The pandemic has brought about notable shifts across industries, and the case has been no different for marketing. Today, digital marketing has become a crucial aspect in order to acquire new customers and retain existing ones. In our weekly BrandWagon Ad Talk series, industry experts highlight what has changed over the past two years and more importantly, are these changes here to stay. Ajay Yadav, co-founder, Simplified, talks to BrandWagon Online, about the dos and don’ts of digital marketing, best marketing campaigns, and more.
What is the difference between launching a brand in today’s digital era versus earlier?
The consideration of launching a brand with creators and influencers, and of course, UGC in mind to increase brand reach and awareness. Before, you had to accommodate bigger budgets for channels like radio, tv and print media, and maybe even pay celebrities. A major change has come into play with this opportunity of storytelling through a much organic way.
Another part of this is of course content made using AI, which never existed. So quality, quantity, testing, and potential reach has all gone up. It’s more digital than ever before.
What are the recent best marketing or advertising campaigns you have seen and why?
My top picks are actually influencer marketing campaigns from 2 different companies.
One is of a this company that has extensively used creators who are in college to grow it to roughly $10 million in ARR very fast, without relying much on additional paid media. They’ve very smartly but subtly made people love their product by amplifying their message in this manner.
Second is by Olipop, who has used a extensive network of TikTok influencers to grow it by more than $100 million in sales. It’s interesting to note that the company ditched paid ads in 2021 and went all in on organic content through creator partnerships. The hashtag #Olipoppartner shows over 1.5 billion views. A case in point of the impact strategic influencer marketing can make. Ofcourse, AI now plays a big role in speeding this entire process of creating content, from ideas to copy, editing and execution.
Which brand in the last year has made the best use of digital and how?
I think we’ve witnessed the last year as companies starting to bring in AI into workflows, and I think we at Simplified have made incredible use of the opportunity at hand. We are super heavy on SEO, especially when it comes to, say, landing pages, and in the last five to six months, most of our pages are all written using AI.
You can’t even tell if that is the case honestly, but most of the work that we do now is using AI. And, just to give some numbers, that’s bringing us millions of clicks per month. So just like us, there are many companies who are targeting product-led growth (PLG) motions and focusing on SaaS or SMBs are applying these tactics to get there.
In a post-Covid world, what are the dos and don’ts of digital marketing?
The biggest thing now in the post-COVID world is how the use of video went up. People are hooked to their phones, scrolling video after video. We’ve really gone past the TV culture post-pandemic, consuming more videos on phone, the growing voice culture with mobile assistants and the rise of ChatGPT on our phones, right? I think a lot of this is changing, and so are the modes of marketing, trying to focus on the new media that is short-form, faster, and engaging.
For do’s and don’ts of marketing, try to focus on the new media that is short form, engaging, faster and reaches massive versus the old school media, like relying on Facebook ads or brand campaigns that are very expensive to pull off.
It’s very easy to test something in today’s digital world with a small budget. Even launching and testing 50 or hundreds of ad copy to see which works is achievable using AI. So creating and experimenting with those variations would be super effective and affordable as well.
One recent bad case of advertising you have seen, and why?
A recent bad case of advertising is brands relying heavily on traditional media like TV and outdoor billboards, especially early in their campaigns. In today’s fast-paced market, it’s more effective to build brand awareness cheaply and quickly through digital channels. Using AI and digital platforms allows for rapid testing and iteration, which is essential for refining strategies. Once a solid awareness foundation is established, traditional media can be used to reinforce trust. The old approach of lengthy approval cycles slows things down; agility and speed are key to modern marketing success.