5 Secrets to Digital Marketing And Sales Definitions: Part-2

Just wondering how digital marketing works and what should I know? Then this is the right place to begin. Let us know the basic set of jargons first to begin with:

1. Surrogate Advertising

Have you ever thought "Why is Kingfisher, an alcohol brand, marketing drinking water?" It is because of the phenomenon called 'Surrogate Advertising'.

Surrogate advertising, uses the advertisement of a brand or product, to convey a message which is related to another brand or product. This is done due to various reasons. Primary reason is to circumvent the ban on advertising for a particular type of product(s). However, Such brands advertise through other products like mineral water or music. Surrogate advertising may also be used in cases where the use of a product is linked to a service. In such cases, the service is advertised widely, and the service provider uses only the product in question.

Trends before Ban in advertising

• "Wills" a cigarette brand of ITC
• Tennis Tournaments were sponsored by "Gold Flake", another cigarette brand
• "Manikchand", manufacturers of ghutka, sponsored the Filmfare Awards for a considerably number of years

Advertising post imposition of Ban

However after the imposition of a ban on advertising for liquor/tobacco and related products, brands are increasingly using surrogates for advertising. Here are a few examplesBRANDSURROGATESeagramsMusicMcDowellsWater and SodaBagpiperWater, Soda, and MusicRed and WhiteBravery AwardsBacardiMusicKingfisherWater and CalendarsWills LifestyleApparels, AccessoriesSmirnoff, AristrocratApple Juice

2. Core Competence

Core Competence is a management theory originally published by CK Prahlad, and Gary Hamel, both, authors of business boooks.According to them, core competency, is a factor, that is is considered to be central to the way an organization or its employees function. It has to fulfill three criteria

• It is not easy for competitors to imitate
• It can be widely leveraged to many products and markets
• It must contribute to the end customer's experienced benefits

Fore example, Apple's core competence lies in 'innovtive design and technology'. This is something which is lies at the very heart of the organization. Apples technology is not very easy for its competitors to imitate. It has aced the term 'nanotechnology'.

The same innovativeness has been leveraged to many products. It began with the macintosh, and since then the innovative design and technology could be found in Apple's products like the iPod, iMac, MacBook, iPhone, and iOS.

The benefits of such innovativeness in design and technology has been embraced by its end customers. The benefits are so striking and hard hitting, that every Apple product, has been a roaring success.

3. PEST Analysis

PEST Analysis is a technique used to analyse the marketing environment. Every business has several factors affecting it.

PEST refers to

Political Factors: These tell to what extent and how the government affects the business. This includes areas such as Tax policy, Labour Laws, Tariffs, Subsidies and the like. Governments also have a very high influence in Health, Education, and Infrastructure, which may aid the business(es) greatly.Economic Factors: These include foreign exchange rates, economic growth, inflation, and interest rates. These are crucial to business, and more so, marketing decisions.Eg: Foreign exchange rates determine the cost of import, or the price of export. A business should closely follow this parameter, if it is engaged in import/export business. Marketers use this to take pricing calls.Social Factors: These include cultural influences, age, population, education, etc. The demand for a particulars can directly affected by trends in social factors.Technological Factors: These include technology change, new inventions, automation etc.Apart from the  existing factors, some may add LegalFactors, making it SLEPT. Adding Economic Factors makes it PESTEL or PESTLE. Newer extensions of PEST have added Ethics and Demographic Factors, making it STEEPLED. All these names refer to the basic PEST model of environmental audit and analysis.

4. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a sales technique whereby the seller contacts the customers directly, without any channel intervention. The common methods of direct marketing are telephone sales, solicited or unsolicited mails, catalogs, leaflets, brochures, and coupons.

Direct marketing is successful in situations where other conventional advertising channels do not aid in targeting the right group of customers. Direct marketing also involves the creation, and maintenance of a large database of information about prospective clients. These databases may also be sold or shared among other direct marketing companies.

5. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis, is a tool of evaluating a companies current internal and external which are either favourable or unfavourable, inachieving a specific objective, which is set before such analysis.It mainly involves analysing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

The factors under each head are listed in a matrix as shown below. Out of this Opportunities and threats are external factors, while strengths and weaknesses are internally influenced. Similarly strengths and opportunities indicate favorable factors, while weaknesses and threats are unfavorable factors.

See Also Marketing Environment