PROJECT REPORT ON

“A STUDY TO KNOW THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL MARKETING ON

CONSUMERS’ BUYING DECISIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC AND
ITS CONTINUATION”

SUBMITTED BY

VAISHNAVI BHANDARI (618176)

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

MS. YAMINI K.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (CES)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

In partial fulfilment of the requirement of the subject in SSBBA-III,

BBA Programme

Submitted to,

BBA Programme,

Faculty of Commerce

The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara

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2
 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that this project report entitled “A study to know the impact of
digital marketing on consumer's buying decisions during the pandemic and its
continuation,” is submitted to the Registrar (Examinations) for perusal, The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda through the director of BBA
Programme, Faculty of Commerce. This report has been prepared by Ms.
Vaishnavi Bhandari, studying in TY BBA (VI semester) in partial fulfilment of
the requirement for the award of the degree “Bachelor of Business
Administration”.

This is to certify that Ms. Vaishnavi Bhandari has carried out this work under
the supervision and guidance of Ms. Yamini K.K. The work is an original one
and is not been submitted earlier to this university or any other institute or
organization for fulfilment of the requirement of a course or an award of any
degree/ diploma/ certificate. All the sources of information used in this report
are acknowledged in it.

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 DECLARATION

I, the undersigned declare that this project report entitled, “A study to know the
impact of digital marketing on consumer buying decisions during the pandemic
and it’s continuation,” is the result of my own research work and has not been
submitted to any other university/institutions for any other purpose being.

PLACE: VADODARA

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Throughout this research work, I have received a great deal of support and
assistance.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. K.R Badola sir and our
administration for providing us with an amazing opportunity to conduct this
research work and their support regarding the same.

I would like to thank my guide, Professor Yamini K.K, whose expertise was
invaluable in formulating the research questions and methodology. Her
insightful feedback pushed me to sharpen my thinking and brought my work to
a higher level. You provided me with the tools that I needed to choose the right
direction and complete my research.

In addition, I would like to thank my parents for their wise counsel and an
empathetic ear.

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 INDEX
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO.
i) CERTIFICATE OF
ORIGINALITY
ii) DECLARATION
iii) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT 8-9
1 INTRODUCTION 10-14
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 10-11
1.2 RELEVANCE OF DIGITAL 12-13
MARKETING DURING GLOBAL
PANDEMIC
1.3 PESTLE ANALYSIS 13-14
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 15-33
2.1 INTERNET MARKETING 15-17
2.2 OBJECTIVES OF DIGITAL 17-18
MARKETING
2.3 FEATURES OF DIGITAL 18-19
MARKETING
2.4 TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING 19-23
2.5 KEY BENEFITS OF DIGITAL 23-25
MARKETING
2.6 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL 25-27
MARKETING (CONSUMERS)
2.7 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL 27-28
MARKETING (BUISNESS)
2.8 TOP 10 DIGITAL MARKETING 28-29
STRATEGIES
2.9 7 P’S OF INTERNET MARKETING 29-30
2.10 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET 31
CONSUMERS
2.11 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN E- 31-33
MARKETING

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3 DIGITAL MARKETING DURING 35-39
COVID-19 & IT’S FUTURE
3.1 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON DIGITAL 34-35
MARKETING
3.2 FUTURE OF DIGITAL MARKETING 35-36
POST COVID-19
3.3 STATISTICS (INDIA) 36-38
4 LITERATURE REVIEW 40-43
5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 44-47
5.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM 43
5.2 OBJECTIVES 43-44
5.3 RESEARCH DESIGN 44
5.4 SCOPE 44
5.5 COLLECTION OF DATA 44-45
5.6 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES 45-46
AND TOOLS
5.7 LIMITATIONS 46
6 DATA ANALYSIS AND 47-62
INTERPRETATIONS
7 FINDINGS 63
8 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 64-67
BIBLOGRAPHY/REFERENCES 68-69
ANNEXURE 70-74

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ABSRACT

It has been more than a year since the race against time began. The coronavirus
disease 2019, also known as COVID-19 took the world in the middle of death
and destruction.

The first case of the same was recognized in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
That case was just a spark to the ongoing fire that the nation is suffering.

COVID-19 did not only turn into a global human catastrophe but also economic
devastation. No measures undertaken were enough to mitigate the virus's
morbidity and mortality.

The world was at a standstill. Just like no drug had the power to fight the
infection and bring normalcy to the chaos, things from an economic and
marketing perspective also reached rock bottom. During those times, Digital
marketing played the role of a lifeboat and did not let a lot of institutions sink
and on the other hand, these marketing strategies proved to be a strong base for
sprouting firms.

Advertisers are to shift and spend millions in internet advertising in the coming
years than TV, print ads, and other traditional advertising media. With the rapid
growth in technology, the internet is becoming an important one-stop point for
consumers in finding most of their needs. Be it communication, entertainment,
shopping, information search, the internet serves as a panacea for all their
requirements. Many consumers are online every day for their work, but they do
notice the ads, banners displayed on that webpage and most important their

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recall value. The current study investigated the effectiveness of internet
advertising on consumer behaviour by considering both, primary and secondary
data.

The study found that internet advertising is effective on reach and creation of
awareness due to diverse usage. Internet advertising has significant relationship
with purchase decision of the consumers and therefore is a key determinant in
influencing consumer behaviour. The study determined that there has always
been a positive relationship between internet advertising and consumer purchase
decision and the same bond grew stronger than ever during the pandemic

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CHAPTER: 1-

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Marketing Concept is a business philosophy, which holds that the key to achieving
organizational goals consists of determining the needs and wants of target markets and
delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors do.

Advertising has been in existence for many decades. It is one means of promotional mix,
which has its ultimate function to inform, persuade and promote ideas in order to sell goods
and services. Advertising, over the years, has grown to become a prominent form of
marketing communication, and as a marketing communication tool, it utilizes various forms
of mass media to get sales messages across to a large number of people. The traditional mass
media for advertising include TV, broadcasting, magazines and newspapers. However, with
the increasing development in information technology, the Internet in addition has become
another interesting advertising media commonly used nowadays by advertisers and markets
to communicate messages to consumers.

Internet marketing, (also known as online marketing or digital marketing) is the delivery of
advertising messages and marketing communications through websites or other social media
platforms. It is delivered through various electronic platforms including mobile phones,
iPods, desktop computers, etc. As a marketing communication tools, internet advertising
takes a multitude of forms, ranging from Search advertising to Banner and Rich Media
Adverts (i.e. ads that incorporate sound, animation and interactive digital video
commercials).

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Regardless of the particular format, displaying advertising content to online users is driven by
two major objectives: (a) build new or reinforce existing brands, and (b) stimulate purchases.
For that reason, the success (or effectiveness) of internet advertising has been traditionally
measured by the number of clicks attracted by the adverts, or the ratio of the number of clicks
over the number of impressions. In addition, many advertising experts argue that the mere
exposure of online users to the advertising message can be beneficial in terms of building
brand awareness and increasing purchase intentions.

Internet has grown tremendously in both its applications and number of users due to its
unique characteristics of flexibility, interactivity, and personalization. It has been a very
useful tool for communication, entertainment, education, and electronic trade. The
revolutionary change brought forth by information technology has an important impact on the
daily lives. It has transformed the way we do business by allowing retailers to offer unlimited
range of products and services to all consumers from around the world at any point in time.
The Internet has emerged as an advertising medium. Many companies have turned to the
Internet to advertise their products and services; and the Internet is deemed the most
significant direct marketing channel for the global marketplace.

The Internet has given consumers more control in accessing information on products and
services. There are several factors that contribute to consumers pull for online content—
consumers are the ones who decide when, where, what, and how much commercial content
they wish to view. The Internet enables consumers to access an unlimited range of products
and services from companies around the world, and it has reduced the time and effort they
spend on shopping.

Consumers play a much more active role in searching for information online with some goal
in mind, and that goal can influence individual behaviours and responses to online
information and advertisements. With the rapid advancement in the computer industry, many
companies have made the Internet as part of their advertising media mix to take advantage of
the online technologies. The Internet has become a popular advertising platform because
marketers found that the Internet possess greater flexibility and control over the advertising
materials.

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1.2 RELEVANCE OF DIGITAL MARKETING DURING
GLOBAL PANDEMIC

It’s no secret that the writing has been on the wall for traditional media, in terms of ad
spend dominance, for some time now. The general move of audience, from offline
and above the line engagement, towards more personalised, digital orientated
engagement has been observed over a period of years with the shift even more evident
due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this post we explore the real-world metrics now
available and what smart marketers should be doing when armed with this
information. 

As would be expected, in a response to this shift in focus towards all things digital,
there has also been a surge in online content consumption platforms that are
constantly evolving to keep up with new competition and consumer demand. So far so
expected, however 2020 has thrown some curve balls at us that the forecasters could
never have predicted. The key difference in what we are seeing now, versus what was
expected in the latter part of 2019 is primarily in consumer profile and demand. 
It isn’t just the innovators and early adopters that are turning their backs on traditional
media in favour of a range of digital platforms. The pandemic and lockdown of 2020
has strong-armed even diehard traditionalists into embracing digital, simply as a
means to remain connected to the outside world. Digital has become a solution, a
means to satisfy needs as basic as food, but also contact with friends and family,
entertainment and acquisition of information, goods and services normally accessed
physically and in person. Of course, there has always been a segment of audience who
looked to do more and more online. However, the advent of lockdown has
dramatically increased both the size, availability and profile of the digital audience,
now bringing in those people more traditionally accessed offline. Not only that, it has

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 also changed their behaviours, expectations, their consumption of content and the way
they expect to be interacted with as customers. 
Many businesses have relied on traditional forms of marketing for years to broadcast
their messages to a wide audience. But with people avoiding close contact while
sheltering in place, most traditional marketing channels have a much smaller audience
than they did pre-pandemic. Even the most eye-catching billboards won’t be as
effective when people aren’t leaving their homes very often.

Meanwhile, because they’re not leaving home as much, people are spending way
more time online than ever before.
Investing in digital marketing – whether it’s online ads, social media, blogging, or all
of the above – is a no-brainer when your target audience is spending a large amount of
time every day online.

Since the invention of the internet, e-commerce has grown exponentially, putting a
strain on traditional brick-and-mortar stores. As we move forward and deal with the
effects of COVID-19, the digital economy is the economy.

1.3 PESTLE ANALYSIS IN DIGITAL MARKETING

PESTLE analysis is a strategic decision-making tool. It is also an acronym, which

stands for…

 Political
 Economical
 Social
 Technological
 Legal
 Environmental

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These six categories are macro-environmental factors that affect a business, product,
or service. These factors are inescapable.

PESTLE analysis involves the six macro-environmental factors that influence

business, product, and services. It also affects consumer buying behaviours.

A digital marketer’s job is not to outsmart or outrun these influences; their job is to
understand the influences and work with them to successfully market the product.

How is this achieved? With a thorough PESTLE analysis.

For example, for the political section, it is important to understand the political
climate of where the product is produced and will be sold. It may be one country or
many. It is important to grasp the political (in) stability and regulations prior to
marketing the product or service.

Let us say the marketer does not do the PESTLE analysis or decides to skip this
section. What could happen? Since they did not do their research, the marketer starts
selling the product to citizens of a governmentally intrusive country. Like China, for
instance. If Chinese citizens buy the product and the government finds out, the
product may be shut down. Alternatively, even in legal trouble. Any money used to
market the product to Chinese audiences becomes nothing more than a waste now that
it is impossible to recoup costs.

Obviously, a fate like this can be avoided if the marketer did their research about the
country before distributing the product or service. Now, this little mistake could be
costly to fix. Especially when, in hindsight, it should never have come to be.

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CHAPTER: 2 –

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 INTERNET MARKETING

E-marketing refers to the use of the Internet and digital media capabilities to help sell your
products or services. These digital technologies are a valuable addition to traditional
marketing approaches regardless of the size and type of your business. E- Marketing is also
referred to as Internet marketing (I-marketing), online marketing or web-marketing. As with
conventional marketing, e-marketing is creating a strategy that helps businesses deliver the
right messages and product/services to the right audience. It consists of all activities and
processes with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers. What has
changed is its wider scope and options compared to conventional marketing methods. E-
marketing is deemed to be broad in scope, because it not only refers to marketing and
promotions over the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail and wireless media.
E-marketing also embraces the management of digital customer data and electronic customer
relationship management (ECRM) and several other business management functions. E-
marketing joins creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including: design, development,
advertising and sales. It includes the use of a website in combination with online promotional
techniques such as search engine marketing (SEM), social medial marketing, interactive
online ads, online directories, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, viral marketing and so
on. The digital technologies used as delivery and communication mediums within the scope
of e-marketing include:

 Internet media such as websites and e-mail

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 Digital media such as wireless, mobile, cable and satellite.

 Internet marketing, or online marketing, refers to advertising and marketing efforts that use
the Web and e-mail to drive direct sales via e-commerce as well as sales leads from Web sites
or emails. Internet marketing and online advertising efforts are typically used in conjunction
with traditional types of advertising like radio, television, newspapers and magazines.
Marketing efforts done solely over the internet. This type of marketing uses various online
advertisements to drive traffic to an advertiser's website. Banner advertisements, pay per click
(PPC), and targeted email lists are often methods used in Internet marketing to bring the most
value to the advertiser. Internet marketing is a growing business mainly because more and
more people use the internet every day. Popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo
have been able to capitalize on this new wave of advertising. Online Marketing is the art and
science of selling products and/or services over digital networks, such as the Internet and
cellular phone networks. The art of online marketing involves finding the right online
marketing mix of strategies that appeals to your target market and will actually translate into
sales. The science of online marketing is the research and analysis that goes into both
choosing the online marketing strategies to use and measuring the success of those online
marketing strategies. Types of online marketing include:

 Ecommerce

 Online Advertising

 Search Engine Marketing

 Email Marketing

 Social Media Marketing

 Article Marketing

In addition, that is definitely just to name a few; more online marketing strategies are being
invented all the time.

Online marketing is becoming increasingly important to small businesses of all types. In the
past, marketing online was something that local bricks-and-mortar businesses could
justifiably ignore. It didn't make sense to waste time and money on online marketing when all
your business was local. Now with increasing local search and people's new habit of

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searching on the Internet first, it matters. I would go so far as to say that all businesses should
include some online marketing in their marketing mix. Internet Marketing is an all-inclusive
term for marketing products and/or services online – and like many all-inclusive terms,
Internet marketing means different things to different people. Essentially, though, Internet
marketing refers to the strategies that are used to market a product or service online,
marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission,
copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online
promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing – and that’s just hitting the highlights.
Online marketers are constantly devising new Internet marketing strategies in the hopes of
driving more traffic to their Web sites and making more sales; witness the increasing use of
blogs as marketing tools for business, for instance. If you’re new to Internet marketing, I
recommend focusing on web design and search engine optimization as a starting point; for
most sites, the most traffic still comes from search engines and directories. When it comes to
Internet Marketing, a lot of people get really confused about it. In short, Internet Marketing
means the ability to market your services on the Internet. Here are some of the advantages
and disadvantages of Internet Marketing that will set you thinking. Internet might be a catchy
advertising medium. But, there are quite a few issues that need to be sorted out. Advertising
on the Net is slowly catching on. In developed economies, advertising on the Net accounts
for anything between seven and 7.5 per cent of the total advertising cake. Fine, how large is
online advertising in India?

The digital advertising industry across India had a market size of around 199

billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2020, up from just 47 billion Indian rupees in
financial year 2015. This was projected to go up to around 539 billion rupees by financial
year 2024, indicating a big growth in the industry segment.

2.2 OBJECTIVES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

ADVERTISING:

As far as advertising on the Internet goes, all advertisements will serve to attract the
user's attention and draw him to the company, which is advertising.

BUILDING BRAND AWARNESS:

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 Direct or indirect methods can be used on the websites to build brand awareness of
the different brands of a company. This is where the Internet scores traditional media
and methods as explained below.

STIMULATE DIRECT ACTION:

Visitors to a company's web site should get involved with the offerings on the site.
Valuable customer information can also be captured and tracked for future marketing
initiatives.

PROMOTE IT’S BRANDS:

Promotional give - away or contests generate excitement while simultaneously

promoting your brands online, aiding off - line sale.

BUILDING A CULTURE AROUND its BRANDS:

This goes along with that company's traditional advertising.

SURROGATE ADVERTISEMENTS:

This is another means of surrogate advertising of the company, where all forms of
traditional advertising fail. Surrogate advertising can be proved to be positive in case
of advertising on the Internet. 

2.3 FEATURES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Features of Internet Advertising Advertising on the Internet has certain unique features that
differentiate it from other forms of advertising.

MEMBER REGISTERATION:

Member registration is an efficient tool that is used by firms to create their database. Such a
database may be used to design promotional campaigns. Allowing registered users to
participate in various events can follow systems of free registration.

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ONLINE OPINION POLLS:

Opinion polls are conducted to obtain the responses from users regarding the firms' products
and services besides including topics of general interest.

NEWSLETTERS:

 Regular newsletters are sent especially to registered users. These contain information about
current updating on the site and activities being performed by the company.

CONTESTS & SWEEPSTAKES:

Contests are useful in attracting new users to websites. They may be for simple things
depending on the product or service being advertised. The prizes offered are in a wide range
and usually have the logo of the company and the homepage address displayed prominently. 

CONTENT:

The content of the advertisement can be regularly updated with news regarding the activities
of the firm. A fact-based section showing the manufacturing processes of accompany may
also be included. The use of multimedia tools can make this more interactive. 

E-CARDS:

Users send free cards via e-mail from the site of the company advertising the product. The
card prominently displays the logo or the baseline of the brand. The cards maybe for different
occasions such as birthdays, festivals, birthdays, etc. These cards are used to reinforce brand
identity. Star endorsers of the brand may also be included in the picture-postcard themes.

DOWNLOADS:

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Downloads may include various utilities for the computer such as icons, desktop patterns,
screensavers, themes, etc. Registered users get the opportunity of downloading software.
Charts and other informative articles may also be included. 

COUPONS:

Coupons are used to promote sales off-line. Sending discount coupons for the products and
services of the company on special occasions can do this 

2.4 TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

E-MAIL ADVERTISING:

Legitimate Email advertising or E-mail marketing is often known as "opt-in e-mail

advertising" to distinguish it from spam.

AFFILIATE MARKETING:

Affiliate marketing is a form of online advertising where advertisers place campaigns with a
potentially large number of small (and large) publishers, whom are only paid  media fees
when traffic to the advertiser is garnered, and usually upon a specific measurable campaign
result (a form, a sale, a sign-up, etc.). Today, this is usually accomplished through contracting
with an affiliate network. The online retailer used its program to generate low cost brand
exposure and provided at the same time small websites a way to earn some supplemental
income.

CONTEXTUAL MARKETING:

Many advertising networks display graphical or text-only ads that correspond to the
keywords of an Internet search or to the content of the page on which the ad is shown. These
ads are believed to have a greater chance of attracting a user, because they tend to share a
similar context as the user's search query. For example, a search query for "flowers" might
return an advertisement for a florist's website. Other newer technique is embedding keyword
hyperlinks in an article which are sponsored by an advertiser. When user follows the link,
they are sent to a sponsor's website.

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BEHAVIOURAL TARGETING:

In addition to contextual targeting, online advertising can be targeted based on a user's past
click stream. For example, if a user is known to have recently visited number of automotive
shopping / comparison sites based on click stream analysis enabled by cookies stored on the
user's computer, that user can then be served auto-related ads when they visit other, non-
automotive sites.

PAY-PER CLICK

Search engines place your website on their front page and you pay a set amount per click-
through. Sites like Overture also run bids for certain keywords - the more you bid, the higher
your site appears on the first page of the search results. Properly run, these campaigns can
bring a lot of extra traffic to your website.

SEARCH-ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

This is an online advertising service provided by many web media companies. They will look
at your target audience, your competitors and the keywords for your business and optimize
your website content so that it has a much better chance of appearing on the first page of the
search results. You will pay a fee to the consultants for this service. Studies have shown that
many searchers prefer to use the "natural" listings provided by the search engines, rather than
the paid-for listings.

SPONSORSHIPS

Website sponsorship can come in two formats; regular sponsorship where the advertiser has a
space to place the logo and company message, and content sponsorship where the advertiser
has limited control and submits their own content to the site as well as having an advert on
the page. These sponsorships will be for fixed periods, and need to be on targeted websites to
reach the right audience.

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ONLINE DIRECTORIES:

The online equivalent of Yellow Pages, or Industry Directories, these give you basic or
enhanced listings on the website. Your details will come up if your sector, location or
company name is searched for. Enhanced listings will allow users to click- through to your
site. Online directory listings are often offered in conjunction with an entry in the printed
version of the directory.

BANNER ADS

Banner advertising was the first kind of advertising ever done on the net. Banner can
highlight your product/service/offer and by clicking on it the user will be taken to your
website, where you can create a suitable landing page to provide his further information.
Banner spaces are usually sold by impressions, or banner views, but it is sometimes sold by
click-thru, when you pay only when the user clicks on the banner. Usually horizontal bars
across the top of a web page, they offer colour, graphics and often animation, together with
the ability to click through to the advertiser's own website.

POP-UP ADS

These are the small windows that appear when you first get onto a website. Pop-ups appear
on your screen in full, pop-downs appear on the bar at the bottom of your screen and you
have to open them to get rid of them.

INTERSTITIAL ADVERTS

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These adverts sometimes referred to as Bridge Adverts, pop up as you move between pages
on a site. You have no choice as to whether you view them or not, although you can close
them down.

FLOATING ADS

These ads appear when you first go to a webpage, and they "float" over the page for five to
30 seconds. While they are on the screen, they obscure your view of the page you are trying
to read, and they often block mouse input as well. These ads appear each time that page is
refreshed. 

Floating ads are popular for several reasons:

 They grab the viewer's attention and cannot be ignored

 They are animated

 They have audio/video content like TV ads

 They can take up the entire screen, therefore from a branding standpoint, they are much
more powerful than a banner ad or a sidebar ad

 They have a high click-through rate of about 3 percent. However, many users get highly
irritated because of these ads.

UNICAST ADS

A unicast ad is basically a TV commercial that runs in the browser window. It has enriched
audio/video content. The ads can last anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. These ads have
similar branding power as a TV commercial. However, a unicast ad offers something that TV
ads cannot -- the ability to click on the ad for more information. These ads are getting very
effective, as the average click-through rate is 5%.

TAKEOVER ADS

Viewers visiting the website will see a large ad when they first come, and then the continuity
is maintained by reiterating the same message throughout the site in the form of banners,

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sidebars or buttons. The approach works very well for branding because the brand is visible
to viewers throughout the visit to the site. Click-through rates are also high.

2.5 KEY BENEFITS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

The Key Benefits of Internet Marketing Internet marketing is a buzz word that’s gaining
steady popularity in the recent times, and has emerged as a cost-effective way of promoting a
small to medium sized business. It does not require the time and the resources that are needed
in traditional marketing strategies and is indeed a revolution in the field of business
promotion and advertisements. Here is a list of some of the key benefits of internet
marketing:

COST EFFECTIVENESS:

 Internet marketing is a very cost effective option of promoting your business. Your business
website can only take you to a certain level if you do not make the effort to increase its
visibility. Internet marketing will make your business promotion dynamic and lively at a very
nominal cost. You can optimize your website for the search engines, avail the pay per click
programs, use the option of list building and even send promotional newsletters to your
prospective clients to drum up some publicity for your offerings. All these options can be
availed for free or can be subscribed at a very nominal cost. To take advantage of internet
marketing, you do not even have to own a business and can participate in the affiliate
programs and promote other people’s business to make huge money. So, investment wise, it
is a better option than the traditional print advertisements and marketing strategies

VERY WIDE REACH

One of the major online advertisement benefits is that it has global reach. Internet is a
medium, which will enable a potential client from the other end of the world to reach you
without any trouble. So, you can conveniently eradicate the traditional geographical
boundaries and access a wide of pool of client base easily accessed with the help of properly
implemented internet marketing strategies. You can even contact the overseas market and
increase your business prospects to a great extent by using this marketing method.

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EASY TO MANAGE

 You can easily manage your internet marketing programmers. Any change in the strategy
can be brought about even when you are travelling or commuting for your business. What’s
more, even while on a vacation, you can make changes on the fly and save precious time that
would have otherwise been wasted on an endless wait. The benefits that your business is
making with the use of such strategies can be easily gauged and monitored as the process is
not very complicated and even a layman can follow the procedure with some prior research.
You can also hire a professional agency for internet marketing tips and help.

TRACK REAL TIME RESULTS & DISPLAY OF FULL INFORMATION

The advantages of internet marketing can be translated in palpable terms. In other words, you
can statistically measure whether your PPC campaigns are generating results or how much of
the traffic is being converted into your customer base. One of the major benefits of marketing
online is that it can help you to display as much information as you want about your product
or service on the web. The print medium will give you only a limited space and your scope
might be restricted in many cases.

AVAILABILITY OF 24 HOURS

 Your online advertisements will be available 24/7 for your customers through internet
marketing. One of the major online advertisement benefits is that you have to put in a lot of
effort initially, but once you develop a system, it becomes much easier to draw the profit. So,
if you have a proper and functional strategy in place, internet marketing can ensure a round
the clock and never ending advertisement for your business.

INCREASING THE RETURNS ON INVESTMENT ON A WEBSITE

If you have spent a lot of money on developing a competent business website, you must also
expect a good return from it. Internet marketing can ensure a good ROI as your website will
be promoted to have a formidable online presence. Internet marketing is developing by leaps
and bounds, and is including new strategies within its folds. You can promote your website

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through article submission in various directories and even through the social networking
sites. So, it is likely to increase the effectiveness of your business website to a great extent.

DISCOVER NEW MARKETS

The primary target of any marketing strategy is to discover new markets for the business.
Internet marketing can help you do that very effectively. It can help you draw a lot of
vacillating traffic to your website, and can realistically help you to convert them into your
clients. Internet marketing has various advantages and if you can carefully implement the
strategies, you can reap the benefits and promote your business in a cost effective and a
hassle freeway.

2.6 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL MARKETING FOR THE CONSUMERS

 Customers have gained immensely from the use of the internet. As the number of users of
the internet increase more and more will shop online. Listed below are some of the benefits
of the internet for the customer.

CUSTOMERS STAY UPDATED:

 Customers are kept updated with product information either via the website or emails. With
the internet now becoming mobile, through 3G technology and Wi-Fi, customers can be kept
updated almost in real time.

CUSTOMERS CAN COMPARE ONLINE:

One of the greatest advantages for the customer is that they can compare products or services
they wish to purchase from the comfort of their own homes. Instead of visiting a number of
different retail outlets, the user simply has to open different window tabs to compare prices or
features of the product/service they wish to purchase. Many retailing websites offer the
facility where different products they sell can now be easily compared. There is also price
comparison websites that customers can use to get the best possible price for their products.

CLEAR PRODUCT INFORMATION FOR THE CONSUMER:

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 Websites offer clear product information on the product or service. There is little chance of
misinterpretation or mishearing what the sales person said.

TRANSPARENT PRICING

Pricing online is very clear and transparent for the customer. Customers can take advantages
of pricing that may change regularly or take advantages of special offers that last for a limited
period.

TRACK YOUR PURCHASE

Consumers have to pay for their product /service before they receive it. It is important that
consumers feel reassured when this happens. Many websites allow consumers to track their
purchase from order, dispatch to transportation before delivery to their home address. Again
this reassures the consumer and makes them feel that they are obtaining a good service
online.

REDUCTION IN PERSONAL CARBON FOOTPRINT

As consumer spend more time shopping online and use their cars less. Their personal carbon
footprint is reduced.

24*7 SHOPPING

There is no time restriction on when a consumer can shop online. Many online sales now start
at midnight on a particular day encouraging customers to shop all hours of the day.

2.7 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL MARKETING FOR THE BUISNESS:

Whilst there are many benefits for consumers shopping online, business that start their
operations or transfer their operations online greatly benefit from doing so. Some of these
benefits are briefly discussed.

DATA COLLECTION:

 Every time a customer transacts with the company online, that transaction is captured. The
firm can use this data in a number of ways. Firstly information can be analysed to find out
most popular products/services sold. Secondly the data can be used to assist in segmenting

27
their customers, profiling them and sending customers promotional material based on past
buying habits. There has been much controversy over the amount of information that is being
collected online by various companies’ in particular social networking sites and whether
customers should be able to opt out of that information being shared to third party users.

PERSONALIZATION OF WEB EXPERIENCE:

 When customers log into their accounts businesses can make their web experience almost
unique. From offering special offers to that particular customer, offering add on to their
recent purchase, much like Amazon.com does, or by allowing the customer to personalize
their own products, like Nike does with their trainers . Personalization allows the firm to form
stronger bonds online with customers and form long term online relationships ensuring
customers come back regularly.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS:

The internet allows businesses to analyse their competitor’s online strategy. A firm can keep
abreast of new products that are released, react to price changes, or use the internet to
discover secondary data on their competitors. The internet allows a firm to react quickly to a
change in their competitor’s strategy, and try to provide a service that allows them to match
or beat their competitors.

COST REDUCTION

 One of the major benefits of setting up or moving a business online is the cost advantages of
doing so. A firm can save a number of costs. These include:

1. Staffing costs: Fewer staff are needed online then in the high street thus reducing costs.

2. Premises: The Company will not need retail outlet just a centralized office and possibly
warehouse space, saving on potential retail costs.

3. Disintermediation: The channel of distribution is shorter online as the consumer has the
opportunity to buy directly like with Dell. As one of the intermediaries is cut out this process
is known as disintermediation.

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4.Financial management: As consumers pay for the product before it is dispatched, this
improves the cash flow for the company, making sure for the firm that they can pay their
suppliers and other costs on time.

2.8 TOP TEN (10) DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES:

Internet marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your
business, and enhance branding of your company and products. If you are just beginning your
online marketing strategy the top 10 list below will get you started on a plan that has worked
for many.

1. Start with a web promotion plan and an effective web design and development strategy.

2. Get ranked at the top in major search engines, and practice good Search Optimization
Techniques.

3. Learn to use Email Marketing Effectively.

4. Dominate your marketing niche with affiliate, reseller, and associate programs.

5. Request an analysis from an Internet marketing coach or Internet marketing consultant.

6. Build a responsive opt-in email list.

7. Publish articles or get listed in news stories.

8. Write and publish online press releases.

9. Facilitate and run contests and giveaways via your web site.

10. Blog and interact with your visitors. By following the above tips you'll be on your way to
creating a concrete internet marketing strategy that could boost your business substantially.

2.97 P’S OF DIGITAL MARKETING:

The four P's - Product, Price, Place and Promotion have long been associated with marketing,
but things have changed on the Internet. So along with a change in the nature of the four P’s
there are three new P’s which are relevant to the internet marketer: Presentation, Processes
and Personalization.

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  Product –

Product on the Internet usually changes form online, and the user experiences it
electronically, in the form of text, images and multimedia. Physical goods are usually
presented in the form of a detailed online catalogue that the customer can browse through.
Technology allows the user to virtually touch and feel the product on the Internet - rotate it,
zoom in or zoom out and even visualize the product in different configurations and
combination. Content and software are two avatars of digitized products that can be even
distributed over the Internet. On the Internet, E- marketing will be based more on the product
qualities rather than on the price. Every company will be able to bring down the cost of its
products and hence competition will not be on price. It will rather be on the uniqueness of the
product. To be able to attract the customers and retain them, the company will have to
provide nouvelle and distinct products that forces the net users to purchase and come back for
more.

 Price -

Price has been drastically changed over the Internet. It lets the buyer decides the price. Also
it gives the buyers information about multiple sellers selling the same product. It leads to best
possible deal for the buyers in terms of price. Pricing is dynamic over the Internet.

 Place

Place revolves around setting up of a marketing channel to reach the customer. Internet
serves as a direct marketing channel that allows the producer to reach the customer directly.
The elimination of the intermediate channel allows the producer to pass the reduced
distribution cost to the customer in the form of discounts

 Promotion

Promotion is extremely necessary to entice the customer to its website, as there are
currently more than one billion web pages. Promoting a website includes both online and
offline strategies. Online strategies include search engine optimization, banner ads,
multiple points of entry, viral marketing, strategic partnership and affiliate
marketing .Presently, the cyberspace is already cluttered with thousands of sites probably
selling similar products. For the customers to know of the Company’s existence and to
garner information on the kind of products or services that the company is offering,

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 promotion has to be carried out. There can be traded links or banner advertisements for
the same. Also the traditional mediums like print, outdoor advertising and television can
be used to spread awareness.

 Presentation

The presentation of the online business needs to have an easy to use navigation. The look
and the feel of the web site should be based on corporate logos and standards. About 80%
of the people read only 20% of the web page. Therefore, the web page should not be
cluttered with a lot of information. Also, simple but powerful navigational aids on all web
pages like search engines make it easy for customer to find their way around.

 Processes

Customer supports needs to be integrated into the online web site. A sales service that
will be able to answer the questions of their customers fast and in a reliable manner is
necessary. To further enhance after sales service, customers must be able to find out about
their order status after the sale has been made.

 Personalization

Using the latest software it is possible to customize the entire web site for every single
user, without any additional costs. The mass customization allows the company to create
web pages products and services that suit the requirement of the user. A customized web
page does not only include the preferred layout of the customer but also a reselection of
goods the customer may be interested in.

2.10 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET CONSUMERS:

Before adapting marketing practices to the Internet, the marketer needs to understand the
characteristics of the online customers. The Net users can be classified into five categories
depending upon their intention of using the Internet. The five categories of users are:

 Directed Information Seekers: They require specific, timely and relevant information about
the products and services being offered.

 Undirected Information Seekers: These users require something interesting and useful.
Something that can give them an edge, advantage, insight or even a pleasant surprise.

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 Bargain Hunters: They are of two kinds: One who look for free items on the internet
another who are seeking better deals, higher discounts etc.

 Entertainment Seekers: They see the Web as an entertainment medium of vast breath and
potential and want to explore the medium before the mass gets there.

 Directed Buyers: They want to buy something - now. They are sure what they require and
just log on to the Web to purchase the item.

2.11 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN E-MARKETING

Having observed the evolving paradigms of business in the Internet era, there are five critical
success factors that the E-Marketer has to keep in mind.

 Attracting the Right Customer

Is the first crucial step. Rising digital penetration would mean that the number of customer
visiting particular sites would inevitably go up. While the number of eyeballs or page views
has so far been conveniently used as a satisfactory measure by most web sites, it would be
foolish to cater to the whole spectrum of digital visitors. Content has to be very target
specific. The digital company has to select its target segment by finding out which section of
customers are the most profitable in terms of revenue transactions and who are the customers
who generate the maximum number of referrals. Here again it is important to note that the
majority of online customers are not seeking the lowest price. Rather they are seeking
convenience above everything else. The power of customer referrals has never been so
enormous, since word of the mouse spreads faster than word of the mouth. E-Bay attracts
more than half of its customers through referrals. Not only do referred customers cost less to
acquire than those brought in by advertising or other marketing tools, they also cost less to
support since they use their friends who referred them for advice rather than using the
companies’ own technical desk.

 Delivering Content Value to engage the user’s interest

Is the critical importance in retaining customer participation? This is because content serves
as a powerful differentiator. Content would include Product enhancements (Software patches
for glitches), personalized interactions (through customized navigation paths as seen on the

32
web sites of GM and Toyota) and Problem Resolution (updates of delivery schedules and e-
mail responses). Integral to the concept of delivering proper content value is innovation. The
retail financial services industry, for example, is changing rapidly with multiple players
jockeying for position. Product innovation serves as a key tool to attract new customers.
Priceline.com, for example, has revolutionized the travel and related services business by
letting in a form of “buyer driven commerce”----Customers specify their desired prices and
competing companies then bid for customer requirements. Delivering proper content to make
existing customers in the traditional “brick” business switch to Web-enabled transactions
makes a lot of sense because in every conceivable case, the cost of Web-Based transactions is
an order of magnitude less than the traditional ways and is decreasing at a faster rate. The
cost of an Internet based banking transaction is less than one-tenth the cost of a human teller
transaction. It is keeping this aspect in mind that Indian Banks have started toying with the
idea of setting up Internet kiosks to let their low-value customers settle their banking
transactions at the kiosk nearest to their place.

 Ensuring E-Loyalty

Is vital to the success of any online venture. This is because acquiring customers on the
Internet is enormously expensive and unless those customers stick round and make lots of
repeat purchases over the years, profits will remain elusive. Contrary to the general view that
Web customers are notoriously fickle, they in fact follow the old rules of customer loyalty.
Web customers stick to sites that they trust and with time consolidate their purchases with
one primary supplier to the extent that purchasing from the supplier’s site becomes part of
their daily routine. The issue of trust is integral to the issues of privacy and security.
Companies like Amazon.com, which command amazing levels of consumer trust, have used
a variety of encryption tools and simple ethical decisions like not accepting money for
publishers for independent book reviews to maintain the trust of its customers.

 E-Learning to facilitate personalized interactions

With customers has been the biggest contribution of the Web to the marketing strategists.
Customers in traditional bricks-and-mortar stores leave no record of their behaviour unless
they buy something—and even then the date might be sketchy. In the digital marketplace,
however technology has made the entire shopping experience a transparent process. For
example, if the customer exits the web-site when the price screen appears, he is a price

33
sensitive consumer. Such minute tracking of customer behaviour has major implications for
the world of advertising. The Internet may soon be used as a test bed for testing prototypes of
marketing and advertising campaigns. By monitoring pages selected, click through, responses
generated, and other indicators, the company would be able to discover which parts of a
prospective campaign would work, thus reducing the risk of a potential flop. This would
make it possible for the company to modify its product offerings much earlier than usual in
the product life cycle.

 Providing Digital value to the evolving consumer through his life cycle

Has become possible because of customized interactions and emerging business LII models.
These models have often disturbed the traditional status quo and created new rules of
business. The sectors where new business models will emerge or have emerged are the music
industry, the financial services industry, the travel industry, the relating segment and the
publishing segment. Digital value is delivered to the consumer by promising him
convenience, allowing the customer to feel his ownership of the Web experience, and giving
the customer a sense of belonging that traverses the physical boundaries.

CHAPTER: THREE

- DIGITAL MARKETING DURING COVID-19 AND IT’S

FUTURE

The widespread of Covid-19 had a drastic negative impact on on-field

marketing activities, mainly due to lockdown. However, this opened the doors
for digital marketing as people shifted to digital mediums faster than anticipated.

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 3.1 The following points explains the impact of covid-19 on
digital marketing and advertising.

I. Increased Social Media engagement paved way for increased Social Media
Marketing: Due to Covid-19 outbreak resulting in lockdown and work from home
being in place, people had lot of free time, which they mostly spent on social
media. As a result, this provides an opportunity for marketers to capitalize on
and better connect with their customers through various Social Media sites, like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

ii. Shift from K.P.I expectations to lifetime value: Digital Marketing is

traditionally based on analytics and Key Performance Indicators (K.P.I) for
measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of digital marketing campaigns.
However, the outbreak of Corona Virus has devalued the importance of, and
emphasis on K.P. I’s has and increased the importance of Customer Lifetime Value.

iii. Increased demand for Video and Micro-Video Content:

While the internet revolution lead by Reliance Jio made the internet cheaper, the advent
of Covid-19, made people so much so free that they had a lot time to spend now. As a
result, the demand for video contents in Video streaming platforms like YouTube has
increased tremendously. Similarly, in case of micro video content platforms there has been a
huge increase in demand. These things, provided the marketers with an opportunity to
bank on Video and Micro Video contents to advertise and promote their products and
services.

iv. Increased importance of A.I based Chat-bots: While the online activities of the people
have increased during quarantine, and the majority of the workforce was on work from
home status, the companies adopted to A.I based Chat-bots, that would provide
necessary assistance to the customers though a pre-programmed chat room. The use of
these kinds of chat-bot the customers liking towards these bots has also increased
unexpectedly, and as a result, these chat-bots have become a virtual assistant to the
customers.

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v. Emphasis of Experiential Marketing: As people are spending more time online during
this lockdown period, the marketers has to emphasis on making the customers online
experience engaging or else the chances are that the customer can get bored soon, if
the webpage, landing page or virtual environment does not provide a good experience.
Thus, the marketers are heavily emphasising on making the customers online
experience a delightful one when they visit the website, attend webinar, visit curated
content hub, visit landing pages etc.,

vi. Surge in demand for O.T.T. Content Hubs: Covid-19 lockdown period also saw a surge in
demand for and viewership of Over-The-Top Content Hubs such a Netflix and
Amazon Prime. The surge in demand for these O.T.T platforms provides the Digital
Marketer with an opportunity to promote and market their products and service through
these platforms.

vii. Increased Product Research among customers: Over the last few months the people
are spending more time in researching about products and services online. Thus, its
forcing brands and marketers to manage their online reputation effectively and be
responsive towards the customer reviews and requests and avoid any possible backlash

3.2 FUTURE OF DIGITAL MARKETING POST COVID-19:

There is no doubt that Covid-19’s impact on Digital marketing is positive for most of
the part, but going forward in the future, post Covid era the marketers have to
maintain or rather improve on the current digital opportunities in order to retain the
customer base so acquired during the Covid period.

i. Being socially responsible in social media: Although the companies have

gained a great quantity of customer engagement on various social media
platforms, going forward in the future the firms have to maintain this
engagement while ensuring that they act with responsibility.
ii. Maintaining Online Reputation: With an increase in the customers’ online time
spend, and increase in social media activities, any mistakes from the brands
or company’s part can lead to faster widespread of negative information and

36
 may lead to drastic backlash. Thus, maintaining the online reputation will be
very much difficult and essential as well.
iii. Managing web traffic: Post Covid, as the people get back to their normal
lifestyles and routines, the challenge in front of the marketers would be to get the
same quantity and quality web traffic on their websites and landing pages.
The marketers have to continue making engaging digital content and virtual
environment even post Covid to manage and maintain the web traffic.
iv. Investment on A.I based Chat-bots: As the usage of chat-bots are increasing
during the lockdown period and the customers finding it as useful service,
going ahead in the future the onus on marketers will be invest more on such
A.I Based technology while ensuring the U.I and UX is good and make sure
that there aren’t much of technical issues.

3.3 STATISTICS (IN INDIA)

According to the report, 43% of the marketers surveyed in India said that due to Covid-19
their business had seen a drop in revenue in 2020. However, 54% of marketers said that
Covid-19 has led to more website sales/bookings, indicating that driving online sales and
visits will be a big emphasis for businesses moving forward. Budget for social, content
marketing, paid video and advertising on retail websites and apps is likely to increase in
2021. Four out of 10 marketers say Covid-19 has resulted in rapid digital transformation of
business processes. Further 46% claimed they had seen increased efficiency and 45%
confirmed increased customer loyalty.

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Covid-19 has forced significant changes to sales, marketing, and operations. Eight out of 10
marketers in India say that the share of digital marketing spend at their company has
increased due to Covid-19. In today’s environment, 65% of marketers believe that marketing
function in companies has become more important due to increased digital marketing
activities. Additionally, 69% believe marketing has become important to acquire new
customers and 58% said to build and reinforce their brand values.

In terms of digital marketing spend and re-allocation budgets, nearly all marketers in India
have made changes to their strategy due to the pandemic. According to the survey it can be
observed that Covid-19 resulted in more marketing spend across digital channels which will
continue in the years ahead. 58% of marketers in India say their digital campaigns are too
dependent on walled gardens. Digital marketing budgets have increased, but brand safety,
and high dependency on Facebook, Google, and Amazon are big concerns (50%). Nearly half
of the marketers in India say that their marketing budget commitments and new
product/service launches are going as planned. Events and outdoor marketing campaigns
have been more negatively impacted. 51% of marketers say their budget for advertising on
publisher websites and apps is likely to increase in 2021. Here, customer retention and
expanding into new offerings are top objectives moving forward. Marketers in India confirm
that digitalisation of business operations is their top priority (70%).

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Source of the tables: https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/brands/news/8-out-of-10-
indian-marketers-say-digital-marketing-spends-at-their-company-increased-due-to-covid-19-
criteo/articleshow/80784117.cms

CHAPTER: FOUR

LITERATURE REVIEW
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The purpose of doing research in the area of digital marketing is because it seem huge,
intimidating and foreign. Businesses are looking for clearer picture to start but do not know
where and how to start doing digital marketing. In today’s time, social media channels such
as Face book, Twitter, Google and other social media firms have successfully transformed the
attitudes and perceptions of consumers and in the end helped revolutionized many businesses.
This was done through measurable vast network of customers with trustworthy data with
real-time feedback of customer experiences.

It is much more convenient for businesses to conduct surveys online with a purpose to get
relevant information from targeted groups and analysing the results based on their responses.
Potential customers can look for reviews and recommendations to make informed decisions
about buying a product or using the service. On the other hand, businesses can use the
exercise to take action on relevant feedback from customers in meeting their needs more
accurately.

Digital marketing is the use of technologies to help marketing activities in order to improve
customer knowledge by matching their needs (Chaffey, 2013).

Marketing has been around for a long time. Business owners felt the need to spread the word
about their products or services through newspapers and word of mouth. Digital marketing on
the other end is becoming popular because it utilizes mass media devices like television,
radio and the Internet. The most common digital marketing tool used today is Search Engine
Optimization (SEO). Its role is to maximize the way search engines like Google find your
website.

Digital marketing concept originated from the Internet and search engines ranking of
websites. The first search engine was started in 1991 with a network protocol called Gopher
for query and search. After the launch of Yahoo in 1994, companies started to maximize their
ranking on the website (Smyth 2007).

40
When the Internet bubble burst in 2001, Google and Yahoo dominated market for search
optimization. Internet search traffic grew in 2006; the rise of search engine optimization grew
for major companies like Google (Smyth 2007). In 2007, the usage of mobile devices
increased the Internet usage on the move drastically and people all over the world started
connecting with each other more conveniently through social media.

In the developed world, companies have realized the importance of digital marketing. In
order for businesses to be successful, they will have to merge online with traditional methods
for meeting the needs of customers more precisely (Parsons, Zeisser, Waitman 1996).

Introduction of new technologies has creating new business opportunities for marketers to
manage their websites and achieve their business objectives (Kiani, 1998).

With the availability of so many choices for customers, it is very difficult for marketers to
create brands and increase traffic for their products and services. Online advertising is a
powerful marketing vehicle for building brands and increasing traffic for companies to
achieve success (Song, 2001). Expectations in terms of producing results and measuring
success for advertisement money spent, digital marketing is more cost-efficient for measuring
ROI on advertisement (Pepelnjak, 2008).

Today, monotonous advertising and marketing techniques have given way to digital
marketing. In addition, it is so powerful that it can help revive the economy and can create
tremendous opportunities for governments to function in a more efficient manner (Munshi,
2012). Firms in Singapore have tested the success of digital marketing tools as being
effective and useful for achieving results. (Teo, 2005). More importantly, growth in digital
marketing has been due to the rapid advances in technologies and changing market dynamics
(Mort, Sullivan, Drennan, Judy, 2002). In order for digital marketing to deliver result for
businesses, digital content such as accessibility, navigation and speed are defined as the key
characteristics for marketing (Kanttila, 2004). Other tried and tested tool for achieving
success through digital marketing is the use of word-of-mouth WOM on social media and for
making the site popular (Trusov, 2009). In addition, WOM is linked with creating new
members and increasing traffic on the website, which in return increases the visibility in
terms of marketing.

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Social media with an extra ordinary example Facebook has opened the door for businesses to
communicate with millions of people about products and services and has opened new
marketing opportunities in the market. This is possible only if the managers are fully aware of
using the communication strategies to engage the customers and enhancing their experience
(Mangold, 2009).

Marketing professional must truly understand online social marketing campaigns and
programs and understand how to do it effectively with performance measurement indicators.
As the market dynamics all over the world are changing in relation to the young audience
accessibility to social media and usage. It is important that strategic integration approaches
are adopted in organization is marketing communication plan (Rohm & Hanna, 2011).

Blogs as a tool for digital marketing have successfully created an impact for increasing sales
revenue, especially for products where customers can read reviews and write comments about
personal experiences. For businesses, online reviews have worked really well as part of their
overall strategic marketing strategy (Zhang, 2013). Online services tools are more influencing
than traditional methods of communication (Helm, Möller, Mauroner, Conrad, 2013). As part
of study, it is proven that users experience increase in self-esteem and enjoyment when they
adapt to social media which itself is a motivating sign for businesses and marketing
professional (Arnott, 2013). Web experiences affect the mental process of consumers and
enhance their buying decision online (Cetină, Cristiana, Rădulescu, 2012). This study is very
valuable for marketing professional as it highlights the importance of digital marketing.

The Internet is the most powerful tool for businesses (Yannopoulos, 2011). Marketing
managers who fail to utilize the importance of the Internet in their business marketing
strategy will be at disadvantage because the Internet is changing the brand, pricing,
distribution and promotion strategy.

Krajnović et al. (2018) dissected the relationship of digital marketing & behavioural
economics by means of relating the former with the customer’s purchase decision process; as
behaviour plays a significant protagonist in shaping a customer’s attitude towards his/her

42
intended purchase. With the help of peer-reviewed articles, the researchers developed a much
multidisciplinary view about the cognitive process of a customer’s purchase decision. They
linked it with digital marketing miracles, as the input of one content became the output for
the other one ultimately. Risk assessment, product familiarity, and emotions were found out
to be the sole contestants that shape a customer’s purchase decision, and digital marketing
efforts handle the rest. The researchers summarized digital marketing to be a two-way
communicative method. Thus, marketers who use such means are directly listening and
analysing customer’s viewpoints regarding their products. Thereby, it becomes convenient in
the way that marketers can examine the customer’s psychic as well and market their
product/service accordingly.

Mahalaxmi & Ranjith (2016) studied the impact of digital marketing on customer’s purchase
decision in India. The researchers used a qualitative research approach to gather digital
marketing data on the customer purchase decision. Chi-square test was applied to clear the
data obtained from surveying 50 respondents, and hence results were dictated. They find it
more convenient and easier to use with less hustle and accessible than traditional marketing.
Hence, the research was locked up with the decisive outcome of digital marketing being the
customer’s priority, like the ease of such purchasing means benefiting the customer in terms
of comfort of purchasing in just a click. The basic notion of the above studies describes how
social media gives people and brands a platform to connect and communicate, introducing
new dimensions of accountability in the business-consumer relationship. Most people both
follow and interact with brands on social media, and as a result, people are more likely to buy
from brands they follow on social media, especially Facebook.

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CHAPTER: FIVE

– RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

5.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM

The coronavirus is far from over and governments around the world are again trying
to contain it by closing schools, public spaces, and borders. The coronavirus has
affected all businesses – and marketers need to adapt their digital marketing strategy.
This research noticed the impact of digital marketing on consumer buying decisions
during the turmoil and aimed at concluding how permanent the changes are going to
be.

5.2 OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

- The first and the primary objective of the research was to find out how the concept of
Digital Marketing was the sticking force between companies and their customers
during the times of Covid-19 and how it was a base for numerous budding firms and
small businesses too.
- Studied the concept of digital marketing.
- Analysed the impact of Covid-19 on digital marketing.
- Analysed the future role of digital marketing post Covid-19.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

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 - This study aimed at knowing how this marketing strategy was beneficial in
Influencing consumer buying decisions and for the profitability of various institutions
During the pandemic.
- It also aimed at knowing whether this theory will still maintain a continuous flow of
new insights and prove to be useful for both, marketers and patrons, after the chaos
ends.
- Examined the various digital (social) media platforms that could influence consumer
behaviour and identified the kind of products that consumers buy on digital media
platforms.

5.3 RESEARCH DESIGN

The descriptive research design was used for analysing this study. It is very simple &
more specific than explanatory study.

5.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

- The major variable considered in choosing respondents for the research is that
They must have an account on at least one of these social media platforms –
Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Blog. All those

- These respondents were located anywhere in the country, since the questionnaire was
distributed online, there was no respondent restricted to any geographical
Location.

5.5 COLLECTION OF DATA

Here, the data was collected by both, primary and secondary sources.

5.5.1 • SECONDARY DATA:

45
Here, the required secondary data was collected online via reliable sources such as
Google scholar, Economic Times, etc.

5.5.2 • PRIMARY DATA:

The information was gathered through a questionnaire, which was circulated in the
feature of Google Forms.

5.5.3 SAMPLING DESIGN

The sampling design followed was a non-probability sampling based on quota

sampling and convenience sampling.

5.5.4 SAMPLING FRAME

As the sampling frame, directly suiting the chief objective of the research study was
not available and hence the researcher made informal interactions with the digital
marketing users to understand the extent of penetration. The published reports of the
different associations of the digital marketing industry were also reviewed for the
research purpose.

5.5.5 SAMPLE SIZE

54 responses were collected from the different sectors of the society.

5.6 DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

The collected information and data was subjected to data analysis and interpretation,
Content Analysis, and Statistical Analysis. The collected primary data was pre-coded

46
 considering the designing of the Structured Non-Disguised Questionnaire. The
collected primary data was scrutinized, edited and shall be validated and presented in
the form of Tables, Charts, Graphs, and Diagram as the case may be. The data was
analysed with the help of appropriate statistical tools and techniques. Analysed data
was interpreted to establish meaningful relationship pertaining to study.

5.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

- Since the study contains multiple types of Research Designs and Data Collection
Techniques it was difficult to arrange them in a flawless manner.

- The major disadvantage of secondary data in a research was that the researcher had no
control over what was contained in the data set. This factor limited the limit the
analysis or altered the original questions the researcher sought out to answer.
- Time constraints while collecting the secondary data.
- Generalization of all the data from this study was not preferable

47
CHAPTER 6:

- DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

AGE GROUP

INTERPRETATION
- From the above responses, it is visible that 75.9% of the people who have filled the
form are between the age group of 15 to 25 years.

OCCUPATION

INTERPRETATION

48
- Considering the age group mentioned above, most of the people who have filled the
form are students studying in either schools or colleges.

How many hours did you spend on social media before the pandemic?

INTERPRETATION
- Around 61.1% of the people who have filled the form used to spend at least 1 to 3
hours on social media per day before the pandemic entered in our respective lives.

49
 Did the usage of Social Media increase during the lockdown?

INTERPRETATION
- It is quite evident that 83.3% of people had their social media usage increased during
the lockdown, which was the result of the epidemic. Not only the disease was
widespread but the usage of internet and social media reached extensive levels too.

50
 Are you familiar with the concept of Digital Marketing?

INTERPRETATION
- From the above chart, we get to know that not all but most of the people who came in
contact with the form were aware of the concept of “Digital Marketing.”
- Around 75.9% of people knew the term and the basic concept of the same.

Which of the following types of Digital Marketing have you come across or have
used?

INTERPRETATION

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- The chart proves that due to the extensive use of social media and internet during the
recent times, 74.1% of people are more familiar to the concept of social-media
marketing than the other types of digital marketing.

- COVID-19 put a halt in all of our lives and so did it in the work life of people. Work
from home became the new normal, which resulted in an omnipresent use of E-mails,
which resulted in 70.4% of people knowing the aspects and concept of E-mail
marketing too.

Do you think that Digital Marketing has proved to be a pillar for many established
and budding institutions?

INTERPRETATION
- 79.6% of the form fillers agree that digital marketing is no less than a pillar for many
firms who have survived the pandemic through its help and its knowledge. Every firm

52
 needs marketing’s hand to hold to lift them up and digital marketing has proved to be
the supporting hand for the same.

Do you pay attention to online advertising?

INTERPRETATION
- 66.7% of people have their eyes and ears open to digital marketing. Even in a
person’s subconscious mind, they pay attention to certain advertisements that pop up
on their respective screens.

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 Do you prefer shopping online rather than in malls?

INTERPRETATION
- From the above chart it is quite visible that there is a tough competition between
people preferring online shopping over shopping in the malls but yet again online
shopping is a step forward and wins in this aspect too.
- 44.4% of people prefer online shopping to shopping in the malls.

Do you think COVID-19 taught us more about Digital Marketing and forced us to
choose online shopping over traditional methods?

54
 INTERPRETATION
- Majority of the people i.e. 77.8% of people agree to the fact that because of the
pandemic, their preferences had a major change and they were forced to choose online
methods of shopping over traditional methods.
- The above chart also shows how people have learnt more about digital marketing
during the tough times and how it has created an impact in their heads.

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 "Brands can no longer get away without a digital presence." Do you agree with this
statement?

INTERPRETATION
- Digital marketing and digital presence is the need of the hour and 63% of people who
have filled this form markedly agree with the same.

Do you think COVID-19 has amplified your need and desire to engage online with
brands?

INTERPRETATION
- Around 63% of people agree to the fact that the internet is the only place, which is not
quarantined for consumers – including ones that do not even have a social page yet –
will need to explore the realms of it.

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 - The desire and need to be in constant touch with the trends and changing tastes have
forced the consumers to go online.

"Digital Marketing allows the communication with the targeted audience when other factors
are preventing the communication to happen in person." Do you agree?

INTERPRETATION
- 66.7% of people agree that during the time of crisis and pandemic, digital did not die
and proved to be a prominent mode to reach consumers.

How often do you shop online?

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 INTERPRETATION
- 35.2% of people shop online often, being online nowadays has become an integral
part of our lives and in no time, online shopping will prove to be the same, and it
almost has proved to be the sticking force between the consumer and the seller.

Have you ever bought a product you did not intend to buy until its advertisement
showed up on your screen?

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 INTERPRETATION
- The above chart shows how much impact digital marketing and advertising can have
over a person’s mind and over consumer buying decisions. Even though the consumer
does not have any need or purpose for buying a certain product they will still get
ready to spend money for the same if the advertisement seems tempting enough to
them or at times pulls certain strings of their hearts.

How impactful Digital Marketing has been in your buying decisions?

59
 INTERPRETATION
- This question was made without beating around the bush and with a direct approach
to know whether digital marketing has been able to influence consumer’s purchasing
and buying decisions.
- The response clearly shows that the dependency on digital marketing is higher than on
any other type of marketing as it has been able to influence and affect around 48.1%
of people and their decisions and purchasing power.

Do innovative and interesting marketing tactics automatically force you to buy the
product or use the services?

INTERPRETATION
- Considering that, people were confined to their homes (and of course, screens) during
the lockdown, traffic and search volume had surged. The internet can never be boring;

60
 marketers took advantage of this and kept the audience entertained through their
innovative and creative tactics, which resulted in people buying their products.

- Around 51.9% of people have given the surety that innovative tactics compel them to
buy certain products or use certain services.

Keeping your reasoning and experiences in mind do, you think digital marketing
affected your buying decisions when the world was at a standstill.

INTERPRETATION
- Around 79.6% of people’s buying decisions were affected in the pandemic, through
digital marketing.

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- Digital marketing was merely the only source that connected the consumers with
trends, changes and attracted them towards specific products or services. For example,
Oreo, the company released so many products during the lockdown and had
innovative strategies like games, mini recipes, and even lucky draws, which lured the
consumers towards them.

If yes, Will it continue to influence your further buying decisions too?

INTERPRETATION
- Covid-19 has changed the way companies function overnight, it also helped
companies using digital marketing, as there was an 18% increase in the digital sales
growth in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of 2019.
- While businesses understood that this situation is not going to last forever, it is not a
one-off scenario either. They retained their foothold through digital marketing and it
was maintained in a way that 75.9% of people agree to the fact that digital marketing

62
 is not just affection them in present but will also affect them in the near and late
future.

"Brands that take the time to understand this ‘new normal’ and adopt an agile and
authentic virtual voice will undoubtedly earn a place of relevance in the post-COVID-
19 era." Do you agree?

INTERPRETATION
- From small to big firms, everyone should have an online presence in order to stand
stable in today’s market.
- Around 88.9% people agree that in the present scenario, digital is at the heart of all
companies and Digital marketing is an essential tool in the hands of brands
and marketers for implementing marketing strategies during the pandemic period.
While the field of marketing in general was drastically impacted, the branch of
digital marketing has seen a tremendous boost. Covid-19 has put Digital marketing on

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Fast track and paved the way for further development and enhancement of digital
marketing activities.

CHAPTER: SEVEN
FINDINGS

The above study shows that, Internet Marketing is a hot topic especially in these days
of instant results. It was conducted to know whether digital marketing has a hold of
consumers and their buying decisions or not.
The study proved that COVID-19 proved to be a turning point in the history of
marketing as digital marketing was given more preference than ever.

The study conducted had crisp questions whose answers proved that traditional
marketing has been long forgotten since digital marketing stepped in the game.
Though, the concept of digital marketing has been in existence since a long time,
COVID-19 put the gear and accelerated it towards being the winner of all times.

The first and the primary objective of the study was to find whether digital Marketing
was the sticking force between companies and their customers during the times of

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Covid-19. The study brought in our notice a couple of statistics, which fulfil main the
objective stated above:
76.9% of people agreed to the fact that Digital marketing has proved to be the pillar of
strength for companies and small businesses and 66.7% of them have strongly agreed
that digital marketing allows the communication between the organisation and the
consumers to take place when all situational and circumstantial factors refrain it from
happening.

The study also shows that digital marketing is the new normal and neither small nor if
firms can drive through success without it.

CHAPTER: EIGHT
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

CONCLUSION:
While online shopping customers generally have trust issues which include the
fear of losing money and expecting a product of substandard quality. During
COVID-19, they had no other option than to trust the online marketers. In order to
deal with the money and trust concerns of the customers, several regulations have
been implemented to satisfy customers ‘needs which help in building trust of
the customers on the online marketing. Due to improvement in these policies and the
customers feel free and secure to shop online and participate in online purchasing
process.
After all the e-commerce is functionally based on the relationship with their
customers and they must adhere with this basis point to continually build and
promote their relationship in a positive direction and a better policy
implementation.

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 From the overall research we found that majority of the respondents are satisfied with
the digital marketing services. Most of the customers are using digital channels
frequently. The firms can improve their sales hugely through the digital channels.
Marketers can reach their customers through digital channels anywhere at any time
easily. Consumers also buy any product from any situations based on their need.

Having a digital marketing strategy for your business has only grown in importance
over the years as the online world grew. Now with the pandemic, the internet has
become a lifeline for most businesses. If there ever was a time for your company to
invest in digital marketing, it’s now. 

SUGGESTIONS:
During the research work of this respective project, there was a bundle of information
learnt. A part of which will be explained here, this information is put in a form of
suggestions which marketers can implement in their strategies:

1. The following are a few things an internet marketer can do to maximize the potential
of his website:
→ Domain Fault Repair – This function directs the web visitor to the right site after
she/he potentially may have typed in the wrong Internet address.
→ Site Customization: - One of the web-based CRM most important advantages is
the volume of information available to the browsing customer. Unfortunately, the
sheer volume of information can be one of the weaknesses of web-based CRM design.
Sites that offer customization features allow user to filter the content they see. The
future of truly web-based CRM will be the completely “one-to-one” web sites. When
properly customizable on the first visit, the customer on a next entry can choose to see
only his/her own preferences. (Example: yahoo.com; my yahoo)
→ Alternative Channels – Different ways to contact the company are offered, for
instance, Email, Fax toll-free numbers, Postal Address, Call back button and Voice
over IP.
→ Local Search Engine – Allows the visitor to search on key words to quickly locate
specific answers on the website.
→ Membership – The visitor can request a password. With this password he can
continue surfing on password protected web pages within the website.

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 → Mailing List – To receive more information, the visitor can add his/her email
address to a list to receive automated emails.
→ Site tour – The visitor can follow a tour through the website.
→ Site Map – This is a hierarchical diagram of the pages on the website, also called a
site overview, site index, or site map.
→ Introduction for First-Time Users – Visitors, who enter the site for the first time,
can surf to an introduction page. This page contains information about “How to use
the site most efficiently”
→ Chat – A main advantage of the Internet is its self-generating advantage. By
allowing visitors to interact with each other and with the site, they create content for
the site.

All this will help build a relationship with the customer and it will ultimately help the
marketer to achieve his objectives. Internet has opened up new avenues for reaching the
consumer. It is true that there is never a fixed way or strategy that a marketer can use to
market its products and services on the internet but it is still very much an arena where
creative thinking can take the company reach new heights. Thus we can say that marketing
has not changed its shape. It is the same, unpredictable, unusual and creative field that needs
constant change and open inputs that can work wonders for the company. The following are
the main points to be kept in mind for betterment of internet marketing:

Website

• Share your website via social sites

• Bookmark your related links and pages example shareaholic

• Social site like digg, reedit and stumble upon.

2. BLOG
• Write above 250 word sin content
• need to create Blog roll
• Need to have privacy policy and about page of your blog
• Add appropriate widget to your blog like search widget
• Add follow us to link with social media
•Link up previous blog in your new blog post
• Add labels to every blog post

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3. DISPLAY Ads

• Add some attractive information for your blog

• Display ads should have some impressive image

• Insert your link on display ad.

4. Affiliated Marketing
•Is promoting business through using a network of associates.
•They are rewarded for grab visitors or customers to the site.
•Not apply to our blog as we are not using them, on behalf we using PPC, Display Ad
sand other.
5. Personnel Relation Marketing
• Have to make a pitch for your blog
• Enter interesting heading to grab market
• Add blog related picture to enhance your pitch
6. Email Marketing
• Email is based on your blog post
•Your First content paragraph should be impressive
• Add some related pictures to get attention by the customer
• Based on upcoming event and some special offer
7. Mobile Marketing
• Add pages to your mobile apps
•Mandatory for marketing
•Need to develop different apps for different OS
•Make it more interactive

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BIBLOGRAPHY/ REFERENCES

Books

• Dodson, I (2016). The art of digital marketing: the definitive guide to creating
strategic,
Targeted and measurable online campaigns. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
• Ryan, D (2014). Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for
Engaging the Digital Generation. Kogan.
• Chaffey, Dave; Ellis-Chadwick, Fiona (2012). Digital Marketing: Strategy,
Implementation and Practice. Harlow: Pearson Education.
• "How Social Media Can Help Businesses Win Loyal Customers | The Manifest".
Themanifest.com. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
• Krajnović, A., Sikirić, D and Bosna, J. (2018). Digital marketing and behavioural
economics. CroDiM: International Journal of Marketing Science, 1(1):33-46.
• Mahalaxmi, K. R and Ranjith, P. (2016). A Study on Impact of Digital Marketing in
Customer

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Purchase Decision in Trichy. International Journal for Innovative Research in Science
& Technology, 2(10):332-338.

https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/
https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/
https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/
https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/
https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/
https://yourstory.com/2020/12/effects-covid-19-digital-marketing/amp
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/elevate-your-
digital-strategy-during-the-covid-19-crisis/76240832
https://www.jmra.in/article-details/11190
https://www2.deloitte.com/si/en/pages/strategy-operations/articles/changing-
consumer-digital-marketing-impact-Covid-19.html
https://www.match2one.com/blog/how-the-coronavirus-is-affecting-digital-
advertising/
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/03/05/coronavirus-will-impact-ad-spend-could-
drive-shift-utility-e-commerce-and-live
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
345496962_Digital_Marketing_during_COVID_19_Consumer's_Perspective

70
ANNEXURE

Age
 15-25
 25-35
 35-45
 45-55

Occupation
 Student
 Businessman/Businesswoman
 Entrepreneur
 Small business owners
 Job
 Homemaker
 Other…

71
 How many hours did you spend on social media before the pandemic?

 1-3
 3-6
 6-9
 More than 9

Did the usage of Social Media increase during the lockdown?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Are you familiar with the concept of Digital Marketing?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Which of the following types of Digital Marketing have you come across or have
used?

 Search Engine Optimization

 Social Media Marketing
 Content Marketing
 Email Marketing
 Mobile Marketing

Do you think that Digital Marketing has proved to be a pillar for a lot of established
and budding institutions?

72
 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Do you pay attention to online advertising?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

How do you get information about new products?

 Friends
 Family
 Social Media
 Traditional Marketing
 Other…

Do you prefer shopping online rather than in malls?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Do you think COVID-19 taught us more about Digital Marketing and forced us to
choose online shopping over traditional methods?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

73
 "Brands can no longer get away without a digital presence." Do you agree with this
statement?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Do you think COVID-19 has amplified your need and desire to engage online with
brands?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

"Digital Marketing allows the communication with the targeted audience when other
factors are preventing the communication to happen in person." Do you agree?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

How often do you shop online?

 Quite often
 Often
 Sometimes
 Rarely

Have you ever bought a product you had no intention of buying until its advertisement
showed up on your screen?

 Yes
 No

74
 Maybe

Do you think your favourite brands would have still been your favourites if they
lacked Social Media presence during the pandemic?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

How impactful Digital Marketing has been in your buying decisions?

 Quite impactful
 A little
 Did not make any difference

Do innovative and interesting marketing tactics automatically force you to buy the
product or use the services?

 Yes
 No
 Maybe

Keeping your reasoning and experiences in mind do you think digital marketing
affected your buying decisions when the world was at a standstill?

 Yes
 No

If yes, Will it continue to influence your further buying decisions too?

 Yes
 No

75
 "Brands that take the time to understand this ‘new normal’ and adopt an agile and
authentic virtual voice will undoubtedly earn a place of relevance in the post-COVID-
19 era." Do you agree?

 Yes
 No

76