Holding a PG Diploma in Management from IIM Kozhikode, Nitika boasts of two-decades-long career during which he has been associated with Hewlett-Packard, S.P Jain Centre of Management, Barclays, IIMT - Oxford Brookes University, Oracle, and SAP, before joining Dassault in 2023.
In a recent conversation with Women Entrepreneur, Nitika shared her insights on the current digital marketing scenario and various other aspects surrounding it. Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interview –
How can organizations incorporate digital marketing channels into their overall marketing strategy?
In today’s digital era, most of the customers of any business prefer online as a medium of choice to connect/communicate with the brand. As a result, every organization needs to have a strong online presence throughout the customer journey. Thus, having a digital marketing strategy is essential to ensure that there is a proper direction for the company to follow. This strategy is then incorporated as a mix of the overall marketing strategy, which helps the companies use the right targeting tools and incorporate a 360-degree marketing approach to engage their audience.
There are three parts to developing any marketing strategy – situation analysis to understand the current market dynamics, identifying the marketing goals, and formulating the action plan to accomplish those goals & and objectives. For all this to happen effectively, the company should first build a strong customer persona comprising of information such as who they are, what they do, their location, age group, preferences, and many others. Based on all these factors, the company should select a suitable digital marketing channel, create a campaign plan for owned, earned & and paid media, and then develop engaging content. Companies must keep in mind that along with a digital marketing plan, there must also be an impactful content marketing plan aligned with it.
Explain the role of market research in devising marketing strategies.
Market research provides true outside data points for marketers to plan their programs and go-to-market strategies. Marketers need to pay close attention to various kinds of information from market research data for formulating an effective marketing strategic plan. This data must include information on current consumer preferences, upcoming government policies, changing buying patterns, consumption patterns, competitor analysis, and many more. While launching a new product, these aspects play a key role in ensuring the success of the new product. Thus, it is safe to say that market research surely goes hand-in-hand with planning a marketing strategy, especially on an annual basis.
Throw some light on the role of data and analytics in making informed marketing decisions and optimizing performance.
In today’s context, data analytics has become a major tool for businesses to optimize their marketing strategies by the present customer preferences and market dynamics. With the advent of technology and the internet, all companies today have access to vast amounts of data which is enabling them to extract valuable insights. For instance, when there is a set of marketing KPIs to track our progress, it is important to track campaign data such as landing page visits, registrations, bounce rates, and many other factors. Also, data analytics helps companies to understand their customer preferences better and accordingly develop targeted and relevant marketing campaigns. Additionally, tracking and measuring audience trends on the brand’s website helps the company set realistic goals for both existing and new marketing campaigns.
Suggest a few ways in which marketing teams can leverage Generative AI to enhance content creation and customer engagement.
Generative AI has been one of the most discussed topics in boardrooms across the globe lately. According to a recent study by McKenzie, marketing has been the most relevant domain where AI can bring in the most benefits and value-add to the companies. Generative AI can be useful in two ways in marketing – to analyze complex data about customer behavior, and accordingly create more specifically targeted marketing campaigns. One of the most popular use cases of Generative AI in marketing in recent times is the creation of content such as blogs, articles, social media posts, email copies, and many others. However, it is important to keep in mind that while Generative AI can automate certain aspects of marketing, one must not forget that marketing is all about creativity and how creative our content is, which is only possible through the human touch.
Briefly explain how marketing can help an organization discover new opportunities.
Along with its primary purpose of attracting customers, marketing must also be able to assist businesses in identifying new business avenues. Market research enables companies to do a thorough analysis of new market dynamics and design both their offerings & and marketing campaigns according to the insights derived from the market analysis of the new area/geography.
