Digital marketing: Driving sales while sailing through turbulence

As the world today is pushed into extended lockdown and social distancing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, digital media has assumed a central position in the marketing mix of companies. While companies today are not new to the digital space, digital marketing is the most effective tool at the moment to garner brand recognition, customer attention and support online sales when brick-and-mortar touchpoints are shut. It has now moved beyond handling a few sales channels to connect marketing to the business goals of a company. As the internet became integral to our lives, here’s how digital marketing has proved to be helpful for a range of businesses:

 

Retail and supermarket chains

Despite the surge in e-commerce, according to an estimate, in-store sale accounted for 90 per cent of all retail sales in the US in 2017. But it all changed with Covid-19 pushing traditional stores and marketing efforts out of the picture.

Retail giants have redesigned their product catalog for online-only sales while also working with hyper-local delivery services to stay cost-efficient and cut down on delivery turn-around time. Their mobile apps are updated quickly to interact with customers virtually as well as driving sales. The applications include product information, launch announcement, real-time status of delivery and more. 

For example, in the absence of brick-and-mortar stores, Indian retail giants Big Bazaar and Spencer stuck to their omnichannel marketing during the pandemic to ensure an effortless buying experience for consumers. Others added grocery delivery to their service and leveraged insight from the Pandora’s Box of their consumer data to deliver a personalised shopping experience online.

 

Food delivery service

With people stuck indoors, food delivery services have witnessed a surge like never before. Since restaurants and food-courts are not an option anymore, people are turning to delivery to treat themselves at home. On-demand food delivery services like UberEats in the USA and Swiggy in India have been using the social media platforms to reach out to customers about new offerings, reduced delivery turn-around time and contactless delivery options.

Others in this category are also leveraging the prospects of emerging cloud kitchen businesses with digital advertising and interactive content to monetise their last-mile reach.

When it comes to digital campaigns, it’s possibly the best time to tell a story with an emotional trigger. Indian food delivery service Zomato celebrated Mother’s Day amid the lockdown this year with a digital campaign focused on mothers who dedicate so much time cooking delicious food for their kids. It was aimed to strike a chord with customers by emphasising on realisation of a mother’s love for her children with #OrderForMom.

Ed-tech

Akin to food-tech companies, ed-tech majors also witnessed a significant increase in the number of new students enrolling on their platforms since March 2020 — students are now more dependent on online learning than ever before.  

Ed-tech players like BYJU’S, Unacademy, UpGrad in India know what the Gen-Z and their parents want and tweaked their digital marketing strategy on this two-pronged approach. Not surprisingly, their digital campaigns, social media marketing and market research paid off better than other intrusive channels (like SMS and emails) to expand the student base.

As most schools and universities are likely to be closed for the remainder of the academic year, the new-age platforms are allowing students to take up from a range of courses like university-certified MBA to diploma programs at a competitive cost. In fact, most ed-tech players are now offering free access to their platforms, content and live classes for students as a part of their user acquisition strategy.

 

Healthcare

Be it a solo practice, small clinic or a multi-specialty chain, services are the product for healthcare players. But a responsive website, Google Adwords campaigns and SEO tactics may not be adequate during an uncertain time like this. Healthcare companies and start-ups are turning to social media to share professional knowledge regarding healthcare — the aim is to attract customers, build trust and drive awareness as a part of their digital marketing strategy.    

Beyond localised organic marketing (SEO), players in the healthcare industry are also using their Covid-capabilities as lead generators for other specialised service lines, create digital access-points for elective procedures and specialty care, as well as catering to the increasing demand for online medical content. Multi-channel initiatives like engaging with chatbots can be preferable to some customers, while others may choose Twitter or Facebook page to interact with the brand. Digital marketing tools like information blogs, educative video contents and interactive touch-points for customers can also overshadow traditional marketing in these uncertain times.

All that’s fake on the internet

Fake news is just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is, the internet is full of lies and you need a keen eye to segregate the bogus from the bona fide

Job offers

Fraudulent job emails usually don’t have detailed information about the role, company and package. Also, if an offer asks you to pay for an appointment or interview, it’s fake. No employer asks for money in the name of security deposits in advance.

Social profiles

Social media influencers often grumble about fake profiles. But they are not difficult to identify — a fake profile will have a stock image or no image, not many friends, lack of activity in the platform and too many or too few followers. Then there are bot accounts that are fake voters with loud opinions or obsessive re-tweeters.

Products

Do you know one among four products in your shopping wishlist at an e-commerce site can be counterfeit? Irrespective of what you intend to buy, compare the product with the one listed on the brand’s official website, and look for the assurance tag on the product to ensure it’s genuine. Also, avoid products offering heavy discounts.

Reviews

Fake reviews are nothing new on hotel, restaurant, book and e-commerce sites. But they can be damaging. Unlike genuine reviews that contain words specifically relating to the place or product in question, the fake ones are vague and include repeated use of same words or marketing terms. Questionable grammar and the use of superlatives are also signs of suspicious reviews. 

Apps

Fake mobile apps mimic the look of legitimate applications to trick you to install them. Once installed, they tend to perform malicious actions. Such apps are usually hosted on third-party app stores. If you come across apps in the App Store and Play Store that are crowded with ads, then stay away. You should also check all app permissions carefully.

Scareware

Unlike malware or spyware, scareware pretends to be real security protection and then tricks you into paying to clean up infections it claims to have detected. To avoid falling into the trap, install a decent anti-virus, avoid visiting dubious web locations, and if a fake ransom demand popup refuses to leave your screen, call its bluff by killing the browser using Task Manager.  

Emails

We are all introduced to fake or phishing emails where the sender is ‘fishing’ for our personal information. And they are not difficult to identify as well — just ‘report spam’ if you receive an email with impersonal greetings like ‘Dear user’ or ‘Dear [your email address]’, or if the email asks you to click on links that take you to a fake website, contains unknown attachments or conveys a false sense of urgency.

Online surveys

The internet has hundreds of legitimate survey sites. Then there are the fake ones that invite people to take surveys. If a site offers outrageous incentives such as free vacations, expensive products or a lot of cash, it’s fake. Stay away from platforms that ask for your family or bank details or asks you to download software. And never share your frequently used email IDs.