Digitalization is transforming economies and societies through new technologies and platforms. While it creates opportunities to boost productivity, trade and access to information, it also risks widening inequalities and disrupting labor markets. Governments need holistic policies and multi-stakeholder cooperation to maximize benefits and minimize risks. Strategies are needed to develop infrastructure, skills and regulations to harness digitalization for development while ensuring access for disadvantaged groups and a fair transition for workers. International cooperation can help address issues like taxation and competition in the digital economy.
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Digital Marketing
1. Digital Marketing
D E F I N I T I O N "Digital marketing can be described as actively promoting
products and services using digital distribution channels as an alternative to
the more traditional mediums such as television, print and radio” Business
Dictionary “Digital Marketing is the application of the Internet and related
technologies in conjunction with traditional communications to achieve the
marketing objectives.” (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). Caddell (2013)
defines „Digital‟ as “a participatory layer of all media that allows users to
selfselect their own experiences, and affords marketers the ability to bridge
media, gain feedback, iterate their message, and collect relationships.” In
other words, digital is a new way of exploring content (for users) and
connecting with customers (for marketers).GLOBAL REACH The Internet
being a global network, digital marketing can be practiced across the world.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DIGIT
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF DIGITAL
A key principle of digital marketing is to create an easy, seamless and
convenient user experience for target audiences. It establishes an
ongoing, automated relationship between brands and their audience,
thereby, reducing the consumer‟s effort needed to act on digital
content
3. What’s Digital Marketing?
• Simply put in words, marketing on digital mediums or platforms
such as websites and social media is called Digital Marketing.
• For example, when you are surfing a website or a webpage and
a pop comes related to some product, or when you see
advertisements on various websites and apps, that’s called
Digital Marketing. All these brands are using digitized networks
as a tool for marketing communication.
4. What’s Traditional Marketing?
• Traditional marketing on the other hand is concentrated on
using traditional channels like billboards and print media for
brand promotion. Whenever you see a newspaper
advertisement or a banner down the road, these are all forms of
Traditional Marketing.
5. Digital Marketing VS. Traditional
Marketing: 7 characteristics that
distinguish them
• There is a huge gap between these forms of marketing. Both
have their own pros and cons. Business units understand the
utility of both the forms and the techniques to choose depend
hugely upon the type of business you are running. Geological
factors also play a crucial role while deciding the mode of
advertisement.
• However, as the internet has evolved and the digital era
expanded like gunpowder, the customer is more inclined
towards seeing what he chooses, and not something which he
is forced to and that’s where Digital Marketing takes the cake.
The Internet has empowered the user to choose whatever he
wants.
6. 1. Segmentation
• In Traditional Marketing, the message or advertisement is propagated to
the masses. The concept is more generic where general aspects in terms
of age, sex, income, location are studied accordingly. It typically works
best at the local level. If you are launching a national or global advertising
campaign through traditional marketing methods, it will require a lot of
careful planning as the cost will be extravagant.
• Whereas,
• In Digital Marketing, the behavior in terms of choices and preferences in
Social Media is studied which focuses on a more specific approach. The
advertisement is catered to selected segments based on specific
demographic characteristics of the audience.
• Digital marketing empowers a company or an organization to market its
business globally with a few clicks. For example, a PPC ad campaign can
easily target a specific city, state, or country anywhere across the world.
7. 2. Costs
• One of the most important characteristics that distinguish
Traditional Marketing from Digital Marketing is the cost element
attached to it. Digital Marketing offers a much better return on
investment when compared to traditional marketing. Especially
small business units prefer Digital Marketing due to its cost
efficiency and higher ROI.
• Advertising on TV, Radio, billboards, and mailers are much
more expensive than advertising through social media,
Blogging, and Content Marketing. Also, not only these
techniques are cost-efficient but also permanent, it’s there until
you remove it.
8. 3. Defining the Target Audience
• Traditional marketing and Digital marketing also differ in terms of
targeting a specific audience. Although a traditional advertisement
displayed in magazines, billboards, or TV will have a large audience,
the audience will not be much defined.
• Digital marketing on the other hand works in a different manner.
Digital marketing techniques help the advertisers to market their
products to their targeted audience based on a variety of factors.
• Pay Per Click and Social Media Ads can be customized and
designed to target a specific category of people based on their age,
sex, location, interests, choices, and preferences. People who
discover a business through techniques like content marketing and
SEO will be searching for relevant keywords online.
9. 4. Buying intent
• In Traditional Marketing, you would be targeting people who are
maybe not actively looking for a product or service. As a result,
the conversions would not be as per the expectations despite
the message being conveyed to a massive audience.
• Digital marketing, on the other hand, aims at targeting potential
customers based on their interests. This means that people who
come across your product or service online will be there
because they are willing to make a purchase or are actively
looking for the solution to their problem at that moment.
10. 5. Customer Engagement
• The next factor to distinguish the two marketing techniques is
their ability to engage the customers. Traditional marketing
takes an in-your-face approach while digital marketing (online
marketing) aims at sparking a conversation that provides value
first. The approach of digital marketing is inbound that pulls
people into a business.
• The traditional approach is sometimes more useful when the
audience is slightly older that doesn’t use modern technology as
much. Whereas digital marketing is useful when we are
targeting a younger audience that uses social media and other
online platforms.
11. 6. Longevity
• There is a wide range of digital marketing techniques such as
Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing which can be
fruitful for long term gains for your business. Techniques like
video marketing, social media, blogging, and content creation
will help you in increasing your online presence and eventually
your business over time.
• As most of these online techniques have a cumulative impact,
hence your website or business will get new visitors and
customers for months or even years to come.
12. 7. Measuring Profitability
• Digital marketing is far more measurable than traditional marketing
is. Nowadays all social media and business websites make use of
tools and plugins to track visitors and see what actually they came
for and what actions they have taken.
• Google also provides a tool called Google Analytics for tracking
overall customer behavior. Digital marketing will provide you enough
data to understand your customer by measuring the impact of a
particular ad or any marketing tactic.
• On the other hand, tracking the impact of traditional ads could be
very difficult as they mostly rely on guesswork. It can be difficult to
figure out the actual reason for a customer to come up to your
business. It could be because of a TV Ad, a referral, a magazine ad,
or for some other reason.
13. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
I. Towards a new digital era
1. Digitalization has developed rapidly since the adoption of the Tunis
Agenda for the Information Society in 2005. In 2018, the number of
persons using the Internet exceeded half the global population for the
first time
2. As more and more people use new applications and devices more
intensively and for more activities, and Internet-of-things devices and
services proliferate, data have become a critical development resource.
3. It is widely recognized that digitalization has unleashed a new wave of
innovation that will have profound implications for humanity, changing
relationships between citizens, Governments and businesses, and that
will alter the structure of societies and economies
14. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
4. Digital technologies and platforms can reduce transaction costs for
businesses and facilitate access to new customers, both in domestic
and foreign markets. For example, suppliers that rely more on e-
commerce may be able to cut delivery costs, especially for digitally
provided content.
5. The roll-out of digital technologies also poses challenges, costs and
risks. Uneven access to affordable digital technologies and limited
capacities to make effective use of them can lead to an inequitable
distribution of benefits. In particular, it may bypass people with limited
education and low levels of literacy; people in rural areas; people with
limited capability or rights to connect; and micro-, small and medium-
sized enterprises.
15. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
II. Productivity growth
7. Manufacturing, services, transportation and even agriculture are
turning to an expanding variety of digital technologies. Underlying
technologies and processes have far-reaching implications for the
organization of work, production and trade, extending existing
organizational and geographic fragmentation into knowledge-intensive
business functions and job categories.
8. However, measuring the impact of digitalization on productivity
remains difficult, and different studies reach different conclusions.
Some studies have found that selling online boosts productivity, with
the greatest impact on small enterprises and in services.
16. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
9. There are substantive statistical gaps and other challenges in
measuring the impact of digitalization on productivity. It also takes time
for technologies to diffuse and for benefits to become visible and
measurable. Only a limited number of enterprises have fully embraced
digitalization so far, with micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in
developing countries the farthest behind.
17. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
III. Expanding global trade
10. Digital platforms are creating new opportunities for companies to
engage in trade, including for micro-, small and medium-sized
enterprises. They can facilitate efficiency gains through lower
transaction costs and reduced information asymmetries supported by
rating systems.
11. According to UNCTAD statistics, global e-commerce sales grew by
13 per cent in 2017, reaching an estimated $29 trillion. A similar surge
was seen in the number of online shoppers, which increased by 12 per
cent and stood at 1.3 billion people, or one quarter of the world’s
population.
18. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
12. Another illustration of the impact of digitalization on global trade is
the expansion of exports of services that can be delivered digitally, such
as insurance, business processes or financial services. In the past
decade, they grew annually by 7–8 per cent and amounted to $2.7
trillion in 2017.5
19. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
IV. Changing employment and skill
13. Increased digitalization and the use of frontier technologies is
expected to have disruptive effects on jobs and skills.6 It will lead to
the creation of some new jobs and occupations in various sectors,
especially in relation to the production of new goods and services or
the modification of existing products.
14. Opinions differ widely on what will be the likely overall impact of
digitalization on aggregate employment, and whether job creation will
outweigh job destruction. There are also some signs of job market
polarization due to technological innovation, and some studies point to
a higher relative risk of unfavourable impacts on women.
20. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
15. In any event, all countries will face the challenge of enabling lifelong
learning so that workers can shift between occupations in the course of their
careers, as digitalization makes adaptive skills ever more valuable. New skills
are needed to take full advantage of the opportunities arising from new
technologies – from sophisticated data analysis and algorithm development
skills, computer skills required to adapt systems and develop services for
local markets, through those required within businesses and other
organizations, to the digital and media literacy required by individuals to find
information, assess its quality and value, and use online resources. Greater
participation by women in the science, technology, engineering and
mathematics disciplines, where they are currently underrepresented, would
help derive more value from digitalization.
21. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
V. Risk of widening inequalities
16. With regard to bridging inequalities in the developing world,
digitalization brings both opportunities and risks.7 An optimistic vision of the
evolving digital economy might emphasize the ubiquity and democratization
of information, ushering in a new, equitable and environmentally sustainable
growth model based on the maximization of human empowerment and well-
being rather than on profits.
17. At the same time, there are growing concerns that new technologies will
disrupt entire industries, widen existing income inequalities and lead to a
further concentration of power and wealth. With the increased scope for
computerization, automatization and the use of artificial intelligence, more
occupations and tasks may disappear, even as output and productivity rise,
bringing higher returns to capital
22. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
18. Winner-takes-all dynamics in platform-based industries such as
Google, Uber, Facebook and WeChat, where network effects accrue to
first movers and standard setters, can accentuate polarization in the
industrial base
23. Digital development: Opportunities and
challenges
VI. Policy recommendations
19. The digital economy is creating new opportunities and challenges for trade and development, and net gains
are neither automatic nor likely to be evenly distributed. The Trade and Development Board may wish to
consider the following policy recommendations: (a) With a view to securing the benefits from and minimizing
the risks of digitalization, Governments should take a holistic approach that involves multi-stakeholder
dialogue. In addition, national policies and strategies should focus on harnessing digital data for development
by developing relevant infrastructure, skills and regulations;
(b) The need for regional and international policy responses to issues related, for example, to competition,
consumer protection, data ownership and protection, privacy, taxation and trade in the digital economy should
be further discussed;
(c) Women’s access to opportunities offered by the digital economy should be improved to narrow the digital
gender divide and give more women the possibility to earn additional income, increase employment
opportunities and access information;
(d) To prevent the evolving digital economy from exacerbating digital divides and income inequalities, more
concerted efforts should be made to help countries strengthen their readiness to capture the opportunities
arising from digitalization, including through effective donor dialogue and by leveraging the eTrade for all
initiative, led by UNCTAD, and rapid eTrade readiness assessments.