The Prime Minister’s address to the nation amidst the ongoing pandemic situation also involved a campaign that will lead the country to self-reliance. ‘Vocal for Local’ was launched to underline the importance of local manufacturing, local markets and local supply chains.
Almost all the leading brands in the world gained momentum only once the locals started using and promoting them. The Prime Minister encouraged the same approach to take the local goods on a global scale. The severity of the COVID-19 crisis has given a significant impetus to the production, promotion and distribution of local products.
Needless to say, the campaign will encourage several local businesses to come to the forefront. One of the most cost-effective ways for Indian businesses to reach a wider audience and become more noticeable is digital marketing. Digitisation has revolutionised the concept of marketing with its feasible and far-reaching strategies. Digital marketing not only helps you interact with your prospects and understand what they’re looking for, it also gives you the opportunity to reach a global audience.
Here’s a quick round-up of why digital marketing can prove to be the best bet for your business:
- Requires less money than traditional marketing methods
- Enables you to interact with your audience and vice versa which helps in building brand loyalty
- Allows you to track the response to your marketing efforts
- Increases conversion rate
- Enables you to have an edge over your competitors by analyzing their online campaigns and digital marketing efforts
- Gives you an opportunity to reach the global market
Before you set out to take your brand or business on the digital platforms, it is important to identify the right digital team that aligns with the vision of your brand. Your digital marketing team should be able to engage local audiences by building strategies based on the demographics, culture, tradition and behaviors of a particular state or area.
The ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign will be better perceived and executed by the Indian digital agencies as they would have a better understanding of the Indian audience. This will help the brand in building a strong foundation to expand to the global marketplace in the future. It is important to keep in mind that the objective of every campaign in digital marketing should be to establish a connection with the target audience. Random posts on social media never bring about promising results as the audience is looking for a brand that understands and responds to their concerns, thoughts and emotions.
A few things to keep in mind before you ‘go local’ with your business:
1) Brand Localisation
Make sure your brand/business adopts a strategy that focuses on local branding. It would be prudent to consider local social media influencers for important announcements or product launch. The best option is to analyse your target audience and pick an influencer they can resonate with.
2) Understand the demographics
Where does your target audience reside? What are the people in that area looking for? Are you targeting rural places or cosmopolitan cities?
These are a few questions that you might want to address before you set out to draw a marketing plan for your business. If your target audience comprises the rural population, you can use the local language to interact with your audience so that they can develop a better connection with your brand.
3) Adapt to preferences
This does not mean that you have to constantly change your product and services. Your business might be able to have a greater impact on your audience if you adapt to changing preferences, trends and even culture, if possible. This can also be brought about by constantly updating the marketing efforts for your brand.
4) Language
Language and symbolism is of utmost importance when it comes to the Indian market. Whether it’s deciding the name of the brand or choosing the aesthetics that go with it, make sure your language is in sync with your target audience.
5) Price
It is also important to evaluate the income levels of your target audience. While people usually don’t mind spending a few extra bucks on high-end items, people with meagre incomes usually pay special attention to the price before buying a product. So, make sure your product or service is adequately priced for your target audience.
There’s a wide range of channels and tactics that fall under the umbrella of digital marketing. Let’s take a look at them so that you know exactly what you need for your business.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This involves optimizing your website so that it ranks higher in search results, thereby increasing the organic (free) traffic your website receives.
- Social Media Marketing: Social Media Marketing is the latest buzzword and you should use it too! It is a great tool to promote your business, generate brand awareness, get leads for your business and drive traffic. Social media marketing makes use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
- Content Marketing: Content Marketing makes use of content assets like blogs, ebooks and infographics to demonstrate the brand’s expertise and generate organic traffic for your business.
- Marketing Automation: Marketing Automation comprises the software that automates your marketing operations. You can do this with the help of email newsletters and campaign tracking & reporting.
- Email Marketing: Email marketing can be used to interact with your audience and give them regular updates on discounts and events. This helps generate brand awareness and drive people to the website. You can send blog subscription newsletters, holiday/festival promotions, customer greeting emails, tips or similar series to keep your audience engaged with the brand.
- Pay Per Click (PPC): PPC is used to drive traffic to your website by paying a publisher ‘per click’ every time your ad is visited by a customer. Google Ads is one of the most common ways of PPC that allows you to pay for top results on Google’s search engine. Paid ads on Facebook, Twitter campaigns and sponsored ads on LinkedIn are a few other methods of PPC.
- Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate Marketing is a form of performance-based marketing where you receive a commission for promoting another brand’s products or services.
- Inbound Marketing: Inbound Marketing consists of marketing efforts that attract and engage buyers at every step of the brand’s journey. You can use all the channels mentioned above to create a marketing strategy that is in complete favour of your customers.
It’s time we create a strong base for our local businesses to grow and flourish. Needless to say, the local businesses will be able to venture out into foreign markets only if they’re well-received by the country they originated in. We would like to applaud the spirits and efforts of every local business that is trying to stay afloat in these testing times.
Let’s do our best to encourage, promote and strengthen our local businesses. The next time you’re in the mood to buy something, make sure you purchase something from a local brand. And hey, don’t forget to drop in a word of encouragement as well!
