billion internet company, there are clear challenges and opportunities at hand for this market leader. Key challenges include managing the supplier ecosystem; providing superior service for their ever-growing customer base; managing an efficient back-end; enticing top talent; improving ease of payments; rural sales management; and so on. Since Flipkart is eyeing to earn more than 50 per cent of its revenue from mobiles, it sees this platform as its biggest opportunity. This is because from a marketing and customer data standpoint, mobiles provide a greater in-depth transaction-level data which would help Flipkart forecast better to provide the right kind of experience. It has also introduced a new mobile web application called Flipkart Lite which is designed for those who do not want to install apps for reasons like low storage capacity on their phone. According to sources, Flipkart plans to phase out commissions and wants sellers to advertise on its platform for a fee, a move aimed at enlisting more vendors and at the same time earning higher advertising fee. Flipkart is also trying to cut dependence on its largest vendor (WS Retail), which accounts for majority of the sales on the website.
With the company said to have set the target to reach a GVM of $8 billion, by adding another 100,000 sellers on its platform, it is well set to target selling 1 billion goods by the end of 2017. Flipkart appears to be the bellwether for all Indian digital businesses in the future and with its phenomenal success, goes on to prove day after day that strong product knowledge combined with astute marketing can make digital realities possible.
Evolution of Digital Mark E ting
Marketing as a discipline has undergone radical changes over the past few decades. Since 1450, when Gutenberg’s printing press began its operation, leading to mass production of flyers and brochures, till the present time when automated posting of online advertisements has become very common, marketing has kept up incredibly well with changing technology. Along with shifts like customers’ social orientations towards buying and the humongous information available at hand to compare multiple products and brands, ‘modern marketing,’ a phrase coined recently, has emerged steadily marking a new phase.
To understand how and why the original marketing concept and its orientations have shifted, let us go through the various stages of evolution termed as ‘Marketing Eras’—
• Trade era: products were handmade; hence, supply was limited
• Production era: products were mass produced and consumers focused on features like low cost and availability
• Product era: focus moved from quantity to quality and consumers laid more emphasis on quality, performance, and innovative features
• Sales era: with increasing competition companies were compelled to emphasize on aggressive selling and promotion, commoditization of products, leading to saturation of consumer demand
• Marketing era: marketing emerged as a practice as consumers started demanding better products; differentiators like pricing, distribution, and promotion became important
• Relationship era: customers started getting valued to build a long-term orientation
• Digital era: also called the social/mobile era, the focus is on real-time and social exchangebased marketing where communication and social interactions play a prime role
from traditional to Moder n Marketing
To appreciate the evolution of marketing through its history, we need to first understand how marketing as a discipline was applied in a traditional sense to its modern avatar.
The classic definition of marketing according to AMA (The American Marketing Association) is ‘the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.’
If we elaborate this definition to compare and contrast traditional marketing activities with how they are being managed in the modern sense, we will see that technology has played a big part in this transition.
Premise of Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing, by definition, includes platforms and techniques which were used as oneway communication tool rather than interactive ones. Four such historically important tools are listed below.
• Print marketing (newspapers/magazines/direct mailers/catalogues) provided daily news, classifieds, local and interest-based dailies/periodicals/flyers which were monetized through promotions and local advertisements
• Broadcasting (television/radio) provided entertainment, knowledge, and live events, primarily supported by television advertisements
• Home marketing (billboards) has had great impact over decades in terms of influencing consumers
• One-to-one marketing (telemarketing) had been effective though expensive
Factors Impacting the Shift from Traditional to Modern Marketing
Traditional marketing techniques (more prevalent prior to the 1990s, before interactive technology started making its impact) focused on elements which in the present age have undergone significant shifts (for comparative estimate between traditional and modern marketing areas, (see Table 1.1). Key reasons for such shifts include:
• Power shift from business to consumer attributed to availability of a wide variety of product choices and saturation of key categories
• Growing amount of communication channels leading to clutter and brands moving away from mass marketing to customized online marketing
• Consumers’ preference for interactive rather than traditional medium like newspapers, magazines, TV, which had a one-way information flow
• Need to validate marketing with product and service recommendations from trusted group of influencers/social interactions
• Need for comparison of product benefits to make informed decisions (multiple messages need to be heard, understood, and trusted upon by target segment)
• Higher interaction with products and more avenues for such interactions facilitating holistic messaging rather than the traditional practice of one-off marketing
• The emergence of marketing as a discovery-led immersive exercise for an individual/group rather than forced messages targeted to large audiences
(a) Interactivity
Customer has no choice in receiving messages of his interest
(b) Engagement Difficult to track results and impact of marketing
(c) Agility
Delivery though physical channels takes larger fulfillment time
(d) Conversions Closer to product awareness and interest stages
(e) Personalization
Mass marketing techniques with low personal touch
(f) Brand imageryDifficult to build brand imagery because of platform limitations
(g) Social involvementNot able to involve social integration features
All channels have certain interactivity
Focus is on customer satisfaction and building a relationship
Efficiency in terms of ‘agility of service’ is much higher
Activities targeted to more towards ‘end of the funnel’ relating them with consumption
High potential to customize offerings for each customer
With rich media/video gaining prominence strong imagery is possible
Ability to socialize and build trust by leveraging social networks
table 1.1 Comparison of Modern Marketing Scoring over Traditional Techniques
