Marque Magazine - October Edition

FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to the very special edition of Marque magazine.

I am delighted that the marketing club has been given the chance to use its monthly publication as a forum for all young marketing enthusiasts who want to express their opinions on a variety of themes. It brings me great pleasure to write this letter as Editor of this one-of-a-kind issue of the magazine.

The theme of October's edition revolves around how micro-influencers contribute to modern marketing, nudge marketing, block chain revolutionizing digital marketing, and interactive marketing.

I extend my warmest gratitude to all the authors for their interest, enthusiasm, and well-documented submissions of excellent articles and participation in this magazine’s building. I " rmly believe that no matter how your magazine is delivered; either at your doorstep or to your computer, printed on glossy stock or on cheap tabloid paper, appearing on your iPad or your cell phone screen, it is still the work of an editorial team for a discerning audience, a beautiful and meaningful package of ideas, words and images put together by a group of experts for its readers.

While technology efficiently delivers new stories to our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, magazines are all about context – how ideas and images are presented in relation to one another and spanning a broader perspective. We, the editors, will always strive to keep you engaged.

Will Blockchain Revolutionize Digital Marketing?

Author: Siddharth Harish Pillai IIM Ranchi

Introduction

Marketing does not end with offering customers products they would want to buy; it also involves maintaining good relations with these customers through ethical means. As changes in the technological landscape change the ways buyers, sellers, and the market operates, it becomes imperative for an entity's marketing efforts to keep abreast of these changes to stay relevant.

A clear indication of these dynamic shifts is exemplified by the various channels used by businesses to advertise their products. Beginning with pamphlets, newspapers, television, and billboards to the Internet today, marketers have, over time, tried to determine the best medium to communicate their message to their target audience in the most effective manner. The Internet and the emergence of digital marketing have provided firms with unparalleled engagement with their customers. Personalization and instant information availability are some of the parameters that make digital ads

stand out to customers.

Another contemporary technology, the blockchain, is being used by numerous firms to attain the highest standards of operational efficiency and enhance productivity. Blockchain has brought about a revolution in terms of identifying inefficiencies and opportunities and encouraging innovation. Hence, it is not surprising that Gartner, in 2019, considered blockchain to be the most promising technology in digital marketing. Blockchain has the potential to improve customer engagement, tackle privacy concerns of consumers, and improve security. But before we explore how blockchain can bring about a disruption in the field of digital marketing, let us understand the intricacies of digital marketing and blockchain technology, one at a time.

Blockchain In Business

A blockchain is a shared, permanent ledger that facilitates the recording of transactions and tracking

of assets in a business network. Any tangible or intangible asset can be exchanged and recorded on a blockchain network without the need for intermediaries.

Information is essential to business. It is best if it is received instantaneously and is accurate. Blockchain is the best technology for delivering that information because it offers real-time, shareable, and entirely transparent data kept on an immutable ledger and accessible exclusively to members of a closed network. A blockchain network can monitor orders,

payments, accounts, and production, among other things. Furthermore, because everyone has access to the same version of the truth, you can see every feature of a transaction from beginning to end, boosting your confidence and opening up new opportunities.

Digital Marketing: Is Everything Hunky-dory?

When it first originated in the 1990s, the idea of digital marketing was mainly applied to consumer-focused commercials. However, as digital marketing evolved

over the past 20 years, the concept has changed to emphasize on establishing customer connections. The main concerns of digital marketing are how to engage clients, create long-lasting relationships, and adapt to their changing needs. Digital marketing may be formally defined as "an adaptive, technologyenabled process by which enterprises engage with customers and partners to jointly create, convey, deliver, and sustain value for all stakeholders.”

Digital marketing is quite broad and covers a variety of subjects, including e-commerce, analytics, social media marketing, mobile marketing, and customer data mining. Businesses have primarily used digital marketing for online search marketing, banner ads, and digital advertising.

However, digital marketing, like all advertising platforms, has flaws. Current platforms can be inefficient and expensive for marketers. Consumers have expressed concerns about the ethics of using these platforms. Do businesses have the right to use personal information collected to market their products in a targeted manner with the goal of increasing sales? Privacy concerns have risen in recent years in relation to companies such as Google and Facebook, which are infamous for collecting personal data. Being among the most popular platforms for digital advertising, these companies play an essential role in nurturing digital marketing and controlling its evolution.

Enter blockchain: a new age technology that has the potential to provide appropriate solutions to these challenges.

How Can Blockchain Transform Digital Marketing?

Marketers face difficulties in tracking keywords. First, search engine algorithms change frequently enough that marketers must constantly adjust their strategies. Second, monitoring keywords across devices and determining whether a search is local or national is difficult. Hence, many marketers must guess or make assumptions when creating reports. Marketers could use blockchain to track keywords with real numbers. A blockchain-based tracker could account for all the inconsistencies that marketers currently account for when summarizing their efforts. This technology could track keyword positions across all devices and check locations. Marketers could then use this data to develop more data-driven, precise campaigns.

Currently, data collection for marketing purposes takes a variety of forms. Many marketers collect data from various sources, compile it, and then run a campaign based on it. This method is ineffective, and many campaigns rely on inconsistent or inaccurate data. Since blockchain transactions are decentralized, marketers can collect data directly from the primary source: the consumer. Marketers can pay or incentivize customers to provide data.

While this has a higher initial cost, the return-oninvestment from the campaign based on this data is likely to be higher. Many blockchain technologies provide greater transparency to consumers. They know who has access to their data and how those businesses obtained it. The blockchain may enable the emergence of new platforms capable of competing with current advertising behemoths such as Facebook and Googlecompanies infamous for profiting by collecting users' data and then selling it off to third parties.

Potential Drawbacks

The first disadvantage of using blockchain is that the data you enter will be immutable. It is also interesting to note that if a business owns 50% or more of the nodes (basic units of a data structure) on the blockchain network, it can easily control the data, making it vulnerable.

Another disadvantage of blockchain is the high cost of implementation. In fact, most blockchain technologies include Hyperledger (an enterprise blockchain that aids in business applications), which necessitates significant organizational investment. There are numerous costs associated with hiring developers, managing teams in various aspects of blockchain technology, and licensing fees if you choose paid blockchain technology. The maintenance

costs associated with the solution must also be borne in mind. Many businesses may face expenses to the tune of millions of dollars.

The Bottom Line

While usually a step behind, advertising always aims to keep up with current trends and reach people through platforms that are most appropriate for their businesses. Since the very advent of the Internet and social media, the importance of utilizing these platforms to interact with customers has skyrocketed. However, digital marketing has its cons, and blockchain has the potential to take these challenges head-on.

Because we are surrounded by advertisements all the time, whether in the physical or the digital world, the importance of targeted ads has grown significantly. Consumers can ignore advertisements, making it difficult for businesses to stand out in a sea of advertisers and competitors. Thus, creating compelling advertisements and targeting customers based on their interests is critical in today's advertising world.

The marketing industry appears to be just getting started with blockchain technology, but the possibilities and implications are limitless.

The Influence of Nudge Theory on Marketing

Author: Tanisha Jain Delhi Technological University

Introduction

In a company, management deals with several different tangents, from purchase, operations, and finance to final consumer marketing. In between these various processes, the one constant thing is ‘man.’ While within an organization, there are human resources or simply put, ‘employees.’ Outside the organization, there are consumers who are the ultimate reason for a company’s success. Understanding the consumers and their behavior is the key to a successful marketing strategy. This forms the basic foundation of nudge marketing.

What is Nudge Marketing?

Nudge marketing is a type of marketing that is based on behavioral economics. It is where psychology meets economics. Nudging is a concept where marketers attempt to carefully understand the psyche of various consumers and their buying behavior. With this, they design selling techniques that aim to manipulate consumers’ purchase decisions.

The term "nudge" was coined by economist Richard

Thaler, who also received the prestigious Nobel Prize for his contribution to behavioral economics. He defined nudge theory as "choice architecture that alters people's behavior predictably.”

When we enter a market, nudges are present all around us, from big showrooms to small shopkeepers. We’ve been victims of seller nudging techniques for centuries. A very simple example to understand the concept is: when we go to any fast-food joint and order, say, a burger.

The counter service person would ask, “would you like fries with that?” That’s a gentle nudge. When given the option, we are more likely to buy fries as well.

Examples of Nudge Theory in Everyday Marketing

E-commerce websites generally add symbols to suggest that a particular product is ‘the most popular among customers.’ This catches the eye and gives a subtle suggestion that since everyone is liking the product, it would be a perfect choice for them.

Often marketers follow the concept of “the default option,” which is another nudge. Say, for example, a streaming platform has different plans, “basic, premium, and gold.” The platform puts premium as a default option.

Default options are pre-set actions that would automatically be considered if the decision-maker does not specify anything. Generally, default options are set as something that would be in favor of the company and consumers tend to choose that.

Sometimes, in digital marketing, details of premium plans are mentioned on the left while standard plans are on the right. This is known as ‘the anchoring effect.’ Through this, marketers take advantage of consumer psychology, which suggests that customers are more likely to favor the option they read about first.

Another nudge that is frequently utilized in both marketing, as well as finance, is "the decoy effect." It is a phenomenon where consumers are presented with a less-attractive third option, ‘the decoy’ to make them choose between the other two alternatives. For example, a small drink would cost ₹ 100, a mediumsized drink is ₹250, and a third option for a large drink costs ₹300.

positive behavior in their customers.

For instance, it is often seen that there is an extra change for a plastic carry bag by big retail chains, this is done to minimize plastic consumption because many customers would rather not pay the extra fee. Some stores would place their healthy food options more prominently than the unhealthy ones; this slight nudge can help people adopt good eating habits.

Designing Nudges that have the Maximum Impact

A few factors need to be considered while developing nudges for one's organization. According to Richard Thaler in his theory, he mentions that nudges should never be misleading, and the consumer should always have the final say. Nudges are just to influence a decision, but they should not be harmful and always be in the best interest of the consumers.

• To develop a nudge strategy, one should keep in mind the target audience. When the company knows who they are marketing to, they can choose the words and phrases that will resonate with them the most. By and large, consumers choose companies that have social proof markers such as ‘bestseller’, ‘most popular’, ‘top recommended’, and so on.

• The marketers can also highlight the unique selling point (USP) of the product. The product's unique selling point is something that distinguishes it from the competition. The use of such messages can nudge them to buy that company’s product offering.

• The final step in creating the most effective strategy is to test the nudges. Check if the nudges are working and make changes according to how the consumer behaves.

The company doesn’t expect consumers to buy the large option, but this would nudge the consumers to buy the second most expensive item on the menu which is the medium drink.

Several organizations also use nudges as a social marketing strategy to establish good habits and

In nudge marketing, the most important thing to remember is that "even the slightest nudge can have the biggest influence." Nudges aim to make customers' decision-making process easier. When applied wisely, they can be the most cost-effective kind of marketing.

As they say, "The consumer is God, understand them and one will rule the market!"

Role of Micro-influencers in Modern Marketing

Author: Ajeet Singh IIM Jammu

Introduction

Modern marketing strategy is all about customer experience at every touch point, building long-term relationships with the customers, adapting to the changes that are taking place in the digital landscape and marketing along multiple channels to reach the potential customers. A critical component of this strategy is "Influencer Marketing."

Almost all brands rely on influencer marketing strategies to promote their products in the market. However, a question that arises "Is Influencer marketing a recent trend?". The answer is that influencer marketing is not a new concept, as it has been in existence in some form or the other for the past 200 years. The term's literal meaning is that those who have influence could sway the buying decisions of others. For example- A celebrity's endorsement of a particular product is bound to sway the buying decision of an ordinary person.

Impact of Social Media on Influencer marketing

In the 90s and early 2000s, influential marketing campaigns were conducted via billboards, newspapers, and television advertisements where celebrity stars or famous sports personalities could be seen endorsing products. However, all that began to change with the advent of social media.

Social media has been a boon for influential marketing as it has contributed to the exponential rise of influencer marketing business across the globe. Apart from the growth in market size, the social media revolution gave birth to the scores of market influencers. Earlier, Market influencers were only celebrity stars and famous sports personalities. However, today ordinary people can too become market influencers.

These market influencers,

based on the number of followers they have, can be divided into three categories, namely-

• Macro influencers (More than 1,00,000 followers)

• Micro-influencers (between 5k-100k followers)

• Nano influencers (less than 5,000 followers)

Rise of Micro-influencers in Modern-day Marketing

In recent years, an interesting trend has been observed that many of the big brands have collaborated with micro-influencers to promote their products in the market. So, what is the reason behind this trend? This article will try to answer this question and portray the role of micro-influencers in modern-day marketing.

The reasons why more and more brands are collaborating with micro-influencers are-

1. Higher engagement rate- Micro-influencers have

a higher engagement rate than macro-influencers as their audience comes in the niche category. It could be dog lovers in Bangalore or teenagers who are sneakerheads. Since they target a niche audience, hence their engagement rate is high.

selective while collaborating with brands.

5. Authentic Content- Another reason for the microinfluencers growing popularity is their authentic content. Most of them take pride in bringing honest reviews of the products to their followers. This guarantee of authenticity and honest reviews helps drive the sale of the products.

Are Micro-influencers the Best Brand Advocates?

** These two graphs show that influencers with fewer followers have a higher engagement rate.

2. Cost-effective- The cost of collaborating with a micro-influencer is less than with mega-influencers. Thus, brands can collaborate with many microinfluencers to promote their products.

The answer to this is quite simple- It ultimately depends on an organisation's goal. If the brand wants to reach out to more people and drive quick sales, then collaborating with macro-influencers makes more sense.

**The above table gives a rough idea of payment figures to the two influencers across different genres

Also, an interesting point to note is that on Instagram, there are 0.32% of accounts with 100K to 1 million + followers. This limits the option pool for the brand in the macro-influencer category. However, no such limitation is there in the micro-influencer category.

3. More profound Sense of Connection- celebrity stars and other mega influencers have a lot of glamour attached to them, so an ordinary person may find it difficult to relate to these personalities. However, micro-influencers are at a peer level and are thus far more relatable. Hence, there is a deeper sense of connection with them.

4. Easier to work with- Since most of the microinfluencers are focussing on their growth as well, therefore, they are willing to work with more brands as compared to macro-influencers who are more

On the other hand, if they want to build brand loyalty, customer relations and get critical feedback about their product, then collaborating with microinfluencers is the way forward

Conclusion

Modern-day marketing strategy is formulated by keeping customer engagement at the centre stage.

For a brand to become successful, it must have healthy interaction with its customers and know what they want.

In other words, the company should have greater ground-level awareness, which can only be there when constant customer engagement exists, and this is where micro-influencers play their role.

#BUZZFEED

#BUZZFEED Pooja Hegde joining hands with Forever New is just what the stylish youth of today needed! Her unmatched style, elegance and glamour makes this partnership all the more worthwhile for Forever New.

Zomato offers Rs. 25 lakh for consumer created ad

Zomato is proof that they can turn criticism into a super innovative marketing campaign. After consumers. After consumers expressed their growing boredom with Zomato’s monotonous YouTube and TV ads, some users took to social media to criticize Zomato’s butter chicken ad. However, Zoamto seems to have played its cards well by coming up with a smart idea to help it come up with fun campaigns while engaging with their customers.

The latest campaign ‘The Best Time Ever’ focusses on portraying Pooja as both fun and sexy donning the newest collection of Forever New. Ms. Carolyn Mackenzie, The Founder and Managing Director of Forever New, told in a recent interview that the entire team at Forever New is excited to collaborate with Miss Hegde for her positivity and elegance resonates with their brand and customers.

The firm went all out, proclaiming that the ads do suck. So now, it has opened the floor for creative ideas from customers. What was commendable was that, apart from the novel idea, they also shared the feeling with their customers that made them win many hearts.

On the whole, this strategic move by Forever New is interesting to look at keeping in mind how Pooja’s fun, classy & youthful aura will benefit the brand by connecting more with its audience!

Pooja Hegde becomes the brand ambassador for Forever New

#BUZZFEED

#BUZZFEED

#BUZZFEED

Latest NIC Honestly Natural Ice Cream creates Buzz on Youtube

The fastest-growing ice cream brand in India, NIC Honestly Natural Ice Cream, has won consumers’ hearts with a Navratri advertisement currently live on YouTube.

Zomato offers Rs. 25 lakh for consumer created ad

Over 1 crore impressions and 7 million views have been received for the advertisement. The advertisement touts the #UpvaasFriendly ice cream flavours from NIC Honestly Natural Ice Cream, which are manufactured from only natural components like pure milk, fruits, and dried fruits. They promise to make your fast: healthy, and delicious at the same time.

Zomato is proof that they can turn criticism into a super innovative marketing campaign. After consumers. After consumers expressed their growing boredom with Zomato’s monotonous YouTube and TV ads, some users took to social media to criticize Zomato’s butter chicken ad. However, Zoamto seems to have played its cards well by coming up with a smart idea to help it come up with fun campaigns while engaging with their customers.

Sanjiv Shah, Director of NIC Honestly Natural Ice Cream, commented on the advertisement: “The idea behind the ad campaign was simple, what do you consume during upvas or fasting, it is majorly milk, fruits and dry fruits, and that is exactly what our ice creams are made up of, pure milk, fruits and dry fruits. This makes NIC #UpvasFriendly. We want to be a part of every celebration and festival of our beloved consumers. Honestly Natural is not just our motto, but also our promise.”

The firm went all out, proclaiming that the ads do suck. So now, it has opened the floor for creative ideas from customers. What was commendable was that, apart from the novel idea, they also shared the feeling with their customers that made them win many hearts.

#BUZZFEED

Interactive Marketing:

Importance of Social Media in Building Brand Transparency for Boosting Consumer Trust

Author: Attiso Bhowmick University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

Introduction

Recent brand scandals like the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the Toyota recalls have enhanced the consumer’s disregard for the marketing claims as put forward by a company. Coupled with the exaggerated marketing claims and the general information asymmetry encompassing all marketing practices have further skewed public opinion towards a need for brand transparency.

This has focused business management to focus on

several variables that can signal a company’s credibility and reinforce brand integrity.

The Signal theory given by Spencer in 1973 suggests that brand transparency or the extent to which a company discloses its internal processes can offer a credible signal to boost a brands trustworthiness and integrity in the eyes of the consumer.

Trust has been shown to be an important factor

that determine consumer purchasing decisions and customer loyalty, which is essential for any customercentric company.

This is why brand transparency is a predominant concept in building consumer trust.

Current Scenario

Brand transparency and brand reputation go handin-hand. In this hyperconnected world, the brand reputation directly depends on the shoulders of strong customer trust, which can only be earned through brand transparency. Thus, it is not a farfetched notion to actually use brand reputation as a parameter for estimating brand transparency.

The graph above (Graph 1) shows what factors

corporate executive considers for determining their brand reputation. In that list important factors like quality of products & services and financial performance rank high as usual.

However, a staggering observation can be made when it is seen that the company’s social media image is overlooked to a large extend. Only a meagre 32% of respondents consider it useful to estimate their brand reputation.

Again, according to Clutch 2018 online reputation management survey, social media offers the best insights for monitoring the brand’s reputation online. This asymmetry of facts suggests that brands and consumers are often not on the same page, which can cause consumers to lose their trust on the brand.

How Social-Media can be Used for Brand Transparency

The statistics hereby show the importance and impact social media has on promoting brand transparency. Not every interaction that the company makes on social media generate equal consumer reaction. Some acts can leverage greater support and praise from the consumers, which in turn can conveniently increase the brand’s transparency in the eyes of the consumers concerned.

In the graph above (Graph 2) it shows a survey conducted by Sprouts Socials on the topics that demonstrate a brand’s transparency in social media. The maximum percentage of respondents (61%) have selected that admitting mistakes publicly on social media signifies a sense of social responsibility and ethical integrity on the part of the company. Consequently, this also demonstrates maximum brand transparency.

Conversely, using social media to discuss political and social issues and the company’s business performance has the least effect in displaying brand’s transparency. This has several insights which will be discussed shortly.

It seems imperative to say that the use of social media as a positive driver for brand reputation and transparency is beyond a mere speculation. The statistics and discourse have been more than sufficient to authenticate its importance and effectiveness. However, that is only a mere part of the total equation. Another question arises, how does a brand benefit from all these? The graph alongside (Graph 3) shows the consumer reaction towards such displays of brand transparency. 53% of the total respondents were inclined towards a repurchase and 42% of them agreed that they would recommend the brand to their family and friends.

This is very important as such respondents would serve as nodal points for more marketing lead generation which in turn can boost sales. 37% of the respondents would purchase more from such brands which show transparency in social media. Thus, a plethora of positive effects can be observed from maintaining a positive brand image through brand transparency in social media.

Inference and Discussion

The above analysis serves some valuable insights which may sound paradoxical but actually make

sense in the real world. It is understandable to assume that many brands can be quite reluctant in disclosing their business-related information to general public owing to security and privacy reasons.

The concept of brand transparency might appear to be in direct conflict with this. However, the surveys indicate something far more interesting.

The consumer is not necessarily interested in knowing the complex business mechanisms that are at work behind a brand. No respondents in the survey were interested in such topics.

They were mainly focused how the company treat their products and services and how customercentric the company is. Sure, they may be interested in knowing the demographics of the company’s employees to ascertain the workplace diversity, or the financial performances, but they form only a minority. The majority of the consumers expect a form of social responsibility and ethical treatments from a company.

They don’t want the company to hide behind exorbitant marketing gimmicks but introduce their products in a realistic way, with a few minor inherent flaws, which is quite natural for anything to have. Rather than having an all-perfect product, they prefer something real and that feels familiar.

This is the true essence of having a brand transparency: not a practice to disclose all corporate information but to instill a sense of closeness and familiarity to its customers.

Conclusion

The following discourse has been apt in describing the importance of having brand transparency and also how it can be effectively implemented through social media. In the future, the focus on institutional trust is going to determine the scalability of any business.

At a standpoint where a bird’s eye view of the entire business sector is virtually impossible and the prediction of dynamics in brandconsumer interaction is beyond human abilities, it is instrumental to make use of every aspect and methods to increase and strengthen the customer base of a company.

Using social media to increase brand transparency and, in turn, boosting consumer trust is key in this regard. Without even a miniscule amount of doubt, it is thus possible to conclude that brand transparency will always be an extremely enriching and enticing experience for both for the consumers and businesses alike in the days to come.

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