Does Digital Marketing Solve Business Challenges?

“Does digital marketing solve business challenges?”

We had just initiated the call, introduced ourselves, and she posed this question to us.

She had recently taken over the leadership role in the marketing division of a Fortune 500 multi-national’s India office. The firm was well established in India in the enterprise segment. But, now they wanted to promote their hardware in the AI + Edge developer ecosystem.

“I have seen a lot of digital marketing at work.” 

“Gone through tons of jargon and keywords…  Websites, SEO, SEM, Emailers, Databases, Automated Emailing Systems, Banner Ads, Web Advertising, Impressions, Clicks, Conversions, Leads, List Building.” 

“Invested tons on money in many. Phew!”

“Seen some amazing reports that show how each dollar got invested and where.”

“But, I am not clear how these investments translated into success for the business!”

“Have you ever executed a digital marketing campaign that delivered results?”, she asked.

Truthfully, we were speechless.

We were not sure if we had ever looked at the campaigns we delivered for our clients from the perspective of business results. We knew they delivered impressions, clicks and conversions. But, business results–was this not a factor that the customer who gave us the campaign to worry about?

At least, that’s what we had been telling ourselves–until that day.

So, we sought 2 days to come back with concrete examples.

“But, do we have any concrete examples?”, I asked our head of consulting and head of digital marketing, as soon as the marketer dropped out.

“I believe so”, said the head of consulting.

“I hope so”, said the head of digital marketing.

Ouch! I felt my throat go dry.

We decided to reconvene after 2 hours, at 6 pm, when we have no urgent calls or distractions. Our agenda was simple: let’s go through all the digital marketing projects we have delivered recently, and see how many connect into business goals of the organisation.

All of us logged in by 5.57 pm. The question was troubling but exciting.

“I believe I have found a few cases!”

“Me too”

This was a good start to our meeting, I thought to myself.

“Ok, let’s try and create a list of challenges we have solved without naming the clients, so we have no issue with their ‘confidentiality clause’ I suggested.” 

And, here’s a short list we came up with…

1. Enable a leading power management module supplier to engage with target audience of design engineers and R&D professionals interested in designing solutions for the Robotics sector. Target exceeded by 29%.
   
2. Enabled a leading supplier of Test & Measurement solutions to generate a list of qualified audiences for their RF solutions by using their content and developing our own content to target Test Engineers, R&D and Design Professionals working on RF applications. Target met before the  deadline. Generated leads for sales too, more than expected.
   
3. Enabled a leading distributor of Electronics Manufacturing Equipment to attract a qualified audience of technical decision makers, production and procurement personnel from electronics manufacturing firms, Got them to register and attend their webinars. Exceeded expectations by 3 times!
   
4. Enabled a global brand of circuit protection and sensing components to execute a webinar targeting design engineers working on EVs. Exceeded registration targets by more than 4 times!
   
5. Enabled a leading Test & Measurement supplier to engage with academics and develop a rich list of contacts. Delivered 15% higher attendance within 2 weeks!
   
6. Enabled a leading supplier of Test & Measurement solutions to generate a list of qualified audiences for their bench-top solutions. Used their content assets, and developed our own content to target Test Engineers, R&D and Design Professionals from academics and SME sectors. Achieved targets for list building. Generated leads for sales too!
   
7. Enabled a leading Edge-Computing Dev Board supplier to execute a complete virtual event while also enrolling qualified registrants for their webinar on solutions for IIoT. Target exceeded by 32%.
   
8. Enabled a leading Online Catalog Supplier of Electronics to enroll qualified audiences from ASEAN for their webinar on IoT related design challenges and solutions. Target achieved before deadline.
   
9. Enabled a leading semiconductor supplier to execute their design contest for ASEAN and ANZ regions successfully by enrolling qualified contestants (DIYers and Design Professionals) from these regions. Target achieved!
   
10. Enabled a leading supplier of Open Source Chip Design & Embedded Systems solutions to organise seminars across 6 cities in India, and one in Bangladesh (Dhaka). Enrolled registrations of qualified audiences for their seminars across India, and did follow-ups to ensure good attendance at their events. Targets exceeded for registrations and attendance.
    
11. Enabled a leading Online Catalog Supplier of Electronics to execute a 5-city roadshow in India promoting electronics in IoT, where we not only managed execution of the events, but more importantly ensured that they were attended by qualified audiences in numbers matching or exceeding targets. Met targets before deadline.
    
12. Enabled a leading supplier of electronics connectors to engage with more than expected audience for their webinar, where they were targeting R&D and design engineers from the Automotive sector. Exceeded target.
    
13. Enabled a leading supplier of electronics connectors to engage with more than expected audience for their webinar, where they were targeting R&D and design engineers from Industrial and Home Appliances sectors. Exceeded target.
    
14. Enabled a leading supplier of Power Management ICs to conduct a survey amongst qualified audiences of electronics design engineers to gauge brand perception vis-a-vis their competitors. Met targets before deadline.
    
15. Enabled a leading supplier of Power Management Modules to generate a list of qualified audience of design and R&D engineers working on Drones. Exceeded targets.
    
16. Enabled a leading supplier of Test & Measurement solutions to attract like-minded channel partners from India and expand their distribution network. Exceeded target by 50% and they signed the partner.
    
17. Enabled a leading supplier of Chip Design EDA Software to generate a list of qualified audiences comprising semiconductor professionals by leveraging their whitepapers. Exceeded target by 40%!
    
18. Enabled a leading semiconductor brand to get registrations expedited for a virtual event targeting the Asia Pacific region. Surpassed target within one-fourth of the standard time-frame!
    
19. Enabled a leading semiconductor supplier to engage with more than expected audience for their webinar targeting design engineers and R&D personnel from the Automotive sector. Targets exceeded by 20%.
    
20. Enabled a semiconductor supplier to engage with more than expected audience for their on-demand webinar targeting automotive design professionals. Targets exceeded by 10%.
    
21. Enabled a leading supplier of Power Management Modules to generate a list of qualified audiences for their automotive solutions, whom they could connect with and market their solutions. Exceeded targets by 23%.
    
22. Enabled a leading supplier of Test & Measurement solutions to generate a list of qualified audiences using their content to target Test Engineers, R&D and Design Professionals interested in designing solutions for the healthcare and medical device sector. Target exceeded by 100%.