Digital Media

First things first, let us first understand what is Digital Media and then move on to Digital Marketing (Sales, Branding, Awareness, and Promotion etc). You will get umpteen Digital Media definitions splattered all across the web so let us try and simplify what Digital Media is – Digital Media is any means / medium that uses Digital Technology to store, transmit and display content. Here, both the means and the ends are classified as Digital Media, so a Digital Video, a CD and a Computer are all part of Digital Media. However, in today’s time all the mediums (apart from Print Media) use Digital Technology to at least broadcast content.

So, how do we define Digital Media for our purpose, i.e, from Marketing’s perspective? For our understanding we will segregate the newer mediums – Internet and Mobile from the traditional and conventional mediums like TV, Print, Radio and Hoardings (these days even OOH uses Digital Medium). We do this because of two reasons – the Content and the Users / Viewers (the two most important aspects w.r.t. marketing) of these two mediums significantly differ from the rest and this is how it does:

Content: the content in case of both Internet and Mobile can be – Personalised & Customised (E-mails, Banner Ads targeted at specific TG only), be Interactive (Forums, Blogs, Social Media websites, Messengers) and be User generated – all on Real-time basis. This, along with employment of sophisticated statistical techniques by the marketers gives instant feedback and analysis, unlike other traditional mediums, giving the marketer an opportunity for intense Customer Engagement leading to Customer Loyalty and gauging his preferences, tastes and societal trends quickly and effectively.

Users / Viewers: thanks to Technology and Content, the Users / Viewers for both these mediums are highly demanding, interactive and restless youngsters (forming a major chunk). Also, note that unlike in other mediums – Viewers / Audiences in case of Internet and Mobile are also called Users due to their ability and yes, inclination to participate.

Isn’t it intriguing that in spite of Internet and Mobile being present in India for nearly 15 years, it’s only since last 3-4 years that we have been seriously taking note of these mediums for Marketing activities? The answer lies in the high growth numbers since 2005 which is due to significant improvement in infrastructure, convergence of technologies, better formats, cost-effective subscriber schemes and people embracing technological advancements – all resulting into deeper penetration of the market.

Today, the number of mobile subscribers and Internet users in India stand at more than 770mn and 81mn respectively – numbers which are hard to ignore. A significant trend in recent years has been a steep rise in the usage of Mobile and Social Media platforms, which has caught the attention of the marketers.

We see people hooked onto their BBMs, using phone apps to book tables at restaurants, buying movie tickets online and through mobile apps, using Mobile Banking for transferring funds and the list is endless.

Thanks to convergence and enhanced infrastructure, today PCs, Television, Print (in terms of infotainment) and Radio have all seamlessly integrated or rather merged with Mobile devices which once upon a time used to serve only the basic function of communication and today they (Mobiles) serve as a Medium to gratify consumers needs on real time basis.

With this convergence, marketers have an array of Digital Tools like – Messengers, Social Media Platforms (Blogs, Social Networking websites, Content Sharing websites, etc.), Informative, Interactive & Entertaining websites, Blue Rays, Pen Drives, Widgets (Apps), Sms, E-mails, M Coupons, Digital Payment Systems, etc. etc. etc. which can be explored and exploited for their benefit (Sales, Branding, Promotion, CSR activities, CRM and Customer Engagement. Digital Medium can in fact be effectively used for Sales as it reduces the intermediary costs (distributors, retailers, etc.) and crosses the geographical boundaries.

In future, with technology advancing – advent of 3G (in developed countries there is 4.5G!!), Blue Rays, IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment Service), etc. – the PCs, Television, Newspapers, Credit Cards – will all become redundant and Mobile will be a one point device to transact,  interact and communicate with people and organizations.

To sum up all, Digital Media is at a stage from where it cannot be ignored or rather needs to be employed extensively in any Marketing activity to effectively Engage and Reach the TG, create Brand Equity, enhance Customer Experience (Mobile banking, functional apps, etc.) along with generating Revenues through Sales as –  the future is Digital Media!

Prof. Ruchika Gupta Raut
Faculty - Marketing
PGDBM