My digital marketing journey started five years ago; before that, I was a
programmer.
I started marketing feature films on social media. My initial efforts never
succeeded in bringing people to the
movie screens. Now, everything seems very obvious; at that time, it didn't occur
to me that my efforts were not reaching
a sufficient number of people.
I succeeded the second time. I was able to reach out to a large number of
people. I used Facebook advertising, which was very cheap
four years ago. This time, again, I failed. Very few turned up at the theatre.
It was at this point that I started thinking like a salesman rather than a
programmer. Digital marketing is not like Java, where the language
obeys your command. Human beings are very complex. They will always find a way
to NOT obey your command.
It is at this point,I started thinking like a salesman than a programmer.Digital
marketing is not like java where the language obeys your command.Human beings
are very complex.They will always find a way to NOT obey your command.
I started to think about the people who turned up at the movies on release day.
What are their motivations?
How can I convince them to buy tickets? At this point, I realized it was
important to match the product with the
buyer. It is pointless to market a film to people more than 35 years old if you
want them to turn up on the first day.
Similarly, women are better targeted from the 2nd week unless your movie can
generate a huge amount of hype.
By the way, there is no need to call me a sexist, yet, in India, women don't
visit theatres often unless it is playing a
very popular movie.
As I started marketing products ranging from websites and apartments to
medicines, It became very obvious that understanding human nature and behaviour
is the most important skill in a digital marketing professional's kitty. In a
perfect world, you would be able to reach out to only those people who are sure
to
purchase your product through various targeting techniques. In a perfect world,
advertising expenses will be negligible. Nobody has to teach anybody there is
no such thing as a perfect world. Targeting methods costs available in all
digital advertising platforms are inversely related to ease of use. The more
obvious your
targeting, the higher the price. For, it will cost you more to target wealthy
people. Everyone wants the rich to see their advertisements because they have
the money
to buy the service if they like it.
Now, let's assume that you have successfully targeted your potential customers
at a reasonable price; how do you convince them to purchase?
Most digital marketing companies pay little or no attention to user experience
design. A good user experience will make it easier for potential customers to
decide whether they want to purchase from you or your competitor. The more
difficult you make this decision, the more likely the user is to give up. He may
go to the competitor's website and purchase their service even when your
products may have been a better choice.
Web designers need to be careful about aesthetics, but it doesn't end there.
Most of the time, a simple, elegant, easy-to-navigate website will win over an
artistic yet difficult-to-navigate website. Make it a pleasure to surf your
website; you will be singing all the way to the bank!
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