Digital Marketing Strategy for India

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Part One: India’s Demographics
Online Market Places in India
Lee’s Artificial Flowers Digital Marketing Strategy
Evaluation of digital marketing strategy results
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The digital space has become one of the most lucrative marketplaces for most organizations in the 21st century. As a modern company, Lee’s Artificial Flowers greatly benefits from online marketing and sales. Currently, most of the company’s inventory sales come from its website, which implies that it is gaining a lot from online activities. To effectively enter and dominate more international markets, it will be instrumental for the firm to develop and apply critical digital marketing strategies.

Part One: India’s Demographics

One of the most lucrative international markets that Lee’s Artificial Flowers can consider investing in is the Indian market. India is one of the most populated countries globally, with approximately 1.39 billion people as of January of 2021 (List of industries in India, 2021). The population of internet users in the country in January 2021 was 624 million, which was about 8.2% more than the population registered in the same period in the previous year (“National Account Statistics Releases 2020, 2021”). The country’s economy has been relatively stable; in the 2020 financial year, the economy recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.708.77 billion U.S. dollars which was a slight deviation from the 2,870.5 billion U.S. dollars GDP recorded in the year 2019 (“National Account Statistics Releases 2020, 2021”). The population of the country, its enormous internet users, and the high GDP make it an appropriate international market for Lee’s Artificial Flowers.

There are other notable trends that India, similar to other countries of the world, has adopted, making it a viable international market for the company. For instance, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is widely embraced in India. Factors such as the increased use of smartphones, high penetration of the internet in urban and rural areas, and hectic lifestyles, among others, have contributed to the popularity of (B2C) e-commerce in India (Kalia et al., 2021). The average online spending in India has been on a sharp rise since 2014. The average online spending in India in 2020 was significant at approximately 64 billion U. S dollars. India’s annual commercial retail sales have also been impressive in the past years (List of industries in India, 2021). In 2020, the Indian Brand Equality Foundation (IBEF) estimated the country’s Annual commercial retail sales to be 883 billion U.S. dollars (List of industries in India, 2021). From all the factors analyzed above, it is evident India has numerous market opportunities for the company.

The concept of network readiness is highly instrumental in the determination of appropriate international markets to venture into. Network readiness reflects a country’s ability to use Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) to improve its wellbeing and competitiveness in the global market. It is also a fundamental indicator showing the performance of a country in the digital world. In 2019, India ranked at position 79 in the Network Readiness Index (Dutta & Lanvin, 2019). Challenges affecting the extension of ICT skills and access to the general population explain the position, although the country still can make significant improvements.

Online Market Places in India

There are numerous online marketplaces in India, although the most dominant ones include Amazon and Flipkart, which deal in general products and Myntra, which focuses on fashion products. Snapdeal, Shopclues, Meesho, Paytm mail, Limeroad, and Pepperfry are among other online marketplaces on the rise dealing with general, homeware, and fashion products in the country. Despite the availability of various marketplaces, there are still several challenges that the company may experience should it decide to operate in the Indian market. Inadequate digital literacy is a significant challenge limiting the e-commerce performance in the country (Kumar et al., 2018). Again, infrastructural development in the country is still poor, leading to connectivity problems in some parts of the country, affecting e-commerce (Kalia et al., 2021). The consumer perception may be another potential problem for the business since a significant Indian population still believe that e-commerce transactions may be exposing them to various threats (Kumar et al., 2018). Having a clear understanding of the potential challenges is important because it prepares the company for the possible challenges which may impede performance.

Lee’s Artificial Flowers Digital Marketing Strategy

Search engine marketing (SEM)

SEM is one of the marketing strategies that will help the company’s website be more visible to potential customers in the Indian market. It will be prudent to consider adopting SEM with Google since it is the most vibrant search engine in the country.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The search is an instrumental part of the online presence. Therefore, SEO will be a perfect part of the digital strategy because it will enable the company to effectively rank its target phrases and keywords so that the clients can easily reach it (Suleiman et al., 2020). Some of the best SEO companies in India which Lee’s Artificial Flowers should consider working with include Growth Hacker Digital, RankZ, and Seotonic Web Solution PVT Ltd.

Affiliate Marketing

Lee’s Artificial Flowers should develop a digital affiliate program to ensure effective marketing of its products in the digital space. The existing affiliate programs in India, such as the Flipkart affiliate, Amazon Associates, vComission, and BigRock Affiliate, are working excellently for the online companies. With a commission of between 5% to 30%, Lee’s Artificial Flower should succeed in establishing the program.

Social media

Online sales have proved to be better for the company in the past. Thus, the company needs to maintain a 24-hour social media presence. The company should have a team to continuously maintain social media posts to ensure the customers and potential clients are exposed to relevant and up-to-date content. The platforms on which the company must capitalize its resources include Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Pinterest. Social media will improve the company sales within the Indian market and increase traffic on the firm’s website.

Mobile marketing

The company should embrace mobile marketing by sending weekly emails and Short Message Services (SMS) to clients. The company should also develop its application for clients to download and improve their interaction with the firm.

Email marketing

Lee’s Artificial Flowers should consider maintaining regular customer communication to thoroughly understand their clients and build a strong relationship with them. The company should send at least one email per week to the customers to keep them engaged, close deals much faster, and identify new opportunities in the market through the feedback received from the clients (Suleiman et al., 2020). One mail per week is reasonably good since a higher frequency of mails may be considered spam by the customers.

Evaluation of digital marketing strategy results

To effectively evaluate the results of the digital marketing strategy, the company should focus on monitoring the changes in sales and the progress towards the strategic business goal. The traffic of the company’s website will also greatly inform the performance of the digital strategic strategy. Increase in sales and traffic on the website will reveal a positive impact of the digital marketing strategy while a decrease in the two factors may call for need to readjust the plan.

Conclusion

In summary, it is highly instrumental for the company to adopt a digital marketing strategy as it focuses on getting into the Indian market because of the reasonably significant online presence of customers in the country. However, there is a need to exploit other none digital options of sales and marketing in the country because of the negative mentality of online business among a certain fraction of the citizens. It will also be necessary for the company to reinvent its digital marketing strategies to optimize its performance once it begins operation in the Indian market.

References

Dutta, S., & Lanvin, B. (2019). The network readiness index 2019.Portulans Institute, Washington DC.

Kalia, P., Kaur, N., & Singh, T. (2021). E-Commerce in India. In P. Kalia, N. Kaur & T. Singh, Mobile commerce: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (1st ed.) (pp. 736-758). IGI Global.

Kumar, N., Anusara, J., Hossin, A., Sarkar, K., Chanthamith, B., Shah, S., & Russel, I. (2018). Challenges and opportunities of e-commerce in India: Pathway for sustainable e-commerce. International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management (IJEBM), 2(2), 13-21. Web.

List of industries in India: Top, small, large-scale type, growing industries. (2021). India Brand Equity Foundation.

National Account Statistics Releases 2020 | Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation | Government of India. (2021). Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. Web.

Suleiman, M. I., Muhammad, D., Bin, N., Yahaya, I. S., Adamu, M. A., & Sabo, A. U. (2020). Benefits and challenges: For marketing strategies on-line. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(3), 164-179.

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