The Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behavior

 The Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behavior
 
Introduction
 
The last decade has witnessed several major changes in the world economy. These changes are attributed to globalization of trade market, rising expectations of customers, and customization of products and services. The Internet era has transformed almost everything, including shifting our personal inspirations to professional aspirations. It has influenced our education, occupation, lifestyle, achievements, possessions, relations, beliefs, and perception of life. We are living in the world that overwhelms us with numerous choices. The customization of products has opened new vistas for visionaries. On one hand, it is a boon for customers as well as the corporate world; on the other hand, it has consumed businesses that could not withstand the challenge. Since the environment around us is getting dynamic day by day, so will be the lifespan of the companies. A number of companies, which were able to sustain in the last 50 years, will be much larger than the number of companies, which will survive in the next 50 years, and this is attributed to constantly changing landscape around us all.

Globalization has impacted the whole world, and Belgium is no exception. The global scenario has totally changed with the rise of BRICS and with the scenario of 2008. Economic growth is transferred to Asian countries and Europe has lost much of its economic power with the exception of a few nations. Like most of the European nations, Belgium too has faced economic instability in past few years. It is high time for the country to introspect and resuscitate its business and marketing strategies to survive in the world market. The media industry in the Belgium has evolved from print to digital, and today, many companies are using this medium to attract local and global customers. Though, online marketing has an edge over all other mediums, it is not easy and simple to get customers’ attention in this upsurge of information. Therefore, it is essential to understand the major challenges in the field and to find out a way to combat them.

In Belgium, digital media came into existence about a decade ago. According to a 2008 statistical report, approximately 87.5% of the population had internet access (highest in Europe); among them 98% are youth (Bakker, 2009). This is a massive number, and it indicates that the country is ready for digital revolution. Having said this, we also need to think that globalization can play a substantial role in digital transformation. Since a number of people have internet access, they can be lured into buying global products by the companies, which are not based in Belgium, and this is true for any country. Hence, the digital marketing has to be customized but at the same time globalized as well; so, that it appeals to a wide diaspora.

The main challenge for digital marketing is plethora of digital space. As a marketing manager, should one focus on search engines like Google, Alta vista, Yahoo, etc. or p2p (peer to peer) sites like YouTube, etc.? It is a big dilemma for every marketing manager. These companies need to identify customer’s characteristics who visits these sites, but another question propping here is, “Do all the customers visit these sites for same content?” The answer is ‘no ‘and hence, how can a company dynamically build up the content to address these customer segments? As previously explained, customers no longer have a dearth of choices. If they cannot relate themselves to any content, they will simply stop buying any products for that company. Hence, the integrated marketing communication should be coherent about the product starting from its marketing strategy to the culminating at launching of media campaign.

There are certain steps a company should take in this digital transformation to thrive, sustain, and outlast the competition. Following are the most significant among them:

Identifying the target audience.
Identifying the appropriate internet pages/sites to advertise the products.
Using optimization of search engine in order to increase visitors’ rate for the site by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of search engine.
Using cost-effective approach to increase the sales and thereby increasing the profitability margin.
Using engaging content so that customer can relate himself to the product.
The main objective of the given research proposal is to determine digital media effects on consumer behavior. To identify this behavior, we will focus on two major questions:

How the quality of content affects the buying propensity of customers?
Can discount coupons enhance customer’s loyalty to the company?
Today, many companies are investing heavily in digital advertising. However, it is crucial to know how much impact it is making in top line of a company.

Theoretical Framework
As discussed above, the content of communication has a far ever lasting impact on