How to do Digital Marketing in India?

We have multiple blogs on Digital Marketing until now. Still, this one is different because we will be covering a particular case of Coca-Cola India by the end of this blog. So stay with us till then :)

Digital marketing is how companies endorse goods, services, and brands through digital channels like search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. It uses both online and offline channels & tools to efficiently promote a business or brand to potential buyers.

Numerous businesses and start-ups are popping up in India. All these businesses need a digital presence, which is where Digital Marketers come in!

Why Is digital marketing the need of the hour?

Digital marketing exists since the 90s to transfer offline media techniques to the digital world. The global internet user growth in 2016 was 10% worldwide, while in India, it was 28%. India expects to see its Internet user reaching 700+ million by 2020.

India has such a large population. With the Indian government laying so much emphasis on Digital India projects, the internet is even reaching farther and farther into rural areas making the world of digital marketing the fastest growing industry in India.

Steps towards digital marketing: A case study!

To understand this, consider the example of one of the best marketing campaigns in India, “Coca Cola India”! This brand became one of the highest sold cold drinks in India, immensely popular among the youth. In 2003, Coca-Cola launched one of the most successful campaigns to date, “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola.”

In 2007, Coca-cola launched the “Sabka Thanda Ek” campaign. Coke designed the drive to build the brand from its refreshment platform to a higher order of emotional benefit as the universal choice, which would bring people together.

Following the success of the ‘Share A Coke’ campaign, which rejuvenated relationships, Coca-Cola India has taken the personalized campaign further with #SayItWithCoke. The campaign aims to deepen Coca-Cola’s connection with consumers by uniting them through a universal passion — Music; 140 songs in five Indian languages will make their way on Coke bottles’ labels.

Let’s understand step-by-step what Coco-Cola India did, and maybe you can apply the same things to your business too!

· Defining the target audience: By featuring young celebrities for the promotion, Coca Cola India clearly defined its target audience. Good research on likings, age, interests, etc., is quite helpful in deciding the target audience. Coca Cola India once collaborated with Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to garner a young crowd.

Recently Coca Cola has also taken a significant lead over arch-rival PepsiCo in cricket-related advertising this peak summer season, having signed sponsorship deals for the upcoming Indian Premier League and the Cricket World Cup with Star India ICC, respectively.

· Involving the target audience: Promotions on social media must also involve the target audience for their feedback and suggestions.
Coca-cola India does so by their programs like “Coca Cola Youth Weeks,” etc.

· Stick to the brand proposition: A brand with a powerful tag line “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola” has genuinely impacted the audience and captured all the emotions in a very entertaining and engaging manner.”

· Selecting the medium: Perfect digital marketing is all about choosing the correct medium, depending on the kind of product. Like Coca Cola, India chose mediums like Television, Instagram (most popular with 2.8 million followers), etc. Coca-Cola used various tactics to ensure it maintains a healthy presence on social media, and its revenues for the FY 2018–19 stood at Rs 9,455 crore, a 4% jump, data source from Tofler revealed.

· Creating unique content: Indian consumers are different in terms of emotions and sensibilities. Therefore the idea should be to strike a chord with the audience depending upon their behaviour. Like Coca Cola India with its adrenaline-pumping ads tugged the heartstrings of Indian youth. The communication targeted at youth aims to build an emotional connection with the youth, best explained by this tagline — ‘Coke Khule To Baat Chale’ (Coke Opens Up Possibilities). Link to one of their ads.

· Social media and website: Efficient Digital marketing is using both social media and websites. Social media talks about the product/service’s various features, but viewers want to visit the website for more information. Like Coca Cola India, with its presence over social media, also has a website to make it more trustworthy.

· Constant improvisation: As digital marketing is dynamic, the audience and their interest keep changing; therefore, from time to time, updates must be incorporated. Like coca-cola roped in Aamir Khan for its ads in the 2000s and later newcomers like Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, the replacement was based on actors’ popularity in their time to bring universal appeal to the brand. Also, the brand keeps changing its colour and look.

To know more about the channels and techniques of Digital Marketing you may follow this page.

Finally, I would like to quote Paull Young, “Inspiration is the most important part of our digital strategy.”