Virjal-Club's video: What Marketers Need to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2021 Virjal Club SKP In Hindi

Thinking of a career in marketing? Five stars to you for choosing to take up a fun, adrenaline-inducing, and highly-rewarding profession. But exciting as it may be, the marketing function is not what it was a decade ago. For instance, did you know that there are over a dozen kinds of marketing? And each kind requires a different, specialized skill? Marketing as a function has undergone a major transformation. With the mainstreaming of the internet and social media, the ubiquity of technology, and the world becoming a more connected place, marketing is no longer restricted to traditional methods. In the 1980s and 1990s, the mention of the word marketing would conjure up a picture of a man all suited and booted, carrying a briefcase in one hand and a bagful of sample products in the other, knocking on people’s doors trying to make a sale. Then, it moved to the telephone, where telemarketers spent all day making phone calls, hoping to enthuse the person on the other end about his product. Cut to 2019, and we are in the days of digital and online marketing. The picture of marketing is far less vivid—albeit more active and effective—as it is restricted to the customer and his personal devices. Most marketing happens on our phones or computers and revolves around what we click or swipe, how often we do it, and how much effort we are willing to put into it. Consequently, the way companies strategise and manage their marketing efforts has changed, as has the way customers now receive marketing messages from companies. This means that a marketer’s role has changed. Being a successful marketer today requires a different set of skills, aptitude, and approach towards the role. Marketing has become multi-dimensional. For each of the kinds of marketing, there is a business side, an analytics side, a creative side, and many more. The target groups vary in terms of demography and geography. Moreover, the intent could differ–for example, some marketing campaigns are done solely to generate leads while some could be done in order to establish the brand name and ensure brand recall. And each of these different aspects isn’t necessarily standalone, and there could be an overlap of two or more of these. ONLINE PRESENCE HAS BECOME KEY Over the last ten years, we’ve adapted to using the online world to listen, research, and find products/services we want to buy. For any business in any industry, it’s no longer a nice to have it’s a necessity. Being present online is only step one of letting customers know what we do, we must also build brand awareness and engage with our community to build trust. YOU NEED TO BE BRAND CONSISTENT Customers used to look at maybe one or two websites when wanting to make a purchase. They wouldn’t go to 10-20 different websites and look at reviews, social activity and how a business was dealing with customer service. For a business to succeed in the marketing world now, they need to be brand consistent. It takes on average ten touch-points for a customer to trust, and purchase from a business. It never used to be this difficult, or complex. THE NEED TO BE DIGITAL HAS BUSINESSES WORRIED I found some interesting statistics from a study ran by Adobe. They found that less than half of the professionals considered themselves to be highly proficient in digital marketing. The study also showed that only 9% agreed that their digital marketing is “working”. Businesses are worried about embracing digital, and are finding it hard to be truly successful through their digital marketing. Digital marketing was barely an after-thought ten years ago but now, it is the primary focus, and one which does have businesses worried. THE COST OF MARKETING HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY Over the last ten years, there has been some major advancements in technology and because of this, a larger budget is being put in place by businesses so that they can stay ahead of their competitors. This also includes hiring more knowledgeable people to take control of a digital aspect of the business as well as having freelancer help with content creation, and paid advertisement.