New-age ad game: For start-ups, it’s about creating eyeballs rather than building brands

New-age ad game

For start-ups, it’s about creating eyeballs rather than building brands

Everything in life nowadays seems to be just download an app on the phone and the whole world is at our fingertips.

Online is the way forward and so are the advertisements, particularly for those which are brands in the making—start-ups.

But how do these companies bring their products to the notice of their customers despite a stiff competition in the selling world?

The most difficult part of building a saleable business for a start-up is having the right marketing plan which would help in gaining traction with the people and hence, give an idea about the same in the long run.

Although there are many ways of marketing, the most essential among them is the way the product is advertised. It ranges from a variety of methods of advertising from video advertising— as mobiles are a necessity of life and any advertisement on that would surely be noticed—to app based advertising where the start-ups first create an application before even launching the product.

As Harish Bijoor, brand domain specialist and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, puts it, it is all about ‘creating eyeballs’ for the business rather than building brands. Unlike the earlier days where it took around a decade or so in building a brand name for a product, these days it’s more about creating a business in a short span of time, he said, adding that these days advertising is ‘more scheme less and not theme less’.

More emphasis is made on the themes and hence, advertising in start-ups constitute 98% of mass media and 2% of digital media.

Brand-Comm founder and CEO Ramanujam Sridhar agrees that the advertising trend for start-ups involves creating business along with a brand name within a short timeframe as funding by companies are involved. Also, the start-ups are diversifying their ways of advertising and doing it on a much larger scale due to competition, he added.

Abhishek of Flag March Advertising feels the competition among the start-ups make them go towards the social media where they can have a direct connect with the customer.

On a second thought, are the new advertising trends better than the earlier traditional ones? Sridhar said that since India is a major market which everyone wants to capitalise, adapting to new trends is the better and more viable approach for it has more reach.

In future, the traditional brands would also shift to the new way of advertising that is prominent among the start-ups, he said.

Attracting new customers is one thing, retaining old ones is another. Bijoor said that the new trend is more viable but at the same time, companies should not just focus on building the business but a brand with loyal customers. “In the traditional ways, the companies were more concerned about making the product a brand. Hence, they struggled for years but now competition and investments have changed the market scenario.”

All said and done, there is no denying that in every area of life, the new replaces the old. But if something new comes up, it should imbibe something of the old as well. The new trend of advertising by the start-ups looks very promising and does create awareness, but in the long run, it fails to create a brand.

The old Nirma jingle is a stronger memory compared to the new washing powder ads on TV or social media.

It’s crucial to make itself memorable in the long run. That’s the mantra for advertising whether it’s a start-up or an established company.

...& ANALYSIS

Attracting new customers and retaining old ones is tougher due to competition

Marketing is limited yet creative as the investor funding is involved

Start-ups need to create business along with a brand name within a short time

Source | DNA | 13 September 2017

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Rizvi Institute of Management