Analyzing Emerging Trends in Digital Marketing and Technologies

This report delves into the multifaceted world of digital marketing, exploring its core components and emerging trends. It begins by defining digital marketing and outlining various channels such as websites, content marketing, SEO, digital advertising, email marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, mobile marketing, online PR, conversational AI, and web analytics. The report then emphasizes the importance of digital marketing for both small and large businesses, highlighting its cost-effectiveness, global reach, brand awareness, and ability to build customer bases. It further examines the impact of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) in marketing, discussing their applications and growing influence. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing is also explored, focusing on its core elements like big data and machine learning, and the benefits it offers, such as increased ROI, personalized content delivery, improved campaign reporting, and enhanced team performance. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of current and future trends in digital marketing, offering valuable insights for businesses seeking to optimize their strategies.

Emerging trends in marketing
- Digital marketing
- Virtual and Augmented Reality in marketing
- AI in marketing
- Network marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Marketing analytics
- Social marketing
5.1 Digital marketing
Digital marketing is defined as a marketing approach that primarily relies on the internet to connect
with the target audience through various digital media channels and platforms.
Digital marketing is an all-encompassing term that consists of digital channels, such as content
marketing, SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing and so on, to create
elaborate strategies to reach and connect with prospects and customers.
Types of Digital Marketing Channels
1. Website: The website is often the home to the digital marketing efforts. Brands and organizations
use websites to host content while using other mediums to distribute it. Most of the digital marketing
activities will link back to the website, where an action is expected to take place, and the conversions
are tracked. For example, the download of a file, booking of a product or a service, and so on.
2. Content Marketing: Content creation is the spine of the entire digital marketing strategy. Whether
there documented content marketing strategy or not, creating content to inform, entertain, inspire, or
persuade the buyers through other channels. Some of the most common formats of content include text
(blog posts), videos, images, infographics, podcasts, slide decks, and ebooks.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO acts as a jetpack for the content marketing
efforts. SEO consists of on-page and off-page activities to boost the website’s visibility in search
engine result pages (SERPs) for the preferred keywords. Earlier, SEO was primarily text-based, but in

recent years voice search has gained prominence as well, which is why SEO activities need to have a
conversational approach.
4. Digital Advertising:
Digital advertising is an umbrella term for various online advertising strategies. The typical
pricing/bidding strategies for digital advertising are cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-mille (CPM),
i.e., per thousand impressions. Common formats of digital advertising are search engine marketing
(SEM), display advertising, native advertising, social media advertising, and programmatic
advertising.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is the process of maintaining a database of cold and warm contacts and sending
them email alerts about brand, products and services. It is an effective channel to communicate with
audience on an ongoing basis. Email marketing is useful to build subscriber base, onboard new
customers, retain existing ones, promote discounts and offers, and distribute content.
6. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing ensure that it is present on the platforms where users are spending the most
time on. These include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Instagram, where they can
distribute content through both – organic and paid channels. Social media has also played a vital role
in propagating video marketing and the ephemeral content wave. It enables two-way communication
and the fans and followers can interact with the content through likes, comments, direct messages, or
by posting on the official pages.
7. Affiliate Marketing
The concept of affiliate marketing is similar to commission-based sales. Organizations provide
custom links to their affiliates. Affiliates earn a specific cut/commission every time someone buys
through their custom link. Influence marketing could be considered a modern and evolved spin-off of
affiliate marketing.
8. Mobile Marketing: The number of smartphone users across the world is expected to grow to 3.5
billion in 2020. To bank on this opportunity, brands connect with their users on
their smartphones through mobile apps, emails, mobile-friendly websites, and social media. By
connecting with users on the go, brands have been able to optimize their marketing strategies and send
timely messages.
9. Online PR:Online Public Relations is a type of earned media. This is when a member of the press
(journalist or online publication) mentions the brand through their stories, interviews, and so on.
Product reviews by customers and bloggers and Influencers mentioning the brand or products whether
paid or organic also contribute to the online PR.

10. Conversational AI: The rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
learning (ML) have paved the way for more evolved marketing strategies such as conversational AI.
As the adoption of voice search, chatbots, and digital assistants becomes prevalent, conversational AI
becomes vital to digital marketing.
11. Web Analytics: Web analytics is the practice of collecting, measuring, analyzing, and reporting
data. This is commonly tracked through Google Analytics, but websites could also build their
analytical tools. The data collected could be quantitative or qualitative. Web analytics helps marketers
understand the sources of traffic, what’s working and what the return on investments (ROI) is not, and
how they can enhance their digital marketing efforts.
Importance of Digital Marketing for Small and Large Businesses
Now that we have understood the scope of digital marketing in India, let us look into why it is
important for small and large-sized businesses. The focus for small businesses is brand awareness and
development.
1. Cost-Effective: Digital marketing efforts require barely any initial investment. This is great for
small businesses. Most digital marketing tools offer basic features free of cost. It is up to the
businesses to make the best use of them. Check out the types of digital marketing tools.
2. High Reach : With digital marketing, the reach is global. Hence, can take orders for product or
service from all over the world and it need not be limited to one area. And when the firm goes global,
it can still niche the audience to selected individuals. Thus, it’s a win-win.
3. Brand Awareness
If a customer has no awareness of the brand then he cannot make a conversion. To tackle this, brand
visibility is extremely important. With pay-per-click and other kinds of paid promotions, it can really
attract customers to the small business. Mostly recommended paltforms are Facebook and Instagram
Ads online course to understand some more.
4. Building a Customer Base: The challenge with small businesses is that one needs to build a
customer base. This is based on building a rapport with a strong customer relationship. With CRM
tools such as HubSpot and Oracle, can manage this easily.
The challenges for big businesses are slightly different. They need to retain existing business and
focus on brand reputation, client retention and on the growth of the business.
5. Brand Image

An established company’s image is everything. The right campaign strategies can make or break a
company’s brand image. Through digital marketing, effective campaigns can be designed and the
scope fixing any glitches immediately is there.
6. Measurable Results
With digital marketing, big companies can have real-time measurable results. With this, they can
analyze the effectiveness of the campaign and accordingly formulate strategies. Today, the
significance of analyzing data is very important to evaluate the effectiveness and success of the
campaigns.
7. Increase in ROI
Companies can increase their revenue with digital media by investing in ads and thus, increasing
conversions. The investment in digital media is much lesser than traditional media and the returns are
also higher. The firm can run ads on certain digital platforms for as low price.
8. Retaining Loyal Customers
The main goal of digital marketing for big businesses apart from increasing their business is ensuring
that their customer base is loyal and satisfied.
5.2 Virtual and Augmented Reality in marketing
Virtual Reality creates a digital environment that replaces the user’s real-world environment. Virtual
Reality is primarily used in gaming and entertainment applications. Augmented Reality overlays
digitally-created content into a user’s real-world environment. For instance, Augmented Reality can be
used to project sales and inventory data onto products on store shelves.
In recent times, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality market coming together to impact businesses
and enterprises. Most of the businesses, nowadays, have transformed into digital Augmented Reality
and Virtual reality, customers find it convenient to use digitized products. Reciprocating to this rise in
digitalization and more customers getting engaged in online activities, retailers are looking for ways to
leverage their digital presence.
Implicit learning and development is one of the domains where Augmented Reality and Virtual
Reality enabled products and services which are gaining traction among the user segments. Other
industries that will experience traction in the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality space are
aerospace, oil and gas and heavy machinery, where on-the-job training is conventionally difficult or

dangerous but can be transformed to an easier version through augmented reality and virtual reality
solutions.
The advent of 4G and high speed data communications have become key drivers for the adoption of
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Growing demand for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
gear among smartphone users, advent of entry-level Virtual Reality headsets in the market and
marketing push by smartphone manufacturers have boosted the Augmented Reality and Virtual
Reality market across the globe
5.3 AI in marketing
Artificial intelligence marketing is a method of leveraging customer data and AI concepts like machine
learning to anticipate your customer’s next move and improve the customer journey.
Core Elements of Artificial Intelligence Marketing
Artificial intelligence marketing solutions offer ways to bridge the gap between data science and
execution. The process of sifting through and analyzing huge dumps of data was once an
insurmountable process and is now not only feasible, but it’s actually easy

There are a few key elements that make the adoption of AI marketing as important as it is today,
including big data, machine learning, and the right solutions
Big Data
Big data is a pretty straightforward concept. It refers to a marketer’s ability to aggregate and segment
large sets of data with minimal manual work. Marketing teams can then use this data to ensure the
right message is being delivered to the right person at the right time, via their channel of choice.
Machine Learning
Machine learning platforms come in handy when marketers try to make sense of this huge data
repository. They can help identify trends or common occurrences and effectively predict common
insights, responses, and reactions so marketers can understand the root cause and likelihood of certain
actions repeating.
Powerful Solutions
Artificial intelligence marketing solutions truly understand the world in the same way a human would.
This means that the platforms can identify insightful concepts and themes across huge data sets,
incredibly fast. AI solutions also interpret emotion and communication like a human, which makes
these platforms able to understand open form content like social media, natural language,
and email responses.
Core Benefits of Artificial Intelligence Marketing
AI marketing has been gaining more attention among marketers because of the insights it provides.
According to a recent PWC study, 72% view AI as a “business advantage.”AI to influence marketing
outcomes in the upcoming months and years:
1. Increased Marketing ROI
Marketers can leverage AI to transform their marketing campaigns by using data insights and acting
on them in real time. AI platforms are able to make intelligent decisions on how to allocate funds
across channels, analyze high-performing ad placements, and increase value for the marketing
program. Using intelligent budget allocation and spending rules, if used correctly, AI platforms will
improve marketing ROI.

2. Personalized Content Delivery
With AI, marketers can take data and targeting to a whole new level. Audience analytics can go past
the typical demographics level, to understand people on an individual basis. Now, marketers can use
AI to both identify potential clients or buyers, and deliver the ideal content that’s most relevant to
them. This can be especially helpful in driving retail and e-commerce impact. With big data, machine
learning, and AI combined, there is little a savvy marketer can’t achieve.
3. Improved Campaign Reporting and Measurement
It can be difficult to aggregate and analyze the large amounts of data that today’s marketing campaigns
produce. This makes it hard for marketers to report on and prove campaign successes. Marketers can
utilize AI-enabled dashboards to gain a comprehensive view into the campaign elements that work,
replicate those patterns, and adjust campaigns accordingly to see increased success across campaigns.
In addition to smart campaign analytics, these tools also enable enhanced reporting insights.
4. Enhanced Marketing Team Performance
AI can conduct data analysis much faster than humans. Let artificial intelligence solutions tackle the
time-consuming tasks and free up time for your marketing team to focus on what matters – strategy.
With AI, marketers can use real-time analytics to make better campaign decisions and improve overall
performance.
5. Examples and Use Cases for Artificial Intelligence Marketing
Artificial intelligence can be used for a number of different reasons including campaign performance,
customer experience, and marketing efficiency. These improvements can be realized in a multitude of
ways including:
6. Personalized Messaging
With AI, marketers can realize improved personalization and messaging success. Often marketers can
have trouble determining where to and when to place advertisements and can struggle with figuring
out what content to deliver individuals. Artificial intelligence enables programmatic advertising to
help organizations place bids on ad space that is relevant to their target audiences in real-time.
7. Smarter Ads

Marketers are already dipping their toes into smarter ads, with account-based marketing solutions, but
AI helps teams take this a layer further for truly insightful analysis. With a new abundance of data
available, online ads can become smarter and more effective. AI solutions can dig deep into keyword
searches, social profiles, and other online data for human-level outcomes.
8. More Intelligent Searches
As advanced technology solutions grow smarter, it’s important to remember that audiences are
becoming smarter as well. Thanks to social media and rapid-fire search engines (thanks Google!),
people find what they are looking for faster than ever before. AI and big data solutions can actually
analyze these search patterns and help marketers identify key areas where they should focus their
efforts.
9. Relying on Chatbots
Customer service and retention is another area where AI will play a huge role in the future. Many chat
functions and other direct-to-consumer engagement avenues are already being run by AI bots.
Companies can save employee time and expenditures with these tactics. AI bots also have access to an
entire internet’s worth of data, information, and search histories, making them much more efficient
than their human counterparts.
10. Continued Learning and Predictive Analytics
Not only can AI be used to uncover once-hidden insights, it can actually be taught and learn to
incorporate previously uncovered insights into new campaigns, optimizing outreach to target only the
most relevant users. Over time, these AI solutions will become even more intelligent, effectively
eliminating waste, greatly increasing conversions, and promoting real-time decision-making for
proactive marketing.
5.4 Network marketing
Network marketing is basically a medium of marketing that manufacturers use to expand their sales.
Manufacturers use them when they have to deal with several distributors to push out their products.
Sometimes, these distributors might have sub-distributors. As a result, this leads to a “network” of
distributors that operate at various levels of the distribution chain.

Manufacturers use this vast network of distributors to market their products to customers at various
levels. This enables them to reach out to even more customers indirectly. These distributors and dealers,
therefore, act as independent representatives of the company. As a result, this way the company can
market their goods widely without spending more money on traditional methods of marketing,
like advertising.
Structure of Network Marketing
Firstly, manufacturers require several distributors, sub-distributors and dealers in order to create a
network marketing structure.
Secondly, these distributors procure goods from manufacturers themselves at wholesale prices. They may
either use them personally or they may sell them to other distributors for a profit. This chain continues
further. The distributors, thus, will end up marketing goods until they reach customers or else they may
become final customers themselves.
Furthermore, these distributors get an opportunity to make some profits from this marketing network.
They can receive some commission from manufacturers on the basis of the total volume of goods they
buy and sell. Hence, the functioning of these distributors is similar to that of insurance agents.
Use of Network Marketing
Manufacturers generally use network marketing in business structures that require multi-level marketing.
This is because such business models involve a large network of distributors and sub-distributors.
It is also of great use for distributors themselves because they can make an earning from it. Most
companies like Amway and Tupperware tie-up with people who put in part-time work for this. Many
women in India also become distributors and actively work with manufacturers directly.
Advantages of Network Marketing
 There are absolutely no limits on the size of the network marketing structure. This happens
because companies can tie-up with innumerable people to become distributors. Further,
distributors can further c0-ordinate with other sub-distributors to expand the company’s sales.

 Due to a reliable and robust distribution network that engages customers directly, companies do
not need to rely on advertising to market their goods.
 The structure of distributors also reduces the profit margins of retailers that companies consider as
an expense. These margins get passed on to distributors and the companies do not have to bear
their burden.
 Another advantage is that companies do not need to spend a lot of money on storage and
distribution. This is because distributors end up bearing these expenses themselves.
 Finally, this structure allows distributors to earn an unlimited income from their dealings with the
company. They can earn an income from their own profits as well as commissions.
Disadvantages of Network Marketing
 As manufacturers depend on distributors to determine consumer demand, it can be difficult to
predict production targets. They may end up under or over-stocking their products.
 In this form of business, it is basically the distributors who facilitate delivery of goods to final
customers. Manufacturers have a limited role in this regard. As a result, they may find it difficult to
control distribution and sales.
5.5 Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a process in which an affiliate will promote a business’s products and services
and receives a commission if the affiliate achieves a sale. An affiliate is a person that utilizes its
networks and online marketing capabilities to promote products and services.
Affiliate marketing and the use of affiliate marketers is a sales and performance-based advertising
method that offers many benefits to both the business and the marketer.When a product is excellent,
and the marketers’ online marketing skills match, both will achieve higher sales and brand awareness.
Affiliate marketing is a beneficial method for any business that wants to grow.
Growing your affiliate marketing strategy is a long process that involves individuals and giving them
the right tools and incentives to promote the brand and products. Most commonly, companies and
marketers use affiliate marketing in the online marketing world. It can also include the contribution of
offline and physical sales if that’s what the company desires.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work In A Nutshell: At its core affiliate marketing is simple, and
here it is in six simple steps:
1. The affiliate and the business get into a relationship either through a third-party (an affiliate
network) or directly.
2. An Affiliate shares the product and service to their network of choice (typically a link or a coupon)
3. Potential customer engages with the link.
4. Customer lands on the businesses landing page
5. The customer makes a purchase.
6. The business gets the sales, and the affiliate marketer receives a commission.
Affiliate marketing, therefore, consists of three (four if you’re utilizing a network) stakeholders:
 The marketer (also called a publisher),
 the product provider (or the one who distributes the products and the services),
 And the customer.
The relationship between the marketer and product producer depends on the nature of the deals in
place between them. A customer will purchase from a business, and the customer’s first interaction
will be with the marketer. A business can streamline its affiliate process and won’t need to manage the
process themselves, using an affiliate network, although increased costs are something to consider.
Affiliate Marketing Benefits For Businesses
1. A New Profitable Sales Channel
2. Benefits A Variety Of Products
3. Cost-Effective
4. Increase Competitive Advantage

5. New Audiences Through Influencers
6. Affiliate Marketers And Access To Their Channels
7. Performance-Based Advertising
8. Knowledge From Affiliates
9. Analytics and Campaign Performance
10. Easy To Start And Manage
Benefits a variety of Products: Products that are perfect for affiliate marketing has a couple of
the following characteristics:
 High end or high margin
 Scalable
 Online (or online distribution)
 Fits a niche
 Growing trend
 Social traction
 Share ability for virality
Amazon has shown that low margin products are still a viable option for affiliate marketing, but small
percentages for affiliates might affect more extensive opportunities. But as customers would trust the
supplying company and the affiliate, it’s a combination hard to miss.
Affiliate can increase online business:
 Leveraging social media presence (social media marketing)
 Blogging with the power of search engine optimization and content marketing
 Search Engine Marketing
 Paid online advertising (Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube)
 Email Marketing
 Leveraging professional and personal networks