A STUDY ON INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MARKETING ON

CONUSMER PURCHASE DECISION

A Project Submitted to

University Of Mumbai completion of the degree of

Bachelor of Management Studies

Under the Faculty of Commerce.

By

Prateek Kumar Srivastav

Roll No.2557

T.Y.B.M.S SEMESTER-Ⅵ

Under the Guidance of

Neha Nikam

L.S. Raheja College of Arts And Commerce

Relief Road, Juhu, Santacruz(West)

Mumbai- 400054.

2020-2021

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 L.S Raheja College of Arts and Commerce, Relief Road, Juhu Santacruz(West)

Mumbai- 400054

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Prateek Kumar Srivastav, has worked and duly completed his project work for
the degree of Bachelors of Management Studies under the faculty of commerce under the subject of
Marketing and his project is entitled, “Influence of Digital Marketing On Consumer Purchase Decision”
under my supervision.

I further certify that entire work is done by the learner under my guidance and that no part of it has been
submitted previously for any Degree/Diploma of any University.

It is his own work and facts reported by his personal findings and investigations.

Name and Signature of guiding teacher.

Date of Submission.

09-04-2021

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 DECLARATION

I the undersigned Mr. Prateek Kumar Srivastav hereby declare that the work embodied in this project
work titled “Influence of Digital Marketing On Consumer Purchase Decision” forms my own
contribution to the research work carried out under the guidance of Neha Nikam is a result of my own
research work and has not been previously submitted to any other University for any Degree/Diploma to this
or any other University.

Wherever reference has been made to previous work of others, it has been clearly indicated as such and
included in the bibliography.

I, hereby further declare that all the information of this document has been obtained and presented in
accordance with academic rule and ethical conducts.

Name of the student

Prateek Kumar Srivastav

Certified by

Name and Signature of the guiding teacher.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in the
completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank University of Mumbai for giving me chances to do this project.

I would like to thank my Principal Dr. Debajit Sarkar for providing the necessary facilities for the
completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator Suvarna Raikar for her moral support and guidance.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide Neha Nikam whose guidance and
care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books and magazines
related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly help me in the completion of
the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported me throughout my project.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter-1: Introduction Pg.No:7-11

1.1: Introduction to Digital Marketing………………………………………………….

1.2: History and Evolution of Digital Marketing……………………………………….

1.3: Summary……………………………………………………………………………

Chapter-2: Theory and Literature Pg.No:12-47

2.1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………

2.2: Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing …………………………………........

2.3: Digital Marketing Channels………………………………………………………..

2.4: Digital Marketing and Consumer Behaviour………………………………………

2.5: Consumer Purchase Decision………………………………………………………

2.6: Consumers In Digital Era……………………………………………….................

Chapter-3: Research Methodology Pg.No:48-49

3.1: Research……………………………………………………………………………

3.2: Literature Review Methodology…………………………………………………

3.3: Objective of the study…………………………………………………………….

3.4: Scope………………………………………………………………………………

3.5: Limitation………………………………………………………………………….

3.6: Sample Size……………………………………………………………………….

3.7: Techniques used to collect data……………………………………………………

Chapter-4: Data Analysis And Interpretation………………………………………… Pg.No:50-59

Chapter-5: Zomato’s Digital Marketing Strategies…………………………………… Pg.No:60-79

5.1: About Zomato……………………………………………………………………

5.2: Digital Marketing Strategy……………………………………………………….

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5.3: SWOT Analysis of Zomato……………………………………………………….

5.4: Competitive Analysis………………………………………………………………

Chapter-6: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………. Pg.No:80-81

Chapter-7: Bibliography/ Webliography………………………………………………. Pg.No:82

Chapter-8: Appendix……………………………………………………………………. Pg.No:83-84

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Today’s era of Internet has opened a gate of vast variety of opportunities for businesses. Using social
networks, one cannot only share a private picture of one’s birthday but also earn customers for one’s
business and reach them conveniently. The speed and ease with which the digital media transmits
information and help boost a business is amazing.

Digital Marketing is the term used for the targeted, measurable, and interactive marketing of products or
services using digital technologies to reach the viewers, turn them into customers, and retain them.

So, how is digital marketing different from traditional marketing?

The traditional manner of marketing involved businesses to advertise their products or services on print
media, radio and television commercials, business cards, bill boards, and in many other similar ways where
Internet or social media websites were not employed for advertising.

Digital marketing achieves targets of marketing a business through different online channels like social
media, website and other online platforms.

It is hard to imagine a world without the internet now.

Billions of people are connected worldwide via the internet. From searching of information to shopping of
groceries or banking, the internet has become an essential part of our day to day lives.

In the age of Covid-19 when thousands of people are going online for entertainment and more, it has caused
total internet hits to surge at least 60% during the outbreak period.

Human interactions have changed significantly due to engagement on social networks; the rapid growth of
web platforms has facilitated behavioural changes related to activities, habitats and interactions. Consumer
behaviour changes require organisations to re-strategies their marketing activities in the digital space thus
organisations must understand how digital and social media marketing impacts consumers’ purchasing
decision processes. Together with these processes, organisations must also be aware of how consumers’
attitudes, values, and beliefs impact their digital marketing.

With the rise of social media, marketing departments now have various options available to them for
branding their products, such as advertising, publishing of brand content, participation in social networks
and developing engagement opportunities for consumers to participate with the brand.

Due to the recent trends in technological advancements, marketing channels and consumer behaviours have
seen a shift, which has impacted the consumer decision making process when it comes to product purchases.
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Consumer’s engagement with brands has changed, thus organisations need to adapt their marketing
strategies to reach them.

Limited research has been done on digital marketing from an organisation’s perspective, as studies have
focused more on the consumer. Digital marketing media, which is regarded as a new marketing tool, has
much to offer academics in the field of research; Digital technology and consumers are the current trending
topic and identified it as a top tier research area. Research has been conducted, both from a consumer and an
organisational perspective, on digital marketing and consumer decision making. With the emergence of the
online platform, organisations need to adapt to reach out to consumers and remain competitive in the
business environment.

There were 624.0 million internet users in India in January 2021.

The number of internet users in India increases by 47 million (+8.2%) between 2020 and 2021.

Internet penetration in India stood at 45.0% in January 2021.

Email and websites are available 24 * 7, One can do video conferencing and move ahead with his business
practices sitting anywhere so this is the ease which we have got after the internet came into the existence. On
one click we can pay, book tickets, communicate, learn, search etc. The demand have still not met efficiently
and it’s still represents a barrier to business and societal development. Even the government of India is
working towards the laying down of the infrastructure so that there is no lack of development. Providing the
net to the rural areas is the main aim for the government because it also creates employment.

There was a time when consumers were resistant to trying new products and services. Owing to digital
marketing and the vast information that it extends to the masses; now people are welcoming new products
and services.

This experimental behaviour has paved the way for the success of many start-ups including Uber, Ola,
Zomato, OLX, etc.

One of the biggest Changes in Consumer Behaviour Due to Digital Marketing is that modern consumers
expect a more consistent and personalized experience. They are not loyal customers anymore.

Now along with quality products, post-purchase experience has become equally important to customers. This
change in behaviour has come in with companies who have been actively and digitally marketing their
unique consumer offerings in order to suit modern tastes and attract a modern clientele.

In a world where new technologies pop up all the time, the companies that put consumer needs first are in a
position to win. The trends of digital marketing will keep on changing and improving. This also results in
Digital Marketing to Affects Consumer Behaviour and their decisions of purchase.

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1.2 HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing is brimming with ever growing opportunities, and people don’t want to miss those
opportunities as they believe that this will boost their business growth. These days due to the advent of
the internet and smartphones, more than 170 million people are using social media regularly and
thus, digital marketing experts are trying to educate themselves with the core principles of digital
marketing so that they can get attention from more customers.
These days everyone is aware of the benefits of digital marketing. But do you have an adequate idea
about its history and origin? If not, then keep reading as we are going to discuss the history and evolution
of digital marketing.
The term Digital Marketing was first invented and used in the year 1990. At that time Web 1.0 platform
was developed which helped users to find out their necessary information. But, it did not allow them to
share this information over the web. This time the marketers and the experts are unaware the uses of
digital marketing. They were not sure whether their strategies would work or not because at that time the
internet had not yet seen widespread deployment.
Then, in 1993, the first clickable web-ad banner went live. At that time, HotWired purchased a few
banner ads for their promotion and advertising. This marked the beginning of the digital marketing era.

In 1994, some new technologies (First e-commerce transaction was done over the internet) were
invented and entered the market with a new mission. Yahoo was also launched in this year. Within one
year of its launching, it received 1 million hits. Yahoo has changed the definition of digital marketing,
and the companies have tried to optimize their websites so that they can get a better rank in search
engine.
In 1996, some more search engines and tools like HotBot, LookSmart, and Alexa were launched.
The first social media site Sixdegrees.com was launched in the year 1997.
The year 1998 was the golden year for digital marketing as Google was launched in this year. Moreover,
in this year also Microsoft launched MSN, and Yahoo launched Yahoo web search.
Two years later (in 2000), the internet bubble burst and all the smaller search engines were wiped out.
This creates more space and opportunities for the giants in the business.
Then, the professional social media network LinkedIn was launched in 2002.
The year 2003 was witnessed the release of WordPress and the launch of MySpace.
In 2004, Gmail was launched. The same year Facebook has gone live, and Google went public.
Next, YouTube was launched in the year 2005.
The year 2006 was another remarkable year because search engine traffic was reported to have grown to
about 6.4 billion in a single month. This year Microsoft launched an MS live search and simultaneously,

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Twitter was also launched. At the same time, Amazon e-commerce sales have crossed near about $10
billion.
In 2007, Tumblr was launched. Moreover, web streaming service Hulu was also founded in this year.
Mobile giant Apple launched its iPhone in the same year.
In the year 2008, Spotify was launched and Groupon went live.
In 2009, Google launched Instant for real-time search engine results. Google introduced products like
AdWords, which are 3 line ads that show up at the top or to the right of search engine results, and
AdSense which is a cost-per-click advertising scheme. In time, Google started to target ads based on the
interests of the customers and thus became a key player in the world of digital business.
In 2010, Whatsapp was launched along with Google Buzz.
In 2011, Google+ and Google Panda were launched. People have already started to spend time on these
mediums, and these mediums have surpassed the television viewership too.
2012 is the year of social media. The companies have increased their social media budget up to 64%, and
Google knowledge graph has also launched. Myspace and Facebook are the popular social media sites
among the people. The companies have realized that these sites will help them in spreading up their
businesses over the internet and thus, they were desperately trying to promote their products and brands
on various social media channels. They have also tried to leverage social media to their businesses.
In 2013, Yahoo acquired Tumblr.
In 2014, the number of mobile and smartphone users had surpassed the number of PC users. Facebook
messenger app along with tailored ads on LinkedIn and iWatch was launched. During this year,
Facebook acquired Whatsapp.
In 2015, Snapchat has launched its Discover feature. In this year several new technologies like analytics,
wearable tech, and content marketing have also invented. Facebook has also launched its “Instant
articles” in this year.
The cookie was another significant milestone in the field of digital marketing. The first cookie was
designed to record user habits. The use of the cookie has changed over the years, and cookies today are
coded to offer marketers a variety of ways to collect literal user data.
Popular social networking sites in 2017 are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
Facebook has a user base of 2.01 billion (as per the record of June 30, 2017).

So, it can be concluded that the digital marketing is growing exponentially and every day it brings a
chunk of opportunities to the users as well as the company owners. If you want to establish your
presence firmly in this digitalized era, then you need to use all these opportunities meticulously.

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1.3 SUMMARY

The advancement of technology, the rise of the internet and the development of Web 2.0 has increased the
interactions between, and the connectivity of, individuals. Due to these developments there has been a shift
in consumer behaviour, thus organisations have had to change the way they interact with consumers. In turn,
this has led to a shift in digital marketing strategies. Due to these changes there has been an impact on the
consumer decision making process. The aim of the research study is to gain an understanding of the impact
of digital marketing on the consumer decision making process. The results of this study can be used by
organisations in the industry to understand the impact of digital marketing on their businesses, and help them
to align their marketing strategies to reach out to consumers and create the pull through strategy for products
in their organisations.

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 CHAPTER 2: THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The literature review explained in detail the impact of digital marketing on consumer decision making.
The first section covered the aspect of digital marketing with regard to its marketing channels and
thereafter the impact on consumers. The next section is a description of the consumer behaviour model,
followed by the description of the consumer decision making process.

1.2 TRADITIONAL MARKETING VS DIGITAL MARKETING

TRADITIONAL MARKETING- Traditional marketing is old way of marketing Technique. It

refers kind of promotion, advertisement, includes flyers, billboards, TV ads, radio ads, print
advertisements, newspaper ads, etc. in which companies are used in the early period to market their
product.
The four phases of Traditional Marketing are Interest, Awareness, Desire, and Decision.

DIGITAL MARKETING- Digital Marketing is modern way of marketing Technique.In which we

promoting, selling products and services by online marketing. It also refers to the Marketing of any
kind of business through digital media and devices such as Google, Facebook, Instagram,
youtube..etc.
The four phases of Digital Marketing are Planning, Conversation, Content, and Sequels.

The main difference between digital and traditional marketing is the medium through which an
audience encounters a marketing message. While traditional marketing uses traditional media like
magazines and newspapers, digital marketing uses digital media, such as social media or websites.

TRADITIONAL MARKETING DIGITAL MARKETING

The promotion of product and services through TV, The promotion of product and sevices through
Telephone, Banner, Broadcast, Door to Door, digital media or electronic mediume like seo,
Sponsorship etc. sem, ppc etc..
Traditional Marketing is not cost effective. Digital Marketing is more cost effective.
It is not so good for Brand building. It is efficient and fast for brand building.
Traditional Marketing is difficult to Measure. Digital Marketing is easy to Measure with the
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 help of analytics tools.
Traditional Marketing includes.. Digital Marketing includes..
• T.V.advertisement • Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Radio. • Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
• Banner Ads.. • Web design.
• Broadcast. • Content marketing.
• Sponsorship. • Social media marketing.
• print Ads.. • Email marketing.

Traditional marketing: pros and cons- With the rise of social media, traditional marketing is often
undervalued by marketers. However, traditional marketing still very much has a place in a consumer’s
day to day life. If you have the budget to share your campaigns in magazines and prime time TV, your
money could be well spent.

Traditional marketing channels include:

• Outdoor (Billboards, bus/taxi wraps, posters etc)

• Broadcasting (TV, Radio etc)

• Print (Magazines, newspapers etc)

• Direct Mail (catalogues etc)

• Telemarketing (Phone, text message)

• Window display and signs

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Pros:

Impactful and easy to understand- A visually bold billboard or a striking TV commercial is a normal
part of most people’s day to day lives. They’re easy to digest and often entertaining.

Printed marketing materials are more permanent- If you have an advert in an issue of The New York
Times it will be there until the magazine is recycled. Which is great if the consumer is an avid collector.

More memorable- Seeing something in real life rather than on your phone is more likely to be
remembered. The anticipation of the new Super-Bowl ads or a beautiful and impressive window display
is more likely to stay in your mind than an instagram ad you’ll probably scroll past in seconds.

Cons:

More difficult to measure campaigns- There are ways to measure traditional marketing campaigns
such as brand trackers but they are nowhere near as in depth or intelligent as the tools available for
digital marketing.

Often expensive- If you’re a brand in its infancy chances are you don’t have the funds for a 4 page
spread in Vogue. Many forms of traditional marketing will set you back a considerable amount.

No direct interaction with the consumer- Unlike social media marketing, you’re more or less in the
dark about your audience’s reaction to your marketing efforts.

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Digital marketing: pros and cons- However impactful traditional marketing is, we can’t forget that we
are well and truly living in the internet age.

According to ClickZ, “Internet users now make up 57% of the global population. On average, people
spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day. By 2021, a projected 73% of all ecommerce sales will
come from mobile.”

That’s a mind-bogglingly huge amount of time and opportunity to do some clever digital marketing.

Pros:

More options for engagement- Through channels such as social media you can physically see what
your audience think of your brand and marketing efforts. If your marketing has been shared, liked and
had plenty of positive comments, you know you’re doing something right.

Easy to measure your campaigns- On the flipside to traditional marketing, the specifics of digital
marketing tracking is exceptionally in depth. This makes your learnings extremely clear for your next
round of marketing efforts.

Makes clever targeting possible- If you have the tools to specifically target a 29 year old female writer
who loves Lizzo and drinking Guinness then surely you can also create perfectly tailored content.
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Cons:

Digital ads can be deemed as annoying- Think about the moment you’re scrolling through your
Facebook homepage and all you want to do is see what your old school friends are up to these days.
Then you get the dreaded sponsored ad for something related to an embarrassing ailment you googled
the night before. It’s sure to make you actively dislike the very brand doing the clever targeting.

Less permanent- Digital marketing efforts like Google ads, banners, promo emails or social media ads
can have a fleeting, temporary character. They’re intangible and can easily be ignored. If your target
audience keeps scrolling or clicks to the next page your ad will be gone from their screen.

Constantly evolves- To get the most out of your digital marketing efforts there is a lot to learn. Each
channel usually requires its own specialist, from search engine marketing to social media, each channel
requires a pro to get the best bang for your buck. However, a grass-roots social media marketing strategy
is a great place to start. Have a look at our digital marketing strategy guide for some inspiration.

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1.3 DIGITAL MARKETING CHANNELS

Simply put, marketing is the creation of demand for a product/service, and the demand created should
transform into sales and thereafter revenue. Digital marketing can be defined as the use of digital
channels to market a brand. To build on these definitions, in digital marketing demand creation is driven
by the internet, which is an interactive medium that allows for the exchange of currency and value.

1. E-MAIL MARKETING- Email marketing is a practical, low-cost marketing tool that combines
convenience with technology. Email marketing is when you send a commercial email message to
your ‘email subscribers’ — contacts who have signed up to your email list and given express
permission to receive email communications from you. Email marketing is used to inform, drive
sales, and build a community around your brand (e.g. with a newsletter).
Different types of marketing e-mails:
1. Newsletter Emails- Newsletters are very popular and are usually sent out on a consistent
schedule. They often contain the company’s blog content, upcoming events, and any updates
about your company that would be of interest to your subscriber.
2. Lead Nurturing Emails- These emails involve guiding your leads through a sales funnel and
converting them into customers. The general idea of lead nurturing is that your subscribers are
not yet ready to buy from you. The customer/company trust first needs to be built. This is
achievable through the helpful content you’ll be sending out in these emails.
Since lead nurturing is not a once-off email but, rather, a series of emails approach, you can play
around with the different types of emails you can send that help to build that relationship.

3. Promotional Emails- Promotional emails are quite common in email marketing, which is why it’s
important to add more value to them instead of sending the old “15% off” type of email. One way
to achieve this is by highlighting the product or service on offer and then adding some valuable
content about what you’re selling.
4. Milestones Emails- There are several stages that a customer goes through while interacting with
any brand. As they go through the customer cycle (new subscriber to a customer), it’s important
to highlight milestones such as anniversaries and birthdays. Your milestone emails are there to
celebrate these moments.
5. Survey Emails- You’ll only get better at what you’re doing if you ask for feedback. The survey
email allows you insight into what you’re getting right and what you can improve on. It can also
help you understand your customers better and what they’re interested in receiving from your
brand.

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 6. Welcome Emails- Another type of transactional email, the welcome email is the perfect option
for thanking and providing more information to people who have signed up for your newsletter,
product trial, or other offer.
7. Transactional Emails- Transactional emails are one-to-one emails that are triggered by specific
actions, such as completing a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION- SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple
terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. The
better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and
attract prospective and existing customers to your business.
Search engines such as Google and Bing use bots to crawl pages on the web, going from site to site,
collecting information about those pages and putting them in an index. Next, algorithms analyze
pages in the index, taking into account hundreds of ranking factors or signals, to determine the order
pages should appear in the search results for a given query.
Search ranking factors can be considered proxies for aspects of the user experience. Our periodic
table of SEO factors organizes the factors into six main categories and weights each based on its
overall importance to SEO. For example, content quality and keyword research are key factors of
content optimization, and crawlability and mobile-friendliness are important site architecture factors.
The search algorithms are designed to surface relevant, authoritative pages and provide users with an
efficient search experience. Optimizing your site and content with these factors in mind can help
your pages rank higher in the search results.

Unlike paid search ads you can’t pay search engines to get higher organic search rankings.

TYPES OF SEO- There are mainly 7 types of SEO:

1. White Hat SEO- White-hat SEO refers to all the optimization techniques which abides by
Google’s search engine guidelines. Although one needs to be patient to see results, they are
sustainable and create genuine goodwill around your brand. Besides, there is no risk of your site
getting banned or bumped down in the search results if there is a new algorithm change. All in
all, white-hat SEO is low-risk and high rewards if you do it right. Examples of white-hat SEO
techniques include authoring useful and relevant content after doing extensive keyword research,
earning links from high-authority sites based on the merit of your on-page content, etc.

2. Black-Hat SEO- Black-hat SEO is the exact opposite of white-hat SEO in that it finds and takes
advantage of any loopholes or weaknesses in Google’s search algorithm to rank better on its
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 SERPs. It does not stick to the search engine’s list of SEO dos and don’ts and resorts to spammy
or paid link building methods, keyword stuffing, showing different content to bots/crawlers and
humans (called cloaking), etc. to get ahead. It goes without saying that black-hat SEO can get
your site blacklisted or its rankings to drop so it is best avoided. Besides, these high-risk SEO
techniques give you only short-lived results.

3. Grey-Hat SEO- Grey-hat SEO tactics are often used by SEO agencies due to pressure to see
quick results from a client and fall in between white and black hat SEO in terms of approach.
Although Google’s webmaster guidelines do not explicitly say that such methods are prohibited,
they are still frowned upon and can lead to undesired search outcomes. Examples of this type of
SEO include clickbait content that is sensational yet mediocre and of no value to the user,
excessive and suspicious link exchange between sites, paid reviews, etc. Again, it is best to stay
far away from such underhanded SEO tactics.

4. Negative SEO- Among the different types of SEO, this is by far the most detestable and
unethical. Negative SEO is done with the intention of making your competitor’s search rankings
suffer so that you yourself can take their place or benefit from it. Negative SEO methods include
hacking into someone’s site and building a suspiciously high number of low-quality links to it,
posting negative feedback or reviews about them in various online forums, etc. Needless to say,
negative SEO can even lead to legal ordeals if the one practicing it is caught. Check out this
video to know more about Negative SEO.

5. On-page SEO- All the measures you take to make your web page rank higher on search engines
falls under this umbrella. On-Page SEO includes authoring high-quality content with the sole
purpose of it proving helpful to your website visitors, adding meta tags to help Google bots better
understand your content, using HTML tags to highlight headings and other content elements and
ensuring there are no broken links or duplicate content/pages. Cleaning up the URL structure and
having an ordered naming system for various similar pages that fall under one category, choosing
images that are not too big while writing descriptive file names, etc. are just a few other on-page
SEO techniques. If you want to know more about it, you can read our detailed post on what is on-
page SEO.

6. Off-Page SEO- Off-page SEO refers to everything you do outside of your site to fare better and
feature higher up in Google’s SERPs. It includes working on external ranking factors like
building links from trusted sites in the same domain as you, successful social media marketing,

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 having customers give you a positive review on various online forums, etc. If you want to know
more about it, you can read our detailed post on off-page SEO techniques.

7. Technical SEO- Technical SEO is largely to help Google bots successfully crawl, interpret and
index all the pages of your site for future use. Creating a thorough XML sitemap, making your
site mobile-friendly, adding structured data to help web crawlers sort and categorize your pages
based on the type of content they carry are just some of the techniques used. Do refer to our deep-
dive post on what is technical SEO for more insights.

8. Local SEO- While many businesses only operate online, there are still thousands of companies
that have a physical location where they need customers. If customers aren't coming through your
door, you're not making money. So it's important to take that into account when doing your SEO.

There are a number of steps that are important for local SEO that you won't need to think about in
a more traditional SEO campaign. For example, making sure that you've claimed your Google
My Business page, which ensures that your name, address, phone number, opening hours,
reviews, and other useful information is prominently displayed in search results and on Google
Maps.
You'll also need to make sure that your contact information is prominently displayed and
highlighted with schema markup so search engines know where it is. The more effectively you
present this information to search engines, the easier it will be for them to show that information
to potential customers. Other things like embedding a Google Maps marker in your homepage,
adding a region or city to your page titles, descriptions, and keywords, and displaying awards and
trust symbols can also make a big difference not only in being found by local leads but also in
getting turning those leads into customers.
Effective local ranking isn’t easy, so local SEO should be a high priority for local businesses.
9. YouTube SEO- Much like app store optimization, YouTube SEO is a niche type of optimization,
but it can make a big difference in how much traffic you're getting. Many people don't realize that
YouTube is one of the world's most popular search engines, and that ranking for a popular search
there is absolute gold.
And if you can also rank one of your videos for a standard Google search, you can get an even
bigger boost. So how do you optimize content for YouTube?
In much the same way as you do for other search engines.
First of all, your video needs to be great. It needs to answer questions, solve problems, or be more
entertaining than what's out there. If your video is great, it will keep people on the page longer,
result in more comments and subscribes, and get more likes and favorites. All of these are
ranking signals in YouTube.
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10. App-store Optimization- Google and Bing aren't the only search engines out there. App stores—
especially Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store—get a phenomenal amount of searches
every day. And if you have an app, you need to do what you can to make sure that those stores
are showing it to people who might be looking for it.
App store optimization is very similar to on-page SEO. While it's not always clear which factors
are used in app store search algorithms, there are fewer factors that you can influence, so you
need to focus on those.
Your app title and icon are the first two things that anyone will see, so they have to be descriptive
and attractive. The description needs to be accurate and include the keywords your users are
likely to be searching for as well as related ones. The meta tags in your description should
include those keywords as well.
You could argue that there's a case for off-page-style app store optimization as well. If you're
able to build a lot of links to your app, it's possible that the app store will rank it higher in
searches. This is likely to be part of a wider SEO effort for your entire business, but it's possible
that this could be undertaken specifically for an app.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING- Social media marketing (SMM)first started with publishing. Businesses
were sharing their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. But
social media has matured far beyond being just a place to broadcast content.

Nowadays, businesses use social media in a myriad of different ways. For example, a business that is
concerned about what people are saying about its brand would monitor social media conversations and
response to relevant mentions (social media listening and engagement). A business that wants to understand
how it’s performing on social media would analyze its reach, engagement, and sales on social media with an
analytics tool (social media analytics). A business that wants to reach a specific set of audience at scale
would run highly-targeted social media ads (social media advertising).

As a whole, these are often also known as social media management.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA-

1. Social Networking Sites- Most of us are familiar with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
and LinkedIn. These platforms help us connect with friends, family, and brands. They encourage
knowledge-sharing and are all about personal, human-to-human interaction.

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A social networking site is a Jill of all trades. Users can share thoughts, curate content, upload photos and
videos, form groups based on interests, and participate in lively discussions. They’re built around the user
and everything that’s important to them and their social circles.

These platforms cultivate large, diverse communities. Advertisers can rent permission to interact with people
based on specific targeting metrics. For instance, an advertiser who wants to reach a predominantly young
crowd could advertise on an app like Snapchat while those who want to reach a professional user may find
LinkedIn more appropriate. Because these platforms are incredibly data rich, we can reach a lot of the right
people without blowing the entire ad budget.

Engage with followers, find like-minded customers or potential business partners through hashtags and
groups, and build connections.

Social networking platforms are a great place for digging up customer research and using social listening
tools to track conversations around specific terms. This can help us understand (and serve) our audience
better.

2. Video Hosting Sites- YouTube revolutionized the way we watch, create, and think about video. It
transformed the medium into something accessible. Recent improvements in tech and connectivity
helped video go the rest of the way.
Video hosting platforms like YouTube and Vimeo help creators put together content and share it to a
platform optimized for streaming. This accessibility makes video a super important medium.
YouTube’s comment section offers plenty of opportunities to get to know the people watching your
content.

3. Community Blog- Sometimes an image or post isn’t complex enough for the message you’ve got to
share, but not everyone on the internet wants to run a blog from a self-hosted website. That’s a lot of
work.
Shared blogging platforms like Medium and Tumblr give people a space to express their thoughts
and help connect them with readers.
Starting a blog can be daunting. Use platforms like Medium and Tumblr to find your voice, get some
readers, and get clear about your vision. If you do have a blog, you can use community blogging
platforms to share, re-purpose, and re-post older content and expose it to a new audience.

4. Discussion Sites- While most of us have seen many a heated discussion happen on Facebook,
discussion sites like Reddit and Quora are specifically designed to spark a conversation. Anyone is
free to ask a question or make a statement, and this attracts people with shared interests and
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 curiosities. However, unlike Facebook and Instagram, users tend to give out less identifiable
information.
Reddit is made up of different sub-communities. With a bit of research, you can find and engage
people in your field, discover what they’re asking, and use this as a starting point for your content
marketing strategy.
Quora users ask all sorts of questions. Answering them can help establish you as a thought leader and
drive more traffic to your site.

5. Image sharing sites- Visual content like images, infographics, and illustrations capture our hearts,
eyes and imaginations. Social media platforms like Instagram, Imgur, and Snapchat are designed to
amplify the power of image sharing.
Users create, curate, and share unique images that spark conversation and speak for themselves. A
picture can be worth a thousand words to your business.
Image sharing sites are a gift for photogenic businesses. You can run campaigns encouraging users to
snap and share a pic with your product and a unique hashtag.
By creating, curating, and sharing your own images, you can inspire and engage users, bonding over
a shared interest.

6. Social Review Sites- Review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor display reviews from community
members for all sorts of locations and experiences. This eliminates a lot of the guesswork that goes
into booking a restaurant or hotel. Not sure it’s the right thing for you? Check out the reviews and
you’ll know. Businesses can really benefit from studying their reviews, the good and the bad.
Reviews tell us about the customer experience from their own point of view. Use this to identify
what’s working and discover areas with room for improvement.
Reviews are an opportunity to engage with reviewers and solve any potential challenges before they
become a huge deal.

Why is Social Media important today?

Today's consumers rush to browse social media when they want to know more about an organization
or product because that’s where they’ll find others talking about that business.
Take a look at these stats from Oberlo to have a feel of why having a sound social media marketing
strategy is imperative to business success in 2020 and beyond:
• 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are
likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family.
• 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active social
media users.

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• Facebook alone has over 2.7 billion monthly active users.
Social media is an ideal place for brands looking to gain insights into their audience’s
interests and tastes. The way experts see it, smart companies will continue to invest in social
media to achieve sustainable business growth. Whether you want to launch a new product or
a business, social media is the perfect launchpad to create a buzz around your initiatives. As
we move further into the future of e-commerce, it’s clear that social media marketing isn’t
just an option.

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING-

1. Increased Brand Awareness- Social media is one of the most cost-efficient digital
marketing methods used to syndicate content and increase your business' visibility.
Implementing a social media strategy will greatly increase your brand recognition since
you will be engaging with a broad audience of consumers. Simply having people interact
with your content will increase brand awareness and begin building your reputation as a
business. Each post that is shared will be introduced to a new network of individuals,
which can lead them to becoming potential customers, and the more people who know
about your business, the better. By investing only a few hours per week, over 91% of
marketers claimed that their social marketing efforts greatly increased their exposure.
There is no doubt that by simply having a social media page your brand will benefit, and
with regular use it can generate a wide audience for your business.

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2. Improved Search Engine Ranking- Although posting on social media might get your
business some site traffic, more effort than that is required to see significant
success. Search Engine Optimization is very important for achieving higher page rankings
and obtaining traffic to your business website. While social media doesn't directly
increase search engine rankings, Social Media Examiner states that more than 58% of
marketers who have been using social media for one year or longer still see improved
search engine rankings. Being able to rank in the top positions for your keywords will
revolutionize your traffic and continue to generate positive results for your business. Let's
face it, everyone uses Google to find information, and they likely won't navigate past page
1 because their answer normally is on the first page of results. If your business website
isn't ranked towards the top of search engine results, you should probably adjust your
search engine optimization strategy. To give yourself the best chance of ranking better
through social media, create high quality content that integrates your targeted keywords.
Content such as blogs, infographics, case studies, business information, and employee
photos will make your business's social media profile intriguing and credible. Once you
begin posting quality content, you'll begin to build a social media community where
followers will "like" and "share" your content. Most importantly, it gives you more
opportunities to get in front of industry influencers who will write about your business
and provide links back - which will help to directly increase search engine rankings.

3. Build a Community- Another benefit of social media is that businesses can easily build
communities around their brands. Loyal customers can quickly and easily communicate
with the world and the organization about their product. The company is in turn able to
respond as soon as possible with the necessary information sought.

4. Much Cheaper- Social media marketing is way cheaper than traditional methods of
marketing. Most times it is free. With no costs involved, a business can easily inform their
customers and the world at large of an offer happening at their locations via a simple post
on the social media platforms.
Rather than take out a full-page advertisement on a newspaper or pay for expensive prime
time on TV, social media has seen the reduction of previously high marketing costs.

5. Enhance Customer Loyalty- With social media businesses are able to speak directly to
their customers. When a business is able to engage with its customers to ensure the best
service and satisfaction with their services or products, they are able to improve loyalty of
their customers.

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 With traditional media, it is quite difficult to have a one on one conversation with your
customers as social media enables.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING- Search engine marketing is the practice of marketing a business using
paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (or SERPs). Advertisers bid on keywords that
users of services such as Google and Bing might enter when looking for certain products or services, which
gives the advertiser the opportunity for their ads to appear alongside results for those search queries.

These ads, often known by the term pay-per-click ads, come in a variety of formats. Some are small, text-
based ads, whereas others, such as product listing ads (PLAs, also known as Shopping ads) are more visual,
product-based advertisements that allow consumers to see important information at-a-glance, such as price
and reviews.

Search engine marketing’s greatest strength is that it offers advertisers the opportunity to put their ads in
front of motivated customers who are ready to buy at the precise moment they’re ready to make a purchase.
No other advertising medium can do this, which is why search engine marketing is so effective and such an
amazingly powerful way to grow your business.

The foundation of SEM - Keywords are the foundation of search engine marketing. As users enter keywords
(as part of search queries) into search engines to find what they’re looking for, it should come as little
surprise that keywords form the basis of search engine marketing as an advertising strategy.

SEM keyword Research- Before you can choose which keywords to use in your search engine marketing
campaigns, you need to conduct comprehensive research as part of your keyword management strategy.

First, you need to identify keywords that are relevant to your business and that prospective customers are
likely to use when searching for your products and services.

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Keyword research is the process of uncovering the keywords your target market uses when conducting
searches. Keyword research is an important first step in audience analysis for planning both search engine
optimization initiatives for content marketing and paid search (pay-per-click) programs. Skilled keyword
researchers focus on determining keyword popularity, keyword difficulty, and search intent.

HOW SEM WORKS?

Search engines use complicated algorithms to ensure the most relevant results are returned for each
search, including location and other available information.
In paid search advertising, sponsored ads appear at the top of and on the side of search engine results
pages to gain more visibility and prominence than the organic results.
Let’s say that you are a customer looking for a product or service online. You go to a search engine
and type in your search terms (also known as keywords).
In your search results page, you will come across various company ads whose keywords match the
keywords in your search.
These ads appear in prominent locations on the page – along with the other search listings that match
your keywords. The paid listings are highly relevant to your specific search, making it likely that you
will click on them.
Now let’s take a look at how SEM campaigns work from the marketer’s perspective.
SEM networks are self-serve operations. Once a marketer selects a network, he or she can get a
campaign up within a short period of time.
When setting up a campaign within an SEM network, the marketer is prompted to:
• Conduct keyword research and select a set of keywords related to their website or product;
• Select a geographic location for the ad to be displayed within;
• Create a text-based ad to display in the search results;
• Bid on a price they are willing to pay for each click on their ad.
Text-only ads are easy to produce. Marketers enter a headline, text for the body of the ad, a call-to-
action and a URL for the hyperlink.

Search engine marketing is considered by many to be the most efficient way to spend marketing
dollars.

SEARCH ADS NETWORK- The two primary search networks that SEM professionals target are
Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) and the Bing Ads.
Google AdWords is actually two networks: Google Search Network and Google Display Network.
The first network consists exclusively of search-related websites owned by Google, while the second
includes properties such as YouTube, Blogger and Gmail. The Bing Ads allows customers to buy ads
on both the Yahoo’s network of websites and Bing’s network.

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 While Google Ads is a much larger network (around 2x the size), the pricing is often lower on Bing
Ads. Marketers may be able to get a better rank for a competitive keyword phrase for less than they
get on Google. And some report that the click through rates are higher as well.

HOW A/B TESTING CAN COMPLEMENT SEM-

Since you are already making an investment in search engine marketing to bring traffic to your
website, it is a worthwhile effort to optimize that traffic for conversions and increase the efficiency of
your spending.
A/B testing your landing pages is an easy way to maximize your spend, either by optimizing
for average order value or revenue per page.
Optimizing your landing page can increase your Quality Score with search engine marketing
networks, thus reducing your average CPC.
Optimizely – and other platforms like it – can help you easily structure and implement your A/B
tests, offering real-time results to give you confidence in your business decisions. Optimizely has
integrations with popular ad networks such as Google Adwords and Facebook that make setting up
ad-related experiments quick and easy.

WHY SEM IS IMPORTANT- With an increasing number of consumers researching and shopping
for products online, search engine marketing has become a crucial online marketing strategy for
increasing a company’s reach.
In fact, the majority of new visitors to a website find it by performing a query on a search engine.
In search engine marketing, advertisers only pay for impressions that result in visitors, making it an
efficient way for a company to spend its marketing dollars. As an added bonus, each visitor
incrementally improves the website’s rankings in organic search results.
Since consumers enter search queries with the intent of finding information of a commercial nature,
they are in an excellent state of mind to make a purchase, compared to other sites such as social
media where users are not explicitly searching for something.
Search marketing reaches consumers at exactly the right time: when they are open to new
information. Unlike the majority of digital advertising, PPC advertising is non-intrusive and does not
interrupt their tasks.
Results are immediate with SEM. It is arguably the fastest way to drive traffic to a website.

DISPLAY ADVERTISING- Display advertising is a method of attracting the audience of a website, social
media platform or other digital mediums to take a specific action. These are often made up of text-based,
image or video advertisements that encourage the user to click-through to a landing page and take action
(e.g. make a purchase).
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Most display and online advertising campaigns are charged on a cost per click (CPC) basis. That is to say,
every time the user on a search engine clicks on your ad, you’ll get charged an amount based on your overall
bidding strategy.

They can also be used for retargeting campaigns. This is where ads are served to users who have already
visited a specific website. The aim is to “retarget” them and encourage them to return to the website to take
the same action (or an action at a different stage of the funnel).

BENEFITS OF DISPLAY ADS-

1. They are eye-catching and visually appealing- Display-style ads are created with graphic content and
can be designed in the style of your business or brand. With display ads, you can be as creative as
possible with bright colours, large text, or even video, audio, or rich media. Other ways to stand out
include using animation to draw viewers away from content and towards what you want them to see.
Display ads, like paid search or pay-per-click ads, include a headline, text, and URL. However,
display ads also contain some type of graphic, video, or audio element which makes them stand out.
In addition, regular SEM (Search Engine Marketing) advertisements include character counts,
limiting your messaging opportunity. Display ads allow for catchy messaging, plus graphics, video,
and your company’s branding to stand out and attract attention.

2. They familiarize your intended audience with your brand- While search advertising influences an
audience with an intent to purchase, display advertising helps create initial interest. In fact, a recent
study found that brand awareness increased by 21% in campaigns that utilized digital display ads.
Display ads have a high reach and are generally found on websites that potential customers frequent.

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 For example, running a campaign using the Google Display Network (GDN), which integrates your
ads into carefully chosen websites, will place your ads in front of targeted audiences across the globe.
Let’s say a customer is on a website for gardening ideas, a display ad that might appear is an
advertisement for a garden centre or landscaping supply shop. The customer may not have known
about these stores, and may not be looking to make a purchase, but the ad would let them know about
a nearby shopping option the next time they are in the market for gardening supplies.

3. They allow for remarketing opportunities- Remarketing allows your business to position targeted
display ads in front of a defined audience that has previously visited your website as they browse
elsewhere on the internet. Once a potential customer knows about your product or service, a well-
placed display ad can remind them to make a purchase.
Remarketing is a smart way to connect with potential customers who may not have made an initial
purchase or inquiry. There is a high degree of targeting flexibility and the Google Display Network
also allows you to filter your targeting to show only on specific sites or exclude specific sites. You
can even showcase display ads that include a brand message or a specific product that your potential
customer viewed while on your website.

4. They are a less expensive advertising option- Unlike other advertising channels such as television or
radio, which require large investments in production, it’s relatively inexpensive to start running
display ads. With only an image and some text, you can start creating display ad campaigns that will
help you drive traffic back to your website.
Display ad pricing is inexpensive as well. It’s typically calculated according to its “number of
impressions,” with one impression equivalent to a single page view by an internet user. Rates can go
as low as 50 cents per one thousand impressions (CPM) for highly targeted campaigns. This means
that for 50 cents, your ad can be seen 1000 times.
After discovering how beneficial display advertising can be, it’s clear that this marketing strategy is
an excellent way to increase brand awareness, drive traffic back to your website, and ultimately,
improve conversions.

5. They give you the ability to track and monitor your ad engagement- The Google Display
Network and Facebook Advertising offer detailed reports that include which display advertisements
have the most clicks and what the value is for those clicks. In addition, the GDN has what is called
a view-through window, which monitors anyone who has seen your display ad in a specific time
frame and whether or not they converted into a customer or lead.
GDN’s view-through window allows you to stop guessing if your display and video ads are
contributing to conversions, even when they are not clicked. Plus, the view-through window is an

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 important tool because research has shown that an ad being seen has a greater conversion than an ad
being clicked.

CONTENT MARKETING- Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and
distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the
following goals: attract attention and generate lead, expand their customer base, generate or increase online
sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users. Content marketing
attracts new customers by creating and sharing valuable free content. It helps companies create sustainable
brand loyalty, provides valuable information to consumers, and creates a willingness to purchase products
from the company in the future.

Content marketing starts with identifying the customer's needs. After that the information can be presented
in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, email newsletters, case
studies, podcasts, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, blogs, etc.

1. Research and Insight- Sometimes titled ‘listen’ or ‘buying personas’. In this stage, you dig deep to
find out all you need to know about your prospects. What interests them? What are their challenges,
and where do they go to seek out solutions to them? How can your offerings help them?
Make use of surveys, research and analysis from outside sources, as well as your own insights, for
instance from your social media (which can provide very useful data to inform your content strategy.

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 2. Goal setting- What are you trying to achieve with your content? Do you want to attract visitors to
read more about your solutions? To sign up to events? To consume your whitepapers or other
thought leadership? How will you nurture contacts – do you have a content plan that will move them
down the funnel? How will you measure success?

3. Content strategy- Decide what your approach will be. Plan out your content to achieve your
objectives – what mix of content do you need? There is lots of research on the most effective
marketing content to help you – make use of it to decide where you will focus.

4. Create Content- This is where you actually get to dig in and start creating the content you’ve
identified in your strategy. SEO is a key consideration, but never forget that you’re writing for your
readers, not for search engine spiders. Your content must be relevant to your target audience. Of
course, online visibility is essential in getting your content to your readers. Google publishes its
own digital content guide which provides good tips on how to make your materials stand out.

5. Curate Content- Social media and the internet as a whole mean there is no shortage of content to
share. Finding high-quality, pertinent content produced by others and sharing it online is a great way
to supplement your own content production. The need to share regular content can be overwhelming
– consider curating others’ as a way to reduce the pressure.

6. Distribution- How do you plan to disseminate your content? There’s no point publishing high-quality
content if nobody sees it. You need to maximise engagement with your content marketing to make
the production process worthwhile.

7. Engagement- What actions do your audience take as a result of your content? What they do – and
what you want them to do – will of course vary depending on the content and its objectives. You
might share a snippet of research, and want people to download the full report from your website.
You may want people to sign up to a regular newsletter.
Engaging with your content via a download may move people into a lead nurturing programme,
whereby engaging with future content drives contacts further down the sales funnel. Be clear on how
you want people to engage, and what your actions will be when they do.

AFFILIATE MARKETING-Affiliate marketing is when you promote other companies’ products. When
someone buys through your affiliate link, you get a commission.

As an affiliate, you’re a salesperson for the company. You help to make a sale, the company rewards you.

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The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you can do it at scale. A typical salesperson only sells
products from one company. As an affiliate marketer, you can promote products from many different
companies and earn commissions from all of them.

HOW DOES AFFILIATE MARKETING WORKS?

The merchant gives each affiliate a unique link so they can track who was responsible for a sale. The
link will usually look something like this:

When someone clicks that link, a small file called a cookie gets stored on their device.
An affiliate cookie does two things:
1. It helps the merchant attribute the sale back to the right person;
2. It (usually) holds an expiration date, so you get paid even if the buyer delays their purchase.
Imagine that a reader visits your post about the best winter jackets. They click on one of your affiliate
links, leading them to a product on Amazon.
But they realized they have to pick up their daughter from school. So they leave their house, pick up
their daughter, have dinner, and then finally go back to Amazon where they find the product again.
Since they’re already shopping on Amazon, they decide to purchase some ski gear too.
Here’s the good news. Earlier, they clicked on your affiliate link and a cookie was stored on their
device. Because Amazon has a 24-hour cookie duration, you get compensated for both the winter
jacket and ski gear—even though you didn’t promote the latter.

BENEFITS OF AFFLIATE MARKETING-

1. Low cost of Start-up- An affiliate program does not require that you have an advertising team for
ad visuals or purchase ad space.
Rather than that, you’ll have to depend on your affiliates to come up with their marketing
content. Other than the initial effort of selecting and vetting affiliates, there’s little effort required
from you to market your products, which is one of the reasons it’s become such a popular method
of marketing.
Once a company is comfortable working with an affiliate and has built a good relationship, they
can for the most part let them get on with marketing your service or product.

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 2. Low Ongoing Cost- Since most of your marketing activities are done by affiliates, they’ll also
bear the chunk of the cost attached. And since it’s a commission-based program, it means that
you’ll only pay affiliates from sales they bring in.
This marketing model makes cost easy to manage and does not interrupt your cash flow, unlike
other marketing models such as PPC advertising that requires you to pay for every click leading
to your website. But affiliate marketing ensures that you only part ways with your money when
sales are made.

3. Low Risk- Lost cost means low risk. There’s little risk of loss since payments are only made
when there’s an actual conversion; perfect for businesses on a tight budget.

4. Flexibility- You can easily make your affiliate program smaller or bigger at little or no cost. It
also offers you a great way to scale up your business without breaking the bank.

5. High ROI- Having the keys to product innovation and effective management skills doesn’t
guarantee a high ROI; you’ll also need to get your marketing right.
Affiliate marketing has been proven to have a much higher return on investment than the majority
of marketing strategies.
One major reason for this is because your target audience will hear of your product or service
from affiliates that are within their spheres of influence. In short, you’re channeling your
marketing efforts through an affiliate who has direct access and influence over a highly targeted
audience that is receptive to what you have to offer.

1.4 DIGITAL MARKETING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Digital marketing has transformed the marketing game and touched new heights, so much so that the
ones who were not anywhere close to this field are now wanting to use this to promote their brand.
With the shift of marketing techniques from traditional to digital, the process of consumer decision
making has also changed beyond recognition. As per reports, as of October 2019, almost 4.48 billion
people were active internet users, encompassing 58 per cent of the global population.
Digitisation and access to the internet has created a new growth story for businesses and consumers
alike. Nowadays, to make a purchase, consumers quickly turn to the internet to research and make
their decision a couple of hours, or perhaps even minutes. Consumer behaviour is much more
streamlined today and the business model is also briefer compared to the earlier ones.

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 Consumer behaviour is the study of consumers and the processes they use to choose, use (consume),
and dispose of products and services, including consumers’ emotional, mental, and behavioural
responses.
Consumer behaviour incorporates ideas from several sciences including psychology, biology,
chemistry, and economics.
Studying consumer behavior is important because it helps marketers understand what influences
consumers’ buying decisions.
By understanding how consumers decide on a product, they can fill in the gap in the market and
identify the products that are needed and the products that are obsolete.
Studying consumer behavior also helps marketers decide how to present their products in a way that
generates a maximum impact on consumers. Understanding consumer buying behavior is the key
secret to reaching and engaging your clients, and converting them to purchase from you.

A consumer behaviour analysis should reveal:

• What consumers think and how they feel about various alternatives (brands, products, etc.);
• What influences consumers to choose between various options;
• Consumers’ behaviour while researching and shopping;
• How consumers’ environment (friends, family, media, etc.) influences their behaviour.

Consumer behaviour is often influenced by different factors. Marketers should study consumer
purchase patterns and figure out buyer trends.
So what are the factors that influence consumers to say yes? There are three categories of factors that
influence consumer behaviour:
1. Personal factors: an individual’s interests and opinions can be influenced by demographics (age,
gender, culture, etc.).

2. Psychological factors: an individual’s response to a marketing message will depend on their

perceptions and attitudes.

3. Social factors: family, friends, education level, social media, income, all influence consumers’
behaviour.

4. Social factors such as social status, reference groups and family.

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Consumer behaviour is not static. It undergoes a change over a period of time depending on the
nature of products. For example, kids prefer colourful and fancy footwear, but as they grow up as
teenagers and young adults, they prefer trendy footwear, and as middle-aged and senior citizens they
prefer more sober footwear. The change in buying behaviour may take place due to several other
factors such as increase in income level, education level and marketing factors.

All consumers do not behave in the same manner. Different consumers behave differently. The
differences in consumer behaviour are due to individual factors such as the nature of the consumers,
lifestyle and culture. For example, some consumers are technoholics. They go on a shopping and
spend beyond their means.
They borrow money from friends, relatives, banks, and at times even adopt unethical means to spend
on shopping of advance technologies. But there are other consumers who, despite having surplus
money, do not go even for the regular purchases and avoid use and purchase of advance
technologies.

The consumer behaviour varies across states, regions and countries. For example, the behaviour of
the urban consumers is different from that of the rural consumers. A good number of rural consumers
are conservative in their buying behaviours. The rich rural consumers may think twice to spend on
luxuries despite having sufficient funds, whereas the urban consumers may even take bank loans to
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buy luxury items such as cars and household appliances. The consumer behaviour may also varies
across the states, regions and countries. It may differ depending on the upbringing, lifestyles and
level of development.

A positive consumer behaviour leads to a purchase decision. A consumer may take the decision of
buying a product on the basis of different buying motives. The purchase decision leads to higher
demand, and the sales of the marketers increase. Therefore, marketers need to influence consumer
behaviour to increase their purchases.

The buying behaviour of the consumers may lead to higher standard of living. The more a person
buys the goods and services, the higher is the standard of living. But if a person spends less on goods
and services, despite having a good income, they deprives themselves of higher standard of living.

The consumer behaviour is not only influenced by the status of a consumer, but it also reflects it. The
consumers who own luxury cars, watches and other items are considered belonging to a higher status.
The luxury items also give a sense of pride to the owners.

Types of Consumer Behaviour- There are four main types of consumer behaviour:

1. Complex buying behaviour- This type of behaviour is encountered when consumers are buying
an expensive, infrequently bought product. They are highly involved in the purchase process and
consumers’ research before committing to a high-value investment. Imagine buying a house or a
car; these are an example of a complex buying behaviour.

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2. Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour- The consumer is highly involved in the purchase process
but has difficulties determining the differences between brands. ‘Dissonance’ can occur when the
consumer worries that they will regret their choice. Imagine you are buying a lawnmower. You
will choose one based on price and convenience, but after the purchase, you will seek
confirmation that you’ve made the right choice.

3. Habitual Buying Behaviour- Habitual buying behaviour occurs when involvement is low and
differences between brands are small. Consumers in this case usually do not form a strong
attitude toward a brand but select it because it is familiar.

4. Variety Seeking Behaviour- Variety-seeking buying behaviour occurs when the consumer is not
involved with the purchase, yet there are significant brand differences. In this case, the cost of
switching products is low, and so the consumer may, perhaps simply out of boredom, move from
one brand to another. Such is often the case with frozen desserts, breakfast cereals, and soft
[39]
 drinks. Dominant firms in such a market situation will attempt to encourage habitual buying and
will try to keep other brands from being considered by the consumer. These strategies reduce
customer switching behaviour. Challenger firms, on the other hand, want consumers to switch
from the market leader, so they will offer promotions, free samples, and advertising that
encourage consumers to try something new.

The buying behaviour of consumers are influenced by consumer characteristics and psychology,
as indicated in figure above which is the buyer’s black box. Marketing and other stimuli are
critical components that impact consumer behaviour and organisations must understand the
theory and reality of consumer behaviour (Kotler & Keller, 2012)

Digital marketing has transformed the marketing game and touched new heights, so much so that the
ones who were not anywhere close to this field are now wanting to use this to promote their brand.
With the shift of marketing techniques from traditional to digital, the process of consumer decision
making has also changed beyond recognition. As per reports, as of October 2019, almost 4.48 billion
people were active internet users, encompassing 58 per cent of the global population.

[40]
Digitisation and access to the internet has created a new growth story for businesses and consumers
alike. Nowadays, to make a purchase, consumers quickly turn to the internet to research and make
their decision a couple of hours, or perhaps even minutes. Consumer behaviour is much more
streamlined today and the business model is also briefer compared to the earlier ones.

Here are some insights to understand the impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour:

• Consumers have become researches- With easy access to the internet, consumers today are
much more enlightened and empowered. They are flooded with digital content each day. With
almost every brand marketing their products on the digital platforms today, it’s more than
convenient for consumers to research & compare online. Their purchase decision is highly
influenced by the interactions they have with the brand and other influencers online.

• Digital word of mouth is trusted the most- Earlier, word of mouth used to be the most
trusted form of recommendation that consumers believed. In today’s digital age, word of
mouth is done in terms of customer reviews, influencer recommendations, ratings,
testimonials, etc. Maximum consumers make sure to look at what the current brand users
have to say about the product/service before making their purchase decision.

• Consumers are not afraid to experiment- Consumers in the earlier days were very sceptical
to change brands that they have been using all along. However, things have changed with
time. The mindset of consumers has evolved massively today. They have become more
welcoming towards products and brands that offer better features than before. All this was
only possible through digital marketing that has made it easier for these new brands to reach
out to the customers.

• Consumers frequently switch brands- Brand loyalty used to be a huge thing in the past.
Very rare is when you’d see consumers switch brands. However today, consumers are quick
to switch brands provided the new one is offering better features. With a heap load of options
available in the market, consumer loyalty is difficult and switching is easy.

[41]
• Consumers now have a lower tolerance level- Lastly, consumers today are not okay to
settle or compromise in any manner. They expect an immediate response to their queries and
grievances if any. They openly share their thoughts and views on the digital platforms which
can make or break a brand’s image in seconds. Generally, consumers tend to easily believe
negative news/reviews and only a few actually share positive reviews. Also, a lot of
competitors misuse this by posting negative reviews on brand pages through fake accounts.
This can be managed with a strong Online Reputation Management (ORM) Strategy, where
interactions with the consumers can potentially convert their negative image to the positive.
Consumer behaviour in today’s digital age keeps changing and expanding every now and
then. Being in sync with consumer’s preferences and the current trends is the only way that
can help brands stay in the game.

[42]
1.5 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION- Consumers have evolved and no longer make
purchasing decisions in a linear approach; they enter at various points, which are dependent on their
first engagement with the brand, product research or word of mouth from their social networks.

Brands that adopt digital and social media build relationships with consumers, and in turn gain
consumer loyalty to the brand. Organisations must be aware of social media sites and how they
influence consumer buying behaviour. Consumers constantly consider potential purchases and
evaluate alternatives in the market.

Consumer decision making process (Kotler & Keller, 2012)

1. Need recognition- This stage occurs when the consumers establishes that they need a product or
service. Several precursors can prompt need recognition including advertising and
recommendation.
2. Information Search- Once a consumer has decided that they need to purchase a product or
service then they will begin to search for information surrounding the product. The sources of
information available to the consumer are numerous and include inter alia the Internet, print
media, advertising, personal recommendations and where appropriate an in-store experience. The
organisation which is selling the product can also be a source of information if they are
attempting to up-sell or cross-sell products as part of an integrated marketing campaign also point
out that in order to increase the likelihood of conversion it is imperative that all of these sources
of information provide a consistent message to the consumer. For example, if the consumer is

[43]
 purchasing an iPad, it is anticipated that they will look for reviews, recommendations and
technical data, as well as practical data such as availability and price when deciding whether or
not they require an iPad.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives- Once this information has been gathered then the consumer will
evaluate alternatives and based on their personal interpretation. an individual consumer will give
a different personal weighting to various factors gathered during the information search, such as
perceived value, brand value, price, speed of service and possibly location. The more an
organisation understands its consumers, the more they can help the consumer to evaluate the
alternatives, for example by emphasising the features and benefits of a product . Expanding on
the iPad example, this is the stage where consumers would assess different variables such as
price, additional extras and other a static factors such as colour and size.
4. Purchase Decision- At this stage consumers will decide what they will purchase at this stage and
if a consumer has previously received a product or service which they are happy with, then in
future they are likely to repeat purchase meaning they will jump straight to this stage in the
process. In regard to the iPad at this stage if consumers have previously owned an iPad or a
related product such as another Apple Inc product it is likely that this will make the purchase
decision easier for them
5. Post Purchase Behaviour- This is the final stage, after the item has been purchased. Consumers
retrospectively evaluate their purchase decision against their original assessment and purchase
criteria, identifying the extent to which an item has met, exceeded or even failed to meet
expectations. Positive evaluation at this stage will almost inevitably lead to repeat purchase and
future positive word of mouth recommendation. To complete the example of the iPad a consumer
is likely to retrospectively evaluate their purchase and decide whether or not the iPad fulfill their
expectations and meet the criteria of value for money.
Branding is integral to this process and when consumers feel a strong affinity with the brand, that
is to say an emotive or personal connection then this will significantly influence the decision-
making process. For example an iPad is a costly item which has an extremely powerful brand
influence.

2.7: CONSUMER IN DIGITAL ERA-

The digital age has changed consumer behaviour permanently. Your online shop is no longer the only and
most important sales channel. Today’s reality is much more complex. Customers purchase on mobile
devices, via voice assistants or within their social media feed on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat.

Hardly a day goes by without media reporting on a new app or digital trend. These new technologies have
changed customer relationships and fundamentally influenced business models. Customer experience is
[44]
therefore no longer just a marketing issue but becomes a critical factor for your corporate strategy in the age
of digitalization.

• Boundaries between online and offline are fading- The effects of digital change go far beyond online
trading. The smartphone in particular is nowadays our daily companion and has an enormous impact
on our everyday lives.
On the one hand, the use of mobile devices is changing consumer behaviour and interaction between
customers and companies on the other. Product searches, which used to begin in stationary shops, are
now started on the Internet on Google or social media platforms. We search online for information,
no matter whether we are: at home, on the road or in the store. There is no longer a clear distinction
between online and offline customers.
Companies must respond to these changes in order to offer their customers an optimal customer
experience. A smooth shopping experience should be offered across all channels at all times. If a
customer researches for a product on his smartphone in an online shop in the morning, he must be
able to order it quickly and easily via any of his devices later in the evening. Be it via desktop,
smartphone or voice assistant.

Advertisers therefore need a multi-channel marketing strategy. Focusing on the consumer rather than
the channel, multi-channel marketing is about creating personalized, relevant experiences that reach
the consumer in the right place, at the right time and with the right message in order to drive
conversions.
Today, attribution technologies not only enable advertisers to track consumers across multiple
devices, but also measure the exact value of each touchpoint in the customer journey in full
compliance with data protection regulations. These solutions provide marketers with insights into
how content and advertisements seen by users on one device affect actions taken on another.

[45]
Organisations can use information derived from post purchase behaviour to understand consumers
and build a relationship to entrench them and avoid consumer brand switching.

The decision making parameters of today’s consumer is much different from that of the early
decades. From being price sensitive, Indian consumer is also becoming quality sensitive. Internet has
empowered people and made aware about the availability of products of better quality at affordable
prices.

Digital transformation is forcing companies to change their business models and adapt to the new
market reality.What’s interesting about this is that it’s not the companies that are driving this change.
Instead, this change is being driven by the customer.
Today, customers expect relevant content in relation to what they’re doing anytime, anywhere and in
the format and on the device of their choosing.
The net global spending on digital transformation in 2018 was approximately $1 trillion.
This number is expected to increase to more than $2 trillion by 2022.
(In fact, 79% of companies admit that COVID-19 increased the budget for digital transformation).
Mobile devices, apps, machine learning, automation and much more allow customers to get what
they want almost exactly at the moment they need it.
What’s more, these new digital technologies have caused a shift in customer expectations, resulting
in a new kind of modern buyer. Today's consumers are constantly connected, app-native, and aware
of what they can do with technology.
Because of the opportunities that rise from using modern technology, customers often rate
organizations on their digital customer experience first.

[46]
[47]
 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH

The choice of research methodology for phase one was exploratory, which was undertaken to expand on the
limited research done on this topic. In the research process, primary and secondary data were gathered
whereby the primary data was specific to the research study, whilst the secondary data were retrieved from
data collected for other purposes.

POPULATION- Population can be defined as a complete set of group members. Region taken under
consideration is Pan India in order to understand the geographic mentality of the people towards digital
marketing.

DATA GATHERING PROCESS- In order to understand the customer’s preference towards digital
marketing a Questionnaire was developed and was circulated Pan India and responses were recorded through
this survey.

3.2 LITERATURE REVIEW METHODOLOGY

The search for relevant literature was mainly conducted through academic textbooks and research databases
such as Google Scholar. Journal articles were sourced from the research databases and focus was placed on
peer reviewed journal articles within the last five years. The literature review search was focused on the
relevant aspects of the research study, which were digital marketing, consumer behaviour, consumer
decision making, consumer in India.

3.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to analyse the following points as stated below:

• The influence of digital marketing on consumer purchase decision.

3.4 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

The scope of the study remains within the geographic region of India.
[48]
3.5 LIMITATIONS- Although the research methodology was well defined, there were limitations to the
study.

• Firstly Respondents may not be 100% true about the answers.

• Secondly, Some the questions may remain unanswered. Limited information and research were found on
digital marketing.

• Thirdly, there might be differences in understanding and interpretation.

3.6 SAMPLE SIZE- The sample size for this research is 110.

3.5 DATA COLLECTIONS TECHNIQUE- The technique used for data collection here is through
questionnaire and circulating it through my networks individually and also sharing on social media.

[49]
 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRTATION

In this chapter, the captured data from the qualitative and quantitative research is presented, analysed,
described and interpreted in a systematic manner as the next step of the research process. The documentation
and analysis process aimed to present data in an intelligible and interpretable form in order to identify trends
and relations in accordance with the research aims.

[50]
On analysing the above data we find out that:

• 70% of the people see online ads frequently

• 26.4% of the consumers see the online ads less frequently and
• 3.6% of the consumers don’t see the online ads at all

From the above data we understand that the market of online ads have grown to mass people since
every small and large business are now using online digital channels to market their products.
The frequency of ads shown to consumers is totally depends on their browsing history. If a person
search for online foods he/she will start getting ads on different social media platforms. Very few
people don’t see online ads at all.

[51]
Analysing the above data we find out that:

• 53.6% of the consumers mostly use online shopping

• 40.9% of the consumers mostly use offline channels
• 3.6 % of the consumer use both the channels and very few depends on product characteristics

From the above data we come to understand although digital marketing influences consumer
purchase decision but still there are many people who prefer mostly offline shopping. The number of
consumer using mostly online shopping is greater than those who use offline but the number of
should grow more. Most of the people don’t buy goods online due to lack of physical touch and may
be due to frauds done by many websites. Few consumers takes in consideration about other factors
like the type of the product they are purchasing, the price of the product whether it is high
involvement product or low involvement products.

[52]
On analysing the above data we find out that:

• 85.5% consumers purchase decision is influenced by online advertisement

• 12.7 % consumers purchase decision is influenced by offline advertisement
• And few said about cost

The above figure shows that online advertisement has influenced a lot to consumers in making their
purchase decision. Now very people are influenced by offline advertisement. Due to Covid-19 the
online advertisement growth was very fast and that make consumers to go more towards online
purchase.

[53]
On analysing the above data we find out that:

• 54.5% of the consumer agree that online advertisement helps in making better buying decision
• 28.2% are not sure
• 8.2% of the people says that online advertisement don’t help in better buying decision
• 6.4% consumers strongly agree and
• 2.7% strongly disagree that online advertisement helps in making better decision

From the above data we can say that the consumer perception has changed a lot in online buying
decision process. Maximum numbers of the people are influenced by online advertisement and they
agree that it helps in making better buying decisions. Only 10-11% of the people don’t agree on this
which can be developed if companies starts focusing on these groups and understand what they
needs.

[54]
On analysing the above data we find that more than 70% of the consumers buy a product 1-5 times a month
and 10 % of the people buy the product only 5-10 times a month and also 9.1% buy it 2-3 times a week. This
data clearly shows that digital marketing has influence the consumers a lot in buying goods online. The
consumer purchase decision have changed so much due to the digital marketing. Consumers now get all the
details of the product without going anywhere at their comfort. They don’t need to go and things get easily
delivered at their place within short time. This gives convience to customer. Consumers get lot of variety in
online shopping and also discounted offers that’s why they prefer more online.

[55]
On analysing the above data we find out that:

• 30% consumers enquire about the online ads

• 55.5% enquire it less frequently and
• 14.5% never enquire about the online ads

The above data says that due to increasing digital marketing ads there are more number of the people
who click on the ads link and enquire about the product. Less percentage of people never do that, the
reason can be that these people still don’t feel confident about shopping online. Hence we can say
that the companies should work extra to convert these small percentage of people to enquire about
their product by understanding their psychology. The above picture clearly shows that the world is
marching towards being more digitally oriented.

[56]
On analysing above data we find out that:

• 6.4% consumers strongly disagree about the intense desired to buy the product by seeing online ads
• 8.2% consumers disagree about the intense desired to buy the product by seeing online ads
• 40.9% consumers are not sure about the intense desired to buy the product by seeing online ads
• 36.4% consumers agree that online ads create an intense desire to buy the product online
• 8.2% consumers strongly agree that online ads create an intense desire to buy the product

The above figure shows that more than 50% consumers have agreed digital marketing is influencing
consumers to buy the product online by creating an intense desire. Still the digital marketing needs a
lot of improvement to influence all the other consumers since there are so many other people who are
afraid to go for online shopping due to lack of physical connection with the product. The figure
shows that slowly the consumers are adopting the digital world and its changing their purchase
decision towards digital medium.

[57]
On analysing above data we find out that:

• 39.1% of the consumer says that the online ads lead them to buy the product
• 15.5% consumer says that the online ads actually don’t lead them to buy the product
• 45.5% of the consumers says that they are not sure

Above data shows that the online ads influence maximum consumers purchase decision. When they see
the product anywhere in ads it leads them to buy it. This shows that the digital shopping or online
shopping is increasing with a rapid rate and its influencing consumers mind to shift them from traditional
ways of shopping to digital ways of shopping.

There are very less percentage of people who says that online ads don’t let them actually to buy the
product and hence this shows that there are are still some of people who preferred the traditional method
of buying things.

The consumers who are not sure may buy sometimes by seeing online ads and sometimes may be not.

[58]
 Overall, consumers who access the digital environment have a diverse set of characteristics and are
evolving. However the older generation and consumer who do not have access to digital are still accustomed
to the traditional channels of marketing which cannot be ignored but changing nature of industry demand the
adaptability also.

The results further established that in order for organisations to stay relevant in the industry, they need to be
present in the digital space to connect to consumers.

Consumers have embraced the internet and online socialising tools, and understand that consumer behaviour
is key for marketing success. Human interaction has seen significant changes due to engagement on social
networks, and the growth of web platforms has facilitated the human behavioural change of activities,
habitats and interactions.

Consumers now view shopping as a daily activity due to digital connectivity and the time spent online by
consumers.

[59]
 CHAPTER 5: ZOMATO’S DIGITAL MARKETING STRTEGIES

ABOUT ZOMATO- Zomato is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator an food delivery startup
founded by Pankaj Chaddah and Deepinder Goyal in 2008. Zomato provides information, menus and user-
reviews of restaurants as well as food delivery options from partner restaurants in select cities. Zomato also
began grocery delivery amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As of 2019, the service is available in 24 countries
and in more than 10,000 cities.

When Zomato launched, it aimed to be the best restaurant search and discovery platform. It had the names of
various restaurants, their menu, their prices, reviews and other details. It provided in-depth information of
over 1.4 million restaurants across 23 countries.

Over the years, it has converted itself into an online food delivery platform. People can now order food from
the restaurants near them using their app or website. Zomato has delivery executives who pick up the order
from the eatery and deliver it to the address provided by the customer.

TARGET AUDIENCES- Zomato’s target audience includes people between 18 to 35 years of age who have
access to smartphones and are comfortable in using apps. It targets two kinds of customers: The first group
includes people who want to order their food home and the second group includes people who prefer to dine
out. IN Lot of cases, these groups overlap. It offers food delivery to those who need it delivered as well as
gives incentives to people to dine out through its Zomato Gold program.

Working professionals who need food in their offices, students who need food in their hostels, people who
do not have time or space to cook for themselves, and people who occasionally like to eat outside food- all
form a part of Zomato’s target audience.

[60]
5.2 DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES-

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION-More than 90% of Zomato’s traffic comes organically from Google
and this is not an accident.

Zomato uses search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to make their website Google-friendly and
consequently ranks high in search results for 900K keywords.

As per Ubersuggest data, it ranks in India for 816,952 keywords as on July 2019. It’s organic traffic is
6,719,882 users per month. These stats are really amazing.

It is very difficult to get to know the Search Engine Optimisation techniques used by Zomato because they
have blocked all the SEO tools from scanning their sites.

Zomato has created listings of all the restaurants in India to rank high- Zomato is like an e-commerce
website for restaurants.

Here, restaurant owners can create and maintain their restaurant page. Zomato associates also update this
information every month.

This creates an incredible experience for food lovers.

Moreover, since Zomato has registered 6500+ restaurants, they have 54 million pages on its website.

The more pages you have on your website, the more chances you have to appear in search results.

Also, these restaurant pages give a ton of information about the restaurant like menu, photos, directions and
review. As a result, they rank high on Google whenever someone is looking for them.

[61]
For instance, check out the image below, which shows Zomato’s restaurant page “Eden Park” ranking on
the first position.

However, you might think that trying to rank for restaurant keywords is not a good idea because it is not
Zomato’s core business and there is no financial benefit.

Zomato uses internal linking to rank high in search results- Most of Zomato’s organic traffic comes
from keywords like “restaurants near me” or “cafes near me”. Zomato, aiming to become a restaurant
aggregator, tries to rank for these keywords as well.

[62]
To do this their SEO team has created an awesome internal linking structure, which is present in the footer
of the website as shown in the image below.

When someone clicks on these links, the website automatically detects their location and takes them to a
listing page, which shows all the restaurants near them.

Because of these efforts, Zomato ranks on the top for almost all “near me” keywords.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES- Zomato is active on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. As
of April 2021, it has 469.7k followers on Instagram, 1,899,405 followers on facebook and 1.42 Million
followers on Twitter. Let’s analyse how their posts are:

TRENDY CONTENTS- Zomato engages with the audience by posting on trendy topics. The brand
understands the audience’s nature. Hence, it promotes content which makes users share it, comment on it
and view it again and again. It utilises trendy topics and posts simple images in order to interact with viewers
online.

One of the most noteworthy events in the field of sports is the Olympics. During the 2016 Olympics, Zomato
posted something like this.

[63]
Posting on the trendy topics built connectivity with the audience. Probably, users don’t wish to think much
when they are on social media. As a matter of fact, users are there on social media to enjoy and see funny
content. And, when such content appears on their news feed, expect your content to be shared. For sure!

COMPARISONS- Zomato has been a master of utilizing this form of engagement. There are tons of
examples to showcase how comparisons have been carried out by Zomato. These two sets of people who eat.

Those who eat a lot and still never get fat vs others who eat less and still can’t seem to stay in shape.

You can relate to such images just by looking at it. You will like, share, comment, recommend to others.
That’s what Zomato wants, engagement with you, interaction with you, a real-life user. Connectivity with the
audience.

SARCASM- Ultimately, how can we miss out on Sarcasm?

Isn’t Facebook fully loaded with such content?

Check out how Zomato posts sarcastic content.

[64]
TWITTER STRATEGY- The brand has been going against the tide and challenging itself to walk on
this not so normal path of marketing, evidently seen in the Zomato Twitter strategy.

Zomato’s Founder Deepinder Goyal too took part in the activity by tweeting back to the handle
asking – Who did this? and later appreciated it by saying ‘good tweet’ with a smiling emoji.

The effect of ‘kabhi kabhi’ was so much that it caught the attention of brands like Amazon Prime
Video, ixigo, YouTube, Mobikwik, Smirnoff, Behrouz Biryani, TVF, and more where they were

[65]
soon enough seen joining the bandwagon and recommending people to do the opposite of what their
services stand for.

Zomato India meanwhile was quick to respond in a hilarious manner asking them to be original and
creative on their own, “Guys, kabhi kabhi khud ke acche tweet bhi soch lene chahiye”.

[66]
Brands with a massive social media following isn’t rare; however, leveraging this community is a
rare sight. Zomato starts trends such as “Kabhi Kabhi ghar pe kha lena chiye” on the back of their
engaged, loyal community with a certainty of at least some engagement.
To sum it all up, Zomato India, though being weird and bizarre as we call it, is creating bonds
through conversations like these, making it’s brand recall value go a notch up one tweet a time.

ZOMATO GOOGLE ADS STRATEGY- There are many Google searches happening every
month. People usually come to Google to solve their problems.
For instance, people might be looking for restaurants nearby or they might be looking for online
food delivery services.
These searches make Google a perfect platform to advertise. Also, you can guess the user’s intent
by the keywords they are using.
For instance, when people search for “order pizza online”, they are looking for Pizzas but want
someone to deliver it to their home.

Zomato targets keywords like “Online food” to acquire new customers- More than 10,000
people search for keywords like “Online food” or “Order food online”.
These people are looking for a food delivery service. So, Zomato targets them to get more
customers as shown in the image below.

[67]
 Zomato targets restaurant keywords like “Haldiram Noida sector 63”

While working as a Management consultant at Bain and company, Deepinder conceived the idea of
an online restaurant information service.
He says, “I noticed people queuing up in the pantry every day, trying to look for menus to order food
and that’s when the idea struck me – what if we could access these menus online.”
With this mission in mind, Zomato also targets keywords like “Bikanervala sector 29” which is the
name of a famous restaurant in Gurgaon.

Zomato targets dishes name like “mutton biryani”-

People who are looking for a specific dish online might also be interested in ordering it online. With
that theory in mind, Zomato targets keywords like “mutton biryani” or “pizza order”.

[68]
Google advertising is a crucial part of Zomato’s digital marketing strategy to attract its target
audience and fulfils its mission.
To give you estimates of the amount spend on these ads I have added a table, which shows the data
for Jan 2020. I have also added the data of Swiggy for the sake of comparison.

You can observe that Zomato is getting a lower cost per click (CPC) compared to Swiggy. As a
result, they are getting more traffic for fewer rupees spent. This shows that Zomto’s ads are much
more effective than Swiggy’s ads.

[69]
FACEBOOK ADS STRATEGY- Zomato uses Facebook ads and gives huge discounts to attract new
customers. They reach out to new people by excluding people who are already their customers.
Here is one of their ads.

Notice that they have “Install Now” buttons on their ad. This button takes people to Play Store where
they can install the app.
Also, Facebook automatically optimizes this ad by showing it to the people who are most likely to
install their app.

Zomato also uses local language ads to attract new customers- To target people who are more
comfortable with local languages, Zomato uses multi-lingual ads.
These ads usually give better results than English language ads.
Check out Zomato’s Hindi ad below.

[70]
Zomato uses Facebook ads to get more orders from existing customers- Zomato also targets its
existing customers by showing ads like this:

[71]
Did you notice the text “Long time no see”?
Through this ad, Zomato is talking to the people who already have the Zomato app on their mobile,
but are not placing any orders.
Also, notice that this ad has a “Use App” button, which takes people to Zomato app to place an order.

Because of Zomato’s digital marketing strategy, people have started following them on all platforms.
They have 2.7M likes on Facebook, 430K followers on Instagram and 1.4M followers on twitter.

Zomato came up with Gold Membership to build a loyal customer base-

Through Zomato’s Gold Membership, customers can get great discounts every time they visit a
restaurant. This is perfect for people who like visiting new restaurants.
People who buy Zomato Gold usually use it a lot to get the maximum value out of it and become
loyal customers in the process.

Zomato came up with a better pricing model for restaurants to grow-

Zomato’s heavy discounts might look like they are bad for restaurant owners since they don’t get
enough margins.
But, that’s not the case, restaurants get more orders because of Zomato. And since Zomato delivers
food to customers home, restaurants don’t have to waste table space and rent.
That is why restaurants have no problem in giving service to Zomato’s customers at a cheaper price.

[72]
Zomato’s most important thing is its user behaviour data- Becoming a low-margin food delivery
business was never the plan of Zomato. They aimed to collect user data, which they can use in many
ways.

One of the ways they can use this data is by starting consulting services for restaurants. Since it has
the data, it can guide restaurant owners to take the right decision like which cuisine to serve and what
price to sell a cuisine.

Another way Zomato uses its user data is to improve the customer experience on their website and
app.
Also, since Zomato has a lot of active users on its platform, it has turned into an advertising platform
for restaurants. By advertising on Zomato, restaurants can list their restaurant on the top and get more
orders.

# METRICES ZOMATO

1 YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBES 68.4k

2 FACEBIIK PAGE LIKES 2.7 M

3 INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS 469.7k

4 TWITTER FOLLOWERS 1.4 M

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5.3 SWOT ANALYSIS- Zomato is the restaurant discovery app and website by Infoedge.
Because of its unique design and user-friendliness, Zomato is loved by its users. The brand has
spread fast across the world. Here is the SWOT analysis of Zomato.

STRENGHTS-

First mover advantage- One of the best competitive advantages of Zomato is that it is the first
mover in many of the nations where it is establishing itself. Directories and other forms of restaurant
ratings might exist. But as an app Zomato is excellent and many countries (like India) have loved the
usability of the Zomato app.

Evergreen industry – The restaurant industry is an evergreen industry. Sure, there may be
recessions and other downturns which might affect the industry. But overall, this industry is going to
stick around at all times and is only going to grow with rising disposable income.

Fast Expansion – It is appreciative that Zomato has expanded so fast. It is already in 24 countries
and is expanding year on year.

Number of users – Zomato has a huge number of users using their app. At the same time, the site
also has 90 million visitors a month approximately. With so many users following the app and site,
there are more reviews and hence more chances to find better restaurants.

Focused approach – The brand has a very focused approach and has always tried to bring the most
of out of its unique offering. It is well connected with restaurants and regularly takes feedback from
customers as well as restaurants. This focused approach has also helped the brand image and
reputation of the firm.

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Already turning profits – In April 2017, Zomato was profitable in all 24 countries it was operating
in. For a company which is a start-up and has so much funding, it is a big thing to turn profitable
because many funded organizations are still declaring losses even after a decade of establishment.

Excellent funding available - Zomato has picked multiple rounds of funding over the years and
because it is now so well established in many countries, there is a lot of funding available for the app.

WEAKNESS-

Security issues for the app – A major issue for Zomato in the past has been some security issues
due to which the app was hacked and at least 17 million users data was copied. Such security issues
are a nightmare for internet companies.

Still a lot of expansion required – Considering that the app has established in 24 countries, there is
good expansion. But at the same time, the app has been started 7 years back and with the amount of
funding available for Zomato, the expansion can be much faster. It is allowing other services to
establish themselves in this niche before it reaches their country.

Words of mouth and facebook check-ins- Besides such apps, in many places word of mouth still
trumps apps and at the same time, Facebook check-ins are a strong competitor wherein people might
not need Zomato. Thus, it is an app for early adopters but definitely not for laggards.

One of the main sources of revenue for Zomato is the promotion of restaurants. This brings a
possibility of conflict of interests and lack of clarity of ratings.

OPPORTUNITIES-

Further expansion – The number 1 opportunity for Zomato is to expand to more countries and
establish its base faster. Service industry has a major problem that services can be copied very fast
and very easily. As a result, it is critical for Zomato to establish and expand itself faster.

More acquisitions – There are and were many small players in this space. Zomato can acquire
several of its competitors and at the same time, it has to keep an eye on the tech industry and acquire
any tech innovation it can get its hands on to keep on rising.

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Creating a community – Zomato does have a huge following but the users do not interact with
each other. Creating a forum and a community out of the users already following Zomato can be a
huge benefit for the brand.

Adoption of the internet and Smartphones – There is a huge increase in the adoption of Internet
across developing and underdeveloped countries as well. Similarly, adoption of smartphone has also
increased. Thus more and more orders and research about restaurants can happen online instead of
through physical visits.

THREATS-

Google’s schema module – One of the major threats Zomato faces right now is the Schema module
of Google wherein google locations itself is getting in restaurant recommendations. Even google
homepage shows the google maps page where you can search for restaurants within your locality.
Google being such a big brand, zomato faces huge competition from them.

Market followers and challengers – In the service industry, it is very easy to replicate the success
of another service product or offering. Similarly, marketing followers and challengers can slowly
take away the market share of Zomato.

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5.4 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS-

The food delivery industry has emerged as one of the biggest online platforms with several new
companies starting up in a past decade. The shape of the market is changing with a breakneck speed
with players like Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda, Uber Eats, and many others. With these giant players
in the food industry market, the industry is flourishing not just in the metros but in the tier II and III
cities as well. The business of delivering and ordering food online is changing with rapid growth and
these are attracting considerable investment. But the increased competition and unstable growth
policies has caused some causalities along the way as well. Companies like Eat Fresh and TinyOwl
had to shut down due to massive losses. Even FoodPanda, a giant food delivery marketplace
available in 13 countries that went through multiple acquisitions first by Delivery Hero and then by
OLA, is finding it difficult to survive in online food delivery market.

As the decade draws to a close, we have started to see some signs of consolidation in a market which
has undergone several shifts in terms of strategies and operating procedures. The decade certainly
belonged to the two top startups in the space, Swiggy and Zomato. Even though Uber Eats, a
relatively new player in the Indian market, managed to make a sizeable dent in the market in terms of
daily orders, we must take a look at how the two giants of the space fared in 2019 in order to get a
clearer picture of where the industry is heading.

SWIGGY VS ZOMATO:

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Towards the end of 2018, both Swiggy and Zomato entered the much-vaunted unicorn startup group,
with the expectations for 2019 for both companies skyrocketing thanks to this development. The two
companies started off positively, with the combined monthly orders crossing the 50 million mark and
the revenues for the two going up as well. Swiggy is comfortably the platform with a higher number
of daily orders with over 1.5 million daily orders, to Zomato’s 1.2 million. A lot of this can be
attributed to the growth patterns of the two companies. While Swiggy chose to continue to align its
expansion in 2019 with the delivery and logistics side, Zomato has expanded to the media space by
boosting its advertising wing and adding a streaming service.

Swiggy launched swiggy stores in an effort to foray into an Amazon-like marketplace, and initiated
its pilot program after partnering with more than 3,500 local stores in Gurugram. The brand also
established firm business ties with leading names like Guardian Pharmacy, Health HK Ark, Apollo
Pharmacy, Ferns N Petals and Liscious. Zomato on the other hand is focusing on developing an
entire ecosystem for foodies in the country, with delivery and dine-out options available for users,
and the streaming of food shows on the Zomato app adding another dimension to the company’s
offerings.

Challenges To Tackle-
While the growth plans of the two companies do present a positive picture, the biggest challenge
started becoming increasingly clear as the year went on, with both Zomato and Swiggy now needing
to move towards profitability. In a race to increase their market shares, the companies have been
seemingly burning through cash, with Zomato reporting a loss of over ₹ 1,000 Crores and
Swiggy taking a hit of about ₹ 2,300 Crores. Deep discounting as a policy helped the companies gain
a wide foothold in the market, but it also led to heavy losses. In 2019, both Swiggy and Zomato
started taking a few steps towards stopping the deep discount policies. This is turn has led to their
growth plateauing, with new customers proving harder to attract without the deep discounts.

Another drawback of the deep discounts came about in the form of the infamous #LogOut campaign
initiated by National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). A number of restaurants opted to break
ties with the food aggregators, citing that the discounting policies were putting more pressure on the
restaurants in an industry that is already battling inflation and competition. Swiggy responded by
agreeing to a round table between its own leadership and NRAI, while Zomato responded by going
on the offensive, believing that restaurants would have no choice but to crawl back to them.
Zomato’s response at the time was deemed insensitive and ticked people off, and the company has
still not recovered completely from the fiasco.

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However, a number of restaurants have gradually rejoined forces with the aggregator over the last
few months and sources even reported almost a 20% increase in business thanks to the Gold program
run by the company for dine-in customers. This just goes on to show the kind of dependence formed
in the food delivery space by Zomato and Swiggy, which can only bode well for the companies going
forward.

Exploring New Territories-

Speaking of positive developments, among the biggest trends of 2019 was the growth of these brands
in the tier II and III cities. As the Indian economy grows beyond the metros, these cities have shown
almost seven times growth as compared to the major cities, where the growth is almost flatlining.
Both Swiggy and Zomato tapped into this growth rather smartly, expanding to cities like Kanpur,
Ludhiana, Shillong, Pushkar and many more. Swiggy has taken one step further in penetrating the
tier II and III markets by going hyper-local and tying up with local stores for deliveries of household
items. Offering services that enable deliveries from small Kiranas will not only help increase reorder
rates from existing customers but might also increase resource utilisation of the delivery team given
that grocery can be batch delivered as the delivery expectation is not real time like food orders.
Additionally, it will also help them flatten the crests and troughs in the food delivery orders (through
lunch and dinner times) that are typical of a restaurant food delivery company thus improving cost
and resource utilisation.

Both the companies are looking at the road ahead with hope, as the numbers point towards a growth
in their user base but so do the losses. As Zomato expands the ecosystem with its revenue models
comprising of multiple streams like advertising, delivery, dine-out and now streaming, the
management is also reportedly looking at bringing innovation into the food delivery space with the
use of drones. After acquiring TechEagle Innovations, a Lucknow based start-up, in 2018, the
company has been exploring the possibilities of drone-based deliveries in order to get an edge over
its competitors in terms of user experience. While its a good it sounds more like a PR stunt than
something that can actually solve the delivery problem for them longer term.
For Swiggy, Swiggy Stores indicate a huge opportunity in the coming year as the Bengaluru based
company looks to enhance its delivery and logistics expertise to compete with the likes of Grofers
and Amazon.

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 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

This research study was conducted in order to gain insights into, and an understanding of, digital
marketing’s influence on the consumer purchase decision.

The increase of technologies in the business world marketer’s job changes from billboard and print
advertisement to more on digital mediums. The design, the target audience specified with the high
increase of online marketing, online buying and selling, and online companies web-design.
Today’s companies focused on designing the web-page for marketing their product rather than
showing advertisements on TV, billboard, magazines, newspapers etc. e-marketing is the future of
marketing, it is quick, less costly and give accurate information on time. Digital media is the best
platform to convert a product to a brand. Because it is more cost effective and it provide lot of touch
points to marketer. Brands can able to engage their target group in an effective way through digital
platforms. Digital media is not only for engagement, brands can increase their customers or they can
retain their existing customers. Digital platforms help to increase the impact of brand recall in target
groups.

The results revealed that consumers have an embracing perception of digital marketing and their
uptake of the trend is on the increase. It was also established that these consumers have a diverse set
of characteristics, which are influenced by the evolving trend of digital marketing. Consumers are
now more connected with organisations than ever before. Lastly, it was illustrated that digital
marketing does have an influence on consumer purchase decision, which has evolved to incorporate
the digital space into consumers’ daily lives. Digital marketing has provided a new source of
information for consumers and a platform to be social.

From the above data analysis we find out that digital marketing influences on the consumer purchase
decision is increasing with a fast rate. Now the more number of people are there on internet and this
gives chance to companies to expand their business digitally. Customers use to prefer digital
channels to buy any sought of products, no much role of monthly income of people plays a role
choosing a kind product buy through digital channels.

Now due to increase in digital marketing consumers now often sees ads on their social media
platforms which create an intense desire to buy that product. Consumers now get personalized ads
due to their preference suppose if someone looking to order online foods he/she starts getting ads of
the online food delivery companies. Due to all these factors and convenience people prefer more
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buying goods through online medium. In the data analysis part we found that the number of people
who prefer buying online is greater than those who prefer offline. This result clearly shows tha
positive impact of digital marketing on consumer purchase decision.

Due to the growth in internet users the company has also shifted their marketing approach towards
digital channels as compared to traditional channels. In the research we have find out the more than
85% people buying decision is influenced by online advertisement which clearly says that where we
are heading as a digital consumers.

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 CHAPTER 7: BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites-
https://candentseo.com/how-digital-marketing-affects-consumer-behaviour/
https://99designs.com/blog/marketing-advertising/digital-marketing-vs-traditional-
marketing/#:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20digital,as%20social%20media%20or%20web
sites.
https://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/advantages-of-social-media-marketing
https://blog.exactag.com/en/digital-era-consumer-behavior
https://iide.co/case-studies/zomato-digital-marketing-strategy/
https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-zomato/
https://www.vixendigital.com/blog/how-has-digital-marketing-changed-consumer-behaviour/

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 CHAPTER 8: APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE-

1. Name

2. Age
• 15-20
• 20-30
• 30-40
• 40-50
• 50 & above

3. Gender
• Male
• Female
• Prefer not to say

4. Occupation
• Self-Employed
• Students
• Salaried
• Others….

5. How often do you see online ads of any product or company?

• Frequently
• Less Frequently
• Never

6. Which method do you use most for shopping?

• Online
• Offline
• Others..

7. Which of these influences your purchase decision most?

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 • Online Advertisements
• Offline Advertisements
• Others..

8. Online Advertisement helps to make better buying decision.

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

9. How often you buy product online?

• 1-5 times a month
• 2-3 times a week
• 5-10 times a month
• Others(Please specify)

10. How often do you enquire about the online ads?

• Frequently
• Less frequently
• Never

11. Online ads produce intense desire to buy the concerned product.
• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

12. Do online ads actually leads you to buy the product?

• Yes
• No
• May be

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