Digital Marketing in India: How It Started and Where It is Going
When did you last see a house without a mobile phone, laptop or computer? Nowadays, there are more smartphones than family members in urban families. After Jio-fication in 2016, internet penetration in India has increased at unprecedented speed. As per an estimate, India currently has 56.45 crore internet subscribers. This has immensely contributed to the growth of the digital marketing sector in India. When you are surfing social media or searching something on Google, you are directly or indirectly contributing to somebody’s business. That is why, digital marketing has become a prominent source of growing business through the internet. If you want to build a career in this thriving field, you should think about taking up Digital marketing programs in Ahmedabad.
In India, the digital marketing field is rapidly growing with an annual growth rate of 25-30%. With 56.45 crore internet users, India has the largest Facebook population in the world. This has given a boost to the digital marketing sector. There was a time when door to door advertisement, word of mouth publicity, radio and tv ads were sources of advertising a product. Now it is largely replaced by social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and search engines like Google. Every website you visit, every blog you read, every social media page you subscribe to display one or the other kind of advertisement.
Digital marketing started in India in 2007 with the launch of e-commerce site Flipkart. It brought a paradigm shift in digital marketing in India. It boosted Indian people’s confidence in online shopping. Not only that, it opened gates for local Indian vendors to sell their products across India. Amazon arrived in India in 2012 and it proved to be a game changer. After that, there has been no looking back for the digital marketing industry in India. It got another boost in 2016 when Jio started offering dirt cheap mobile data packs with high speed internet.
As per a study, Indians spend 4 to 5 hours a day scrolling through social media, emails and browsers. The market of smartphones, laptops, computers and tablets is growing by leaps and bounds. This will only contribute to the growth of digital marketing which is basically a display of ideas through images, text, videos, infographics etc. It is all about influencing the audience and changing their consumer behaviour. Digital marketers with powerful strategies to promote brands can easily convert visitors into customers. That is why, it has become essential for small and big businesses to create a strong online brand image.
Since inclination towards digital marketing has increased, demand for experts with technical knowledge of digital marketing has also increased. Companies now hire content writers, SEO strategists, digital marketing managers to design their websites, blogs and marketing campaigns. As against other conventional sectors, freshers in the digital marketing sector are being paid almost 75% to 100% more salary. Professionals with deep insight into the digital marketing industry are huge in demand. People with unmatched excellence in web designing, web development, social media consultancy, content writing, graphic designing and artists are the backbone of this rapidly growing industry. They are earning individual recognition and big bucks. They collectively work towards making a creative idea into an impressive reality.
It is undeniable that as the industry grows, the demand for creative experts is also going to grow. This field is now one of the highest employment generating fields with currently more than 40,000 jobs available. The bright side is that the golden period of the field is yet to come. It is estimated that 70 to 80% of the nation’s population will turn towards online purchases in the coming years. Quick success of food delivery apps like Swiggy, Zomato, travel portals like make my trip, goibibo and e-commerce sites like Amazon, FlipKart is just the glimpse of future. Foreseeing the future, social media platforms like Facebook have also launched features like marketplace to boost online business. Popular chatting apps like WhatsApp are all set to make payment through the app feasible in near future. Buying and selling products online and receiving online payment was never easier before.
Realizing the immense potential of the digital marketing sector, small and big businesses are shifting their focus on digital marketing. They have a dedicated budget for promoting products online. Take examples of smartphone brands like One Plus, Samsung or iPhone. They allocate a huge budget for creating buzz for the product before their launch. Tomorrow, more and more companies will adopt this model of marketing.
As per an estimate, even today 55% of Indian population do not have access to the internet. Lessons have access to high speed internet. However, the penetration is about to grow in the coming years. It also implies that the digital marketing sector has not yet grown to its optimum potential. It still has a long way to go before reaching at the pinnacle of growth. There is no scope for disappointment if you are planning a career in this field.
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