FMCG or fast-moving consumer goods is the fourth largest sector & the fastest growing in the Indian economic state.
The sector has grown 11-12 percent in 2019.
According to the Economic Times, the FMCG sector will have a 9 percent growth in 2020.
However, the success of the FMCG market depends on marketing. Now, marketing for FMCG businesses can be a little tricky, because marketers need to pursue a variety of combinations.
What are FMCG goods?
Fast-moving consumer goods are those products which have a shorter shelf life, sold quickly & costs much less than other products.
These are mainly durable items that have a life of a maximum of one year.
We use FMCG products every day. They are the small-scale consumer purchases we make at the produce stand, grocery store, supermarket, and warehouse outlet.
What are the types of FMCG goods in the market?
As we already discussed earlier, FMCG products are non-durable items that have a short lifespan.
Now, these items can be divided into several categories includes:
Beverages: Bottled water, energy drinks, and juices
Fresh, frozen foods, and dry goods: Fruits, vegetables, frozen peas and carrots, and raisins and nuts
Medicines: Aspirin, pain relievers, and other medication that can be purchased without a prescription
Processed foods: Cheese products, cereals, and boxed pasta
Prepared meals: Ready-to-eat meals
Baked goods: Cookies, croissants, and bagels
Cleaning products: Baking soda, oven cleaner, and window and glass cleaner
Cosmetics and toiletries: Haircare products, concealers, toothpaste, and soap
Office supplies: Pens, pencils, and markers
How can digital marketing help FMCG businesses?
The FMCG sector has grown from Rs 2,20,852.4 crore (US$ 31.6 billion) in 2011 to Rs 3,68,669.75 crore (US$ 52.75 billion) in 2017-18.
Industry Growth
Therefore, integrating a strong online marketing strategy can have a range of advantages.
To Build A Strong Brand
One of the unique advantages of digital marketing is that it helps to create an effective brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
This helps consumers form a strong opinion of the brand, which will ultimately influence their purchase decision. The FMCG market has a huge product range with similar products to choose from.
To Gain Consumer Insights & Increase Roi
Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing can be tracked in every step which makes analysis quite easy.
While speculative figures can be produced, there is no way to arrive at a definite conclusion.
However, with proper analytic tools brands can have access to information about a number of impressions, clicks, conversions, and others.
Advanced tools can even be used to help to track consumer buying patterns, likes, dislikes and so on.
Providing Innovative Ways To Promote Your Brand
One good aspect of FMCG products is the availability of a variety of goods which can be titillating if promoted wisely.
Consumers are becoming visual creatures so the more attractive way you promote your brand, the more engagement rate you will get, especially in social media.
Growth In Mobile Usage
Smartphones & high-speed internet has penetrated every section of society.
In India itself, the number of mobile users has exceeded over 500 million marks according to a newly released Kantar IMRB ICUBE report.
Thus a significant portion of the people all over the world is buying FMCG goods from their smartphones.
Digital marketing trends in FMCG need to keep up with the increasing volume of customers who prefer to shop online.
What are the digital marketing strategies to use for FMCG businesses?
We all know the basic platforms & remarketing strategies of social media marketing, email marketing, display ads, so on. But here are some of the unique ways to market your FMCG brand:
Multibranding Strategies
A number of businesses offer a number of brands in the same category. The primary motive of doing it is trying to cover the maximum amount of segments as possible by a single company.
Like for Hindustan Unilever has premium brands like “Dove”, and a much more economic brand like “Lifebuoy” meaning thereby, the company has not left any segment untouched.
Brand Extension
Brands like Amul has butter, ghee, cheese & chocolates. These are brand extensions of regular Amul. Companies make brand extensions in the hope that the extensions will be able to ride on the equity of the successful brands.
New Product Development
Customer needs changes with time & trends shortened product life cycles and increased domestic and foreign competition.
So companies are developing new products to sustain the growing needs of the customers.
Benefits Of Distribution Network
An effective distribution system can be developed to increase market domination.
Take PepsiCo or Coca-Cola which has a wide network system making them dominating players in the market.
Advertising & Promotion
Of course, advertising and promotion are required to reach the target audience.
There are several mediums like display ads, social media promotions, etc. this is essential to build awareness about the FMCG brand which may be available in the market.
Do you need a digital marketing strategy for your business?
Contact Skyram Technologies and let us help you to build a digital marketing strategy suited for your brand.
The world is full
of wonderful mountains, valleys, mesmerizing beaches, dense forests, historic
cities & all kinds of romantic destinations for us to experience.
The tourism industry is generating millions of dollars every year. In fact, according to the latest reports in 2019, digital travel sales are set to reach $755 billion, more than half of the total receipts.
And here is
something else.
Do you know how
much revenue the global tourism industry generate per year?
India in fact due to its significant rich culture, along with beautiful natural topography, ranks third among 185 countries in terms of travel & tourism’s total contribution to GDP in 2018.
India is also the
third-largest globally in terms of investment in travel & tourism with an
investment of US$ 45.7 billion in 2018, accounting for 5.9 percent of national
investment.
Now, with such massive potential, comes the fierce competition. The brands are using innovative marketing strategies to stay at the top of the game.
What is tourism marketing?
Tourism marketing is a collective name given by the marketing experts who do marketing for or within the tourism industry.
Now, keep in mind
that the tourism industry is quite interrelated with the hotel industry, as
both of them are quite codependent on each other.
So when we are
discussing the tourism industry, it includes accommodations, travels, rental
services, entertainment venues, tour operators, travel agents & so on.
Why tourism marketing is important?
The objective of tourism marketing is to promote a particular business, attract customers, and generate brand awareness. Many brands use both offline & online marketing, but to be honest digital marketing has a bigger perspective for the tourism industry than offline marketing.
How to market for the tourism industry?
Marketing for the
tourism industry can be a bit challenging because of the stiff competition.
But here are some
ways you can promote your business online.
Identify Your Target Customers
Knowing your
customers is essential for any business, not just limited to the tourism
industry.
Think about the
business you are associated with & then think about who are your customers.
If you own a hostel in Goa, your target customers are likely to be younger demography, aging from 18 to 30 years, backpackers, solo travelers, college groups, or young couples. Also, you need to market for people outside India of the same age group.
Similarly, if you
are a digital tour agent specializing in cruise holiday tours, your primary
demography will be upper-class people from ages 30 to 60 or more!
This brings me to
the second point.
Be Specific Of Your Business Agenda Or Product
Now tourism is a
service-oriented industry so you need to be specific about what you want to
provide to your customers.
There are a bunch
of products that are suited for young people & some suited mostly for young
families.
If you are
providing destination tours for young couples, the honeymoon market is the best
place to grab.
It would make sense to focus some of your marketing strategies on that specific niche.
Use Of Virtual Reality Marketing
The rise in VR technology is becoming quite beneficial for the tourism industry as people are drawn towards a more realistic 3D environment.
In fact, around
25% of consumers said they planned to use VR in the future to help
them decide on a holiday destination.
So it might be a good idea to use this technology in your marketing strategy.
https://youtu.be/6oAUG7eRLQY
Essentially,
virtual reality marketing is about providing the audience with an experience
you ought to be offering them so that they can see for themselves why they
should choose you over a competitor.
How to use social media marketing in the tourism
industry?
No digital
marketing is complete without an adequate dose of social media marketing.
Platforms like
Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram can be a major, major inspiration for choosing
holiday destinations, hotels, activities, restaurants and likewise.
It is because of
the thoughtfulness behind each picture posted. It has everything that the
continent is famous for- kangaroos, stunning beaches, majestic sunsets.
All these are
facets of a wider goal of the campaign; to draw more attention, to create a world
that people want to be a part of!
Remember there
are 3.5 billion social media users worldwide who spend almost 3 hours
per day on social networks and messaging.
So to grab their
attention, even a small section of them, you need to be unique & innovative
in your ways!
Importance Of Visuals
Social media is
all about engagement. And to create that you need visuals!
Traveling 7
tourism has an added USP, which is that it can play on the wanderlust of others
so pictures and videos can work wonders.
An amazing example of this type of marketing is @VisitCalifornia on Instagram who regularly shares images of the ‘Californian lifestyle’.
Visit California Visit California
They even have
dedicated hashtags to showcase the best of the photos to get that extra push.
Paid Ad Campaigns
The organic promotion has its own charm but in today’s age, you need that extra fire to stay at the edge of the game.
In paid campaigns
you will have access to engagement data and insights that are useful for
finessing your content and strategy, both now and in the future.
You can go for pay-per-click
ads or display ads which will further benefit your cause.
What role does personalization plays in tourism marketing?
Nowadays,
marketing is all about getting personal, treating your customers as friends.
This could mean,
for instance, sending a personalized guide or newsletters, showing them a
product they might like. Personalization marketing requires you to capture
user data and make intelligent use of it, often through AI and
automation.
Trainline
Use Voice Search
Voice recognition
technology has opened new prospects for personalized marketing.
Hotels, travel
agents are using voice controls to make things much easier for customers.
Additionally, voice search can be used to put customers in contact with a
chatbot.
Creating Amazing Guides For Customers
Travelers are one
of the main focuses of any tourism industry.
Now, you need to
understand their wants & needs. One of the primary things most of the
traveler’s wants is information about local cuisine, local attractions, facts
& so on.
Napa Valley Guide
Make the guide
easy to read and understand. Make it skimmable. The more super-secret,
“locals only” advice you provide the better.
Benefit Of Using AI
Artificial
Intelligence is making a buzz everywhere, then why leave it from the tourism
industry?
Research Analysts
estimated the size of the global Artificial Intelligence in the Travel and Tourism
industry at around $1.6 trillion in 2017. And the number is growing fast.
AI can be used through chatbots, or customer queries 27* 7 regardless of the staff availability.
How can content marketing help the tourism
industry?
For tourism
marketing, it is important to signify the customer experience. With this in
mind, one of the most beneficial tools for tourism marketing is using content
marketing.
Create Destination Videos
Not only blogs,
but videos can be a vital source for content marketing.
Videos convey a
huge amount of information in very little time, so it’s a great way to showcase
who you are and what you do.
Create insightful
videos to show major attractions in your area, flea markets, local cuisines,
helpful tips & so on.
Share them on all
social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
Promote User-Generated Content
The loyalty
factor generated from reviews or even a challenge can create wonders for your
brand. People buy from brands they like and trust!
Document the
user-experiences through reviews, pictures, short videos & post them on
social media. You don’t need to push around your customers to get positive
feedback. People love to post about things or services they like on social
media.
Influencer Marketing Benefits
An influencer
might promote a restaurant by posting photos of the meal they had there, or
promote a hotel by sharing a video of their stay.
This can greatly benefit your brand as they have a huge fan following of their own.
Influencer MarketingInfluencer Marketing
To create a highly
effective marketing strategy for the tourism industry, you need to stand out
from the crowd & promote the qualities that make your business unique.
For an effective marketing strategy Contact Skyram Technologies. We will provide you with a tailor-made marketing plan suited for your business! For more blogs, read here!
OYO – a boon for all the couples out there who were looking for some privacy to spend time together!
Started with just one hotel in Gurgaon in 2013, to 13000+ hotels, over 450,000 rooms, adding over 64,000 rooms every month, globally.
But how did such
an empire happen?
Let’s dive into
another case study – OYO Rooms!
Global Stayed Room Nights
About OYO Rooms
Founded in 2013 by a college dropout Ritesh Aggarwal, OYO consisted of budget hotels.
Currently, it
ranks as the world’s third-largest & the fastest growing hospitality chain
of leased and franchised hotels, homes & living spaces.
Since its advent
in 2012, the startup expanded globally across hundreds of cities in
India, Malaysia, UAE, Nepal, China, the UK, Philippines, Japan,
Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, the United
States and more.
The Journey
Ritesh was a student at the Indian School of Business & Finance in Delhi. At just the age of 17, he launched Oracle travels, a site for booking & listing budget-friendly hotels.
The goal was to create an Indian version of Airbnb.
Initially, it was
backed by an investment of 30 lakhs from Venture Nursery.
After months of
traveling, staying in several bed & breakfast accommodations, guest houses,
etc, he changed Oracle to OYO in 2013.
The primary aim of OYO was the standardization of hotel rooms on the basis of a basic spotless clean bedroom, a clean bathroom, flat-screen TV, free wifi & free breakfast occasionally.
The Business Model
OYO follows a
unique business model.
Basically, it
neither buys a hotel nor does it aggregate it. Then how does it function?
OYO generally partners up with non-standardized hotels & blocks rooms by just buying them for a certain period. Now, these initial stages require a lot of cash & investments which is the reason it has investors like SoftBank Group, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, Airbnb, and China Lodging Group.
For OYO, after
they buy a hotel for say a month or two, they “standardize” it with their kits,
setup, & then sell it to the customers under their brand name.
In a brief, OYO’s
business model includes:
Lease
a part of Hotel’s inventory beforehand,
Organize
those hotel rooms under their brand name – Oyo Rooms
Bookings
were made through the Oyo Rooms website and mobile application.
The
target audience of OYO Rooms are:
travelers
who want a decent hotel room to stay
Unmarried
or married couples who want non-intrusive premises to spend time together.
OYO targets
people from age 20-30 years, mostly from urban cities like Mumbai, Bangalore,
Indore, Chennai.
They target
customers from the lower-income or middle-income earning classes of
society.
OYO
targets students and working professionals who enjoy
traveling and making short trips, often alone.
Swot Analysis Of Oyo
For any case
study, we need to understand the SWOT analysis of the business model.
SWOT Analysis is
usually done to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities &
competitions of any business.
It is the basis
of future research & development of any given organization that helps them
to identify their USP along with new business opportunities.
Let’s focus on the Strengths of OYO Rooms
The
standardization of the rooms under the OYO franchise is a guarantee of standard
service in all the OYO rooms.
The
idea of OYO rooms is a highly innovative one with all the one-stop budget stays
in India.
The
fresh idea of privacy for couples, which was bold & brave that time in
India made it the forerunner of hotel chains in the country.
OYO
subsidized rooms for affordable stays that have successfully emerged in the
line of new business chains.
A
huge network of around 8500+ properties throughout the country is a great
strength for OYO Rooms.
In comparison to
the strengths, OYO has quite a limited number of weaknesses.
Weakness of OYO Rooms
The strategy of co-branding rooms without actually owning a property can be a problem.
Although their standardization has worked on the favors at times their service quality and reliability can be questionable.
The tight margins of providing hotels can be risky or which Oyo cannot do anything much to circumvent.
Opportunities of OYO Rooms
Growing
demand in the market for hotel aggregators where most higher budget hotels are
suffering losses can increase the scope for aggregators like Oyo
People
are tending towards more budget-friendly, easy to book kind of stays now. Thus
budget hotels that can provide decent boarding and lodging facilities are on a
high demand today.
Rise
in the number of business travelers, live-in couples are increasing even in
Tier-II cities. This is leading to more business opportunities of premium
rooms, OYO life, OYO Townhouses, etc.
Threats of OYO
Rooms
With new entrepreneurs in the market like Goibibo, Trivago, Makemytrip, etc which offer a varied gamut of services similar to Oyo.
Today many hotels face unsafe stays & harassments. Although for OYO Rooms they have a moral commitment to ensure that no such untoward incidents happen.
The marketing strategies adopted by OYO
360-degree marketing:
360-degree marketing implies that a company has a complete presence in digital as well as traditional media platforms.
OYO adopted a
wide range of digital marketing strategies to promote its campaigns, including
social media marketing, Google ads, & of course through its app.
One of the major campaigns of OYO is #AurKyaChahiye. This was a clever use of campaigns as on transit ad it would be a great hoarding, whereas it could be promoted on television by making effective use of TV commercials.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO
Search Engine Marketing
refers to the use of particular keywords to ensure a high level of traffic
& visibility on your page.
OYO used SEO to
its full potential!
Some of the most
popular keywords for OYO are “Oyo Rooms”, “hotels in Shimla”, “Oyo Rooms
Delhi”, “hotels in Mysore”, “Hotels in Nainital” and “Hotels in Ooty”.
So basically if
you go on Google and type these words, OYO’s result will the top one to appear
in the zero position.
Also, OYO used
brands to bid on certain search terms to ensure that when users search
these particular terms on the internet, the particular brand’s page pops up as
one of the first results.
For OYO some of
these words include, online hotel booking, hotel booking online, hotel booking
offers, book hotels, best hotel deals, book hotels online, hotel deals, hotel
room, best hotels, best hotel prices and hotels nearby.
These bid words
made their website much more accessible for people looking for affordable
hotels.
Social media marketing
OYO segmented
social media platforms in order to promote their brand.
For Facebook, the
brand used location-based posts, posts that detail the progress of the organization
over the years and regular promotional posts.
These three types
of posts with unique content catered to each of the targeted segment the brand
was going after.
The location-based
posts helped potential customers to find accommodations for their destinations.
The progress posts helped to generate audience engagement & the regular
promotional posts helped to retain the brand awareness encouraging people to
book OYO rooms instead of other brands.
Now comes Instagram.
The brand used
almost a similar strategy for Instagram as it used for Facebook. But here they
reposted pictures taken by travelers, happy OYO users. They encouraged users to
tag OYO in their posts, increasing engagement. They also regularly post-festive
posts and special discounts on their page to keep the audience updated.
With Pinterest, they did campaign-related posts along with Twitter. They posted about the various award wins and events, as well as any corporate social responsibility related work that OYO carries out.
Contests & Campaigns
Apart from the
famous #AurKyaChahiye campaign which highlighted the fact that OYO
provides rooms at just Rs. 999, the brand always keeps their customers engaged.
#Rahomast
There was a
contest #OYOnauts in which the social media followers submitted their story ad
& if they win they would get a sponsored trip from OYO itself! This
campaign was short but was a major hit instantly.
Another campaign #OneForEveryone by the brand was a video campaign that showed 8 different types of peoploe OYO catering to.
OYO Nepal
Apart from this,
OYO regularly offers discounts for the customers on special weeks like
Valentine’s Day & Diwali, so on.
Influencer Campaigning
OYO collaborated with influencers like Prajakta Koli (MostlySane), Mumbaiker Nikhil, and others to promote the brand.
For example, a
biking influencer could show that the new OYO hotel is biker-friendly through
staying there and reviewing his experience on his social media. Or someone
posting about the safety of women travelers in OYO rooms.
Prajakta Koli
They even produce
blogs regularly to boost their content marketing. This gave a great boost to
OYO as a brand.
The Results
With such
aggressive digital marketing, OYO achieved a fanbase of its own.
It has a strong social media presence on Facebook with over 1.1 million fans and a Twitter following of over 57,000 followers.
The app has over 10 million-plus app downloads with a good number of active users.
Their major campaign videos on YouTube garnered over 175 million views to the brand.
OYO Overview
Some of their
recent endeavors are Salute to the heroes of the 1965 war and Oyo Explorer –
Pune.
Partnerships
OYO has huge backups from brands like Airtel for wi-fi support, ZO rooms, Thomas Cook, Air Pegasus and Tourism and Hospitality Skill councils with the investors from all over the world.
In the last year
2018, OYO Hotels & Homes completed its transition to becoming
a 100% leased & franchised hotel chain.
Currently, the
brand operates across more than 290 cities with 320,000 exclusive rooms and
7,000-plus buildings. In India, it has over 8,700 leased and franchised
buildings and over 173,000 rooms across 259 cities.
The Future
With OYO Rooms,
the company is tapping into a market of growing travelers.
They are
launching new conveniences like OYO Homes and Studio Stays by OYO.
With OYO Homes
the company is venturing into travelers who prefer to stay in bed &
breakfast rather than hotels. These stays will offer them local cuisines,
homemade food.
With OYO Studios
& OYO Life, the company is venturing into another growing segment of
students who travel for internships, college admissions, and entrance tests; as
well as first jobbers who need a decent place to stay while they look for homes
to rent or buy in a new city.
Ritesh Agarwal, founder, and CEO, OYO Rooms told BusinessLine, “We are also looking to offer niche experiences to specific customer segments such as students who are on internships and working professionals moving to a new city, with Studio Stays, which are priced upwards of Rs. 7,999 per month.
“We launched this in summer and saw a flood of guests in the North-East, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Delhi.”
Recently, they
launched OYO café, OYO We for Women travelerS and OYO Premium for
high-end customers!
Along with
expanding its business globally, OYO understands the importance of customer’s
feedback & its effect on its brand image.
OYO has made a mark
in the hotel chain globally.
How are you
planning to expand your business globally? Thinking of using the leverage of
digital marketing? Contact Skyram Technologies and let us help you to build
your franchise!
Technology is reaching into every aspect of our lives, be it financial in transactions, social interactions, academics & even our romantic lives!
In
short, it has upgraded our lives with just a few clicks.
However, if there is one thing that still requires some up-gradation is our Electoral system.
Although with the rise in blockchain technology in the world, online voting has the potential to make voting more accessible and improve election integrity.
Many
experts in the bitcoin world believe that blockchain technology will allow for
a new method of voting, that is far more secure, easier & will allow more
people to actively participate in their civic rights.
What are the current problems in
voting systems?
One
of the primary concerns of the election system is secure.
News21, conducted a study a few years ago, which found that out of 2,608 cases alleging voter fraud nationally from 2000 to 2012 and found only 1 case of in-person voter fraud every 207 cases involving other types of election fraud.
At the 2017 Def Con conference, some hackers demonstrated that they could hack into every one of the 22 different voting machines purchased from U.S. government auction sites and eBay.
And
this is just the U.S.
Think
about India, with such a huge political turmoil the country goes through during
elections, how many fraud cases could be there?
It
has turned out that the number of voters is declining around the world with
each election campaign.
An article in the Medium says that worldwide there are around 230 million eligible voters who are not registered to vote, & significant others are failing to turn up to vote.
Some
of the reasons behind the situation, the experts are suggesting, are lack of
proper identification process, lack of proper accessible booths & political
party violence, pressures.
And
don’t think for a minute that these problems are faced by just economically
challenged or politically unstable countries.
The
United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts (42.5%) in the world. Only
7% of the 3 million eligible U.S. citizens who live outside the United States
voted in the 2016 presidential election!
And
the reason cited was half of them couldn’t make it to the polls.
How Blockchain technology can help in
election systems?
Blockchain’s
three fundamental characteristics- immutability, accountability & security-
are the drive for securely maintaining records.
Blockchain technology uses DLT or distributed ledger technology, which means that information is not centralized, ensuring all data is copied on nodes across the network.
Also,
due to this decentralization, the information cannot be lost, there cannot be
any cyber-attacks.
Also, this process will ensure the voter’s registration & the whole election campaign could much cheaper to run.
Countries using blockchain technology
for voting
Russia
For their pilot project in June 2019, authorities in Moscow have planned & launched a blockchain-based electronic voting system. This project was carried out by partnering with the Moscow City Election Commission and Moscow Department of Information Technology (DIT).
The
system that is to be developed will apply blockchain in voter authentification
& result saving that will be able to improve transparency & security.
The
voting is said to be conducted from mobile phones & personal computers. All
the data will be saved on a distributed network and all voters will be able to
view voting results as they progress.
USA
The United States has started to practice blockchain-based election campaigns from the 2018 U.S. midterm elections in the State of West Virginia. They used Voatz’s mobile voting application to enable overseas voters to vote.
A
total of 144 voters from 31 countries participated in the pilot.
Blockchain-based startups
Follomyvote
This is a startup based on Virginia attempting to build a blockchain-based infrastructure for election systems.
Adam
Ernest, the company’s CEO, stated that “there is a common misconception that
voting cannot be done online in a secure way. However, the introduction
of blockchain technology is changing the conversation.”
BitCongress
This
company is developing a blockchain voting system based on a token system,
ensuring full security with one unchangeable vote.
The
token is called a VOTE, and by using the blockchain to record each vote
permanently, it ensures that there can be no manipulation of those votes or
voting twice.
What are some of the concerns for the blockchain-based voting system?
Governance issues
Permissioned
blockchain voting systems are to be controlled by companies that develop them,
sp there is a possibility that the developers can change the rules or choose
verifiers that are or can be biased and unduly influence the system.
Privacy issues
In
order to make the voting systems fully transparent, it needs to be accessible
by the public.
There
is a concern as public accessibility is a concern to keep voter’s information
confidential.
However,
Voatz deals with this issue by building auditing and privacy into the process.
They directly worked with the State of West Virginia and independent third-party
companies to audit the system.
Blockchain
is a great way to ensure our voting is done right!
But
it requires a lot of testing & trialing before it can be executed
thoroughly.
Do you have a firm developing a new technology that needs digital marketing? Contact Us at Skyram Technologies, our experts will guide you through the process.
While the social media seems to have a round of trolls & memes on the situation, maybe to lighten up the gruesome truth a bit; the global business is taking a huge toll due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Since the time WHO (World Health Organization) declared coronavirus outbreak a public health epidemic of international concern earlier this year, it has spread like a wildfire.
From
the tech sector to airlines, the health sector, supply chains everything is on
hold.
It
is reported that there has been a loss of $29 billion in airline revenue. China
auto sales down by 92 percent.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, China’s economic growth expected to slow to 4.5% in the first quarter of 2020.
Reuters Poll
There
are now more than 85,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, the
new coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in December and is spreading
around the world.
Production shortages & delays
Since
the outbreak, the maximum effect has been on the massive manufacturing shortage.
Factory shutdowns are slowing the flow of products and parts from China, affecting companies around the world, including Apple and Nissan.
Smartphones, cars, VR headsets & other tech accessories have been banned. The Foxconn and Pegatron closures in China, for example, are expected to potentially delay iPhones and AirPods production as factory workers are unable to resume work.
Major
company Facebook has stopped orders of its latest Oculus Quest VR headset. The
reason being the outbreak of coronavirus.
The
company stated, “[Like] other companies we’re expecting some additional impact on
our hardware production due to the Coronavirus. We’re taking precautions to
ensure the safety of our employees, manufacturing partners, and customers, and
are monitoring the situation closely. We are working to restore availability as
soon as possible.”
Due to factory closures, Tesla even postponed it’s Model 3 deliveries for about one week. Other companies like Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Huawei, have delayed their production.
With
many companies and countries depending on the health of China’s economy, here
are a few ways the outbreak is sending waves around the world.
Effect of coronavirus on supply chain
When
it comes to supply chains today, the system is more complex than they were even
five years ago. There are factories in China that are locked out for an unlimited
time, production sites that are running low because of the shortage of
production from China.
There
is a disruption of delivery ships from various parts of the world to China.
This is likely to impact at least 56,000 companies around the world with
suppliers either directly or indirectly.
From
the Indian perspective, the effect has been on various sectors including
manufacturing and export sectors, particularly medicines, electronics, textiles,
and chemicals.
It
should be kept in mind that China is India’s one of the biggest sources of
goods, the number of which goes to $30bn a year. Up to 70 percent of active
pharmaceutical ingredients and close to 90 percent of certain mobile phone
parts come from China.
Effects of coronavirus in oil demand
China is currently one of the largest oil importer in the world. However, with the epidemic of coronavirus hitting like a hailstorm, International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted to have a drop in the global oil market in a decade.
According
to their reports, the coronavirus has lead to a major shutdown in the
industries & is taking a hit on China’s economy.
“Demand
is now expected to fall by 435,000 barrels year-on-year in the first quarter of
2020, the first quarterly contraction in more than 10 years,” the IEA said
in its latest monthly report.
Hazards in commercial sectors
The
shortage of manufacturing from China is affecting organizations around the world
& it is taking a toll on the finances.
Even
the pharmaceutical companies are facing disruptions due to coronavirus.
A report from the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has said that global airline revenues are expected to fall by $4-5 billion in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of flight cancellations.
It
also forecasted that Japan would lose $1.29 billion of tourism revenue in the
first quarter due to the drop in Chinese travelers while Thailand could lose
$1.15 billion.
In short, the effects of coronavirus are very evident & much of it rests upon the response from healthcare sectors. Countries are making some conscious effort to reduce the effect of this epidemic providing medical access & control to spread the disease.
Reportedly over
15,000 orders fly out every day & numerous physical stores have recently
opened all over the country along with its app & website.
A Story To Tell
Falguni Nayar
The founder & CEO of Nykaa is Falguni Nayar, an IIM Ahmedabad graduate & was the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Capital Co.
Nayar noticed a
huge gap in the Indian beauty market scenario- the demand was far more than the
number of outlets in the country.
She along with
her husband Sanjay Nayar started Nykaa, with $2 million dollars. The company
controlled the majority of stakes which was around 95%.
The name of the
company “Nykaa” was actually derived from “Neyka”, Bengali word which means
someone in the spoilt.
The Business Model
The reason why the brand rose to such fame was
due to its Inventory-based model. The products are 100% genuine sourced
directly from the brand.
The products were
directly shipped from warehouses in New Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore keeping
the profit margin maximum.
The primary focus
of the company was three types of customers:
The
ones who had no time
The
ones who were expert in beauty & makeup
The
newbies
By this, the
company covered almost all the areas which were un-tapped in the market.
The SWOT Analysis
For those of you who are unaware of SWOT analysis, it is usually defined as strategic planning by an organization of strengths, weakness, opportunities & threats.
SWOT analysis is the basis of any marketing planning for an organization which helps them to identify the company’s USP, their competition & new business opportunities.
Nykaa SWOT Analysis
Some of the Strengths
of Nykaa:
Due to its strong distribution game, the market has a wide reach to its customers making sure that products are available easily.
Nykaa’s low-cost structure helps it to sell more products to its customers.
The dealer community is extremely strong for Nykaa that not only gives them supplies but also focuses on promoting the company’s products and training.
Social media is a big factor when it comes to Nykaa. Thanks to a strong social media presence with millions of followers it allows the brand to have a thorough customer engagement.
The geography and location of Nykaa.com A Passion for Beauty provide it with a cost advantage in serving its customers, when compared to that of the competition.
The company’s innovative ideas have allowed them to come up with new products & enter a new market.
The partnership program is another major strength of Nykaa. Collaborations, partnerships with its suppliers, dealers, retailers and other stakeholders.
Nykaa has a large product portfolio where it provides products in a large range of categories.
These are only a
few of the most recognizable strengths of the company.
Now let’s look at
some of the weaknesses.
Some of the
Weaknesses of Nykaa:
Nykaa is spending more than the average research and development expenditure within the industry
A large amount of the company is rented rather than purchased leading to higher costs.
The company’s ability to meet its short term financial obligations is lower than the industry average.
Nykaa hasn’t conducted market research within the market that serves for the past 2 years.
Due to its lower budget for its quality control department than competitors, the consistency may not remain the same in the near future.
Some of the Opportunities for Nykaa Beauty are:
The
vast internet users all over the world which means there is a huge opportunity
to expand their presence online; by using the internet to interact with its
customers.
The
rise in e-commerce can lead Nykaa to earn revenue by opening online stores and
making sales through these.
There
has been an increase in the number of social media users worldwide. The three
social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, have shown the
greatest number of increase in monthly active users. Nykaa has a huge
opportunity to use the medium for their promotions.
Technology
enables better data to be collected on customers and improves marketing
efforts.
The
population has been growing and is expected to grow at a positive rate which
will increase the sales rate of potential customers that it can target.
With
the number of niche markets growing in the last few years, Nykaa can take full
advantage of it.
Consumers
within the industry are becoming more conscious of health, and this is a
segment that is growing.
Now for the
competition part, we need to analyze the threats of Nykaa Beauty.
Some of the
Threats of Nykaa beauty:
Technological developments by competitors; New technological developments by a few competitors within the industry pose a threat to Nykaa.
New entries in the market and are gaining market share by gaining existing companies’ market share. This is a threat to Nykaa.
There has been an increase in competition within the industry putting downward pressure on prices. This could lead to reduced revenue
Consumer tastes are changing, and this puts pressure on companies to constantly change their products to meet the needs of these customers.
Substitute products available are also increasing, which is a threat collectively for the whole industry as the consumption of current products decrease.
Increased promotions by competitors have been a threat for Nykaa
Marketing Strategy for Nykaa Beauty
If there is one
thing that Nykaa does very well, apart from quality products of course, is the
promotion & marketing.
A huge amount of
marketing for the brand depends on content marketing.
High-quality
content to showcase global trends, along with influencer marketing & social
media promotions solidify Nykaa as a key player in the industry.
Their remarketing game is also quite strong which they use social media mainly. Nykaa also collaborated with Femina to host the ‘Nykaa.com Femina Beauty Awards’ in 2015 and 2016 to create brand awareness.
Nykaa Femina Beauty Awards
Content Marketing
Their content
team is really good.
Nykaa has rightly
used eye-catching content engaging for the audiences & alluring customers
to buy their products.
They have a great
blog, focusing on beauty, makeup & wellness.
Along with that their ad-copy contents are always on point.
#NykaaLand
Plus the idea of
using hashtags like “#Nykaaland” or “#Iamnykaaeveryday” made it stand out from
the rest of the crowd.
Youtube Videos
Nykaa has its own
youtube channel “Nykaa TV” to provide the best guidance for makeup or campaign
launch.
Recently Janhvi Kapoor became the first brand ambassador of Nykaa business under Nykaa cosmetics. And they released a number of “how-to” videos with her.
This attracts the young crowd which Nykaa is targeting.
Social Media
Over time Nykaa
has acquired a strong social media following which has influenced a massive
lead generation for the company.
Their social media game is strong for new targets as well as for remarketing. They have a massive 1.4 million followers on Facebook with “Shop Now” integrated options.
MAC
Janhvi Kapoor
plays an active role in social media campaigns through her Instagram handle.
Influencer Marketing
Nykaa’s
popularity is also because of the fact that it used social media beauty
influencers to collaborate & establish brand awareness.
Nykaa regularly
collaborates with influencers like Roshni
Bhatia, Masaba Gupta, Rohan Joshi, Shreya Jain & others to maintain a buzz
in the market.
Discounts & Offers
The best thing
about Nykaa is their discount & offers which goes on nearly the whole year.
They have a regular on-going discount waivers from awesome makeup brands,
skincare products to attract the customers.
The results
Nykaa
intentionally stays away from foreign funding to be inventory-led.
Nykaa completed
its first round of fundraising in June 2014, raising $ 3.2 million from a
consortium of influential Indian investors.
The result?
Since its
establishment in 2012, the company has grown drastically within 4 years.
Within three to four years of its launch, Nykaa generated around 220 crores revenue in 2015-2016.
Nykaa Growth
50% of customers
are routine customers.
Their month or
season-specific stores like Summer Store, Monsoon store, Diwali Store, Eyeliner
and Kajal store, Foundation Finder, Lipstick Finder, Skincare by age are
created for the convenience and benefit of the customer. Buying guides
contribute to 3% of GMV in a year.
Nykaa’s Routine
Finder is a comprehensive skin, hair, and wellness tool that allows customers
to build their perfect beauty regimen with recommended products best suited for
their skin, hair and wellness concerns and needs.
Nykaa has 10
million visitors a month & NYKAA focus is that at least 50 % should be new
customers
Averagely,
the Routine Finder garners close to 15,000 visits per day across all
platforms, of which 90% is through the App users and 10% are website. The
average AOV is Rs 1400 across platforms.
Nykaa, customer experience is a key component of a robust customer retention strategy. Content contributes 2.5% to the GMV of Nykaa, with the average order value of content consumers being 15% higher than non-consumers.
Nykaa Growth
On a recent
statement, a spokesperson said, “Given that more than half of all shoppers
spend 75% of their total shopping time conducting online research, guided
selling; education and tight curation have been the hallmark of Nykaa’s online
content strategy. “
They also added,
“The idea is to bring the offline shopping experience online and provide a
store-like shopping experience to digital customers,”
At present they
have around 45 physical stores in the country.
The latest
omnichannel leadership report by New store suggests that companies investing in
omnichannel strategies have a 91% average higher year-on-year customer
retention rate than companies who don’t.
Talking about
their Youtube channel, Nykaa TV has more than 5 lac subscribers with 121M video
views. They have more than 45 videos with 80 industry experts and influencers
are created every month, which are also streamed at all Nykaa offline stores
with over 1.4mn views.
They even have
Hindi tutorials targeting Tier 2 & Tier 3, an average of over 200,000 views
per video.
The company is
also eyeing for an initial public offering in 2020.
Nykaa is
receiving 15,000 orders a day, mostly from consumers between the ages of 22 and
35.
Overall, Nykaa
with its unique content & mass appeal has found an amazing audience tapping
a major part of the e-commerce market in India.
It all started
with an idea- a “need” of the market to create an empire of Nykaa World.
How did you like
our case study? Comment down below.
If you want a
detailed digital marketing strategy for your business Contact Us at Skyram Technologies. Our expert marketer will ensure you get the best of the marketing
plan!
By now you must be aware of this line. Yes, this is the famous cheer-line from PUBG, at present one of the most widely popular online games in the country.
The online gaming industry has changed the way the game is perceived in the world.
The State of Online Gaming 2019 research report, stated that on average people spend around seven hours seven minutes each week playing. Playing time has increased 19.3 percent in the last year.
Statista
says that in 2020, the revenue in online gaming amounts to US$17,141m.
Online Gaming Revenue
One
of the major influencers of online gaming has been the vast rise in internet
facilities in the past 5 to 6 years.
What drives people towards online gaming?
The Varied Choices
Online
gaming caters to people of all age groups, interests, abilities. There are a multitude
of options along with the most impressive elements, with new things & try
out unexpected games. You will never be stuck for options when browsing
online gaming libraries.
Fast
performance is the most important consideration when playing a video game.
Statistics say gamers 18-25 prefer to play First-Person Shooter and Battle Royale games such as Fortnite.
Furthermore, there are a number of games that can be played on the commute. There are so many casual gamers, that it’s not surprising that Casual Single-Player games (such as Candy Crush, Angry Birds, and Spider Solitaire) are played most often.
About
63.6% of gamers prefer to download online video games rather than purchasing
them.
Men
are more professional level players, whereas women tend to be more casual
gamers.
What makes a game successful?
While
the websites call it “stickiness”, in normal words it the retention power of
the game that makes it successful.
A
successful game gives a total experience that players wish to return to time
and time again. The reason for doing this is, of course, to charge them money
for it.
The Competitive Spirit
Another
primary “stick” of online games is the ability to play against your friends.
Statistics say that gamers play for an average of one hour 22 minutes at a time, with 18-25 year-olds averaging almost two hours for a typical gaming session. Now, that is also an age of friends, hangout sessions & gaming nights!
Time Spent on Online Gaming
The
craze of competitiveness is so much that more than half of gamers have
confessed missing sleep while gaming. More than a third have missed a meal.
Today,
introducing each other to a new game is a modern-day communicative form &
truly bonds friendship for life.
Millions
of people enjoy playing a game every day and new developments are constantly
making the gaming world a bigger and bigger thing to be a part of.
In
this world, “gaming” isn’t merely a nerdy activity!
Instead
of gaming being an isolating hobby, it is now a lot more social, due to the
catapulting popularity of the internet and online gaming. 57% of male gamers
age 18-35 would like to pursue a professional gaming career.
What is the role of mobile phones in
online gaming?
Although
there are laptops, computers, PlayStations for gaming, the most popular is
mobile phones.
In
2018, stats showed that mobile phones were the most used device for gaming
covering up to 60% of the market.
Mobile
phones have the highest users, especially in younger gamers. Those over 60 use
computers more than any other device. Gaming consoles are most popular with
gamers 26-35.
Kashyap Reddy, Co-founder, and CEO of Hitwicket, in a statement, said, “Mobile Games and Jio have changed the face of the target market. World over, Gaming is the cheapest form of interactive entertainment and the Indian Tier II and Tier III audience, in particular, are rapidly embracing mobile gaming.”
Added
to this he also said, “The success of Fantasy Sports and PUBG has shown that
the market is not just ready to engage but is also willing to spend on top
quality content.”
It
is also said that women are more likely to use mobile phones for gaming than
men. This can be because of the fact that women are more into casual gaming
than men.
Time Spent on Online Gaming
A Look At The Future
Our
consumers aren’t the same as they were five years ago. Consumers have changed,
so as the marketing of online games.
Now,
for the gaming industry, the market has become wider, targets reaching to
everyday ordinary people.
The Technology Trends
For many years on Youtube, gaming channels were the third most popular after music & videos. With the arrival of live game streaming at the click of a button, open-source capturing and broadcasting tools, the amount of hours spent watching game video content has exploded.
Market
research is indicating that by the next few years more than 57% of male gamers
18-35 want to become professional gamers.
The Growing Of Communities
Reaching
millions of people with videos & interconnecting platforms, have led to the
growth of communities.
The integration of live & on-demand video content on new platforms has expanded the possibility of creating new communities based on favorable franchise & characters.
Game
video content is accelerating the use of digital video channels on the TV
screen, pushing aside traditional broadcast content.
It
is being reported by a big online franchise that, “There are reports that state
fantasy sports platforms will have a user base of over 100 million by 2020 in
India.”
Growth in User Base
The
future of online gaming looks more exciting, amazing & full of adrenaline
rush!
Want to develop a high-spirited online gaming marketing strategy? Contact Us at Skyram Technologies & we will provide you with the ultimate digital marketing strategy for your business.
A recent study by Clutch showed that SEO was the least popular digital marketing channel, stating only 44% of businesses are spending money on SEO.
SEO
has radically changed over the course of a few years.
Google’s algorithm increased from 1,653 in 2016 and to 3,234 in 2018.
That’s
about a total of 9 algorithm changes per day, which says that it is not
possible for SEO to manipulate Google nowadays.
So
in a sense what many people traditionally see as an SEO strategy is now dead –
digital marketers now have to approach their organic search in a completely
different way.
Why do people think SEO is dead?
Let’s
discuss some data.
On Google, there are around 2 trillion searches per year. That is roughly around 5.6 billion searches per day right?
Take
an example, when we type “What is SEO?” on Google, here are the results…
SEO
There
is around 62, 70, 00,000 results on Google to explain it & also
provide you with results.
Its
simple economics. When supply is higher than the demand, the product has lesser
value!
On
top of that, Google is turning into an answer engine in which they are
answering people’s questions without them having to go to a website.
This
trend is becoming widely popular. And due to this, the traffic that Google
drives to organic listings or SEO results is decreasing day by day.
Why Organic CTRs are falling?
Google
has been making drastic changes in SERP in recent years, leading people to
think that there is no future with SEO.
Nowadays,
more than 50% of the search takes place without a click being generated.
Zero Clicks
Therefore,
SEO is unable to deliver lead generation effectively. These changes have not
been very favorable for SEO.
Getting
the number 1 position has become irrelevant right now, position 0 is the new
benchmark. Content is now more important than ever before with the likes of
voice search and featured snippets now becoming the norm rather than the
exception.
What role does paid media have in
this?
While
the 0 position is the target of all media houses in the SERP result, it is not
that easy.
The
position is followed up by a “Google Answer Box” and/or a knowledge
panel. There are some factors which will determine your position:
Excellent on-page content
High-value links off the page
A good dash of the best technical SEO thrown
So
you see, SEO is only a small part of digital marketing. With Google algorithm
becoming more vicious these days tactics that might have worked before is
incompetent right now.
Sites
can literally disappear from the page without warning if it doesn’t fulfill the
requirement. But we also need to consider social media referrals, brand
mentions in industry publications, influencer marketing, traditional offline
marketing, and even word of mouth.
How does Google now work?
Google
is catching every small detail of your website.
Google
is crawling your social media accounts and no doubt this also helps Google to
give you little ranking.
So,
now you understand why we stress so hard on social media marketing in our other
blogs!
Let’s
give you an example:
Look at these two pictures-
Google Search ResultsGoogle Search Results
The
second picture is after 40 to 45 minutes from the first picture.
Google
is trying to give the users an amazing user experience. So all the sits which
would only rank because of enormous backlinking, SEO metrics, & keyword
density is becoming irrelevant now.
So,
even if you are creating countless backlinks for your website, if your user is
not happy with the results, your site is bound to go down!
Google prefers brand
As
your brand is growing automatically your page will rank higher.
The importance of niche-specific websites are a necessity to make a prominence in the market.
Brand Rankings
Quite
obviously, you cannot rank for everything you do.
There
are many sites that got a red alert from Google itself due to generalized
content.
Quite
popular was the site About.com, which got red alert due to a non-specific niche
based website.
When
they changed their website it got a growth revenue of 140%.
How to keep your SEO strategy alive?
SEO
is not dead, it is changing like many other digital strategies.
In
many ways, in order to optimize your website for Google, you need to optimize
it like you would a business.
The
main focus is to be relevant & deliver satisfactory search results.
Focus on Google my Business
SEO
strategy can be placed anywhere you can place information about your company on
Google.
Having an active GMB account will help your site to be more likely to appear in these results, and provide searchers with more information when they arrive on a SERP.
The importance of content
Content
can be blogs, website content, videos, case studies, guides, infographics &
so on.
Look,
basically people use Google when they “want” something.
So
just be their “want”.
Increase
your content marketing. The more you invest in keyword specific relevant
content, the more you are generating traffic.
Which
will give you the “zero” position!
The future lies in personalization
Have
you ever noticed that your search results generally differ from your friends?
It
is because Google is trying to personalize results for you.
Wherever you go using your phone, especially the Android phone, Google is using that information to get tailored information for you.
So
take a cue from Google. Customize your marketing strategy according to your
audiences.
If
you focus on personalize your experience to your users, your site will
automatically rank better.
SEO
is still alive, it is going through some major changes.
If
you need any assistance regarding your SEO for your website, Contact Us at Skyram Technologies. We will provide you with a perfectly planned SEO strategy
for your business.
As the world is still fighting with the epidemic of coronavirus, where conferences are getting canceled daily in China, the tech biggies have gone through some major changes.
Welcome to another installment of Tech News, where we share some of the latest developments in the tech world.
If
you want to read our other tech news from the previous editions, we will leave
the link below.
Recently, Facebook has decided to drop chatbots & discover tabs for a larger redesign process to remain simple and catch more attention.
A spokesperson from the company said, “The changes are part of a larger Messenger redesign that reorients the People tab around Stories as Facebook continues to try to dominate the ephemeral social media format it copied from Snapchat,”
Along with this, in an attempt to give parents more control over their kids on Facebook Messenger, the company added a new feature on Parent Dashboard in the app.
LinkedIn said that it will soon be following Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat by adding its own stories feature.
Pete
Davies, head of content products at LinkedIn, said “We’re never done meeting
our members where their voices are. Last year, we started asking ourselves what
Stories might look like in a professional context. Stories first appeared on
Snapchat, with other platforms like Instagram and Facebook adopting them soon
after….”
Apple sends iPad, Face Masks, Hand
Sanitizer to China to fight Coronavirus
Apple is taking the Coronavirus fight pretty seriously. The company reportedly send gift packages of iPad, face masks, hand sanitizer and more, to its employees stranded in Wenzhou and Hubei due to the coronavirus.
Other
details say that the care packages also enclosed with a letter from the iPhone
maker to the employee saying that the iPads are provided for children’s online
learning or to help pass the time during the prolonged stay at home.
In
the letter, the company added, “We are sending our best wishes to you, on
behalf of the entire Apple Team, together with another CareKit for you and your
families. In the kit, you will find comfort items and an iPad that can be used
to facilitate children’s online learning or help pass the time during the
prolonged stay at home. In addition, a series of counseling and consultation services
have been prepared especially for you to help you through this time,”
Cortana soon to be removed from
Microsoft launcher
Due
to a lack of its popularity, the Cortana app has already been removed from many
apps. Now it is reported that it is taking Cortana out of its Android app
launcher.
Microsoft
announced that it will be “turning off the Cortana services in the
Microsoft Launcher on Android by the end of April.”
But
for people who want to continue using the app, they can download separately as
Cortana application.
After years of struggle, NASA team seemed to have finally found a way to successfully implement AR & VR technologies assembling useful science and engineering applications, with promising and unique results.
A
spokesperson from the team said, “The hardware is here; the support is here.
The software is lagging, as well as conventions on how to interact with the
virtual world,”
He
also added, “We’ll be in the same environment and when we point at or
manipulate something in the environment, they’ll be able to see that,”
PUBG is one of the most popular games of all time with an ever-increasing fanbase.
With
the success of consoles and PCs, the developers started to dip their toes in
the mobile gaming market. The news about the mobile version of Pubg made the
mobile players very happy.
For
this, there will be a series of new updates along with Night Mode.
Recently, MIT researchers have successfully discovered a powerful antibiotic compound using their machine-learning algorithm to counter many of the world’s deadliest bacteria.
In
the study, the team has also identified several other promising antibiotic
compounds, which can be put to the test further.
When it comes to the manufacturing industry, marketing becomes an integral part because it helps to connect manufacturers with sellers, distributors, other manufacturers to ensure that your product is reaching its target audience.
In India alone, with a rise in initiatives like Make in India & its promotion through digital marketing, the annual growth rate of production in the industry was over 14 percent during the fiscal year 2017.
However,
2019 faced a slow pace in terms of growth rate both in India & the world.
Manufacturing Production in India decreased 1.20 percent in December of 2019 over the same month in the previous year.
Growth in Manufacturing Industry
According to the UNIDO report, 2019 indicated the manufacturing output growth rates of industrialized economies rose by a mere 0.4 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.
However,
for an industry that is gradually progressing towards automation, the marketing
efforts are still out on the edge.
If looked in a broader spectrum, countries in South East Asia have increased their growth rate, especially China whos growth rate has reached 7.3 percent in 2019.
Frankly
speaking, there is a huge scope of marketing that can be done for the manufacturing
industry.
Manufacturers contribute over $2.3 trillion to the economy of the United States every quarter.
But
before that, we need to understand the buying cycle of the industry.
What is the industrial buying cycle?
In
the manufacturing industry, everything starts with the buying cycle.
It
is a six-step journey articulated to focus on potential buyers who can come
from anywhere, towards making an informed decision.
And as a manufacturing unit, it is your responsibility to guide your buyer through the journey.
Buying Cycle
These
steps include:
The buyer identifies their need for a product or
service.
The buyer researches different solutions to collect
more information.
If creating a new design, the buyer researches product
data.
The buyer evaluates potential suppliers for their
desired solution.
The buyer makes a shortlist of the best suppliers.
The buyer purchases from the supplier they deem the
best fit.
Now,
the main focal point is that with each & every step, you have the
opportunity to prove why you are the best fit for them to buy a particular
product they are looking for.
Some
of the factors buyers take into consideration when evaluating a product:
Product quality
Brand reputation
Your website
Market presence
Social media
Manufacturing Marketing Factors
Now have you noticed that customers rely on online presence a lot before buying any product?
How to build your niche audience?
We
cannot stress this point enough!
Thoroughly
understanding your buyer and their motivations is critical to making content
that will be relevant to them and keep you top-of-mind throughout their
journey.
Who
exactly are your buyers? What are their habits, goals, and challenges? What are
they responsible for in their roles?
As
a manufacturer, you must have a database on all these criteria to understand
the “need” of your buyers.
Need for humanizing your brand
Customers
have enough of the cold & corporate manufacturing website, it has become
stale now.
Humanizing
your brand is a powerful way to edge out the competition. It is the best way to
connect with your audience. They want value and conversation, and they want to
be engaged.
For instance, something like “team lunch” or a small Q&A session, or contests to win a prize will lead you a long way.
Why should you focus on content
marketing?
Content
is the backbone of all your inbound marketing efforts. Remember the buyer’s
journey we were talking about?
Content
marketing is where you need to focus on the “research” part. Creating content
through blogs, videos will aim to demonstrate your company’s perspective
towards your buyers.
They
will provide the needful information, make it convincing for the customers to
buy from them.
You
can offer with- informative blogs, ebooks, newsletters, buyers guides, case
studies & so on.
For
videos, you can start with- product reviews, innovative engaging stories, video
tours, 360-degree videos & others.
Keep
your customers well-informed. Make them believe that it is through your product
that they can find the exact solution they are looking for!
Why you should update your website?
For inbound marketing especially, a website is the center of the universe. It’s where all of your marketing channels should drive to — and it should be loaded with great content for your prospective buyers.
It
is where the “design” part plays out.
Here
are some points for your references:
Does it have a professional look?
A
clean & well-maintained website will make it look more professional.
You
can very much use colors that it apt with your logo or brand color but better
to stick to a cohesiveness so that customers won’t get confused while searching
for information.
Is it mobile responsive?
In 2020,
there are 3.5 billion smartphone users around the world.
Creating
a mobile responsive design will ensure your site looks great on any screen size
so that you’re meeting your customers on their preferred device.
Your
website should score around 80 to 90-speed limit when checked online.
Use technology & automation
The
whole world is moving towards automation, then why not your marketing?
Automate
your marketing efforts as much as possible — so you can spend most of your time
focusing on the bigger picture.
Use CRM software which gives you a clear, real-time view of your marketing funnel and sales pipeline.
Use virtual guides, voice recognition assistance for your audience.
Use chatbots on your website.
How to promote the manufacturing
industry?
Create a well comprehended digital marketing strategy that encompasses SEO, PPC, Display Ads, Social Media & others to guide through the “evaluation” & “shortlisting.”
Whether it’s a magazine, website Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Linkedin ads, or influencer sponsorship, ads can be a highly valuable way to generate leads.
Also, infographics can be a fantastic way to get information to customers and would-be customers! Interesting drawings, bright complementary colors and clear text help draw a reader’s attention to your information.
Think of influencer marketing. Influencer marketing acts as a bridge between the manufacturing sectors & its customers via someone who has a loyal fanbase.
Paid
advertisements like PPC or display ads can be a great way to generate quality
leads.
SEO & PPC
SEO
includes crafting headers, text, as well as web page addresses to help the
search engines understand the goal of the website and who may be interested in
it.
PPC
(pay-per-click) is used for increasing paid search results rankings. PPC ads
are a great way to get to the top of search results by bidding on keywords.
The importance of reporting
So
to check your business growth you need to regularly check back and see if it’s
working.
There
are tools that help you monitor the health of your website by tracking site
metrics such as unique page views, session duration, and bounce rates.
And
make sure that you keep a close relationship with your customers. This can help
you to draw the final thread of the “deciding” stage for the customers.
Even
though you’re doing all you can to try to bring buyers to your website, it’s
important to also put yourself where they are elsewhere online. Maintain an ethical
value to help your bind your customers & gain “fans”.
This
is where email marketing can help a lot.
Use
your newly developed content marketing to acquire emails and then follow-up
with related updates or info.
Email marketing allows a company to share valuable content & offers; a great way to build a personal relationship with your buyers.
Now
that you have the ultimate guide of how to market a manufacturing industry you
can start by planning the essential goals & motives.
