“It is not about the destination that you reach, it is about how you reach the destination.” This is the life mantra of Mr. Rakesh R, Business Head, and Director, Deepsense. His present scope of work includes managing finances and overlooking operations and business development of his firm. Through his consistent and focused efforts, Mr. Rakesh seeks to leverage his knowledge in the fields of sales and management to lead his company to become a pioneer in the field of digital solutions. His unique skill set includes a noteworthy 5 year-long experience in sales and a 4-year long experience in the field of management. The young entrepreneur also owns a Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumentation and Control Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management. He has previously worked with brands like Titan and the Times Group in the position of a team leader and HR person respectively.
The world has been revolving around technology for the last decade as robust developments and upgrades in the field have been at the core of all industries’ growth and innovation. The advent of the Covid pandemic in the early part of the year 2020 has only worked to further necessitate and accelerate the digitization of global processes.
The touch of the internet and its adoption has not been missing from the field of marketing either, as digital marketing has emerged as the norm of the day. In the initial seasons of its being, the use of digital marketing was restricted to it being an advertising function, wherein its main purpose was to increase brand visibility and awareness. However, over time, it has evolved into more of a sales function as it now includes lead generation and sales as one of its core concerns. Nowadays, digital marketing campaigns seek to enhance customer pool and awareness regarding the brand which in turn increases the possibility of achieving the desired results.
Owing to its several benefits, the digital marketing industry has undergone significant growth in recent times, as highlighted in a Statista report that stated that the value of the Indian digital marketing industry has gone from being 47 billion INR in 2015 to a whopping 199 billion INR in the year 2020. The report also stated that the industry is projected to continue on this high growth trajectory and reach a valuation of 539 billion INR by 2024.
A firm functioning in an industry experiencing such rapid growth needs to be conscious of all prominent market trends in order to cope with them timely. For a company to be able to capitalize on market changes, it needs to be well aware of the evolving market dynamics. A list of some notable trends that are expected to dictate the digital marketing industry in the following year are discussed below-
Hyperlocalization is the norm of the day
In this era of widespread technical infestation and globalization, customer preferences have been changing rapidly. This is because the variety of options available to them have been increasing owing to these two factors. Thus, there is a growing need for marketers to go the extra mile to attract consumers towards their offerings that will also be present in the year 2022.
One trend that has emerged owing to this need is hyper localization. Hyperlocalization is a newfound method of marketing that seeks to leverage the local culture and norms of the target area for product promotion. This they do by placing the product in alignment with the thoughts and ways of the natives of an area. A placement like this allows customers to form a conscious or subconscious emotional connection with the brand and its offerings which bolsters brand loyalty. This trend is expected to become even more popular in the approaching years as people grow increasingly familiar with and fond of the concept.
Efficiency- the need of the hour
The people of today are all about pace. This, combined with their more in less attitude, is what has worked to drastically increase the need for efficiency in today’s time. In order to make a lasting impact or even to catch a customer’s attention, advertisements have to be very engaging and precise. Further, the platform on which the advertising campaign is run is also of critical importance as the availability and concentration of the target audience on that platform largely decides the level of success of the campaign.
Technology is of prime importance
This is the era of automation and immersive technologies. The attention span of people is shortening by the minute, and thus, if an advertiser wants to capture and hook a potential buyer, he/ she has to engage them and share as much information as possible in the shortest time possible. In this scenario, interactive and immersive content seem to be the best option as it enables the marketer to lure in a customer due to its interesting features.
As the main purpose of the existence of digital marketing is to rope in customers, immersive technologies such as AR/MR/VR are anticipated to spearhead innovation in the realm of digital marketing. Further, automation, too, is making a paced way into the working of all industries, including the digital marketing industry. Owing to this the digital marketing is now looking at a possible introduction of automated marketing. Once introduced, automated marketing will expectedly become a critical part of tomorrow’s virtual business industry.
Summing Up
The digital marketing industry has changed considerably in recent times and is expecting to evolve further in the future as well. In this circumstance, any firm looking forward to growing in the industry has to be atop these changes. Some trends that are expected to be a prominent presence in the year 2022 were discussed in the scope of this article.