Thesis Sample – Effectiveness of digital marketing in the current age

Topic: Effectiveness of digital marketing in the current age

Abstract

This report is one that seeks to analyze the effectiveness of digital marketing in the modern-day and age. Digital marketing is very widely used in the current age due to the numerous advantages over traditional marketing. The methodology that this research follows is one that is of analyzing secondary data. First, the information is taken from different web sources and journal articles. Then that information is analyzed in order to form the body of this report. It is concluded that digital marketing is indeed very effective in the modern-day and age. The main advantage of digital marketing is that it is very cost-effective. Companies can easily get in touch with the brand and get across their message to them in the most effective ways. Digital marketing allows for a two-way interaction between customers and companies, which is eventually what makes it extremely useful as a means of advertising. Advancements in technology have made it very much possible to tailor messages accordingly and then get in touch with customers. Targeting has become a lot easier by using digital media. Furthermore, customers can also easily give feedback by using digital media. So it can be said that digital marketing is indeed very useful in the modern day and age.

Table of Contents

• Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
• Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
• Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………………….. 4
  • Traditional Marketing versus Digital Marketing ……………………………………………….
  • Elements of Digital Marketing …………………………………………………………………………….. 5
• Advantages of Digital Marketing …………………………………………………………………………. 6
• Disadvantages of Digital Marketing …………………………………………………………………… 8
• Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
• References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12

Introduction

We live in the modern day and age now, where digital marketing is widely used to promote products and services. In the age that we live in now, traditional marketing has now taken a back seat due to the numerous advantages that digital marketing has over traditional marketing forms. Digital marketing has made it a lot easier to reach consumers. Digital marketing has evolved over the years due to the tremendous growth of the Internet. An increasing number of people now have access to the Internet, which has made it a lot easier to reach consumers now. Research shows that from the year 2000 to 2016, tremendous growth has been seen in the number of people who use the Internet. This is around 875%. Digital marketing has made it extremely easy to reach consumers since consumers always have the Internet on the go. Marketers now find it very easy and cost-effective to customize messages and get their message across to customers by way of using the digital platform. All messages can be tailored to meet the needs of customers. Search engine optimization has helped narrow down searches and focus on particular areas to a great extent. The main purpose of this research is to analyze how effective digital marketing is in the current age.

Methodology

This is research that mainly follows a secondary data analysis. There is a vast amount of research that has already been done in this arena. I will be conducting this research by studying all of that data and analyzing how digital marketing works in the current age. After analyzing many web sources and journal articles, I got the information that I wanted, and then I began to explore it. Since this topic is prevalent in the modern-day and age, there is a lot of available information on this topic.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Traditional Marketing versus Digital Marketing
Traditional marketing and digital marketing are very different. The differences each have their own pros and cons, and these will be highlighted here. The first and foremost is the fact that when we talk about traditional marketing, there is no kind of direct interaction with the audience. But when we talk about digital marketing, the customer is always interacting with the company and giving feedback through the digital platform. Furthermore, when we talk about traditional marketing, then it is very tough to measure the results (Yasmin, Tasneem, & Fatema, 2015). With the help of advanced analytical tools and lead generation, digital marketing’s effectiveness can be measured very easily. Another very differentiating factor is that traditional marketing is much more expensive than digital marketing. Digital marketing can be customized very effectively, so it is very easy to bring it into a specific expenditure range.

When we talk about traditional marketing, it can be said that exposure is limited because there is only a specific time when people can be exposed to it. On the other hand, when we talk about digital marketing, people can be exposed to it. Since digital marketing has an extensive reach, it can be able to go viral. Traditional marketing does not go viral at all. The response and feedback on digital marketing platforms can happen round the clock, but this is not possible when we talk about digital marketing.

Elements of Digital Marketing

There are various elements of digital marketing. These are listed and explained below in great detail:

Online advertising
Online advertising is a prevalent form of digital marketing. By way of this, companies can quickly get their message across to consumers based on their preferences. Publishers put their messages on different websites, and when customers access those websites, they can get exposed to that.

Email marketing
This is also considered as a part of direct marketing. Marketers have a list of people that they want to get in touch with. They can quickly get in touch with customers and inform them about their services. This is a meager cost relative to other forms of advertising.

Social media
This type of advertising is one of the most crucial forms of digital marketing. The reach of social media marketing is also very vast. Social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. When customers get information on social media, they can easily find out about a certain product or service. Companies can increase awareness about a product or service through social media (Yogesh & Nallasivam, 2019).

Text messaging
This is also a form of digital marketing, where customers are sent information about a particular product or service by way of a text message. This form of digital marketing used to be very popular at one point in time. To get faster and more substantial results, this method of marketing is used. It is usually seen that the results are also highly commendable.

Advantages of Digital Marketing

Rapid technological development has led to a lot of advantages that digital marketing has. It has changed the entire market landscape and the way people buy things. Written below are the many advantages of digital marketing in the modern day and age.

Stay updated with products and services
The Internet has made it possible to stay in touch with customers at all times. Digital marketing allows the company to continuously update customers about their offerings and the way that they are using to now cater to customers. In the current age, consumers can access the Internet at any time and at any place (Tiago & Verissimo, 2013). Digital marketing has allowed marketers to remain in constant touch with customers, increasing their chances of making more significant sales.

Lower cost
The most prominent advantage of digital marketing is that it is very cost-effective. Other conventional forms of marketing, like TV and radio, do take up a considerable amount of money relative to digital marketing. Mostly when we talk about social media marketing, then it can be said that a very vast audience can be reached by way of digital marketing without having to spend a very hefty amount.

Measurable results
Advancements in technology have made it much easier to measure results. Once a strategy has been executed as run well, what can be said for sure is that digital media allows for tracked results. Web analytics makes it extremely easy to see how well the strategy is running and how it can help achieve many things. Detailed information can be gathered about how people use a particular website and how they respond to it as well.

Personalization
The use of digital media makes it a lot easier to customize messages according to changing times and different target audiences. The nature of digital marketing is that it is very easy to make messages so that they appeal to different masses differently. What this does is that it also leads to a significant amount of engagement. When customers see that the message a brand is giving is one that does cater to them specifically, they pay attention to it and end up engaging with the brand in their own ways (Kannan & Li, 2017).

Global reach
One of the most significant advantages of digital marketing is that a vast audience is able to comprehend the messages. The reach of digital media is so extensive that everyone can access the same message simultaneously. This is all done at a very reasonable cost (M.Shirisha, 2018).

Improved conversion rates
Digital marketing allows for continuous interaction with customers. When customers can interact with the brand at just the time they wish to, they can make their decisions quickly and in a much more efficient way. That is how they can decide. They can then take their decision at the soonest. So it can also be said that digital marketing allows for lead generation to happen at a much faster pace.

Competition with larger companies
Since digital marketing is very useful, it allows for significant competition with other companies. Messages reach the target audience at a much faster pace. That way, two ways communication becomes a whole lot easier and eventually also leads to healthy competition. This means that businesses that start off at a very micro level can also compete with larger firms by having a very well thought out strategy in mind.

Brand reputation
Brands can work on making their reputation a lot better by having a very well thought out digital strategy. When brands interact with other customers and work towards effectively engaging the audience through the digital platform, it allows for the brand to work its way up and make a much better reputation for itself, which eventually helps the brand stand out and make customers much loyal. It helps bring the trust factor in. when customers trust a brand; it automatically helps the brand make its way up and work towards making a better brand reputation for itself.

Connect with mobile customers
Digital marketing allows for effectively targeting those customers who are always on the go. Customers who are always moving around cannot possibly be targeted well by using traditional media. These customers usually have a data connection, and they can very well be targeted by having a very well thought of digital strategy. This way, the business can become a lot more competitive than it is and grows.

Disadvantages of Digital Marketing

While agreeing that the digital platform is indeed the best platform that can be used for reaching out to consumers in the modern-day and age, what cannot be ignored is the fact that digital marketing has its disadvantages. Just like all other platforms of marketing have their disadvantages, the digital platform does too. These are listed below, and also explained in great detail.

Dependence on technology
When we talk about the digital platform, we need to acknowledge that there is a significant dependence on technology. In the case of technological failure or some malfunctioning, a digital strategy is one that does fail. It is the strategy that does not work out then. This is especially true for third world countries (Bala & Verma, 2018). In third world countries, there are often technological glitches, when means then that digital marketing is not the type of marketing that can be depended on much.

Skills and training
For the digital marketing strategy to be effective, all employees must be very well aware of how the digital platform works. They should have the right knowledge about digital marketing and how this platform can be used in the best possible way. Keeping up with digital marketing trends helps to stay up to date, and works towards ensuring that this strategy works in favor of the company. When we talk about technology, then it is imperative to know that trends change very often, and it is for that very reason that employees stay up to date with these trends. Only then can they work well with this platform.

Time-consuming
More than anything, the digital platform is one that takes up a lot of time. Especially for those who are new to it and don’t know how the digital platform works, it takes a lot of time to fully understand its dynamics. When we talk about creating online advertising campaigns, it needs to be understood that these can take up a huge amount of time. Marketing content for the digital platform can take a lot of time. Especially if we have to work towards engaging the audience fully, then the content needs to be of nature than it grasps the audience. This can take up a lot of time. Measuring results is also something that takes up a huge amount of time. To know if the campaign is effective, the return on investment needs to be measured, and this is also something that takes up a lot of time.

High competition
On the digital platform, there is excessively high competition. A big company could be competing with tiny home-based companies because it has become a lot easier to use the digital platform in the modern-day and age. With ever-increasing competition, all companies are now trying to compete, and that is why they come up with very creative campaigns. That way, they try to reach many people all at once. It is due to that reason that competition has become very excessive (Roy, Datta, & Basu, 2017). Sometimes, the competition is on such a large scale that it becomes a global competition. Due to that very reason, companies have to work much harder to get attention from customers. Standing out amongst the competition through the digital platform can seem very challenging to most companies, no matter how hard they try to remain competitive.

Complaints and feedback
The digital platform has made it a lot easier for companies and customers to interact with each other. The platform has enabled customers to give positive or negative feedback as they deem fit easily. What is extremely bad about this is that all customers can see negative feedback posted about the company. Even if the company is doing exceptionally well, it is not possible to satisfy all customers at the same time. Even if one customer does not have a great experience, they are likely to post about it on social media. When they do that, other customers or potential customers can read about that too, which can damage the company. So, in short, it can be said that the digital platform can be very brutal as well. Thus, it is because effective customer service can become something very challenging for the company.

Security concern
The digital platform is one that is extremely risky when it comes to data privacy. There is a lot of hacking and data-stealing that happens on the digital platform. Keeping oneself safe from all of that is also something that can be very risky for the company itself. Many legal considerations are also there when it comes to using customer data for digital marketing purposes. Complying with rules and regulations for breach of privacy is very important for any company.

Conclusion

So, on the whole, we can say that digital marketing is a handy tool for marketing in the modern-day and age. We now live in an age where customers are always connected through the Internet. Companies now find it very easy to stay in touch with customers by way of using digital marketing. It creates greater engagement and also allows for connecting with customers in the best of ways. In the modern-day and age, traditional marketing has mainly taken a back seat. It is now considered a form of marketing that is very old fashioned. The world that we live in today is very dynamic. Customers want two-way interaction with the brand, rather than just having the brand connects with it by giving messages to them. In the world that we live in today, customers want to be able to share their feedback and also like to buy from companies that have a fast response rate. So it is mainly due to that, that digital marketing works well. There is no doubt about the fact that traditional marketing also has its downsides, but the downsides of conventional marketing are a lot more than the downsides of digital marketing. So, it can very well be concluded that digital marketing is the most effective way of staying in touch with consumers in the modern day and age.

References

• Bala, M., & Verma, D. (2018). A Critical Review of Digital Marketing.
  Kannan, P. K., & Li, A. (2017). Digital marketing: A framework, review, and research agenda. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34 (1).
  M.Shirisha. (, 2018). Digital Marketing Importance in the New Era. International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research, 5 (1).
  Roy, G., Datta, B., & Basu, R. (2017). Trends and Future Directions in Online Marketing Research. Journal of Internet Commerce, 16 (1).
  Tiago, T., & Verissimo, J. M. (2013). Marketing and Social Media: Benefits, and Ways Forward. International Network of Business and Management Journals.
  Yasmin, A., Tasneem, S., & Fatema, K. (2015). Effectiveness of Digital Marketing in the Challenging Age: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, 1 (5).
  Yogesh, S., & Nallasivam, S. (2019). Digital Marketing and its Analysis. International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication Engineering.