As digitalisation becomes the new normal, new companies are increasingly realising that digital-based trade will soon become the ultimate business model.
There has been a massive change in the marketing industry recently as consumer behaviour has changed like never before during the pandemic. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the usage of online and digital platforms got a boost due to the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. Well, at least the pandemic has proven to be beneficial for this one sector.
In this regard, Criteo’s COVID-19 Impact on Marketing report has further proved that there has been a huge change in the way consumer buying and their behaviour. Further, the report suggests that 8 out of 10 marketers in India spent a considerably high amount of money on digital marketing due to the pandemic.
The survey covered 1,000 senior market executives across the world, including 105 marketing heads from India. The survey also reveals crucial information on the impact of the pandemic on businesses and associated priorities posed by several challenges due to COVID-mitigating measures. The research even hinted that almost half of the marketing techniques now deal with digital marketing spends.
Besides this, due to the abrupt digital transformation of the market over 43 percent of the marketers witnessed losses in their revenues in 2020. With that, 54 percent of the marketers said that COVID-19 has led to an increase in the budget pertaining to website sales further indicating that there has been a substantial rise in online sales and bookings of products and services.
Digital Marketing: The new normal
With the onset of such trends, the budget for social contenting, marketing and paid videos along with advertising on retail websites and applications is likely to see an increase in 2021. Four out of 10 marketers who were enrolled in the survey said that the pandemic resulted in a rapid digital transformation in their trade and deals.
Moreover, with the change of mode of business to digital platforms, 46 percent of marketers and businessmen asserted that the online expansion of their businesses has led to an uptick in their efficiency while 45 percent has confirmed the rise in customers’ loyalty. These trends have brought significant changes in sales, marketing and operation where eight out of 10 marketers in India emphasised that their share of digital marketing spend increased due to COVID-19.
As far as marketing function is concerned almost 65 percent believe that digital marketing activities have led to an increase in their brand promotion. In addition to this, 69 percent of the marketers believe that marketing is essentially important to acquire new customers while 58 percent said that it has helped them in building a better brand value.
Digital Marketing led-future
According to this recent report based on market prediction, 70 percent of the businessmen and marketers consider digitalisation of their businesses and venture to be the top priority. As digitalisation becomes the new normal both due to government policies and the pandemic-laden environment, new companies are increasingly realising that only digital-based trade will become the ultimate business model.
The veracity of the situation can be understood by the fact that most of the marketers have re-allocated their budget to meet the demands posed by digital transition along with more marketing spend that will continue to dominate in the imminent future. In this regard, 58 percent of the marketers have vouched for digital campaigns in near future.
But, the main concern of the marketers amid the growing footprint of digital platforms remains to be their brand safety as their dependency increases on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon as over 50 percent of marketers consistently use these platforms to communicate with their customers.
Digital Marketing campaigns: A blessing from the pandemic
Although half of the market has emphatically said that currently, their digital plans are going well according to the plans, there has been a massive decrease in physical events and outdoor campaigns which has taken a huge beating. However, 51 percent of the marketers who are on the digital bandwagon say that their budget for digital content publishing on websites and apps has tremendously increased in recent times.
Furthermore, as per a report from Deloitte, there has been an 18 percent increase in digital sales growth in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to that of 2019. Social distancing, work-from-home, and lockdown did create a conducive environment for virtual marketing of brands along with promoting customer interaction based on digital mediums.
According to a GlobalWebIndex report, 76 percent of people generally in the age-group of 16 to 64 years are spending exceedingly more time while gleaning through digital platforms. As brands are unable to create a proper real-time environment for customers to engage with the products, the focus has now majorly shifted to digital marketing.