India is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. It has a high speed Internet connection of 30Mbps and a smartphone user base of over 200 million people. There’s a huge opportunity for companies to connect with this audience and engage them into buying their products or services.
The challenge is that India is a hugely populated country with over 1.3 billion people. There’s a lot of competition for customers’ attention and companies have to stand out from the crowd.
Even though there’s a huge opportunity, it’s not always easy to make your mark in such a crowded market.
Top Online Marketing Trends in India
To better understand what the current state of online marketing in India is, we dove into HubSpot Blogs’ recent report on digital marketing trends and analysis in 2019.
The report identified key trends reshaping digital marketing in 2019 and which marketers need to pay attention to in order to stay ahead of the game.
These trends include (but aren’t limited to) virtual reality (VR) marketing, inbound marketing, performance-based marketing, and content marketing.
Performance-Based Marketing
Performance-based marketing (PBM) works on the basis of performance rather than promotion. The theory behind PBM is that customers are more likely to be engaged with brands that they perceive to be effective and competent. PBM emphasizes the importance of creating value for customers rather than just generating sales.
VR marketing is a form of performance-based marketing. In VR marketing, customers can experience a brand or product before purchasing it. The goal is to make the customer feel as though they’ve actually been to the location, looked at the product, or tried the service.
VR allows marketers to provide a richer user experience by placing them in the centre of an action that is both engaging and entertaining. These experiences are highly valuable in driving product awareness and consideration, as well as strengthening customer relations.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is all about creating quality content that draws in potential customers, rather than just relying on paid advertisements to generate traffic.
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting people rather than turning them into leads and encouraging them to take action. Inbound marketing is about creating value and delighting people enough that they want to be a part of your community.
“Inbound Marketing suggests that you should be looking to create value and excitement in your content rather than just pitching products or services,” explains HubSpot Blogs.
Traditional advertising methods, such as billboards and magazine spreads, have declined in importance, replaced by content marketing. Content marketing is simply the process of creating and sharing valuable, consistent, and engaging content to attract, engage, and delight customers.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about giving customers what they want. Your content might attract, motivate, or convince them to choose your product or service. It might promote a certain political party or brand, but the point is to provide customers with content that is valuable to them. Your content should be engaging, helpful, and entertaining.
The marketing funnel explains the process of converting a lead into a customer. Usually, leads enter at the top of the funnel, where they are generated through paid advertisements or building a brand presence on social media. As they move down the funnel, the likelihood of them making a purchase increases. At the bottom of the funnel, there is usually just one last step before the purchase are made.
In the case of top-down marketing, a lead is first exposed to the company’s message. Then, they are presented with various options, such as products or services. Once the customer makes a choice, the marketing funnel ends.
In contrast, in the case of bottom-up marketing, the entire process starts with the customer. They can engage with a brand or company through social media and receive personalized content that is relevant to their interests. This content might suggest products or services that they would like to hear more about. From there, they can make a purchase or continue to receive content that is valuable to them.
Once a customer has been served content that is valuable and relevant to them, their relationship with the company changes. The customer can now become a brand advocate, sharing their content with others and recommending the product or service they love. This is called co-branding.