Marketing 4.0: From Traditional to Digital

Since the intimacy of us and internet start to get closer, it changes almost every aspect of our life. From how we interact, work, play, watch movies, read books, and even find your personal love. Also, people put more trust in a digital transaction when they need to check all of their wishlists. I think this is what makes web marketing presenting itself as the answer to make people use the internet more and purchase whatever products they offer.

So let's jump to a specific topic. E-Commerce business has a lot of development these days. Perhaps for a big country like United State or Europe, people get used to doing e-commerce business or buy from an online store. But for specific developing country like Indonesia or South East Asia, people rarely use it because it seems dangerous and can't be trusted. They go to an offline store just like usual.

But today it's different. The father of modern marketing, Philip Kotler has released a book named Marketing 4.0 with his companions, Hermawan Kartajaya and Iwan Setiawan. There are two main points that we can learn from this new marketing theory. And I think we can innovate to implement this theory in web marketing field.

Paradox

Is online marketing disrupt the offline one? The answer is definitely no. The first thing we should learn is the term ‘coexist' between online and offline marketing. Both of them is perfecting one another to give an amazing experience when you buy something from a store. So it's basically not an ‘online store'. Perhaps we should call it an ‘integrated store'.

The term ‘coexist' exist because you can't erase it from the world. And actually, you don't have to do so. Internet of things makes thousand or even million people build a store on the internet. They use web marketing or another digital marketing method as their weapon to win the competition. But if we can add an offline experience to the customer, I think (and also Philip Kotler) that it could be your competitive advantage to gain more customer and sales.

Advocate

Advocate is one of the main sources of every purchase that your customers do. Look at any e-commerce website, everyone knows that review and advocate are important to lift up the sales. If the product is good, people tend to share it with another prospective customer. Even in a mobile app, we ‘forced' to review whatever product we have bought. Whether it's good or bad, you have to tell anyone about this product. So it's quite fair because everyone will do their best effort to make a greatest product or service.

And remember, if you make a fake review, in my opinion, I think it's good in short-term goal, but sooner or later your customer will know that it's fake and that's the end of your company. Integrity is an important part to make a positive advocate.

Web Marketing

Web marketing is any product, service, or advertisement that serves in online media. Particularly in a website. Just like Amazon or eBay that also use web marketing as their way to maintain and elevate their sales. If you are an e-commerce player, then I think it's important to understand how web marketing works.

Types of Web Marketing

Search engine optimization is the most common web marketing method. But there is more and you can add this to your note. Just in case you will use it in the future.

  • Display Advertising: Use banner in homepage and make it enticing.
  • Email Marketing: Subscription is an old method, yet still effective to attract a customer. At least to visit and see your newest product, email marketing is more than enough. But if you need to
  • Inbound Marketing: Using blog site, video, or another interactive media as your marketing method is make people attached to your website. They will stay a little longer. Like YouTube that also use video to attract its customer to stay on the site. They also make an autoplay button to watch more videos. A well-made web marketing to keep you stay and live in a world full of videos.
  • Social Media Marketing: Well, I think almost everyone who has internet connection plays social media in their daily basis. Aside from its case about Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has a feature to make an advertisement for specific people. This could help you to analyze the Facebook users and use its data as your stepping stone to build an effective marketing strategy.
  • Reward System: Using point and virtual member card to make people want to give you more money. It's like playing a game, right?



Marketing 4.0 in Web Marketing
Integration of Online and Offline Methods

Web marketing is an online method. But making a traditional customer service is an ‘offline' way to elevate your productivity. How you interact with your customer is important to maintain their expectation. When they see all review on your website, they think that you are

So how about the offline method? Let's jump to another industry. We know that most banks use a conventional meeting when you need to store or withdraw your money. But what if there is a bank that uses video call? In fact, there is a bank that uses this method. You can talk with the teller and make your own transaction in real time. It's a modified offline method and effective to appeal more prospective customer.

Web marketing is used as the main marketing strategy and it's backed up with an offline strategy like a billboard, commercial break, or something else.

Advocate and Endorsement

If you use an Android device and open one app in the play store, the first thing you will see is the number of downloads, rating, app category, and similar app that you choose to find more. Google understands the importance of advocate because the app is used worldwide and you can read anyone opinion about the mobile app. If it's good, you can tap the install button right away. But if it's bad, you will find another app that has a good rating. At least it's 4.0 or above.

To make your review more appealing, you can place it on the top of the page and make it a bit bigger than usual. And don't forget that it has to be understood by your customer. If your review doesn't have any explanation, it would be hard for the customer to judge the product.

You can use an old endorsement like the commercial break on TV or use a billboard. Because we don't exactly know how people aware of your product and start to ask more about it. You can set up a research at first to make it more efficient.