6 Reasons Why You Need a Digital Strategy Traditionally consumers used magazines and newspapers, now they consume information on Google, Facebook and Instagram

With new media taking over how we consume information, it's becoming more and more important to stay up to date with the latest technology.

One of the biggest game changers of the past decade has been how people are consuming content. Advertising has adapted to that change by getting their products in front of people where they spend most of their time, on their screens! Space to communicate personal content and connect is now morphing into a space to find out the latest news or trends as and when they unfold.

The debate about the pros and cons of digital media versus traditional media is ongoing. We might not know the answer to that question, but we do know that having a digital marketing strategy is extremely important for any new age company.

1. Measurable

One of the biggest advantages of digital advertising is that it's measurable to the extent of impressions, clicks and conversions. Companies can calculate the exact return on their investment and optimize based on which platform or placement is giving them the best results. As opposed to traditional media where advertisers were throwing darts in the dark hoping their investment would yield results over a period of them

There are ways to gauge the monetary worth of traditional media but at the end of the day, it's mostly relative and approximate. With digital media, that's not the case. It's specific, targeted and involves a whole lot of number crunching with which you can actually see the results in monetary terms.

2. Cost Effective

Digital media, unlike traditional, doesn't demand that we pay all in advance and then wait for the results. It usually follows a pay-as-you-go model; whether you chose a pay-per-impression or clicks or conversion you only pay for what you use. Like traditional, it's necessary to set aside a budget beforehand, but the money utilised is usually based on the model you create. It entails that you don't pay the entire budget, but pay only in accordance to the clicks or engagements that you receive. In contrast, TV, magazine and OOH ads are notoriously expensive and unpredictable.

3. Flexible

With traditional, one can choose which medium works best for them and use slots based on that. Like what TV channel to pick or what slot on the radio to advertise in, etc. However, once the investment is made, there is little change that one can bring about in the plan since slots or channels can't readily be interchanged in case the campaign doesn't fare well. Digital marketing allows us to target the exact audience that we wish to get in front of and in a manner that resonates better with them. It could be with organic posts, video ads, etc. and in case the campaigns don't fare well, we can update, alter or entirely scrap them if need be.

4. Automatic Optimisation as Per Platform

Smaller brands sometimes don't have the resources to deploy on advertising and data analysis as they focus on the product. Digital marketing platforms help by optimizing the ads based on the type of people engaging with them and show the ads to only those people. That being said it is important to review your ads on a regular basis because at the end of the day no one knows your customer the way you do.

5. Gives Room for Creative Storytelling

With more and more digital ad formats being introduced every day, the possibilities in storytelling seem endless. Each format has a purpose on the type of storytelling you want to do. For example, Facebook offers canvas ads that allow the user to click on the ad and it is redirected to a native Facebook page with your products, videos and text that allow you to weave a story around your products. Google introduced showcase ads under shopping ads that allow different products of the same category to be clubbed together and be shown to the customer. There are other visual based ads and text-based ads that you can test from and see which format allows you to represent your product in the most creative way.

6. Customer Understanding

Never has there been a time where advertisers can get feedback on their products in a matter of clicks. Digital marketing gives room for direct interaction with the customers. Even though the ads are via the platforms, one can see how the customers are engaging, what they like or prefer over the other. This gives us a lot of scope to understand the customer's perspective on our campaigns and how we can improve and build on them further. With every change, we get new insight which in turn helps us better the entire strategy.

It is important to understand that advertising moves with how consumers interact with each other and from where they get information. Traditionally consumers used magazines and newspapers, now they consume information on Google, Facebook and Instagram. It is important for advertisers to recognize these trends and tweak their advertising strategy accordingly.