Future of Digital Marketing in India

The advent of the digital marketing has opened up a novel landscape of doing business i.e. online business.

According to a survey- by 2017, India will have around 600 million internet users that ultimately create a fascinating business opportunity to sell services and products to a growing population of tech-savvy internet users. Recently, booming prevalence of digital India campaign is also adding lots of new flavors and fervors to the future of digital marketing in India. Growing startup trend is another reason that plays significant role in creating a great scope of digital marketing in India. The most common problem that startups face is lack of funds and digital marketing can rescue them as the most cost-effective blessing in disguise. It is highly economical and equally powerful way of conversion-oriented marketing. All the digital marketing maneuvers can also be quantified through powerful digital marketing tools like Kissmetrics, Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, etc. that make it one of the most result-oriented modes of marketing.

       There are more than 900 private TV channels and 250+ radio stations in India, which make traditional marketing quite expensive and highly confusing with lots of in-built vacillations. However, in today’s world of internet, Digital Marketing is the only one and most guaranteed way of marketing, which is popularly being the most preferred space of marketing communications and related interactions.

Changing statistical dynamics of future of Digital Marketing in India are-

The future of marketing is way beyond the traditional marketing or outbound marketing methodologies that have been using TV and radio ads, print ads, hoardings, banners, magazines, etc. Now, marketing is majorly based on online marketing (inbound marketing) — Marketing in the Digital Sphere. Scope of Digital Marketing provides some of the most powerful techniques of marketing where traditional modes of marketing fail.

Digital Marketing has great panjandrum over entrepreneurs as it not only rescues but also empowers them to optimize their startups in the most cost-effective and quickest possible fashion. Future of digital marketing is going to be more encompassing in 2017, thanks to its ability to offer wide range of economical, powerful and contemporary mechanisms and mediums of marketing.

Digital marketing takes things into consideration like –

• Page rankings in search engine results
• Advertising on search engine platforms
• Conversion through SMO & SEO campaigns
• Optimization of internet marketing & associated ROI
• Banner ads on other websites & Marketing on Digital World

Key findings of some of the Recent Digital Marketing Surveys are –

1. 34% of the companies already had an integrated digital marketing strategy in 2016
2. 72% marketers believe that traditional model of marketing is no longer sufficient
3. Company revenue driven by internet marketing will get increased by 30%
4. In 2017, 80% businesses will increase their digital marketing budget
5. Digital Marketing budget may surpass the IT budget in 2017

Future Trends of Digital Marketing in India

Digital Marketing will remain as the most powerful and result-oriented way of marketing in 2017 too, and some of my observations on current and future outlook of 5 key channels that will pay key role in deciding future of digital marketing in India are–

1. Mobile Marketing

To devise result-oriented marketing plans and campaigns, mobile marketing is going to play one of the most significant roles in 2017. Understanding customers’ changing needs and characteristics lets marketers plan in a result-oriented fashion. As per stats-

• Current Outlook of Mobile Marketing in Driving Customer-Engagement- 40% (approx)
• Future Outlook of Mobile Marketing in Driving Customer-Engagement- 75% (approx)

From consumers’ device usage perspective, Smartphone adoption and prevalence of mobile apps and messaging are going to be the topmost trends of digital marketing in 2017. From Facebook’s Mobile Messenger, to Whatsapp and WeChat, we have been witnessing the growing wish of consumers to communicate directly through mobiles compared to public social network pages. 2017 will come with some of the new options for paid media on mobile messaging apps that will further be boosted by artificial intelligence, which is another trend that will go hand in hand with mobile marketing. Brands are developing bots to engage customers, and Facebook’s Bot Engine for Messenger and Google’s new assistance service introduced in Google I/O 2016 indicated towards the rise of Artificial Intelligence to provide more personalized and interactive assistance to consumers through mobile marketing.

• More than 52% of searches are done through mobile.
• 89% of Facebook Daily Active users come through mobile.
• 83% of Facebook advertising revenue comes through Smartphones.
• 92% of mobile media time is spent in Smartphone apps by consumers.

2. Video Marketing

Modern customers prefer to view a video content on company promos. Growing need for the visual content has turned video marketing be one of the most appealing trends of digital marketing in 2017. When a visual content is well produced to communicate the message in an interactive and engaging way, conversions are always guaranteed.

• Current Outlook of Video Marketing in driving Customer Engagement- 37%
• Future Outlook of Video Marketing in driving Customer Engagement- 69%

Video content is swallowing up the content marketing and online marketers take advantage of its power to tempt more customers in quickest possible time. With booming mobile marketing, videos are now offered on mobile phones that fuel up the whole process. Video marketing is the most powerful way that companies use for –

• Introducing themselves
• Spreading their messages
• Promoting their products/services
• Increasing their reach and optimizing search ranking
• Boosting customer engagement and enhancing returns on investments

 Different kinds of Trending Video Content are-

• Social Media Videos like Facebook Videos, Facebook 360 Videos, YouTube Videos, Snapchat Videos, etc.
• Use of GIF videos on different social media channels like Twitter & Facebook
• Product Description/Demo Videos and Landing Page Videos
• Storytelling with the help of live streaming videos
• Use of Videos in Email Marketing

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing is so effective in nurturing leads and ensuring conversions. Email marketers of some of the most successful marketing agencies claim a return of $40 for every dollar they invested. Well-targeted email marketing will be one of the most effective ways of ensuring conversions in 2017. 

• Current Outlook of Email Marketing in Driving Customer Engagement- 45%
• Future Outlook of Email Marketing in Driving Customer Engagement- 57%

Email marketing is the most important part of your business branding and you need to choose those trends that befit with your customer profile and business objective.  Your emails should reflect your quality and using professional email templates should be the base of your e-mail marketing campaign in 2017. Some of the top trends of email marketing in 2017 are-

• Use of Email automation tools for sending and tracking of targeted and personalized emails that will let you understand more and more about your customer base like their demographics, tendencies, age, loyalty, etc.
• Integration of social media content in email marketing strategy is another trend that will see great rise in 2017. Marketers will preferably provide references to their social content within their emails.
• 2017 will see a decrease in email blast, as this year would be of customized mails. Mobile-friendly email marketing is another trend that will be quite popular within the domains of digital marketing.
• Aesthetically appealing animated emails are also going to be a popular trend of digital marketing as such fun new mails entice visitors and hold their attention that ultimately aids in conversions. 

4. Social Media Marketing

Social media changes quickly as there are dozens of new platforms arrive each year. The year 2017 will also be a host for the variety of new social media trends, and social media marketing will for sure be one of the most popular digital marketing channels for branding, optimization, lead generations and conversions.

• Current Outlook of Social Media Marketing in Driving Customer Engagement- 36%
• Future Outlook of Social Media Marketing in Driving Customer Engagement- 55%

As social media keeps evolving, it has a massive power to channelize marketing campaigns in innovative and effective ways. Social media is a medium that adeptly responds to new tech innovations, but at the same time, it also exceeds customer’s expectations. Knowing future trends of social media and planning strategy as per that will ensure success for companies. Some of the key social media trends in 2017 are –

• Enormous evolution of Snapchat is going to be one of the most interesting, powerful and creative trends of social media marketing in 2017.
• Live video streaming is slowly changing the scenario of social media campaigns, and the trend will see great rise in next year too. Different platforms like Facebook live, SnapChat, Twitter, and Instagram all are blending live streaming videos that will let them be a top pick for marketers.
• Live videos also ensure 10 times more comments than pre-recorded videos, and such qualities will let them dominate social media marketing more efficaciously
• Instagram stories, social slideshow ads, social chats, etc. would be the top components of social media marketing in 2017.

5. Search & SEO Marketing

Search engines evolve constantly, and their changes prompt shift in marketers’ ways of targeting audiences. To succeed, it is important for you to know latest changes of SEO marketing and employing effective search engine strategies accordingly. Mobile marketing and social media optimization has enhanced the frequencies of searches all across the globe, and as per statistics, 14 billion web searches are conducted each month through different search engines.

• Current Outlook of SEO Marketing in driving Customer Engagement- 21%
• Future Outlook of SEO Marketing in driving Customer Engagement- 40%

  Some of the SEO trends that will turn out to be major hits in 2017 are-

• Link building will stay as a powerful SEO technique, mobile marketing will rock the house, and along with Google, other search engines will also play significant roles in ensuring great search results.
• Use of keyword search tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, Moz’s keyword Planner are going to be the most effective trends to know right keywords that your audiences search.
• Quality content marketing with perfect blending of video content would be another prudent practice that experts think as the most dominant future trend of digital marketing in 2017.
• Personalizing SEO campaigns as per target audiences, being creative, use of natural links and moving site to HTTPS will be the SEO trend that will decide future of internet marketing campaigns in 2017.

Conclusion 

To survive in today’s competitive and frenzied market scenario; it is must for Indian businesses to have a well-integrated internet marketing strategy. Without Digital Marketing, businesses may fall short of creating contemporary marketing strategies and hence, they may turn directionless. Digital Marketing is the present and the future of marketing that will not only let businesses survive but also thrive in the most result-oriented fashion. Including new techniques, following latest updates of Google and incorporating future trends of digital marketing will let your inbound marketing reap great benefits for you in 2017.

In the year 2016, most of the industries were kind of struggling with a growth rate around 6 to 11%; only digital industry saw a growth rate of 41%, which is not going to be stagnant in 2017 as well. Digital Marketing will for sure remain as the most effective way of marketing in the future too, and it will be worthwhile for you to climb on to the digital bandwagon when the time is right, either career-wise or business-wise.