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Through digital marketing you can create a customer base worldwide based out of your closet, says Sanjay Sayani
Digital marketing is a must for a startup to survive
Sanjay Sayani a seasoned journalist who then set off to start his own consultancy, Reboot Plus Digital, a digital marketing company, has been in the industry for quite some time.He shares his knowledge on how digital sales can help startups further the marketing agenda.
Advertising today costs a fortune. Digital marketing seems far easier on the pocket. Is this an advantage for start-ups?
Let me correct you. Digital marketing is not an option. It is the way to go. Digital marketing is a must for a startup to survive. Today, almost every other person owns a smartphone, data plan, access to Whatsapp ,Google, Instagram, Twitter and so on. This was not the case five years ago . The past few years has seen an increase in people glued to digital screens.
How effective is digital marketing?
If you are Amazon and have a Rs 650 crore ad-spend for a national newspaper then that’s good.How many startups can afford this? Through digital marketing a startup based out of your closet can create a customer base worldwide. Traditional media like billboards has costs that are prohibitive and the reach is not so specific. We used digital marketing for a men’s grooming product. With an event boost, in 24 hours we had 1,07,000 people out of which 50% shared the page. Once you know your target audience, digital marketing allows you to deliver your message to that audience. Also now the demographics have changed. Now even older people are active on social media.
What are the disadvantages of digital marketing?
What has the power to make you can also break you. I bought three pairs of shorts from a very popular retail store online. The sizes delivered were wrong. So I asked for an exchange service, which they could not provide. I asked for return and refund. After four months, 47 phone calls when I still did not get my money back, I put a very decent yet nasty post on Twitter and in a day I got my money back. Hence, I never recommend Twitter to my clients since it can effectively damage you as well. Also startups must realise that digital marketing does not deliver instant results, it takes time. So be patient, a good campaign can take three to six months to start showing results.
