The digital world is upon us and in being so, the digital economy is now more prominent than ever, not only in Malaysia, but around the world. With more than half of the total population of Malaysia owning a mobile phone, it is surely time to sit up and take notice of the importance of digital communication which is rapidly growing around us today.
Mobile market the fastest-growing
Since mobile phones became a part of life, it has become more important than anything else that came about. Mobile phones have become more important than other essentials in life mainly because it is close and personal to the consumer. This means that the opportunity to direct an advertisement to the consumer is possible, unlike the mass media of television, radio and print which was like throwing a net to the open sea and hoping to gather the right fishes.
Cannot avoid digital advertising anymore
The issue of digital advertising is no longer a question on whether it is effective because it is. Period! Perhaps the more suitable question is will it be the way forward for advertising which will see this sector overtaking the popularity of other media and eventually becoming the primary force?
At the moment, it might not be but one cannot discount the fact that it could well be in the future. For starters, agencies have now given digital advertising more prominence where they have created their own digital media departments. Although this media has yet to gain much momentum, they surely are placing the grassroots in preparation for the boom which might come sooner or later.
Conventional Media going digital
Among some of the strategies that conventional media has embarked on include:
- Newspapers like The Star and Malay Mail have already created and started marketing their electronic-newspapers (e-paper)
- The Star had once launched their Augmented Reality (AR) advertising application
- Integration with social media like Facebook and Twitter have already been used by major brands
LED digital Boards gaining momentum
On top of that, the Malaysian advertising industry had experienced a resurgent of signboard advertising with contemporary technologies like LED digital billboards in recent years. While this might not be in the likes of digital communication, it is a form of digital technology.
With the rising of demand, production cost of LED components have decreased considerably and coupled with the freedom to change content which are rich and clear, LED digital boards are now gaining momentum along roads, public spaces like shopping malls and buildings and other places.
Why Digital Marketing Services are Critical During Tough Economic Times
When recession hits, the first thought that comes to mind for a company’s management would be to downsize a marketing department or cease the engagement of a digital marketing agency. As much as it may seem like a logical move on the surface, sacrificing on such areas of the business in tough times can prove to be a big mistake.
From what statistics have shown, doing just the opposite during a recession can prove to be a wise move that will help to grow a company at an impressive rate both at present and in the future.
But why is that the case? After all, marketing departments and agencies are neither responsible for creating a product/service nor closing a sale with a client? Well, let us take a deeper look into the importance of sustaining marketing activities even during tough economic times in the paragraphs that follow.
Advertise in Recession to Ensure Future Growth
In case you are wondering, this theory of sustaining or even beefing up marketing and advertising activities during tough times is certainly not cooked up by us as an agency for the sake of guarding the interests of the marketing industry.
It is actually backed by statistics from a study done by McGraw-Hill on the 1980 to 85 recession in the United States that showed that out of 600 B2B companies, the ones who maintained their marketing services had 256% growth over those that either eliminated or decreased their marketing budgets.
And are you aware that the giant cosmetic industry was born during the Great Depression? It looks like providing lipstick, rouge, eye makeup, and a few other luxuries made some people extremely wealthy during those tough economic times.
The Difference that Digital Marketing Makes
Fine, let us be practical here. Investing tens of thousands on creative and ad spaces for traditional marketing can not only be damaging to cash flow, it will take a while to bring results too. Now that is where digital marketing fits into the equation. With the many digital advertising channels that are cost effective and readily available, leveraging on them exists as a fairly practical approach to marketing and advertising.
By creating an alluring landing page and engaging in some online marketing (eg. search engine optimization, paid search, display ads, social media ads etc), you can expect for qualified leads to be generated almost instantaneously.
Just when you were fretting about your sales department not bringing in sufficient sales during the downturn, such inbound leads that digital marketing generates will be crucial for driving these numbers up and ensuring the survival of your business.
Such is the reason for why any digital marketing agency would advise that you should focus more on your marketing efforts than ever before during a recession. Simply said, a company that knows how to exploit digital marketing techniques continues to grow despite the economic crunch.
Benefits of Digital Marketing Services During Recession
To break things down even further, here 4 key benefits you get from investing heavily in digital marketing services during tough economic times.
1) You create stronger relationships with your customers.
When times are tough, people look for a trusting shoulder to lean on. Tough times provide good opportunities to build great customer relationships. Social media, for example, allows you to keep your customers updated on your awesome discounts and promotions.
It provides an effective platform to address your customers concerns and questions they may have about your company. By bumping up the activity on your accounts, you can easily build customer loyalty via social media marketing. Remember that when people start to sting during tough economic times, customer loyalty is more important than ever.
2) Some forms of digital marketing will not cost you a dime
When times are tough and you simply do not have sufficient budget for any full blown marketing initiatives, you can instead focus on other less expensive or free strategies. A prime example will be social media marketing, it hardly costs you anything besides the time you spend creating a buzz around your products on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or Pinterest.
These key networks aside, there are tens of thousands of other message boards, online forums, blogs and platforms of this class that do not require any ad spend for one’s promotional initiatives.
Hence, it is imperative that you make full use of them to market your brand or products even more aggressively with the least amount of expense. However, remember the key is to stay genuine and true to your customers since this is a crucial time to win their support.
3) Most of your competition will not be advertising
As expected many companies will have limited advertising budgets during tough economic times. If you are a savvy marketer, you will realize that the reduced competition presents a perfect opportunity for you to market even more aggressively.
It is likened to you being placed in an empty football field with a ball at your feet with the objective being to score a goal, how can you miss? As a realer example, if you run a car parts business, it does not make sense to stop advertising simply because of harsh economic times as there are cars that are still breaking down out there.
When every other car parts business owner is slashing their marketing budget, you stand to scoop up more customers if you increase your marketing budget.
4) Get better advertising deals
A digital marketing agency is likely to experience reduced business when times are hard. However, ad spaces have to be sold and business has to go on. More often than not, these agencies provide discounts and special offers to a dwindling pool of customers.
As a business planning to take your marketing efforts a notch higher despite the tough conditions, you’ll be overwhelmed by offers from marketing and advertising agencies. The law of demand and supply dictates that they have to give you the best deals at the lowest prices possible.
Conclusion
Do not be fazed by the tough economic times. In reality, it presents the perfect opportunity for you to get new customers by simply sustaining or even increasing your marketing efforts. If we were to plot a simple marketing effort (x-axis) vs sales graph (y-axis), we would finally witness one that is directly proportion or more inclined.
Hence, if you have yet to, leverage on Singapore’s current downturn by working with a marketing agency to build customer loyalty and exploit marketing opportunities left behind by your cost-cutting competitors.
