'Integration' lights up the way for marketing

You can book travel tickets over your mobile phone or the

Internet. You can use SMS to pay the bill at a restaurant or a departmental

store. The Internet and the cellphone are packing more functionality and ease

into your life. And the ad spend going into Internet advertising in India is

climbing as it is doing the world over. By 2008 it will generate about $19 bn

worldwide, say Pricewaterhouse Coopers. This is the era of digital marketing.

When combined with traditional marketing devices such as print, TV, radio,

offline sales strategy, integrated marketing-as it is called-can redefine

the rules of marketing.

Take for instance, Best Buy, a chain of technology stores in the

US. In just one quarter, it has seen an 8.4% increase in in-store sales and a

30% revenue increase in one of the stores by employing innovative e-mail

marketing campaigns. From their e-mail surveys and online sign up service, they

were able to profile four types of customers who would buy, and could weed out

those with a history of returning sold items repeatedly. The stores were

redesigned to help the four types of customers browse through them. And of

course, the sales staff was retrained to handle them.

Another example is Yahoo. It has managed to deliver a successful

marketing experience for retail and consumer packaged goods companies by

integrating the TV show-The Apprentice-with a web campaign. In one of the

episodes, for instance, the competing teams had to whip up new flavors of ice

cream for the company Ciao Bella Gelato. A call out at the end of the show urged

the viewers to go to Yahoo! Search and look for 'Apprentice ice cream'. The

portal's local site listed out the stores selling the ice cream and had maps

to reach them. The Apprentice ice cream sold out in 24 hours, along with which

went other flavors of Ciao Bella. Yahoo managed to repeat this success for other

brands like Levi's, Nescafe and Dove.

Closer home, Coca Cola's myenjoyzone.com won appreciation for

managing to connect extremely well with its consumers. It used movies, sports,

jokes, music, games and contests to keep the consumer engaged. At every step, it

offered gifts and prizes. For example, in its 'Coca-Cola Khara Sona'

contest, you have to enter the number printed under the crown or closure of the

Coke bottle to win a prize. Pepsi too won awards for its 'Toss ka Boss'

campaign for having managed to run a successful multi-level campaigning though

the press, TV, the Net, SMS, and direct contact in schools, cinemas, etc. Zee's

DTH initiative required a prospective consumer to SMS his/her pin code to

solicit a buying enquiry. Based on the pin code, the Zee DTH official would have

a dealer from the area contact the person.

All these are examples of the net and the mobile getting

integrated into the marketing plans of companies. Digital marketing has a higher

utility value in the Western market due to high penetration of the Internet and

mobiles. Compare this: With 26 mn Net users, India has barely 3.6% Internet

penetration while the US has 68.5% and European Union 48.1%.

Hence comes the next question: Is it the right time for Indian

companies to take up digital marketing in a big way? The answer lies in the type

of products and services offered, the geographical area targeted and the profile

of the consumer. Even with limitations of Internet penetration there are areas

where digital marketing can play a very significant role. But it is obvious that

a smart mix of digital and traditional marketing techniques is very much on the

way.

The net, emails and the mobile offer simply too many benefits to

be ignored.