One particular reason why businesses pay more attention to digital marketing is that it is in many ways a great equaliser . In other words it provides a level playing field for companies regardless of their size . A solid digital marketing strategy can help small companies achieve the same visibility as that of its bigger competitor whereas in traditional marketing , a small company would struggle . Unlike traditional marketing , digital marketing helps in analysing the performance of a campaign in real time . Analytics help marketers to optimise the campaign for improved results . Digital marketing also gives businesses much greater exposure than traditional marketing , even within a single campaign if need be .
Going viral
Another reason why companies and marketers cannot afford to ignore digital marketing is the speed at which interesting content can spread . Going viral is a phenomenon that traditional marketing cannot create . Online media can act as an aggregator for viral content and help in getting a brand visible across a much wider spectrum . The recent viral phenomenon of Ice Bucket Challenge reached far ends of the internet world . A challenge that began in Massachusetts to increase awareness of Lou Gehrig ’ s disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( ALS ) helped several not-for-profit foundations . They saw a substantial increase in donations from across the world owing to the challenge ’ s virality . However , bad news can also be circulated just as fast , so organisations need to keep a watch .
Digital marketing is a win-win for both producers of content and marketers . Any website can generate income if an advertisement column is provided . As traffic increases , income increases . For example , an independent author , or blogger as you would be titled on the internet , can generate income if he / she provides an advertisement column which is outsourced to an online advertising agency like Google Ads .
To make true leverage on the digital marketing revolution , however , businesses and marketers must go beyond adopting a selective method approach , to embracing the phenomenon in its entirety including the transformational changes that have taken place . With the advent of Web 2.0 , consumers have turned into “ prosumers ”, a word derived by effectively merging “ producers ” and “ consumers ”. In the past , although there was the internet , communication was still one way .
There was a set of “ consumers ”, simply users , who were restricted to only seeking information from the Internet that were made available by the “ producers ”. Today , the Internet is filled with “ User Generated Content ” ( UGC ) that paved way to the era of “ produsage ”; producers and usage . The portmanteau word Produsage simply refers to any kind of user-led content development that takes place anywhere in the digital media . The concept of produsage erased the boundaries between active production and passive consumption .
Mass media exploited this situation by creating “ citizen journalists ”. Multinational news media organisations such as BBC , CNN and Fox News created exclusive platforms that encouraged citizens to actively produce user-generated news . In 2006 , Time magazine ’ s person of the year was “ You ”, acknowledging every single person who contributed towards usergenerated media . Consumers today have the power to initiate a remote production process by the click of a button , which is what happens when you order a laptop online according to your specifications .
If you are seeing an advertisement on shoes on your Facebook feeds , chances are it is because you recently commented or posted a status on shoes . The more traffic your website creates , advertisements begin to increase . In spite of all the benefits of digital marketing , it is unlikely that digital marketing will ever completely marginalise traditional marketing . Traditional marketing may remain superior to digital for the sole reason that it provides a “ feel good factor ”.
As an employee or a consumer , I feel good when I see an outdoor / print advertisement of a brand I am involved with because “ I can see people seeing it ”. Digital marketing could get you much wider visibility , your advertisements are accurate to the target market and you can increase sales which are unlikely with outdoor print marketing but “ you can seldom see people viewing it ”.
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