Strike a balance in your marketing campaigns

dubai - Advertisers who cut back on print are missing out on a wider reach

With the growth of digital marketing in the region, there is a lot of debate as to how marketers should allocate their budget for campaigns. Should they put all their money into digital campaigns or still allocate some for print?

Digital vs print
There is no doubt that digital marketing has helped cement the connection between a brand and its consumers. Now, with the click of a button, consumers can make informed buying decisions and even make the actual purchase online. And with increasing Internet penetration and growing number of mobile users in the region, marketers believe that digital is the future.

However, in the Middle East and Arab region, traditional print media is still alive and very much an effective tool of communication. Advertisers who cut back on print are missing out on a wider reach, according to a recent study by consultancy Benchmarketing for Newsworks.
When it comes to making a decision on where to put your money, I would say it is not about digital vs print, it is about the preference and reading habits of your target audience.

Challenges of digital marketing
There is a growing perception that digital engagement is the ultimate key of communication. However, the world of digital marketing is ever evolving and it is important for marketers to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of new social media tools and how successful they are in reaching their audience. For example, is it better to run a campaign on Facebook or Instagram? Or, how do you select which influencer is a better fit for your campaign? These are questions that need to be answered before launching a promotion.

Many companies that have launched digital campaigns are now beginning to realise that without proper engagement or increased traffic, their campaigns are a waste of time and money. This has resulted in growing awareness about the importance of monitoring tools to analyse conversations, engagement and the reach of influencers.

Importance of measurement
The large quantities of data available to digital marketers is of no use unless they can analyse and interpret it. Understanding the real story behind the numbers is crucial for making decisions. Intelligent monitoring platforms analyse billions of digital editorial and social conversations daily to extract precise, timely business insights that help businesses understand their markets, engage their customers, understand consumer sentiments around a campaign and master the social business environment.

These tools also allow you to search different things at the same time. This means you can compare a competitor's campaign with yours and compare how the consumer sentiments measure up.

I believe that as we transition into a digital world, the importance of monitoring and analysis of big data will be the driving force for successful campaigns.

The writer is head of marketing, India, Middle East & Africa at Meltwater. Views expressed are her own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.