Is digital marketing a waste of Money?

ankitagaba

New member
With internet penetration rate increasing, many brands have started investing in digital.

But the mass eyeballs still seem to be available through traditional media.

As business management students, what are your thoughts on the digital medium and social networks as a marketing channel.

Or do you think it's a waste of money as many brand managers spend a mere 5-10 % of their marketing budgets on digital and social media.
 

shreyadas

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Currently its a waste of money.

Maybe in near future when we are as evolved as foreign markets, the only thing marketeers will advertise on is going to be digital space.

Everything is going online you see, including a cow which was on sale at ebay sometime back.
 

winner@1

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
personally i dont think its digital marketing is waste of money its effective and great way of marketing as now ANy tom dick knows to serve internet and so our message through digital marketing will clearly be seen .
 

koolin

New member
I somewhat believe that an advertising and marketing of any product depends on the features of the product. for eg. if your product comes under an FMCG category you may not serve your purpose by digital marketing where as if your product is part of a Consumer Durable category you may well digitally market it. On the whole the concept of digital marketing is evolving with websites like ebay, flipkart, tradus, pioneering the online sale.
 

koolin

New member
I guess we should participate more into such discussions on a regular basis rather than posting comments after days unless someone is busy.
 

ankitagaba

New member
@Kulin

What do you think of Social Media. Even consumer brands can use social media to market their products, receive consumer feedback etc. No?

@Shreya Das

The numbers are huge now. Almost everybody googles now, or is on Facebook. How in this do you say that digital marketing is not big?
 

koolin

New member
Hi Ankita,

Yes consumer brands can market their product on a social media website but do you think as an entrepreneur is it viable and feasible to market a product whose margins are low and work on volumes? FMCG product requires a feel and experience by a consumer, its prices does not suffice itself to be a component of a digital marketing avenue. Coming on to your second point regarding feedback i would like to say that selling a product and receieving a feedback are two different things. I would encourage that more and more companies start receiving feedback through social media. This way they will attract more and more feedbacks rather than paper filling and form filling. Feedback is an post-purchase phase where i can give a feedback for a product which i might have bought it from a different seller. Being a part of so many social media websites how many FMCG products do we see as compared to Non-FMCG? Very limited right. However, i would not discourage the whole digital marketing concept. If used fundamentally and financially well it would get you that extra sales along with which your topline will grow.
 

shreyadas

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
@Shreya Das

The numbers are huge now. Almost everybody googles now, or is on Facebook. How in this do you say that digital marketing is not big?

Yes the numbers are huge, but the numbers are of students surfing through their cellphones or rural audiences who do not have a credit card.

Most spend still happens in travel and luxury items available at cheap deals.

People are not as habituated buying online as often as they go to malls etc or as compared to a citizen of a developed nation.

Once we have a strong eCommerce demographic, more brands will splurge online.
 

koolin

New member
Hi Shreya,

I appreciate your point about the age group who uses the digital medium. However you are ignoring the fact that we are here discussing about the digital media as a medium of marketing and advertisement rather than buying actual product online which means if a student is surfing on Facebook and he looks at a new samsung mobile phone advertisement on the right hand side of the Facebook page and he explores it and then goes and buys it from the shop. This would solve the purpose of a digital marketing for a company which is samsung in my above eg.
 

winner@1

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Hi Shreya,

I appreciate your point about the age group who uses the digital medium. However you are ignoring the fact that we are here discussing about the digital media as a medium of marketing and advertisement rather than buying actual product online which means if a student is surfing on Facebook and he looks at a new samsung mobile phone advertisement on the right hand side of the Facebook page and he explores it and then goes and buys it from the shop. This would solve the purpose of a digital marketing for a company which is samsung in my above eg.

ya its true as i said before internet marketing is getting popular now days many companies are promoting their products on social site for eg take our home website eg at management paradise many institutes market their product so its right different segment of products are marketed at different site which suitable for it .

:juggle: :smile: :(thankss
 

ankitagaba

New member
When is comes to credit card availability, most eCommerce portals now have cash on delivery. So that aspect has been sorted out. Even by mobile money now.

With Social Media I believe many entrepreneurs can sell their products whether consumer goods or others. In fact social media is a relatively cost effective medium of marketing. If we compare it to traditional media or SEM and SEO, social media is cheaper. The big corps can employ social media agencies and the startup owners can do it themselves.

Facebook twitter etc can be used for marketing and infact direct sales too. Look at this case study for eg. Social Media Case Study: Shari Academy of Photography

The articles says, "Shari Academy runs weekend workshops promoted primarily though the Photography Tips fan page and the blog. It%u2019s a packed house with people turning up from other cities sometimes to attend these paid workshops. Since the beginning of our efforts we have nearly doubled and at times almost tripled the strength of each workshop. This simple Facebook and Blogging campaign has been translating into money for the company, and not just indirect of intangible benefits. Enough for it to now run its own paid campaigns on Facebook after nearly 2 years of organic growth, a point unimaginable for the small business back when it started."

What do you say to this?
 

shreyadas

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
When is comes to credit card availability, most eCommerce portals now have cash on delivery. So that aspect has been sorted out. Even by mobile money now.

With Social Media I believe many entrepreneurs can sell their products whether consumer goods or others. In fact social media is a relatively cost effective medium of marketing. If we compare it to traditional media or SEM and SEO, social media is cheaper. The big corps can employ social media agencies and the startup owners can do it themselves.

Facebook twitter etc can be used for marketing and infact direct sales too. Look at this case study for eg. Social Media Case Study: Shari Academy of Photography

The articles says, "Shari Academy runs weekend workshops promoted primarily though the Photography Tips fan page and the blog. It%u2019s a packed house with people turning up from other cities sometimes to attend these paid workshops. Since the beginning of our efforts we have nearly doubled and at times almost tripled the strength of each workshop. This simple Facebook and Blogging campaign has been translating into money for the company, and not just indirect of intangible benefits. Enough for it to now run its own paid campaigns on Facebook after nearly 2 years of organic growth, a point unimaginable for the small business back when it started."

What do you say to this?

I had seen a story recently of a person who lost both his hands and legs. He paints with his mouth and still is full of life. It is inspiring, and it is rare. Shari Academy is a similar example.

In the age when people are soo intimidated to even step foot in a big mall, let alone purchase from it, the current generation is still to evolve into ecommerce and social media influencing it.

If that isnt enough, while many companies have twitter and facebook presence to differentiate their services, the top management has no clue of ROI on social media unlike most other functions.

Social media is a big white elephant seen by all. When it becomes a little more nimble and agile like in the west, it will prove helpful.
 

farhanak.manage

New member
Interesting article ankita, though as they said - sports is seen with family and friends on tv and not alone online.

I would say brand advertisements done online need to be measured and optimized until you find significant ROI.
 

ankitagaba

New member
Has significant ROI been defined for TV yet? How do we know people saw an ad and then went to purchase the product. The TRP ratings are also debatable.

In fact a perfect mesh would be to mix up TV advertising and lead people to social media properties and then stay in touch with the consumer through social media there by closing the loop
 

farhanak.manage

New member
Has significant ROI been defined for TV yet? How do we know people saw an ad and then went to purchase the product. The TRP ratings are also debatable.

In fact a perfect mesh would be to mix up TV advertising and lead people to social media properties and then stay in touch with the consumer through social media there by closing the loop

Of-course TV has defined significant ROI. Why do you think companies spend millions on TVC?

A realistic approach would be to do both independently and figure out what gives better ROI. Unfortunately social media is only used to do CRM which is motivating a user more to go and crib online. Try to publicly do something to make him happy and a million others mushroom with complains and crib more and more in hope of gaining a deal.

Social media is two way and live, TV isnt, print isnt, radio isnt and thats what defines their success against Social media campaigns.
 

koolin

New member
Hi Ankita & Farhana...just wanted to share an article with you both regarding the view of digital marketing by PepsiCo: PepsiCo adopts innovative ways for digital marketing in India - Economic Times.

This is a very subjective issue and we can go on and on and on for this....what i believe and what stats reveal across the companies from different sectors and industries is that every company has started using the digital marketing medium in a serious way and has pooled some money from their ad budget. We will hardly find any figures differentiating the amount used for digital marketing and print media or so but we can surely find the total ad spend budget. To conclude i would opine that digital marketing has evolved in a big way and its going to be a game changer going forward. May be tier 2 and tier 3 cities will have less of digital marketing but will surely evolve by the time.
 

ankitagaba

New member
I agree to "To conclude i would opine that digital marketing has evolved in a big way and its going to be a game changer going forward. May be tier 2 and tier 3 cities will have less of digital marketing but will surely evolve by the time."
 

G-sis1

Genesis Archibong
I don't think it's a waste of money as more and more people are going and getting use to the internet and social networking. There are challenges especially in the rural areas but the improvement is inevitable, so as more money and awareness is put into it the result will be tremendous.:big_grin:
 

winner@1

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
I don't think it's a waste of money as more and more people are going and getting use to the internet and social networking. There are challenges especially in the rural areas but the improvement is inevitable, so as more money and awareness is put into it the result will be tremendous.:big_grin:

its true digital marketing is most important way of advertising and now day even tom dic is promoting its product online as you say here are challenges especially in the rural areas but the improvement is inevitable, so as more money and awareness is put into it the result will be tremendous.

enjoy
 
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