How is Digital Promotion a Part in the Marketing Funnel of Indian Auto and Retail Industries?

Auto and Retail Industries of India have been relying on traditional print advertising over decades, but with the recent rapid increase in technology users, advertisers had to grow the level of advertising to meet the customer's expectations.

"Digital in India is poised to grow 30% Year-over-Year through next year, while traditional media like print will continue to grow although at a much slower rate of 2% YoY. that will essentially put digital on par with a print by the end of 2019." Groupm India, 2019

Digital has started playing an important role in the customers' purchase journey. But this doesn't mean that digital has completely occupied the place of traditional media, yet there is still a majority of offline buyers.

Role of Digital Advertising in the path of buyers

A recent study says that offline customers are more likely to make their researches before making it a purchase.

80% of car buyers use online videos as a research destination - second only to search at 89%" - Google

Videos play a significant role in helping buyers know about the choices available, choose what they want, gain information about the product they are about to buy. By this way, Digital marketing has silently started playing its role being the research destination before offline dealership.

As per a survey by Volkswagen,

"After shifting to digital, Volkswagen saw a 12% increase in overall inquires at a 54% lower investment than print."

With improved technologies brands can now measure how much online Google Ads influence to an offline performance.

For instance; a leading brand, Volkswagen India, put down on a test to know the effectiveness of Digital promotion onto offline dealerships, to know the live performance Volkswagen India partnered with Nielsen to categorize and control markets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

They also made use many new formats including Bumper Ads for better visibility of their Ads on to every device. They also created new offers and dealerships in cities and suburbs. Display Ads through Display & Video 360 were made use to drive calls and walk-ins to all dealers of Tamil Nadu.

The results put them into a shock with a 12% increase in overall inquiries at a 54% less investment when compared to prints.

"The numbers prove that digital has the potential to drive sales at a hyper-local level," said Steffen Knapp, director at Volkswagen Passenger Cars. "While print continues to be an important tool for a mass marketing strategy, we believe our customers are technologically advanced and well-informed about their purchases. Over the next few years, Volkswagen will see a transformation in its sales process driven by progressive digitalization and connectivity within its universe." - Google

The Omni-channel Approaches in Digital Retail Journey

As digital has started playing its major role in the user's purchase journey, the retail industry has aimed to reach consumers who browse and buy across channels.

"We've seen a 50% increase in searches for "stores near me," signaling that online searches for stores have become an integral part of the modern shopping experience." - Google

HomeCentre wanted to increase walk-ins with an improved ROAS, so they moved the spent to digital. The company ran several campaigns through search Ads and with several bumper Ads on YouTube as well. They also used remarketing strategy in Display Network.

As a result, the company saw 19% increased offline sales and 20% increased online sales with the same amount spent on prints. This encouraged HomeCentre to set campaigns across India, resulting in 5X increased digital spend.

Key points to look into before implementing Digital Strategy

Like we already discussed digital marketing has been playing a good role in promoting products and services digitally worldwide. But ensure that you follow these before implementing a digital strategy;

Know your Audience

Customers are looking for valuable information, so it is your due responsibility to provide valid and helpful information that guides customers throughout the purchase journey.

Make it Simple

Planning is more important when you transit your Ads from traditional print to digital. The Plan should be based on how to make the audience spend time on digital platforms.

Test and Compute

As you are advertising digitally, it is easy to measure which works and which doesn't. So it is important that you constantly test, monitor and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

When you make use of these key points before digitalizing, you can understand and become the biggest competitive differentiators for brands and marketers.