Digitalization is what defines today’s world. If you look around, you will find that almost 95 percent of things are operated digitally. Digital money, digital books, digital India, and everything digital. In these three lines I have used digital almost five times, so could I further emphasize how important its incorporation is?

Take a look at a Mint report: smartphone vendors to spend ₹330 crore on digital marketing in India. Is any business not practicing it?

Now, let’s move on to the topic of our discussion today, which is digital marketing. Something that is very essential for the growth of your business. See what Dr. Jarrod Sadulski, an industry expert, has to say about it. “Having a digital marketing strategy is a vital aspect of business development.” Can he be more right? It is the need of the hour undoubtedly; therefore, in this blog we will analyse why 360° digital marketing is essential for business growth in 2024–25.

The digital imperative: Why businesses must embrace digital marketing

When it comes to an interconnected world, one cannot look at digital marketing simply as a buzzword; it is instead what is driving business growth in today’s time.

1. Reaching customers where they are

We live in a world that is digital first for consumers today. A recent report states that the global number of digital buyers will reach 2.64 billion by 2025. This mind-blowing figure clearly shows how important it is for businesses to have a good online understanding.

When you need people to find your business, SEO optimization services become crucial. They will make sure that your site appears when someone searches for products or services similar to yours. As Neil Patel, a renowned digital marketing expert, has rightly said, SEO isn’t simply about links and keywords anymore but rather enhancing the overall user experience.

2. Using data for personalized marketing

The wealth of data is one of the strongest aspects of digital marketing for promoting goods and services. But why is the data used? It allows businesses to customize their marketing strategies with precision.

For instance, performance marketing allows businesses to monitor and gauge the efficacy of their campaigns in real time. This ensures that strategies are continually optimized for the impact you are aiming at.

According to a report by McKinsey & Company, “Companies that use customer analytics comprehensively report outstripping their competition in terms of profit almost twice as often as companies that do not.”

3. Engaging audiences through social media

Just like you cannot forget to check your Instagram every now and then. Similarly, we cannot skip social media marketing services out of this discussion.

If businesses are looking to build brand awareness and foster customer relationships, this is where they need to be.

Sheryl Sandberg, former Chief Operating Officer at Meta, believes people share, read, and in general interact more with any content type surfaced by friends and people they know and trust. Hence, the importance of being able to develop a sound social media plan should not be overlooked in any digital marketing strategy.

4. Harnessing the power of messaging apps

No one ever realized how WhatsApp became our day-to-day friend so quickly. Now is the time when you cannot imagine waking up and not checking your messages. If that is the case, then why should businesses not use this habit for their benefit? Due to the increasing use of messaging apps, WhatsApp marketing has established itself as an influential tool. With more than 2 billion people currently using it worldwide, WhatsApp gives you direct access to potential customers.

5. Nurturing leads through email

You just can’t throw the old method in the trash. Although many other forms of digital communication have emerged, email marketing still forms the basis for hunting clients across the internet. A report by Litmus reveals that emails generate an average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for each dollar put into them. This makes them one of the cheaper forms of online promotion.

6. Adapting to changing consumer behaviours

If you have forgotten the COVID-19 pandemic, then think again because it was one of the biggest propellers of the digital wave. This led to the adoption of digitalized system across all sectors. According to a survey done by McKinsey Global, companies have sped up the digitization of their customer interactions and supply-chain activities by three to four years. This change in the way people buy products will probably remain this way, thus making digital marketing even more important.

7. Staying ahead of the competition

You might come last in the race if you fail to embrace digital marketing risk. And who likes to fall behind their competitors? A 360° digital marketing strategy can help you position yourself at the forefront of the industry. The strategy includes:

• SEO optimization services
• Social media marketing services
• Performance marketing
• WhatsApp marketing,
• Email marketing, along with a few others

8. Measuring and optimizing marketing efforts

How do businesses understand what’s working and what isn’t? The ability to measure and enhance campaigns in real-time is one of digital marketing’s primary advantages. Unlike traditional methods, it has thorough analytical information. With it, organizations can observe critical measurements, for instance, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates (CR), and return on investment (ROI). This enables them to stabilize their marketing actions all the time.

9. Building brand awareness and loyalty

Awareness and loyalty are important in all aspects, and so is the case in the marketing world. Brands need to tell their stories, which eventually helps them in connecting with their customers on a deeper level. So, what’s the role of digital marketing here? By using content marketing, social media engagement, and personal customer communication businesses can create good relationships with consumers. This not only enables them to build these experiences at scale, but also helps establish the consumers’ support for the brand.

10. Preparing for the future of marketing

Future prediction is not easy, but here we can say that no one can stop the full-fledged entry of digital marketing in every sector. Who will be the winners at the end? The one practicing it for a long run. As we are looking forward to 2024–25, there are artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and voice search, among other advancements. These will revolutionize the marketing scene. Given the changes, investing in them now will make it easier to adjust your business to these transformations. You can seize the moment when new chances come along.

Case Study

How can an analysis be complete without a case study? Let’s take an intriguing case today and understand how digital marketing helped in the company’s growth. We will see what challenges it faced, what their initial and final revenue were, and how it changed their growth trajectory in a positive curve.

Domino’s Pizza – From Digital Laggard to Industry Leader

The question: How did Domino’s turn around a falling trend?
The year 2008 was not a good year for your favourite pizza brand. Domino’s was facing a crisis. The company’s stock suddenly dropped from $10 to $3 per share. A survey ranked its pizza last among national chains in flavour.

Disheartening, right? So was the case with this leading pizza brand. What did Domino’s need to survive in an increasingly competitive market? Nothing but a radical transformation.

Key figures:

• 2008 Revenue: $1.4 billion
• Stock price: $3.03 (December 2008)
• Market share: 9% of the U.S. pizza market

The digital transformation strategy

The company knew that they needed to change their strategy according to the consumers’ behaviour towards digital platforms. And so they started their ambitious transformation journey, something of the sort that we discussed above. Their strategy focused on three key areas:

1. Domino’s invested heavily in developing user-friendly mobile apps and a robust online ordering system.
2. The company used customer data to offer personalized experiences and targeted promotions.
3. Domino’s launched several digital-first marketing initiatives that engaged customers and showcased their commitment to transparency and quality.

Implementation and results

• AnyWare ordering technology: Domino’s introduced its AnyWare technology which was much needed at that time. It allowed customers to order through multiple digital touchpoints, including:
• SMS
• Twitter
• Smart TVs
• Amazon Alexa
• Google Home

  How did this help them? This move increased accessibility and convenience for customers. It drove a significant uptick in digital orders.

• Pizza Tracker: Pizza Tracker was a very good idea for customer engagement and satisfaction. It allowed customers to follow their order from preparation to delivery in real-time.
• Points for Pies: This feature really helped the company in social media engagement at the same time resulted in heavy app downloads. It was a loyalty program launched by Domino’s that used AI to recognize pizza images, awarding points even for competitors’ pizzas.
• Data-driven marketing: By using customer data, Domino’s was able to create highly targeted marketing campaigns. They used predictive analytics to determine the best times to send promotions to individual customers. This significantly improved their conversion rates.

Key outcomes:

• By 2018, digital orders accounted for more than 65% of Domino’s U.S. sales.
• Domino’s became the largest pizza company in the world by global retail sales in 2018.
• The company’s stock price rose from $3.03 in 2008 to over $300 in 2019.

Financial impact:

• 2019 Revenue: $3.62 billion (159% increase from 2008)
• Stock price: $369.59 (December 2019)
• Market share: 19% of the U.S. pizza market (more than doubled)

What are the lessons learned?

• Embrace digital transformation fully
• Customer-centric innovation is required
• Data utilization is the key
• Continuous innovation cannot be skipped
• Omnichannel presence for accessibility and convenience

Going through this case study, you might have gotten the answer to “Why digital marketing is essential for business growth in 2024–25.” If yes, then this blog has served its purpose well.

Think digitally: Market strategically

The conclusion that one can draw from this discussion is simple: tell your brain to think digitally and market impactfully. This growing industry is a revolutionary step for everyone involved. Figures indicate that India is the second largest internet user globally, following China. Hence, this huge number can easily contribute to a strong digital ecosystem for the nation.

These days, everybody, from small start-ups to moguls, prefers to stay visible among their audience through digital platforms. Therefore, when considered on a broader level, it is not an exaggeration to assert that “Being Global Means Doing Digital.”

Also, if you need any help with marketing or are looking for a complete 360° digital marketing agency to push your company’s growth, turn to Neoma. Media, your trusted digital growth partner.