Rahul Sharma, a 31-year-old software engineer from Pune, knew exactly which car he was going to buy six weeks before he visited a dealership. He had watched 23 YouTube reviews, compared trim variants on three automotive portals, stress-tested EMI calculators, joined an MG owners’ community on Reddit, and even run a detailed feature comparison through an AI assistant. When he finally walked into the showroom, it was not to be persuaded. It was to sign.

His experience is not an outlier. It is rapidly becoming the norm.

Across India’s booming passenger vehicle market, which crossed the 4.7 million unit mark in FY2025, a profound behavioural shift is underway. The traditional automotive purchase funnel, in which the dealership served as the primary arena of discovery, comparison, and emotional conviction, is being fundamentally disrupted. Digital ecosystems are now doing the heavy lifting of influence long before a salesperson enters the conversation.

For automotive CMOs and CX and marketing leaders, this raises an urgent strategic question that goes well beyond campaign optimisation: At what stage of the journey is the purchase decision actually being made today?

The Funnel Has Been Inverted

The classical model of automotive retail placed the dealership at the centre of the universe. Awareness was built through television and print. Test drives and salesroom conversations shaped consideration. The decision happened at the negotiating table. This model held for decades.

Today, the journey of influence has been reorganised. Awareness, consideration, and even emotional attachment are increasingly formed in digital environments – on YouTube channels run by automotive creators, in WhatsApp groups shared among enthusiast communities, through configurators and AR walkthroughs on brand websites, and increasingly through AI-powered research assistants that synthesise specs, ownership costs, and resale values in seconds.

“ Digital discovery is now the primary consideration engine. Consumers increasingly complete 70-80% of their research journey before entering a dealership. YouTube reviews, creator-led comparisons, Reddit communities, AI-assisted search, and OEM configurators are shaping brand perception earlier than traditional retail experiences. As marketers, this shifts investment toward always-on content ecosystems, influencer credibility, first-party data strategies, and CRM journeys designed to nurture intent long before lead submission.”

– Vipin Yadav, Vice President & Marketing Head, DriveX.

The data support this directional shift. A 2024 study by Google India and Kantar found that over 78% of Indian car buyers conduct online research before visiting a dealership, and nearly 60% had already shortlisted their preferred model before their first physical interaction with the brand. The average Indian car buyer now spends over 14 hours researching online across a purchase cycle that can stretch from six weeks to six months.

The implication for automotive marketers is seismic. If conviction is being built upstream in YouTube comment sections, on CarDekho comparison pages, through CarDekho AI chat tools, and in creator-led Instagram Reels, then the traditional dealership visit is increasingly a ratification exercise, not a discovery mission.

The Creator Economy Rewrites the Test Drive

No force has disrupted automotive influence more visibly than the rise of creator-led automotive content. Channels like Autocar India, Evo India, Vaibhav Tare Automobile, and a growing cohort of regional language creators have built loyal audiences that trust their reviews implicitly – often more than they trust the brand’s own marketing communications or dealership staff.

This trust asymmetry is significant. Creators are perceived as independent, experience-driven voices. They test vehicles under real-world Indian road conditions – the Pune-Mumbai expressway, Bangalore’s urban grid, Rajasthan’s highway stretches, and communicate in common parlance that resonates with the aspiring middle-class buyer. They reveal what a brochure will not, e.g. cabin noise at 120 kmph, air conditioning performance in 44-degree heat, or the reality of ground clearance on a potholed city road.

“The traditional test-drive funnel isn’t disappearing – it’s shifting upstream. Discovery now happens long before a buyer walks into a showroom, through creator-led content, peer communities, AI-powered comparisons, and personalised research journeys that feel far more transparent than traditional sales experiences.

This shift is forcing brands to rethink how trust is earned. Performance marketing alone is no longer enough. The real battleground has moved to the discovery layer of the internet – where credibility ecosystems, influencer partnerships, community validation, and content that educates rather than sells now determine which brands enter consideration at all.

For automotive marketers, the strategic imperative is clear – own the discovery layer or cede it. Brands that invest in GEO-optimised content, AI-visible storytelling, and integrated digital discovery pipelines are the ones shaping purchase intent before a competitor even enters the frame.”

– Roshan Mohan, Co-founder and CMO, FlowBlinq.

OEMs have responded by forging relationships with creators. What was once managed as a subset of PR is now a dedicated discipline within automotive marketing teams, complete with tiered creator programs, early vehicle access, co-created content formats, and performance attribution frameworks that track creator-driven leads through to dealership visits and bookings.

EV Brands Accelerated the Digital-First Playbook

If one segment has stress-tested and validated the digital-first purchase model most aggressively, it is the electric vehicle category. Brands like Tesla, MG Motor, BYD, and a wave of emerging EV players entered the market without the luxury of legacy dealership networks and deep retail footprints. Necessity became virtue.

Range calculators, charging network maps, TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) comparators, and community-driven ownership content on platforms such as YouTube and dedicated EV forums created a richly informed buyer who arrived at the showroom with sophisticated questions, not basic ones.

This pattern has profound implications for how traditional ICE-focused OEMs think about their EV marketing strategies. The playbook that works for a Baleno or an Innova Crysta – heavy retail activation, dealer-push incentives, test drive events translates imperfectly to an EV buyer who has arrived pre-convinced but needs ecosystem assurance (charging infrastructure, service network, software update cadence) rather than product conviction.

The Younger Buyer’s Trust Architecture

India’s automotive market is getting younger. The median age of a first-time car buyer has dropped steadily over the past decade, and Gen Z buyers are entering the market with a fundamentally different epistemology of trust.

For this cohort, the hierarchy of credibility is inverted relative to their parents’ generation. Where a 55-year-old buyer might trust a dealer’s recommendation above an anonymous online review, a 26-year-old is likely to weigh a YouTube creator’s two-hour walkaround, 200 Reddit comments from real owners, and an AI-generated comparison summary above any conversation with a showroom salesperson.

This shift in trust architecture demands a fundamental rethinking of what automotive marketing is actually for. If the goal of marketing was once to create awareness and generate showroom footfall, the goal today is to engineer digital conviction, to ensure that when a young buyer’s purchase intent crystallises, the brand’s narrative, content, and community have already done the persuasion work.

Several OEMs are investing heavily in what practitioners call “content ecosystem architecture” – a deliberate strategy of seeding the digital environments where buyer research happens, namely YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, automotive portals, Google Search, with content that shapes perception at every micro-moment of the research journey.

The Dealership Is Not Dead. It Is Evolving.

It would be a mistake, and an overreach, to declare the dealership obsolete. The evidence does not support that conclusion. What the evidence does support is that the dealership’s role within the purchase journey is changing, and that change is significant.

The dealership is transitioning from being a “decision-making environment” where product discovery, comparison, and persuasion happen to a “transaction and fulfilment environment” where emotional confirmation, paperwork, financing, and relationship initiation happen. This is not a demotion. It is a specialisation. But it requires a fundamentally different design of the physical experience.

“Digital discovery will definitely play a very important role in opinion-creation and decision-making, but never at the cost of the physical “experience”. Digitally, one will get as much information as possible through reviews, customer clubs, platforms and influencers. But these are “factoids”, based on others’ opinions formed out of their experiences. The journalists and influencers who are invited for the launch test drives create content to feed you. The final nourishment comes from the actual physical test drive. The smell, the ambience, the handling, the acceleration, the comfort, the AC effectiveness, the rear legroom, and the braking – all are sensory parameters. And they change from person to person. The ample acceleration for one may be just average for another. The interior ambience may be just the right size for one and a bit cramped for outstation travel for another. All that can be judged only through the physical test drive. The digital discoveries tell you only that much, which makes you create your shortlist for the test drive. Otherwise, journalists and influencers themselves would not be doing them, would they?”

– Avik Chattopadhyay, Co-founder, Expereal.

Premium and luxury vehicle segments retain the strongest case for the dealership as the decision environment. The sensory dimensions of a Mercedes-Benz or BMW purchase, the smell of the leather, the sound of the door closing, the tactile quality of materials, cannot be fully replicated digitally. For high-involvement, high-ticket purchases, the dealership remains an essential emotional validator.

Similarly, financing conversations, particularly for first-time buyers navigating EMI structures, insurance bundling, and exchange valuations, continue to benefit from face-to-face engagement. And post-purchase relationship management: service scheduling, loyalty programs, and ownership communities remain a dealership-anchored function that smart OEMs are investing in heavily.

Rethinking Attribution: Where Does the Sale Actually Begin?

One of the thorniest challenges facing automotive marketing leaders today is the question of attribution. In a world where a customer may have touched 15 digital touchpoints across six weeks before appearing in a showroom, how does a brand accurately measure what drove the sale? And how does it allocate the budget accordingly?

The traditional answer – last-click attribution that credits the dealership or the test drive dramatically understates the value of digital influence. It creates a systematic incentive to under-invest in the top-of-funnel digital work that actually builds the conviction that drives the visit.

Forward-thinking OEMs are experimenting with multi-touch attribution models, customer journey analytics platforms, and CRM integrations that attempt to stitch together the digital breadcrumb trail – search queries, page visits, configurator interactions, video completion rates with physical dealership events. The goal is a unified view of the customer journey that allows marketing investment to be calibrated against actual influence, not just last-mile conversion.

Platforms such as Google’s Automotive Audiences, Meta’s automotive targeting solutions, and dedicated automotive CRM platforms such as DealerSocket and Ackroo are being integrated into sophisticated marketing stacks that attempt to close this attribution gap. But the honest assessment from most CMOs is that the measurement challenge remains only partially solved.

Connected Customer Journeys: The New Competitive Frontier

The OEMs that will win the next decade of India’s automotive market are those that master what practitioners call the “connected customer journey” – a seamless, orchestrated experience that moves fluidly between digital and physical touchpoints without friction, repetition, or loss of context.

Imagine a buyer who configures a vehicle on a brand’s website at 10 PM, saves their configuration, receives a personalised follow-up WhatsApp message at 10 AM, books a test drive through the app, arrives at the dealership where the salesperson already knows their shortlist and budget range, and receives a financing offer pre-generated from their digital profile. That experience exists, in fragments, at some progressive OEMs today. It exists end-to-end at almost none.

Building this connected journey requires investment across technology (CRM, CDP, marketing automation), organisational design (breaking the digital/retail silos), and culture (rewarding lead-to-close holistically rather than by channel). These are not small asks. But the competitive cost of not doing it in a market where a competitor’s digital ecosystem is actively building conviction among your potential customers is rising rapidly.

The Strategic Imperative for Automotive Marketers

The death of the test drive funnel, as a singular moment of influence, does not mean the death of the test drive. It means the redesign of an entire system around a new behavioural reality.

For automotive CMOs operating in India today, the strategic imperatives are clear, if demanding. First, map the actual decision journey, not the assumed one. Use data, research, and honest customer conversations to understand where conviction is genuinely forming, not where the org chart suggests it should be forming.

Second, invest in digital ecosystem presence as aggressively as in retail activation. The content that lives on YouTube, the community that grows on Reddit, the configurator that delights at midnight – these are not supplementary to the purchase journey. They are the purchase journey for a growing majority of buyers.

Third, redesign the dealership experience for its new role. If the showroom is now where brand promise is fulfilled rather than where brand narrative is initiated, its physical design, staff training, and technology infrastructure must reflect that purpose.

And fourth, solve the attribution problem honestly. Not by declaring last-touch conversion the hero of the story, but by building measurement frameworks courageous enough to credit influence where it actually happens, even when that means crediting a YouTube creator’s review rather than a dealership demo.

India’s automotive market is at an inflection point. Digital ecosystems now shape customer conviction. The question is not whether brands will adapt. It is whether they will adapt fast enough, and completely enough, to compete in an era where the most important sales conversation is the one that happens before anyone picks up a phone to call the dealership.

Data Sources & References

1. Google India & Kantar – “Decoding the Auto Buyer’s Digital Journey” (2024)
2. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)
3. McKinsey & Company – “Winning in India’s Automotive Market” / “The Future of Automotive Retail” (2023–24)
4. JD Power India – India Sales Satisfaction Study & Automotive Digital Experience Studies (2023–24)
5. Verizon Media / Yahoo – “The Path to Purchase for Auto Buyers” (2022–23)
6. Deloitte – Global Automotive Consumer Study: India Supplement (2024)
7. RedSeer Consulting – “India EV Market: Consumer Behaviour & Digital Discovery” (2023–24)
8. Nielsen India – Digital Content & Creator Influence Studies (2023)
9. CarDekho Group / Girnar Software – Industry & Consumer Insights (2024)
10. Dentsu India / iProspect – Automotive Digital Marketing Benchmarks Report (2023–24)

This article was produced by the editorial team. All named executives are quoted in a representative editorial capacity. Statistical references are drawn from publicly available industry research.

“The views, opinions, and statements expressed by contributors and experts quoted in this article are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication. While every effort is made to accurately represent and attribute quotations, the publication shall not be held liable for any inadvertent errors, omissions, misinterpretations, or inaccuracies in the quoted material.”

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There is a moment that many banking customers know intimately. You log in, and the screen says –

“Good morning, Amit. Your account balance is ₹2,14,330.”

For a fleeting instant, it almost feels personal. Then the next banner offers you a home loan, the same one that has been there since January. The moment evaporates.

Banks and insurers have invested billions in personalization. So why does it still feel like a mail-merge?

This is the central paradox of personalization in Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) – an industry that holds more intimate data about human behavior than almost any other on earth, yet routinely delivers experiences that feel as generic as a mass-market flyer.
The problem is not a lack of investment. According to McKinsey, financial institutions have poured hundreds of billions into digital transformation over the past decade. Personalization platforms, CRM overhauls, and data lakes have proliferated.

Yet a 2023 Accenture survey found that 67% of banking customers feel the personalization they receive is “superficial” or “irrelevant.” The gap between ambition and execution has never been wider.

The reason is both structural and philosophical. Most BFSI personalization today is not really personalization at all. It is sophisticated templating, and understanding the difference is the first step toward closing the gap.

The Illusion of Personalization. When ‘Hi, Amit’ Is as Far as It Goes

Walk into any major bank’s digital product today, and you will find the hallmarks of first-generation personalization – your name on the dashboard, your most-used services surfaced to the top, perhaps a birthday message in November. These are not trivial achievements. They represent years of backend integration and UX work. But they share a fundamental limitation – they are driven by static identity, not dynamic behavior.

This is what we might call “Nominal Personalization”. The customer is recognized, but not understood. The system knows who you are; it does not know what you are doing, what you are about to need, or what would genuinely help you right now.

Compare that to what Contextual Personalization looks like in practice. A bank’s spending analysis feature should not just show you a pie chart of last month’s expenses. It notices that you have booked three international flights in 90 days and proactively surfaces its travel rewards card with a personalized ROI calculation based on your actual spend. Netflix’s recommendation engine – the gold standard most financial brands cite in internal decks but rarely emulate does not just remember what you watched. It models what you are likely to want next, based on the time of day, inferred recent mood shifts from genre switching, and what similar users chose.

The distance between “Hi, Amit” and “Your travel spending suggests you could save ₹18,000 a year with this card” is not merely cosmetic. It is the distance between recognition and relevance, and it is where the vast majority of BFSI brands are stuck.

“Personalization without intelligence is just templating and no amount of first-name tokens changes that.”

Why Most Personalization Is Rule-Based, Static, and Segment-Driven

To understand why BFSI personalization feels hollow, you need to understand how most of it is actually built. Beneath the glossy interfaces, the majority of personalization engines in financial services run on one of three architectures, and all three share the same fundamental flaw.

Rule-Based Engines

The industry workhorse. A compliance team and a marketing team sit down and define conditions – “If  a customer has a savings account and balance > ₹1 lakh and age > 35, show fixed deposit banner.” These rules are legible, auditable, and easy to explain to regulators. They are also brittle. Rules cannot adapt to a context they were not written for. They cannot learn. And as any data scientist who has inherited a legacy rules engine will tell you, they metastasize over time into thickets of contradictory logic that nobody fully understands.

Segment-Driven Targeting

The next evolutionary step beyond pure rules is segmentation. Customers are grouped by age, income band, product holding, or RFM score, and each segment receives tailored messaging. This is better than one-size-fits-all, but it reintroduces the generic experience through the back door. A segment is, by definition, a generalization. “Urban millennial with home loan” is not a person. Treating 400,000 people as if they are the same individual because they share three demographic attributes is not personalization; it is mass customization with extra steps.

Static Profiles

Perhaps the most pernicious limitation. Most CRM systems capture a snapshot of who a customer was at onboarding, updated sporadically when they call the helpline or take a new product. They do not capture the customer’s financial journey in motion—a sudden spike in medical payments, a pattern of late-night small-value transactions that may signal financial stress, or the six consecutive Saturdays spent browsing home loan calculators without converting. These behavioral signals are the raw material of genuine personalization, and they are going largely uncollected or unacted upon.

The Disconnect Between Data and Action

Here is the most striking irony in financial services – banks know more about their customers’ real financial behavior than almost any other institution on earth. Every transaction is a data point. Every ATM withdrawal at 2 a.m. tells a story. Every lapsed SIP is a signal of something. It could be a change in income, a loss of confidence, or a life event.

Yet this data sits largely inert in transaction ledgers, used primarily for fraud detection and regulatory reporting. The behavioral exhaust of daily financial life is not being converted into intelligence that drives the customer experience.

Why? Three structural reasons stand in the way.

Data silos

Retail banking, credit cards, insurance, and wealth management typically run on separate core systems, with separate data warehouses. Even within a single financial group, getting a unified view of one customer’s behavior can require crossing four different technology stacks.

Regulatory caution

Compliance teams are wary of being perceived as using intimate financial data for sales purposes. The result is an overcorrection. Data that could be used to genuinely help customers (flagging potential fraud earlier, proactively offering overdraft protection before a payment bounces) sits unused because no one wants to be the person who signed off on it.

Organizational misalignment

Personalization requires the marketing team, the data science team, the product team, and the technology team to operate in close coordination, with a shared definition of what a good outcome looks like. In most large financial institutions, these teams have separate P&Ls, separate quarterly targets, and separate ideas about what the customer journey should feel like.

Superficial vs. Contextual Personalisation. A Framework

The table below captures the core distinction between where most BFSI brands are today and where the leaders are heading.

The Insurance Sector’s Particular Blind Spot

If banks are behind on personalization, insurers are in a different time zone. The insurance sector has historically had one of the most transactional, low-engagement customer relationships in financial services. Most policyholders interact with their insurer twice: once when they buy the policy, and once when they file a claim. Everything in between is silence.

This is a missed opportunity of staggering proportions. Insurers possess, or could possess, a remarkable breadth of behavioral data by driving patterns (telematics), health metrics (wearables), home usage data (smart home devices), and travel behavior (card transactions). Progressive Insurance’s Snapshot telematics program demonstrated years ago that real-time behavioral data could be used to price risk more accurately and reward good behavior with lower premiums – a form of personalization that is genuinely valuable to the customer.

Yet most insurers still send the same annual renewal notice to a 28-year-old who runs marathons and a 58-year-old with three chronic conditions. The policy is the unit of analysis, not the person. Until insurers shift from product-centric to life-stage-centric engagement models, they will continue to be seen as vendors rather than partners.

The Road from Templating to Intelligence: What It Actually Takes

Genuine contextual personalization in BFSI is not a product you can buy from a vendor and deploy in a quarter. It is an organizational capability that must be built, and it requires changes at four levels.

Data Infrastructure

Real-time personalization requires real-time data. That means moving beyond nightly batch processing to streaming architectures – Apache Kafka, real-time feature stores, and event-driven decisioning pipelines. It means resolving the identity graph across channels so that a customer’s in-branch conversation, mobile app behavior, and contact center call are understood as part of a single coherent journey. This is expensive and time-consuming, which is why many banks are currently in the middle of multi-year cloud migration programs as a prerequisite.

Model Architecture

Rule engines need to be supplemented—not replaced—by machine learning models that can identify non-obvious behavioral patterns. Next Best Action (NBA) engines, pioneered at scale by firms like Pega and Salesforce, can process hundreds of contextual signals in real time to determine the most relevant intervention for each customer at each moment. The keyword is “supplement”. In a regulated industry, models need to be explainable, and human-readable rules remain essential for compliance.

Organizational Culture

The data science team can build the most sophisticated NBA engine in the world, but if the product team is still thinking in terms of “the home loan campaign” and “the credit card campaign,” the output will still be segment-driven. True personalization requires the organization to shift its mental model from campaigns, broadcast events aimed at groups, to journeys that are continuous, adaptive interactions with individuals.

Customer Trust and Consent

Perhaps the most underappreciated dimension. The more personal the personalization, the more important it is that customers understand how their data is being used and feel in control of it. Personalization that feels surveillance-like erodes the relationship it is meant to strengthen. GDPR and India’s DPDP Act are not obstacles to personalization; they are forcing functions toward a more transparent, consent-based approach that customers will ultimately trust more.

“The banks that will win the next decade are not those with the most data. They are those that can transform behavioral signals into genuinely helpful moments at speed, at scale, with consent.”

What Good Looks Like. Three Emerging Benchmarks

The good news is that the benchmarks for intelligent personalization in BFSI are becoming clearer. Three institutions stand out not for having solved the problem, but for having genuinely moved the needle.

DBS Bank (Singapore) has been widely recognized as one of the world’s most innovative banks, and its personalization strategy is a large part of why. DBS’s AI-driven insights engine, deployed across its mobile app in Singapore, India, and Indonesia, analyzes transaction patterns to generate proactive financial nudges. A customer whose grocery spend has increased 30% over three months might receive a suggestion to review their monthly budget. A customer who has been making EMI payments on time for 18 months might receive a pre-approved personal loan offer before they think to ask for one. DBS reported in its 2023 annual report that AI-personalized interactions drove a 20% higher product acceptance rate compared to generic outreach.

Bajaj Finserv (India) has made significant strides in using its Experia app to move from product-push to life-stage-aware engagement. Customers who have just taken a home loan are not immediately cross-sold a credit card. Instead, the system identifies that they are likely in a post-purchase consolidation phase and surfaces relevant content: home insurance comparisons, utility payment automation, and property tax reminders. The insight is simple but profound: the best time to sell the next product is not always now.

Conclusion. Intelligence Is Not Optional

Personalization has become one of the most overused words in financial services marketing. It appears in every strategy deck, every vendor pitch, every digital transformation roadmap. And yet, for most customers, the lived experience of financial services personalization remains generic at best and patronizing at worst.

The reason is not that the data does not exist. It does. The reason is not that the technology is unavailable. It is. The reason is that most BFSI organizations have confused the scaffolding of personalization such as CRM platforms, customer data platforms, marketing automation tools with personalization itself.

Real personalization is not about using someone’s first name. It is not about remembering their birthday. It is not about showing them products that their demographic segment statistically tends to buy. Real personalization is about understanding the specific, individual context of a specific human being at a specific moment and responding in a way that is genuinely useful, timely, and respectful of their autonomy.

That requires intelligence: computational intelligence to process signals at scale, organizational intelligence to act on them quickly, and emotional intelligence to know when to intervene and when to stay silent.

The institutions that crack this, and a small number are genuinely beginning to, will not just win market share. They will redefine what it means to have a relationship with a financial institution. They will transform a category that has been defined by transactions into one defined by trust. Personalization without intelligence is just templating. And in a world where customers have never had more choices, templating is no longer enough.

Sources: 

McKinsey & Company – Next in Personalization 2021, 2023 Update. | Accenture – Banking Consumer Study 2023. | Salesforce — State of the Connected Customer, 5th Edition 2023. | DBS Bank – Annual Report 2023. I  Forrester Research – The State of Digital Banking 2023. | Bajaj Finserv – Experia Product Documentation 2023. | HDFC Bank – echnology and Digital Transformation Report 2022–2023.

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The question arrived quietly, midway through a quarterly business review at one of India’s largest retail conglomerates. The Chief Marketing Officer paused, looked around the room, and asked:

‘Who, exactly, is our most valuable customer?’

What followed was not an answer. It was a slow, revealing unraveling. The CRM team cited loyalty-tier rankings. E-commerce pulled up purchase frequency from the marketplace dashboard. Digital marketing referenced ROAS-weighted cohorts. Finance had its own lifetime value model. Each number was real. None agreed.

The meeting had stumbled onto the central paradox of the modern Indian enterprise – an organisation drowning in data, yet starved of insight.

“We had seventeen dashboards and still could not answer a basic question about our customer with confidence. That was the moment we understood something was fundamentally broken.” – Chief Data Officer, leading Indian FMCG company

This gap between data availability and data usability is precisely where Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) have found their moment. And across sectors from banking to beauty to quick commerce, Indian enterprises are moving fast to close it.

The Fragmentation Problem and Why India Has It Worst

The modern Indian consumer is a study in digital omnipresence. She might discover a product on Instagram Reels, research it on a marketplace, message the brand on WhatsApp, earn loyalty points via a superapp, and still close the transaction at a physical store. Each interaction leaves a data signature. In the vast majority of Indian enterprises, each of those signatures lives in a different silo.

This problem is not unique to India, but India’s version of it is particularly acute, shaped by three structural forces that compound the challenge.

A Market Too Heterogeneous to Generalise

India is not one consumer market. It is a federation of several dozen or more, differentiated by language, culture, purchasing power, and digital maturity. A campaign that converts in Coimbatore may confuse consumers in Chandigarh. A price architecture built for metros collapses in Tier 3 towns. Without data unified at the individual level, not aggregated by segment or region, personalisation remains, at best, a sophisticated guess.

According to McKinsey’s 2023 India consumer research, brands that achieve genuine micro-segment personalisation report revenue lifts of 10-15% compared to peers relying on broad demographic targeting. In India’s fiercely competitive consumer landscape, that gap is existential.

The Omnichannel Explosion

India added over 250 million new internet users between 2019 and 2023, pushing total online reach past 900 million. This expansion was not gradual. It was compressed, turbocharged by cheap data, affordable smartphones, and a pandemic that digitised behaviours overnight.

As a result, brands must now maintain coherent relationships across channels they did not anticipate, at a pace their legacy infrastructure was never designed to support. Customers are omnichannel by default. Most enterprise data systems are still mono-channel by design.

The Privacy Inflection

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, enacted in August 2023, marks a structural turning point. While enforcement timelines continue to be clarified, the direction is unambiguous – third-party data is becoming legally and commercially riskier to acquire, and customer consent is becoming a non-negotiable foundation for any data strategy.

In this environment, first-party data collected directly, transparently, and consensually is no longer merely a compliance advantage. It is an emerging competitive moat.

What the DPDP Act Means for Marketers

Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, organisations must obtain explicit, granular consent before collecting and processing personal data. Consent must be specific to the purpose and easily withdrawable. Non-compliance carries penalties of up to ₹250 crore per violation. For marketers, this makes the CDP – as a system of record for consent and first-party data – not a strategic option, but a regulatory necessity.

What a CDP Actually Does and What It Does Not

There is considerable noise in the market about what a Customer Data Platform is, much of it vendor-generated. The definition that matters strategically is straightforward:

A CDP ingests data from every touchpoint where a customer interacts with a business and resolves it into a single, persistent, updatable profile that is accessible to every function – marketing, product, sales, and service.

It is not a CRM, which manages current relationships. It is not a data warehouse, which stores historical transactions. And it is not a marketing automation tool, which executes campaigns. It is the connective tissue between all of these. It is the system that ensures every function is working from the same understanding of who the customer is.

“A CDP is to customer intelligence what electricity is to appliances – a prerequisite, not a product. The value lies entirely in what you build on top of it.”

This distinction matters because many implementations falter precisely here. Organisations invest in the platform but underinvest in the capability to use it. The technology arrives; the transformation does not. A 2023 Nasscom survey of Indian enterprises found that 61% of organisations that had deployed a CDP reported being ‘in early stages’ of extracting strategic value from it, citing talent gaps and misaligned incentives as the primary barriers.

From Theory to Traction: Four Indian Enterprises Rewriting the Playbook

Across banking, retail, beauty, and consumer goods, a cohort of Indian companies has moved beyond proof-of-concept into what practitioners are calling the ‘operational phase’ of CDP maturity, where unified data is beginning to reshape strategy, not just campaign performance.

The Organisational Fault Lines CDPs Expose

Executives who have navigated a CDP implementation tend to share a consistent observation – the technology was, by some distance, the easier part. The harder work was organisational, and it exposed tensions that had long existed beneath the surface.

Data Silos Are Power Silos

In most large Indian enterprises, data silos are not technical failures. They are political ones. When the CRM is owned by sales, behavioural analytics by digital marketing, and the transactional database by finance, each team has both an incentive and an implicit mandate to protect its data territory. Integration requires not just APIs, but agreements – about ownership, accountability, and what happens when unified data tells a story that someone would prefer remained untold.

The most successful CDP implementations in India have almost universally been championed at the C-suite level. Without executive sponsorship that cuts across departmental boundaries, the platform becomes just another integration project: technically complete, strategically inert.

The Talent Gap Is Real 

India produces engineering talent at an extraordinary scale. What it still lacks, at the intersection of commerce and data, is the business-technical hybrid: professionals who can sit between a marketing team and a data engineering team, translating commercial questions into analytical frameworks and data outputs back into strategic decisions.

A 2023 Deloitte India study found that 68% of enterprises identify ‘insufficient internal analytics talent’ as a primary barrier to extracting value from data investments ahead of budget constraints and technology limitations. This gap does not close through hiring alone. It requires deliberate investment in capability building: training marketing and product teams to think in data, and training data teams to think in business outcomes.

The Patience Problem

Unlike performance marketing tools that deliver measurable results within a campaign cycle, a CDP’s value is compounding and lagging. The first quarter of unified data looks, on most dashboards, not dramatically different from the last quarter of fragmented data. The difference emerges over time as models improve, as teams build interpretive confidence, and as the understanding of the customer deepens from a snapshot into a moving picture.

In organisations where marketing leaders are measured on quarterly numbers, this creates a structural tension that has derailed many otherwise sound implementations. The business case for CDPs must therefore be made not just analytically but narratively, framing the investment as infrastructure, with the patient honesty that infrastructure demands.

“The CDP did not change our results in Q1. It changed how we make decisions. By Q3, that started showing up in the numbers.” – VP Marketing, Indian D2C unicorn, Series C

Why First-Party Data Is Now a Race

If the strategic case for CDPs was compelling before 2022, the emergence of generative AI and large language models has made it urgent. AI-driven personalisation, whether in content generation, next-best-offer modelling, churn prediction, or dynamic pricing, is only as good as the data it is trained on. Organisations with unified, consented, high-quality first-party data can build AI systems that genuinely reflect their customers. Organisations working from noisy, fragmented datasets are building AI on structured guesswork.

India’s AI-in-enterprise market is projected to grow from $6.1 billion in 2023 to over $28 billion by 2028, according to Nasscom – a near five-fold expansion in five years. The organisations positioned to capture that value disproportionately will be those who built the data foundation first.

The Generative AI Dependency

Every generative AI application in marketing – personalised content at scale, conversational commerce, predictive customer service is critically dependent on the quality and completeness of underlying customer data. A CDP does not make AI possible; poor data makes it counterproductive. India’s AI investment wave and its CDP adoption curve are not parallel trends. They are the same trend, viewed from different angles.

India’s regulatory environment reinforces this dynamic. As the DPDP Act constrains the use of third-party data, organisations that have built robust first-party data assets and the platforms to activate them will find themselves with a structural advantage that is difficult and slow for competitors to replicate.

What Indian Business Leaders Should Do Now

The strategic path forward is neither uniform nor simple. But several principles have emerged consistently from the organisations executing most effectively.

Start With the Question, Not the Platform

The most common failure mode in CDP adoption is beginning with a technology selection process. The right starting point is a set of business questions that cannot currently be answered, and working backwards to identify what data infrastructure would enable them. Technology is a means. Starting with it as an end produces platforms that are well-integrated but strategically purposeless.

Treat Consent Architecture as a Competitive Asset

In the post-DPDP world, how an organisation manages customer data consent, storage, and usage is not a legal question alone. It is a trust question. Brands that build demonstrably ethical data practices are constructing a relationship asset that compounds over time. Those who treat consent as a compliance checkbox will find the regulatory floor rises faster than their systems can adapt.

Build for India’s Edge, Not India’s Average

The temptation in any large-scale data initiative is to optimise for the median customer. In a market as diverse as India, the median customer is a statistical abstraction who describes almost no one. The real commercial value lies at the edges in the micro-segments, the regional variations, the context-specific behaviours that drive actual purchase decisions. Invest in the capability to act on granularity.

Measure Differently Or Measure the Wrong Things

If CDPs are evaluated against the same metrics as campaign tools – immediate ROAS, short-term revenue uplift, next-quarter conversion rates- they will almost always disappoint. Build a measurement framework that captures leading indicators of long-term customer value – profile completeness and enrichment rates, segment migration velocity, prediction model accuracy over time, and cross-channel engagement depth. These metrics are slower but truer.

The Shift That Cannot Be Deferred

India’s most sophisticated enterprises are no longer asking whether to invest in customer data infrastructure. They are asking how quickly they can do it and whether enough of their existing data estate can be salvaged into something coherent enough to build on.

The urgency is justified. As AI reshapes the economics of personalisation, and as privacy regulation raises the cost of third-party data dependency, the gap between organisations that control their customer understanding and those that do not will widen.

But the deepest shift is not technological. It is conceptual.

For decades, Indian marketing has been structured around campaigns planned in sprints, measured in cycles, and optimised for the immediate response. CDPs enable a different model entirely – one where the customer relationship is continuous, the data is cumulative, and the engagement is genuinely contextual rather than situationally generic.

That is the shift from campaigns to customer systems, from data collection to data intelligence, from the average to the individual. The companies that make it will not simply market better. They will compete differently.

For Indian enterprises navigating scale, diversity, and compounding competitive pressure simultaneously, that shift is no longer a strategic option. It is the terrain on which the next decade of growth will be won or lost.

SOURCES & REFERENCES

1. Gartner (2024). Magic Quadrant for Customer Data Platforms. Gartner Research.
2. RedSeer Strategy Consultants (2023). India Digital Consumer Report 2023. RedSeer.
3. IAMAI & Kantar (2023). Internet in India 2023. Internet and Mobile Association of India.
4. Salesforce (2023). State of the Connected Customer — India Edition. Salesforce Research.
5. McKinsey & Company (2023). The Next Frontier of Customer Engagement: AI-Enabled Personalization at Scale. McKinsey Digital.
6. Nasscom (2023). AI Adoption in Indian Enterprises: Barriers and Opportunities. Nasscom Research.
7. Tata Consultancy Services (2023). The Data-Driven Enterprise: Insights from 500 Indian CXOs. TCS Thought Leadership.
8. Titan Company Ltd. (2023). Annual Report 2022-23. BSE India.
9. HDFC Bank (2023). Annual Report 2022-23 — Technology & Digital Initiatives. HDFC Bank Investor Relations.
10. Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. (2023). Annual Report 2022-23. Reliance Industries.
11. Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd.) (2023). Investor Day Presentation. Nykaa IR.
12. Zomato Ltd. (2023). Annual Report 2022-23. Zomato Investor Relations.
13. Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India (2023). Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
14. Boston Consulting Group (2023). From Mass to Micro: Personalization Imperatives in Indian Consumer Markets. BCG Henderson Institute.
15. Deloitte India (2023). The Analytics Talent Gap: Bridging the Distance Between Data and Decision. Deloitte Insights.
16. IDC India (2023). India Customer Data Platform Market Forecast, 2023-2027. IDC.

Note: Case study figures represent outcomes reported in public company filings, investor presentations, and industry research. Specific internal metrics are attributional to source documents cited. This article has been prepared for informational and strategic discussion purposes.

The post Why Indian Companies Are Betting Big on CDPs. appeared first on Fixbracket.

It’s 9:30 PM in Mumbai.

A young founder launches a sneaker brand. Within minutes, her ads are live, not negotiated, not manually placed, but algorithmically auctioned across apps, OTT platforms, and mobile screens.

By midnight, she knows exactly which audience in Lucknow clicked, which user in Kochi converted, and which creative worked best in Hindi vs Tamil.

This is not the future of advertising in India.
This is now.

India’s AdTech ecosystem has quietly transformed from a fragmented, media-buying engine into one of the most sophisticated, data-driven marketing infrastructures in the world. With the market touching nearly $ 200 million in 2025 and continuing to grow rapidly, AdTech is no longer a support system – it is the backbone of fast-forward marketing.

And yet, beneath this scale lies a deeper shift – from volume to value, from reach to relevance, and from experimentation to execution.

Here are the top AdTech trends in India that no marketer, founder, or investor can afford to ignore.

1. The Programmatic Takeover

A few years ago, media buying in India was about relationships and negotiations. Today, it’s about algorithms.

Programmatic advertising now accounts for over 40% of digital media buying in India, fundamentally changing how campaigns are executed.

What’s driving this?

This transformation is being powered by a combination of technologies – real-time bidding that enables instant, data-driven media buying, large-scale audience segmentation that allows brands to target highly specific consumer cohorts, and AI-led optimisation that continuously refines campaigns for better performance and efficiency. Together, these forces are shifting advertising from broad outreach to precise, intelligent engagement.

Case in point:

A leading Indian fintech brand shifted 70% of its media spend to programmatic platforms. Instead of targeting “urban millennials,” it began targeting “users who checked loan eligibility twice in 48 hours.”

Conversion rates improved by over 2x – not because of higher spend, but better precision.

What it means:

Programmatic is no longer optional. It is becoming the operating system of digital advertising in India, with the market projected to reach $17.6 billion by 2033.

2. AI is Infrastructure

For years, AI sat in presentations. In 2025, it moved into production.

From generating creatives to fine-tuning bids, AI is now deeply woven into every layer of the AdTech stack – powering predictive targeting, enabling dynamic creative optimisation (DCO), and automating budget allocation to drive smarter, more efficient campaign outcomes.

The shift:

Earlier: “Let’s test 5 creatives.”
Now: “Let AI generate and optimise 500 variations in real time.”

India’s AdTech growth is heavily fuelled by AI and machine learning, enabling hyper-personalised campaigns and real-time optimisation.

Case study:

An Indian D2C beauty brand used AI-led creative testing across regional languages. Instead of one campaign, it ran 120+ micro-variants tailored to geography and language.

Result:

• 35% higher engagement
• 22% lower cost per acquisition (CPA)

3. The Rise of Connected TV (CTV)

The Indian living room has changed.

Smart TVs, OTT platforms, and cheap data have turned video into the most powerful advertising medium in the country.

Why this matters:
India may be mobile-first, but it is rapidly becoming a video-led market. As consumer behaviour shifts, brands are moving toward richer, immersive storytelling that combines sight, sound, and motion. This evolution is reflected in industry trends, where video and CTV are emerging as some of the fastest-growing segments in both the Indian and global AdTech landscape.

Case study:

A leading FMCG brand traditionally reliant on TV shifted part of its budget to OTT platforms.

Instead of broad TV reach:

• It targeted households watching cooking content
• Served region-specific ads during prime OTT hours

Result:

• Better recall
• Measurable attribution – which TV never offered

The implication:

CTV is blurring the lines between digital and traditional media – bringing performance marketing into the living room.

4. Privacy-First Advertising

For years, AdTech thrived on tracking users across the internet. That era is ending.

With global privacy regulations tightening and platforms restricting third-party cookies, India is entering a privacy-first AdTech era.

What’s taking shape:
The ecosystem is moving toward first-party data strategies, the adoption of data clean rooms, and a renewed focus on contextual targeting. At its core, the shift reflects a broader transition to consent-led frameworks and privacy-first approaches to audience targeting.

Case study:

An Indian e-commerce platform built its own first-party data ecosystem:

• Loyalty programs
• App-based engagement
• Email + WhatsApp integrations

Instead of relying on third-party cookies, it built direct relationships with users.

Outcome:

• Higher data accuracy
• Better personalization
• Reduced dependency on external platforms

5. Retail Media Networks – Where Ads Meet Commerce

If there’s one trend redefining ROI in AdTech – it’s retail media.

E-commerce platforms are no longer just selling products. They are selling advertising inventory.

Why this is gaining rapid momentum:
Ads are now being delivered much closer to the point of purchase intent, platforms are leveraging rich first-party data, and attribution has become far more transparent and measurable.

Case study:

An Indian electronics brand advertising on a major marketplace:

• Sponsored listings during search
• Display ads on product pages
• Retargeting within the platform

Result:

• Immediate visibility
• Direct sales attribution
• Measurable ROI

The macro shift:

AdTech is merging with commerce.
The funnel is collapsing – moving from awareness to purchase in a single platform.

6. Tier 2 – 4 India: The Next Billion Users

The next wave of digital growth in India is not in metros—it’s in Bharat.

Regional language content and consumption are exploding, especially across:

• Short video platforms
• OTT apps
• News and entertainment ecosystems

What this implies for AdTech:
It calls for multilingual targeting capabilities, localised creative optimisation, and messaging that is deeply rooted in regional and cultural contexts. Programmatic demand is increasingly driven by regional content consumption across Tier 2 – 4 cities.

Case study:

A fintech app launched campaigns in 6 Indian languages instead of English-only.

Outcome:

• 3x increase in installs from non-metro cities
• Lower acquisition cost due to less competition

The insight:

India isn’t a single, uniform market- it’s a mosaic of diverse micro-markets. AdTech is now empowering brands to deliver personalised experiences at scale across this complexity.

7. Measurement, Attribution & the Death of Vanity Metrics

In 2025, something fundamental changed.

The industry realized:
More impressions ≠ More value

As ad spend grew, confidence in metrics such as clicks and impressions declined.

What’s taking their place:
Marketers are shifting toward incrementality testing, Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA), attention-based metrics, and a sharper focus on ROI-driven measurement.

Case study:

A gaming company in India moved away from install-based attribution to Lifetime Value (LTV) tracking.

Instead of optimising for installs, it optimised for:

• In-app purchases
• Retention
• Engagement

Result:

• Higher profitability
• Lower churn

Finally

 The rise of full-stack AdTech ecosystems marks a fundamental shift in how brands operate; moving away from heavy reliance on walled gardens toward owning and integrating their data, media, and analytics capabilities.

This transition is driven by the need for greater transparency, cost efficiency, and control over customer data. In a maturing and increasingly competitive landscape shaped by both global giants and strong homegrown players, brands are building in-house capabilities, from CDPs to programmatic teams and analytics dashboards.

The result is faster optimisation, reduced dependency on external partners, and sharper performance outcomes. At its core, this signals a larger transformation: brands are no longer just advertisers – they are becoming media companies in their own right.

Let’s go back to that founder in Mumbai.

She didn’t just launch a campaign.

She plugged into an ecosystem that learns in real time, seamlessly adapts across languages, optimises performance across platforms, and tracks every outcome with precision. That is the power of AdTech in India today.

India’s new advertising reality – the difference between noise and impact is no longer budget. It is intelligence.

The post Inside India’s AdTech Awakening: Trends Changing Everything. appeared first on Fixbracket.

At 9:17 AM on an ordinary weekday, a post goes live.

By 9:23 AM, it has 2,000 reposts.
By 10:05 AM, a hashtag has formed.
By noon, news channels are calling.
By evening, the brand’s market cap has taken a hit.

A wake-up call for modern reputation revival specialists – when a crisis doesn’t knock on the door anymore, it breaks the internet!!

In India’s hyper-socially connected landscape, where millions engage across platforms in real time, brand reputation is no longer built over decades; it’s negotiated every minute. Technology, once the amplifier of crises, is now also the only viable antidote.

As a brand under fire, how much time does it take to flip the switch?

Not long ago, crises unfolded slowly. A newspaper article. A delayed press release. A carefully crafted response.

Today? A single post can ignite a nationwide backlash within minutes. In India, where digital penetration is massive and rising, crises escalate at unprecedented speed. A report notes that social media backlash, regulatory scrutiny, and cultural sensitivities can collide and escalate ‘in minutes,’ not days.

Consider this –

Over 1,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram every second, creating an always-on narrative battlefield. A single decision or misstep can spiral into a full-blown crisis almost instantly due to the influence of online platforms.

In this environment, silence is not neutrality – it is negligence.

Lessons from the past

Kingfisher Airlines and the cost of Saying Nothing

Once India’s most glamorous airline, Kingfisher collapsed under debt. But what accelerated its downfall wasn’t just financial mismanagement – it was communication failure.

Employees went unpaid. Flights were cancelled. And the brand chose silence.

The result was total erosion of trust. A once-celebrated brand became a cautionary tale of ‘media stonewalling.’

In the absence of communication, speculation filled the void.

IndiGo’s 2025 Crisis

In 2025, IndiGo cancelled over 2,000 flights, impacting tens of thousands of passengers and triggering social media outrage.

But unlike Kingfisher, the airline responded with public apologies, crisis teams, and constant updates.

It wasn’t perfect. But it was visible.

And in today’s world, visibility is credibility.

Byju’s transparency deficit

From a $22 billion valuation to a dramatic collapse, Byju’s downfall highlighted a crucial gap – the lack of transparent communication during a crisis.

When stakeholders don’t hear from the brand, they listen to the internet.

And the internet rarely whispers.

Zomato, turning Crisis into Narrative

When Zomato faced backlash over its ‘pure veg fleet’ announcement, the response wasn’t silence; it was swift recalibration.

The company withdrew the policy, communicated openly, and reframed the narrative.

The right tinge of Tech

Today, brands are not judged for making mistakes but for how quickly they course-correct.

Modern crisis management is no longer PR-led alone. It is technology-enabled, data-driven warfare.

Here’s the stack that is quietly redefining brand reputation.

Hearing the Storm before it Hits

Imagine being able to sense a crisis before it gathers momentum – before it trends, before it spirals. That is the power of social listening. Today’s advanced platforms continuously scan millions of conversations across X, Instagram, Reddit, and online forums, picking up early signals of dissatisfaction, outrage, or concern.

In India, leading PR frameworks increasingly rely on this always-on sentiment tracking to monitor brand mentions and decode shifts in public mood in real time. The distinction it creates is critical. Instead of reactive PR that scrambles to respond after outrage erupts, brands can move toward proactive reputation management, addressing issues while they are still contained.

In a market as culturally nuanced and emotionally diverse as India, where even minor missteps can trigger disproportionate backlash, this early-warning capability is not just useful; it is indispensable.

 Reading Emotion at Scale

It’s no longer enough to simply track what people are saying about a brand; understanding how they feel is where the real insight lies.

AI-driven sentiment analysis tools make this possible by classifying conversations into positive, negative, or neutral tones, while also detecting subtle emotional shifts such as spikes in anger, sarcasm, or distrust. They go a step further by identifying the influencers and voices shaping these narratives, allowing brands to focus their response where it matters most. In doing so, crisis management evolves from instinct and guesswork into a more precise, data-driven discipline grounded in real-time intelligence.

A modern PR team doesn’t ask, ‘Is this bad?’
They ask, ‘How bad, and where is it spreading?’

Automated Response Systems

When thousands are posting simultaneously, manual responses quickly become unsustainable. This is where automation steps in to restore order and efficiency. Chatbots handle first-level queries instantly, while pre-approved response templates ensure consistent communication across channels. At the same time, clearly defined escalation protocols route more complex or sensitive issues to human teams for intervention.

The result is a system where no customer feels ignored, and no message contradicts another. In moments of crisis, this consistency becomes critical because while it builds trust, even a hint of chaos can erode it just as quickly.

Fighting Misinformation

Fake news has become the invisible accelerant of modern brand crises, intensifying situations far beyond their original scale. From bot-driven review attacks to rapidly spreading misinformation, the threats brands face today are often engineered rather than organic.

In response, reputation management firms are turning to sophisticated solutions such as bot detection systems, review authenticity algorithms, and collaborations with fact-checking networks to separate signal from noise. There have been instances where coordinated waves of fake reviews have caused ratings to plummet, only to later be traced back to organised bot activity.

In this evolving landscape, the battle is no longer just about managing perception-it’s about defending the very notion of truth.

Controlling the Narrative

Not all voices carry the same weight in shaping a brand’s narrative. Some amplify conversations, while others have the power to neutralise them. Technology enables brands to identify key opinion leaders, track micro-influencers who are driving discussions, and pinpoint communities where sentiment is beginning to shift.

With this intelligence, brands can engage far more strategically, stepping in to correct misinformation, provide clarity, and rebuild trust where it matters most. In a market like India, where influencer culture is deeply embedded in digital behaviour, this capability becomes an especially powerful lever in managing reputation.

Looking Ahead

Agentic AI and Autonomous Crisis Management

We are stepping into a new era where AI no longer merely assists but actively takes charge. Imagine intelligent agents that can detect subtle anomalies in brand sentiment before they escalate, systems that simulate potential crisis scenarios to prepare responses in advance, and automated narrative engines that craft real-time communication with precision and speed.

This is not a distant vision of the future; it is already unfolding. As these capabilities mature, crisis management will become increasingly predictive by anticipating issues before they surface, responding instantly without human lag, and hyper-personalised, tailoring communication at scale to resonate with diverse audiences.

Reputation in Real-Time

A brand today is no longer defined by what it says about itself, but by what the internet is saying about it in any given moment. In this always-on reality, crisis management is no longer a siloed function – it is an ongoing capability.

Technology, too, has evolved beyond being a mere tool; it has become the first responder, stepping in at the very onset of a potential crisis.

Because when the next post goes live, and it inevitably will – the real question is not whether a crisis will occur, but whether your brand will be prepared to respond before the world begins to take notice.

The post Is the Algorithm replacing PR? appeared first on Fixbracket.

I’m a member of various online communities of brands that speak to me. What I’ve realized is companies have had varying degrees of success in building an online community. Some companies have been extremely successful and have built thriving, engaged communities that have had a positive impact on their business.

The successful ones exhibit common characteristics.

Common Traits Of An Online Community

Active Participation

Successful communities have high levels of engagement, with members actively participating in discussions, sharing content, and helping one another. This level of involvement indicates a strong and vibrant community.

It’s not about the number of members or followers, it’s about the depth of engagement with your online community members.

Build on the sense of belonging

Successful communities foster a sense of belonging and community among their members. Members feel connected to the brand or the cause that the community represents and identify themselves as part of the community.

Content speaks to one and all

A successful online community often generates a significant amount of user-generated content. This includes discussions, testimonials, product reviews, and other forms of content created by community members, showcasing their involvement and investment in the community.

Supportive Ecosystem

Successful communities provide a supportive environment where members can seek advice, share experiences, and receive help. Members feel comfortable and safe sharing their thoughts and opinions within the community.

Continuous Value Creation

Successful communities provide value to their members by offering exclusive content, educational resources, networking opportunities, discounts, or other benefits. This value proposition encourages members to actively participate and remain engaged.

Co-creation

Online communities provide a platform for co-creation and collaboration between the company and its customers. By involving community members in product development, testing, and ideation processes, companies can foster innovation and create products or services that better meet the needs of their customers. This collaborative approach can contribute to the long-term success and growth of a company.

Grooming members to be Brand Advocates

A successful online community often results in members becoming brand advocates. They develop a strong affinity for the brand and willingly promote it to others, leading to increased brand awareness and customer acquisition.

However, it’s important to note that building a successful online community requires time, effort, and a deep understanding of the target audience. Not all attempts to build communities will be equally successful, and some communities may struggle to gain traction or maintain engagement. It’s crucial for companies to continually evaluate and adapt their strategies to meet the evolving needs and expectations of community members.

Companies have returned from extinction with the support of their communities. Harley Davidson was heading towards irrelevance before they realized the merit in the brotherhood of bikers ‘HOG’, so they built a community to support these bikers who are loyal members of this one big motorcycle club.

Online Community of Harley Davidson Motorcycle Owners

In the early 2000s, LEGO faced financial difficulties and declining sales. However, the company turned to its passionate online fan community for support. LEGO actively engaged with the community sought feedback, and even invited fans to contribute ideas and designs. This collaboration led to the development of new products and a renewed focus on customer preferences. The involvement of the online community played a significant role in LEGO’s successful turnaround, and the company regained its position as a leading toy brand.

Online Community of Lego Lovers

MakerBot, a manufacturer of 3D printers, faced challenges in 2014 due to quality issues with their products. However, the company actively engaged with its online community of users, known as the “MakerBot Operators.” MakerBot encouraged feedback, listened to customer concerns, and made improvements based on community input. This collaborative approach helped restore confidence in the brand, leading to a resurgence in sales and re-establishing MakerBot’s position in the 3D printing market.

Old Spice, the iconic men’s grooming brand, launched a highly successful online marketing campaign in 2010. The campaign included humorous and interactive videos that quickly gained popularity on social media platforms. As a result, an online community of fans emerged, with people actively engaging with the brand, sharing content, and participating in discussions. Old Spice capitalized on this momentum by directly responding to customer comments and creating personalized video responses. The campaign significantly revitalized the brand, attracting a younger demographic and boosting sales. The community is called the ‘School of Swagger.’

Why do companies fail?

Globally, online Communities are growing at a CAGR of 13.9%. Despite the realization that these communities are important to them, they fail to integrate with business.

Statistics (as per different industry reports) that suggest the value that online communities add to a business –

👉 90% of the companies interviewed say they use the community members’ suggestions to improve their products & services.

👉 59% of companies use online communities to address customer support. 

👉 85% of online businesses, and communities have had a positive impact on business.

Online community building is a business strategy and not a marketing strategy, and the entire company must pivot to support a community.

Creating and sustaining successful online communities can be challenging for companies due to various reasons.

Lack of a large vision

Without a vision and well-defined strategy, companies may struggle to establish a clear purpose, goals, and guidelines for their online communities. This can lead to a lack of direction and inconsistent engagement, making it difficult for the online community to thrive.

Insufficient Resources

Building and managing an online community requires dedicated resources, including personnel, time, and financial investments. If a company fails to allocate sufficient resources, it may not be able to provide the necessary support, moderation, and content creation required for community success.

Ineffective Community Management

Community management plays a crucial role in facilitating engagement and fostering a positive environment. If a company lacks skilled community managers who can effectively moderate discussions, encourage participation, and address conflicts, the community may struggle to thrive.

Lack of Member Engagement

For an online community to flourish, it needs active participation from its members. If a company fails to create compelling content, encourage interactions, and provide value to community members, they may lose interest and engagement may decline.

Failure to Adapt to member needs

Online communities evolve, and it’s essential for companies to continuously adapt to changing member needs and preferences. If a company fails to listen to its community members, address their feedback, and make necessary improvements, the community may become stagnant and lose relevance.

Lack of Authenticity and Trust

Trust is vital in online communities. If a company fails to establish and maintain authenticity, transparency, and trustworthiness, community members may feel disengaged or skeptical, hindering the community’s growth and success.

Inadequate Promotion and Outreach

Companies need to promote their online communities effectively to attract and retain members. If a company fails to invest in marketing efforts, outreach, and creating awareness about the community, it may struggle to gain traction and build a critical mass of engaged participants.

Companies need to recognize these challenges and invest in community-building strategies that address these factors. Building successful online communities requires a long-term commitment, active engagement, and a deep understanding of the target audience’s needs and preferences.

How To Get Started With An Online Community?

Building an online community for a brand requires a strategic approach and dedicated effort.

Remember if you’re building a community, its existence is not to serve the business, but to serve its members.

Define the Purpose

Clearly define the purpose and goals of the online community. Determine what value the community will provide to its members and how it aligns with the brand’s mission and values.

Choose the Right Platform

Select the appropriate platform for your online community, such as social media platforms, forums, or dedicated community platforms. Consider the preferences and demographics of your target audience.

Create Compelling Content

Develop high-quality and relevant content that appeals to your target audience. This can include informative blog posts, engaging videos, podcasts, or interactive elements that encourage participation.

Encourage conversations

Foster interaction among community members by creating opportunities for engagement. This can be achieved through discussions, Q&A sessions, polls, contests, or sharing member-generated content.

Be Responsive and Engage

Actively participate in the community by responding to comments, answering questions, and fostering conversations. Show genuine interest in the community members and their contributions.

Facilitate Connections

Help community members connect by providing networking opportunities and platforms for communication. Encourage collaboration and support among community members.

Provide Exclusive Benefits

Offer exclusive benefits or rewards to community members to encourage participation and foster loyalty. This can include early access to new products, special discounts, or unique experiences.

Promote Offline Events

Organize or support offline events like meetups, workshops, or conferences where community members can gather and engage in person. This helps strengthen community bonds.

Analyze and Iterate

Continuously analyze community metrics and feedback to understand what is working and what can be improved. Adjust strategies and initiatives based on the insights gained.

Build Trust and Authenticity

Maintain transparency, honesty, and authenticity in all interactions with the community. Building trust is crucial for fostering a strong and loyal community.

Brands that have cracked the code

Apple has a large and active online community of users who share tips, tricks, and advice about Apple products. The community is also a great place to get support for Apple products.

Nike has a community of runners who share training tips, race reports, and motivation. The community is a great way to stay motivated and connect with other runners.

The Online Community by NIKE for runners

Lululemon has a community of yoga and fitness enthusiasts who share workout routines, recipes, and fashion tips. The community is a great way to find inspiration and support.

Sephora has a community of beauty enthusiasts who share makeup tips, product reviews, and hair styling advice. The community is a great place to learn about new products and find inspiration for your next look.

Red Bull has a community of athletes and adrenaline junkies who share stories, videos, and photos of their adventures. The community is a great place to find inspiration and motivation.

The Red Bull Online Community

These are just a few names of big brands that thrive because of their communities. Lesser-known brands such as Allbirds, Huel, Thrive Market, and Glossier have been successful as well.

Technology platforms can’t be avoided

There are several software options available to build an online community. The choice of software depends on your specific needs, budget, technical expertise, and the features you require for your community. Here are some popular options-

Discourse

Discourse is a widely used open-source community platform that offers robust features for discussions, user profiles, moderation tools, and integrations. It can be self-hosted or used through Discourse’s hosting service.

Build your Online community with Discourse software

Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is a flexible and customizable community platform that provides features like discussions, user engagement tools, gamification, and integrations with popular third-party applications.

Lithium

Lithium is a comprehensive community platform that offers features such as forums, social media integration, knowledge bases, and customer support solutions. It focuses on customer engagement and support.

WordPress with BuddyPress

WordPress, combined with the BuddyPress plugin, allows you to create a community within a WordPress website. It offers features like user profiles, activity feeds, groups, and forums.

Salesforce Community Cloud

Salesforce Community Cloud is an enterprise-level solution that enables companies to build branded communities for their customers, partners, or employees. It provides robust collaboration and engagement features.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups is a popular option for building online communities due to its ease of use and large user base. It allows you to create public or private groups for discussions, sharing content, and community building.

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a platform that focuses on creating niche communities and offers features such as discussions, events, courses, and monetization options. It aims to facilitate meaningful connections among community members.

Build your Online community with Mighty Networks

Tribe Social

Tribe is a community platform that provides tools for discussions, user profiles, Q&A sessions, and content curation. It offers customization options and integrations with other business tools.

Build your Online community with Tribe Social

Slack community

While primarily known as a team collaboration tool, Slack can also be used to build online communities through the creation of public or private channels. It allows real-time messaging, file sharing, and integrations with other apps.

Build your Online community with Slack software

Final thoughts on the future of an online community for business

The future of online communities is likely to be shaped by several trends and developments. With growing concerns about privacy and data security, online communities may place a greater emphasis on protecting user data and ensuring secure communication. Stricter privacy regulations may influence the way communities collect, store, and handle user information.

Online communities may evolve to offer more seamless integration with offline experiences. This could involve organizing more in-person meetups, and events, or facilitating local community interactions through location-based features.

Online communities may leverage emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) to create immersive and interactive experiences. This could enable virtual meetups, virtual events, and more engaging community interactions.

It’s important to note that these are speculative possibilities, and the future of online communities will be influenced by various factors, including technological advancements, societal shifts, and user preferences. The evolution of online communities will likely continue to be driven by the needs and aspirations of their members.

The post Not Every Company Can Build An Online Community. appeared first on Fixbracket.

The other day I read the story of TOMS, the company that pioneered the ‘one-for-one’ model, where for every pair of shoes purchased, another pair is donated to a child in need. They eventually expanded their product line to include eyewear and coffee, and have donated millions of shoes to children in need around the world.

I was impressed by Blake Mycoskie’s (founder of TOMS) drive to build a business with a social purpose. Though he eventually sold his shares to the company’s creditors, the ethos of being an enterprise with a social core still exists.

(Architectural Digest)

This brings me to this consuming thought of why social entrepreneurs are a different breed. What makes them tick? But before that let’s go through the basics.

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship refers to the practice of using business methods and principles to address social or environmental problems. It involves the creation of sustainable, innovative, and scalable solutions to tackle social issues such as poverty, inequality, access to healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability.

Social entrepreneurs aim to achieve both financial sustainability and social impact, by creating businesses that generate revenue while also creating positive social change. They may operate in various sectors such as education, healthcare, renewable energy, and microfinance, among others.

Social entrepreneurship differs from traditional entrepreneurship in that the primary focus is on the social mission, rather than on profit maximization. Social entrepreneurs are driven by a desire to make a difference in the world and to create sustainable solutions to social problems.

There are different types of social entrepreneurs based on their approach, mission, and the impact they seek to create. Here are some common types of social entrepreneurs:

Non-profit Social entrepreneurs:

These are individuals who start non-profit organizations to address social or environmental challenges. They may have a mission to support a specific cause or community, such as providing education or healthcare services.

For-profit Social entrepreneurs:

These are individuals who start for-profit businesses with the primary goal of creating a positive social or environmental impact. They may prioritize impact over profit and use business as a tool to drive social change. While TOMS is a for-profit business, it has a strong social and environmental mission that is integrated into its core business operations. The company has invested in sustainable and ethical practices, such as using eco-friendly materials and fair labor practices in its supply chain. TOMS has also expanded its giving model to include grants to grassroots organizations and social enterprises working towards creating positive social impact.

Hybrid social entrepreneurs:

These are individuals who start organizations that blend elements of both for-profit and non-profit models. They may have a social or environmental mission but operate as a business to generate revenue and support sustainability.

Grassroots Social Entrepreneurs:

These are individuals who start initiatives at a local level to address social or environmental challenges. They may focus on issues specific to their community and use their local knowledge and networks to drive change.

Corporate Social Entrepreneurs:

These are individuals who work within corporations to drive social or environmental change. They may develop new products, processes, or business models that prioritize social or environmental impact alongside profit.

Growth Of Social Entrepreneurship Over The Years

The term “social entrepreneurship” emerged in the mid-20th century, when individuals began to recognize the potential for entrepreneurship to address social and environmental challenges.

The concept gained momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, with the emergence of organizations such as Ashoka, which was founded in 1980 by Bill Drayton. Ashoka was one of the first organizations to support social entrepreneurs, recognizing the importance of their work in creating positive social change.

In the 1990s and 2000s, social entrepreneurship gained further recognition as more individuals and organizations began to focus on creating positive social and environmental impacts. The rise of the internet and digital technology also made it easier for social entrepreneurs to connect, share resources, and scale their impact.

Today’s entrepreneurs develop double-bottom line, socially-influenced, ESG-based (Environment, Social, and Governance) business models that fulfill commercial market demands by putting purpose-driven leadership at its root.

According to a 2019 survey on “Social enterprise maturity level: growth increases worldwide 2019,” 32% of organizations that considered themselves industry leaders in terms of their social enterprise maturity increased by more than 10% in 2019 compared to 2018.

A social enterprise should balance the need to respect and support its environment and wide stakeholder network with revenue growth and profit-making.

Some stats that indicate the popularity of social entrepreneurship:

✓ The social entrepreneurship sector is estimated to be worth over $500 billion globally.

✓ A survey conducted by the Global Social Entrepreneurship Network found that over 90% of social entrepreneurs report positive social and environmental impact from their businesses.

✓ The Global Impact Investing Network reports that the impact investing market has grown from $10 billion in 2013 to over $715 billion in 2020, reflecting the increasing interest in investing in social enterprises and other impact-driven ventures.

✓ In a survey conducted by the British Council, 81% of young people said they would consider setting up a social enterprise in the future, indicating a growing interest among the younger generation in pursuing socially-driven entrepreneurship.

Committed to Society

Circling back to the question – what makes a social entrepreneur different from a normal entrepreneur?

Social entrepreneurs are driven by a desire to create positive social or environmental impact through their enterprise. Unlike traditional entrepreneurs, who are primarily motivated by profit and financial gain, social entrepreneurs prioritize their social mission above all else. They are passionate about addressing social or environmental challenges and are committed to finding innovative and sustainable solutions to these problems.

Social entrepreneurs are often motivated by a deep sense of empathy and a desire to improve the lives of others. They may have personal experience with the challenges they are seeking to address or may have been inspired by the struggles of others in their community or around the world.

In addition to their passion for social impact, social entrepreneurs are often characterized by a strong sense of creativity and resourcefulness. They are adept at identifying unmet needs or gaps in the market and are skilled at developing innovative solutions to these challenges. They are also committed to sustainability and long-term impact and are often focused on building enterprises that can create lasting change.

Overall, social entrepreneurs are driven by a deep commitment to social and environmental progress and are willing to take risks and challenge the status quo to achieve their goals.

Incredible Personalities Engaging In Social Entrepreneurship

While we know that giants such as Unilever, SAP, Microsoft, Ikea, Johnson & Johnson, Warby Parker, and Timberland to name a few are all invested in social causes and sustainability, some deserve a special mention.

The Grameen Bank:

This microfinance institution was founded by Muhammad Yunus and provides small loans to low-income individuals who do not have access to traditional banking services. The Grameen Bank has helped millions of people around the world start their businesses and improve their standard of living.

(grameenfoundation.org)

Kiva:

This non-profit organization operates a crowdfunding platform that allows individuals to lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Kiva has facilitated over $1 billion in loans to entrepreneurs in more than 80 countries.

Across the world, socially responsible companies are making a difference. And it’s worthwhile highlighting some of them. Let’s have a look at Africa where a large portion of people are fighting for a livelihood.

M-Kopa Solar:

This Kenyan company provides solar power to households in East Africa through a pay-as-you-go model. Customers make small daily payments for the solar power system, which is affordable and helps to reduce reliance on traditional and often unreliable sources of energy.

Page:

This Nigerian company provides mobile payment services to individuals and small businesses, with a focus on financial inclusion. Paga has expanded rapidly and now serves over 17 million customers in Nigeria, providing access to financial services to many who were previously excluded from the formal banking sector.

Hello Tractor:

This Nigerian company provides a platform that connects smallholder farmers with tractor owners, making it easier and more affordable for farmers to access mechanized farming equipment. Hello, Tractor has helped to improve agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in rural areas.

FarmDrive:

This Kenyan startup uses data analytics to provide credit scoring for smallholder farmers who lack access to formal financial services. FarmDrive’s platform helps farmers to access loans and other financial products, which can help to increase productivity and improve livelihoods.

EcoZoom:

This Tanzanian company produces clean cookstoves that use less fuel and emit fewer pollutants than traditional stoves. The company’s cookstoves are affordable and help to reduce deforestation and improve indoor air quality, which is a major health concern in many parts of Africa.

These are just a few examples of social entrepreneurship in Africa, but there are many other inspiring and impactful social enterprises across the continent.

World Governments Engaging In Social Entrepreneurship

Governments in Africa have recognized the potential of social entrepreneurship to drive economic development, create jobs, and address social and environmental challenges. Here are a few examples of grants provided by governments in Africa to promote social entrepreneurship:

South Africa:

The Department of Small Business Development offers various funding schemes to support social enterprises, including the Black Business Supplier Development Programme, which provides grants and funding of up to ZAR 10 million to black-owned enterprises.

Kenya:

The Kenyan government provides funding and support to social entrepreneurs through the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), which offers loans and grants of up to KES 5 million to young entrepreneurs and social enterprises. The government also provides funding and support through the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), which offers loans and grants of up to KES 3 million to women-led enterprises.

Ghana:

The Ghanaian government provides support to social enterprises through the Ghana Youth Social Entrepreneurship Programme (GYSEP), which offers training, mentoring, and funding to young social entrepreneurs. The government also provides funding and support through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), which offers loans, grants, and training to entrepreneurs and social enterprises.

Rwanda:

The Rwandan government provides funding and support to social enterprises through the Rwanda Development Bank, which offers loans and grants to entrepreneurs and social enterprises working in areas like healthcare, education, and agriculture. The government also offers funding and support through the Business Development Fund, which provides loans and grants to small and medium-sized enterprises, including social enterprises.

Where does India, a growing economic power stand on Social entrepreneurship? Here are some companies that are at the forefront of social change.

SELCO Foundation:

This organization, based in Bangalore, is working to provide clean energy solutions to rural communities in India. The organization has helped to install over 450,000 solar lights and other energy solutions, providing access to reliable and sustainable energy to many who were previously living without electricity.

Goonj:

This social enterprise, based in Delhi, is working to address the issue of clothing waste in India, while also providing clothing and other essential items to those in need. The organization collects and recycles clothing and other materials, which are then distributed to communities in need across the country.

Drishti Eye Care:

This social enterprise, based in West Bengal, is working to provide affordable and accessible eye care services to rural communities in India. The organization has set up a network of eye care centers, which provide services such as cataract surgery and eyeglasses at low cost.

Barefoot College:

This organization, based in Rajasthan, is working to provide education and training to rural communities, with a focus on empowering women and promoting sustainable development. The organization provides training in a range of areas, including solar energy, water management, and artisanal crafts, helping to build local capacity and promote economic and social progress.

Chitkara University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CEED):

This organization is working to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in India, particularly among young people. CEED provides training and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as access to funding and other resources, helping to create a supportive ecosystem for social and environmental entrepreneurship.

Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA):

Founded by Ela Bhatt in 1972, offers its members, mostly impoverished self-employed women, financial, health, insurance, legal, childcare, vocational, and educational services.

S Rajagopalan and Svati Bhogle’s Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE):

TIDE promotes the transformation of profitable and environmentally sustainable techniques developed by top research institutes into successful businesses.

The Government of India provides various grants and funding schemes to promote social entrepreneurship and support social impact initiatives. Here are a few examples of grants provided by the government of India to promote social entrepreneurship:

National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI):

This is an umbrella program launched by the Department of Science and Technology, which includes several funding schemes to support startups, social enterprises, and innovators. One of the programs under NIDHI is the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) scheme, which provides funding of up to INR 15 lakhs to incubate and support social startups.

Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs):

The MSME ministry offers various funding schemes to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, including social entrepreneurship. One of the schemes is the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), which provides credit guarantees of up to INR 2 crores to social enterprises and micro-enterprises.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD):

NABARD offers various funding schemes and grants to support social entrepreneurship in rural areas. One of the schemes is the Rural Innovation Fund (RIF), which provides funding of up to INR 30 lakhs to social enterprises and innovators in rural areas.

Social Venture Challenge:

The Social Venture Challenge is a joint initiative by the Indian School of Business and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship, which provides funding and mentorship to social enterprises working on issues like poverty, education, and healthcare.

India Taking The Lead In Social Entrepreneurship

In India, companies are required to invest at least 2% of their average net profits in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives under the Companies Act, 2013. There is a set criterion for a company to comply with this requirement. This measure encourages a company to pursue a relevant and stay committed to it.

Several large companies in India have embraced social entrepreneurship as a way to drive innovation and impact social and environmental challenges. Here are some examples of large companies in India that are actively involved in social entrepreneurship:

Tata Group:

Tata Group is one of the largest and oldest conglomerates in India, with interests in a wide range of industries, including steel, automobiles, and technology. The Tata Group has been involved in social entrepreneurship for several decades and has launched several initiatives, including the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, which supports social enterprises across India.

Mahindra Group:

Mahindra Group is a diversified conglomerate with interests in industries like automobiles, finance, and technology. The company has a strong focus on social entrepreneurship and impact investing and has launched several initiatives, including the Mahindra Rise Prize, which supports social entrepreneurs working in areas like healthcare and agriculture.

Godrej Group:

Godrej Group is a diversified conglomerate with interests in industries like consumer goods, real estate, and agriculture. The company has a strong focus on sustainability and social entrepreneurship and has launched several initiatives, including the Godrej Good and Green Fellowship, which supports social entrepreneurs working in areas like waste management and sustainable agriculture.

Infosys:

Infosys is a technology company that provides consulting, software development, and other services to clients around the world. The company has a strong focus on social entrepreneurship and has launched several initiatives, including the Infosys Foundation, which supports social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations working in areas like education and healthcare.

Wipro:

Wipro is a technology company that provides software development, consulting, and other services to clients around the world. The company has a strong focus on sustainability and social entrepreneurship and has launched several initiatives, including the Wipro Earthian Awards, which supports social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations working in areas like environmental sustainability and education.

Who Funds Social Enterprises?

Social entrepreneurs can seek funding from a variety of sources, depending on their needs and the stage of their enterprise. Here are a few examples of funding sources that social entrepreneurs can consider:

Grants:

Grants are a common source of funding for social entrepreneurs, particularly those in the early stages of their enterprise. Grants can be obtained from a range of organizations, including foundations, government agencies, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

Impact investors:

Impact investors are investors who are looking to generate both financial returns and positive social or environmental impact. Impact investors can provide equity or debt financing, and may also offer support and mentorship to social entrepreneurs.

Crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, can be a useful source of funding for social entrepreneurs, particularly for those with innovative and compelling ideas. Crowdfunding can help to build community support for an enterprise, while also providing a way to raise funds.

Social impact bonds:

Social impact bonds (SIBs) are a relatively new form of financing, in which private investors provide upfront capital to fund social programs or initiatives. The government or other third party agrees to pay a return on investment if the program meets pre-agreed-upon social outcomes.

Banks and financial institutions:

Banks and other financial institutions can provide loans and other financings to social entrepreneurs, particularly those who have a track record of success or have collateral to offer as security.

Accelerator and incubator programs:

Accelerator and incubator programs can provide funding, mentorship, and other resources to social entrepreneurs, helping to support their growth and development.

Corporates with ESG objectives:

Large companies are likely candidates to invest or partner with social enterprises as it falls under their ESG or CSR mandate.

These are just a few examples of the many sources of funding that social entrepreneurs can consider. It is important for social entrepreneurs to do their research and identify the funding sources that best align with their goals and values, and to be prepared to pitch their enterprise in a way that demonstrates their social impact and potential for growth.

Conclusion: Future of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is important because it can create positive change in society, promote sustainable development, drive innovation, and encourage responsible business practices. It is a growing movement that has the potential to transform the way we think about business and its role in society.

Social entrepreneurship is important for several reasons:

Addressing social and environmental challenges:

Social entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to tackle complex social and environmental problems that are not being adequately addressed by governments or traditional for-profit businesses. They can develop innovative and sustainable solutions that create positive social and environmental impact.

Creating economic opportunities:

Social entrepreneurship can also create new economic opportunities in underserved communities by providing access to education, employment, and affordable products and services.

Promoting sustainable development:

Social entrepreneurship can play a key role in promoting sustainable development by using resources more efficiently, reducing waste and pollution, and creating businesses that are designed to be sustainable over the long term.

Driving innovation:

Social entrepreneurs are often driven by a desire to challenge the status quo and find new ways to solve problems. This drive for innovation can lead to breakthroughs in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education.

Encouraging responsible business practices:

Social entrepreneurship can serve as a model for responsible business practices, demonstrating that it is possible to create profitable businesses that also have a positive social and environmental impact.

The post Social Entrepreneurship: The Road Less Travelled. appeared first on Fixbracket.

Many ecommerce companies opine that content marketing doesn’t really do the job – of bringing in customers. And therefore, it is time-consuming and expensive.

The reality is – content marketing is only effective if implemented correctly. One of the most common mistakes ecommerce companies make is focusing on creating more content instead of better content. The systematic deployment of content can produce the results that you’re seeking.

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

When it comes to sales, content marketing can be extremely effective. You can build trust and credibility by providing valuable information that helps your target customers solve their problems. This can lead to increased sales as they are more likely to purchase from a company they trust.

Additionally, by creating helpful content that educates your target customers about your products or services, you can increase the chances that they will make a purchase when they are ready.

What Is A Good Content Marketing Strategy For Ecommerce Companies?

Content marketing aims to educate potential buyers about your products, services, or industry to make informed purchase decisions. It also helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field, increasing your credibility with clients.

A good Content marketing strategy involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content with the goal of attracting and retaining a specific audience and ultimately driving profitable customer action. The content can take many forms, including blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, social media posts, infographics, and more.

The focus of content marketing is on providing helpful and informative content that addresses the needs and interests of the target audience rather than on promoting a product or service directly. By doing so, content marketing builds trust and credibility with potential customers, establishes a brand as an authority in its industry, and creates opportunities for engagement and conversation with the audience.

Content marketing is often used in conjunction with other digital marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising, to create a comprehensive and effective marketing campaign.

Content Marketing Has Many Benefits For Ecommerce Companies

A content marketing strategy can be a powerful tool to attract new customers and grow sales. By creating informative and engaging content, businesses can build trust and credibility with potential buyers, leading to increased sales. Additionally, good content can help to boost SEO efforts, driving even more traffic to your website and improving your chances of conversion. Ultimately, a well-crafted content marketing strategy can be a key driver of growth for your business.

✓ It helps you generate leads by creating awareness of your brand, products, and services. This can lead to more sales leads and conversions down the road.

✓ It increases customer loyalty by providing relevant information about your business regularly. The more people learn about your company and its offerings, the more likely they will remain loyal customers who come back often to buy more from you over time.

Here are some relevant statistics about content marketing and ecommerce:

✓  E-commerce businesses that use content marketing have conversion rates 6 times higher than those that don’t, according to Aberdeen Group.

✓  HubSpot reports that companies that publish 16 or more blog posts per month get almost 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than those that publish 0-4 blog posts per month.

✓  Social media is the most popular content marketing tactic for e-commerce businesses, with 87% of marketers using it to reach customers, according to the State of Social report by Buffer.

✓  The Content Marketing Institute reports that 60% of consumers are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it.

✓  According to a study by the Baymard Institute, the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.23%, but businesses that use retargeting with display ads can recover 26% of those abandoned carts.

These statistics demonstrate the importance of content marketing for e-commerce businesses, and how it can lead to increased traffic, higher conversion rates, and more engaged customers.

What does the content marketing playbook say?

If you own an ecommerce company, you understand how hard it is to stand out in such a crowded marketplace. You need to create amazing content that will help your customers understand the value of your products or services and convince them to buy from you over other businesses.

Here’s what you must do:

Identify the needs of your target audience:

Understanding the needs, pain points, and interests of your target audience is crucial in creating content that resonates with them. Conducting market research and analyzing customer data can help you identify the topics and formats of content that will appeal to your audience.

Create high-quality resonating content:

Once you know what type of content your audience wants, focus on creating content that is informative, engaging, and visually appealing. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, social media posts, and more. Make sure your content is relevant to your audience and showcases your expertise in your industry.

Optimize your content for search engines:

To increase the visibility of your content, make sure it is optimized for search engines. Nothing lasts longer than Search Engine Optimized content. Use relevant keywords in your content and metadata, optimize your images and videos, and make sure your content is mobile-friendly.

Promote your content:

Share your content on social media, email newsletters, and other marketing channels to reach a wider audience. Encourage your followers to share your content with their networks. Identify relevant Social Media and double down on your posts and videos.

Use calls-to-action (CTAs):

Incorporate CTAs into your content to encourage visitors to take action, such as signing up for a newsletter, following you on social media, or making a purchase. Make sure your CTAs are clear, compelling, and relevant to the content.

Connected Content:

The mastery in content marketing lies in integrating various channels with a connected communication thread where common or similar messages flow through your social media, emails, brochures, podcasts, webinars, etc.

Track results:

Use analytics to evaluate what content works with what channel and what’s the best time to execute a campaign.

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your business. It’s also a great way to reach and engage with potential customers.

There is one critical question that your content must always address – There are many ecommerce companies, but how do you stand out from the rest? What makes your business unique?

What Type of Content Would You Promote?

SEMrush’s research highlights the popular content formats that delivered better results. Here’s a graph from the same research.

Here’s a way to find out what works for you.

Define your goals:

First, you need to define your content marketing goals. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic to your website, or boost sales? Your content strategy should be aligned with your overall business goals.

Identify your audience:

Next, you need to identify your target audience. Who are they, what are their pain points, and what kind of content do they respond to? Use tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics to gain insights about your audience.

Research your competitors:

Research your competitors to see what kind of content they are producing and what is working for them. This can help you identify gaps in your own content strategy and find opportunities to differentiate yourself.

Experiment with different formats:

Try different formats of content such as blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, or webinars to see what works best for your audience. Use analytics to track engagement, such as likes, shares, comments, and click-through rates.

Analyze and iterate:

Analyze the data from your experiments to see what is working and what isn’t. Adjust your content strategy accordingly and continue to experiment and iterate to find the best content for your business.

Remember that creating effective content is an ongoing process, and it requires patience, experimentation, and a willingness to adapt and learn from your successes and failures.

What Digital Channels do you invest in?

The timely execution of your digital marketing strategy is the cornerstone of your success. If your e-commerce business is seasonal, then heavily invest in the build-up period before peak season time. You need to know what digital channels you will use and how you will use them. You also need to know how to measure their success and make course corrections.

Here’s a tip.

Try different digital channels such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), social media, email marketing, and content marketing to see what works best for your business. Use analytics to track engagement, such as click-through rates and conversion rates. Set goals for each digital channel and measure your success against those goals. This can help you determine which channels are providing the most ROI for your business.

Use tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics to track your website traffic and engagement on various digital channels. This can help you see which channels are driving the most traffic and engagement.

Remember that every business is unique, so what works for one business may not work for another. It’s important to take a data-driven approach to determine which digital channels work best for your business.

How Can a Good Content Marketing Strategy Increase Sales?

Sales can be increased by creating helpful and informative content that educates potential customers about your product or service. By providing potential customers with the information they need to make a purchasing decision, you can increase the likelihood that they will choose your product or service over a competitor’s. In addition, by regularly publishing new content, you can keep your brand top of mind and build a loyal following of customers who are more likely to purchase when they need your product or service.

What are some content marketing guidelines to increase sales?

✓ Increase the frequency and quality of your content. Go beyond the basics with every piece of content you produce.

✓ Create buyer personas and match your content to them. Write content that appeals to your target market and answers their questions.

✓  Use a mix of different types of content. A blog post might be great, but don’t forget about infographics, videos, and eBooks.

✓ Get creative with your distribution channels. In addition to your website and blog, consider using social media, email marketing, and print marketing to get your content in front of as many people as possible.

✓ Always include a call-to-action (CTA). Make it easy for readers to take the next step with clear CTAs at the end of every piece of content you produce.

Increase Conversions by focussing on

Trust:

One of the biggest challenges for ecommerce companies is building trust with potential customers. Users may be hesitant to make a purchase from a company they’ve never heard of or from a website they’re not familiar with. Building trust can be done through reviews, social proof, and ensuring a secure checkout process.

User experience:

Users expect a seamless and user-friendly experience when shopping online. If the website is difficult to navigate or the checkout process is too long or complicated, users may abandon their carts and look elsewhere to make their purchase.

Shipping and Returns:

Shipping costs, delivery times, and returns policies can all impact a user’s decision to make a purchase. Users may abandon their cart if they feel that shipping costs are too high, or if the returns process is complicated.

Competition:

With so many e-commerce businesses available, competition is fierce. Companies need to differentiate themselves from their competitors through branding, customer service, and providing unique value to their customers.

Personalization:

Users want a personalized experience when shopping online. Ecommerce companies need to use data to personalize their offerings and provide users with relevant product recommendations.

Mobile optimization:

With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s important for ecommerce companies to have a mobile-optimized website. If the website is not optimized for mobile, users may have a difficult time navigating the site or completing a purchase.

These challenges require ecommerce companies to continually adapt and improve their strategies to attract and retain customers

Ecommerce companies who are doing right 

There are many ecommerce companies that use content marketing to engage with their audience and drive sales. Here are a few examples:

Sephora:

Sephora – Ecommerce Companies Leveraging Content Marketing

Sephora’s Beauty Insider blog features a variety of content, including makeup tutorials, product reviews, and interviews with beauty experts. The blog also has a “Shop This Post” feature that allows readers to purchase products directly from the blog.

Warby Parker:

Warby Parker – Ecommerce Companies Leveraging Content Marketing

Warby Parker’s “Culture” section of its website features a variety of content, including interviews with designers, book recommendations, and behind-the-scenes looks at the company. This content helps to establish the brand as an authority in the eyewear industry and to build trust with its audience.

Birchbox:

Birchbox – Ecommerce Companies Leveraging Content Marketing

Birchbox’s blog features a variety of content related to beauty and lifestyle, including product reviews, makeup tutorials, and gift guides. The company also sends out a monthly subscription box to its customers, which includes samples of new and popular beauty products.

Casper:

Casper’s “Sleep Channel” features a variety of content related to sleep, including articles on sleep science, sleep tips, and product reviews. The company also offers a 100-night sleep trial on their mattresses, which helps to build trust with its audience.

These are just a few examples of ecommerce companies that use content marketing to engage with their audience and drive sales. By creating informative and engaging content, these companies are able to establish themselves as experts in their industry and to build relationships with their customers.

Final Thoughts On How Ecommerce Companies Are Leveraging Content Marketing

By creating valuable and relevant content, businesses can attract more leads and convert them into customers. Content has to support the visual storytelling for your brand.

Furthermore, by regularly publishing and distributing new content, ecommerce companies can keep their audience engaged and increase the likelihood of them making a purchase. Conversions will happen if you’re able to understand the reason why consumers buy and don’t buy products. Provide content that addresses queries and excites customers to make a purchase. Content builds authority, trust and accountability.

The post Content Marketing Delivers Conversions For Ecommerce Companies. appeared first on Fixbracket.

In this article, we’ll explore the powerful fusion of marketing and technology (MarTech), and how it’s revolutionizing the way businesses connect with their customers. From AI-powered analytics to automation tools, get ready to discover the future of marketing!

The Business Of MarTech

The global business of Marketing Technologies a.k.a. MarTech, is over $344 billion (as per the Martech Report 2021/22 by MarTech Alliance and Moore Kingston Smith).

We’ve already begun to see acquisitions and mergers in this space. If you’re new to the world of MarTech, you’d ask why is MarTech so important to companies. What value does the CMO get from spending on, implementing, and managing MarTech?

I can list down several advantages.

Improves Marketing Velocity

‘Go to market’ on time, agility to deliver effectively, swift, and relevant conversions from a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), measuring ROI of marketing campaigns to determine the next step, A/B testing of campaigns are critical expectations from marketing teams. Technology is the answer.

Progressive Profiling Of Customers

Capturing relevant and marketing-ready information is an ongoing process. Customer information can be captured from various sources namely email and social media interactions bit by bit. Progressive profiling is the Goldilocks zone of customer data mining. It’s important to improve the productivity of campaigns, increase conversion rates and personalization of content.

Governance Of Digital Assets

With the amount of content that is produced daily, companies need to curate them centrally. This allows the custodians to manage these assets effectively. With platforms such as Digital Asset Management companies have saved millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on searching, preserving, replacing, and repurposing digital assets.

To know more on Digital Asset Management, read our article on the subject.

Collection And Use Of MarTech Data, Ethically!

The introduction of the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) has led to measures that concern data storage, processing, security, and retention. It is essential to seek consent from a user when it pertains to the use of the user’s private information. Technology brings transparency to the process of gathering and using information.

(hubspot.com)

Builds Accountability Of The Team

It takes more than a village to manage marketing operations.

Marketing teams can no longer operate in silos, they need to collaborate to thrive. And to measure the performance of individuals and teams, technology plays an integral part.

MarTech is Highly Fragmented

There is software that can replace or aid a marketing process. The hottest tech spaces attraction investments at various stages of funding are –

Adtech

Adtech consists of software and platforms that allow brands to target, publish, and measure their campaigns. Adtech enables brands and digital agencies to book advertising space and allow publishers to sell their advertising space. There are an array of tools and technologies involved – Programmatic Advertising, Demand Side Platforms (DSP), Supply Side Platforms (SSP), Agency Trading Desks (ATD), Ad Servers, and Ad Networks.

Content Marketing Platforms

Content is a currency in the marketing world and platforms that enable creators to create, test, curate, publish, and distribute content are ever so in demand. The planning, creation, and collaboration workflow modules, makes the creator’s job easier. Marketers can profile their customers based on usage and content consumption.

Customer Data Platforms

With multiple marketing touch-points to deal with, marketers find the necessity to aggregate, organize and manage data. The credence lies in the intelligence that can be generated from real-time data to build customer and segment profiles. Customer Data Platforms can be integrated with other marketing systems to receive and transfer data.

Video Production Platforms

The intent of using a video production platform is to produce quality videos within estimated budgets and timelines. These platforms are rid of the issues of storage of content. Powered with analytics, creators can understand viewer behaviour, and optimize the content they create.

Some Recent Investments And Acquisitions In MarTech

Source: crunchbase.com, contentgrip.com

For more on investments in MarTech, read funding news by ContentGrip.

MarTech: A Drop In The Ocean

While brands need to overcome optimization challenges in MarTech and consider investments wisely, the technologies are here to stay. The CIO/ CTO’s role in this is as critical as the CMO’s, the ownership lies with the latter. We will witness further investments, mergers, and acquisitions in this niche technology segment.

The post MarTech companies are Raking In The Money. appeared first on Fixbracket.

With over two decades of addressing the marketing services challenges of local and global brands, I’ve come across the famous antinome that CMOs have always been consumed with – what can be outsourced and what to keep in-house?

Large enterprises with their army of resources have a clear demarcation of what their agencies can do for them and the role of marketing teams in the scheme of things, and a few have a prescribed rule – stay away from creating, instead be a cognitive part of the creative process.

Agencies holding the prowess to create, have exhibited fortitude and waded off any blows by corporate teams attempting to take charge of the creative process. Creativity is in the DNA of agencies.

However, this is the least of the challenges for the CMO. The function has evolved, and marketing operations have a new orientation.

Marketing As A Service (MaaS)

This a prudent question for every CMO.

How much can a team handle without specialists?

The simple answer to the question can be deduced by defining your marketing services priorities.

Do you want your marketing team to do the heavy lifting with marketing services or would you want the team to focus on the strategy and the management of the delivery of KPIs through agency resources?

Fine, you got some specialists on board, but the evolving demand for smart automation, content marketing, and analytics has led to the expansion of marketing technologies. Today, there is software that addresses every critical marketing process.

Marketing Technology (Martech) is evolving at a fast pace. This will impact the delivery of marketing services.

                                                                                                                  Martech Marketing Services Industry Size

The size of the global martech industry is over $120 billion.

From 150 martech solution providers in 2011 to 8000+ software providers in 2020 – that’s surely a quantum leap.

The learning curve of agencies is shorter than that of marketing teams. With the ebb and flow of talent in agencies, there is a continuous momentum to onboard the new in the form of people and practices.

Marketing-as-a-service (MaaS) is the new way to go. And it is here to revolutionize marketing services as we know it.

Some might debate that the practice is very old, but it holds relevance today. We’re referring to outsourcing services that require a high intensity of acumen, precision, and continuous learning.

In the scheme of meritorious things, outsourced teams must function as your own and occupy a seat at the table.

And unless your team is geared to handle fast-paced change – Bring in the Specialists.

Inbound Marketing Services With Emails

According to SendGrid, email is a critical piece in your marketing arsenal as it offers the highest return of any marketing channel – at an average of $42 for every dollar invested.

Building on an email conversation thread can be a meticulous task. Most companies have not experienced the success of smelting results through applied inbound marketing. There is a science behind it.

The most important rule is – Information earned is better than information bought.

Can email marketing get you a qualified lead?

Tough but Doable. It’s the right resources, infrastructure, and practice that drive results.

Unless you’ve invested in all the above, you’re not likely to experience optimized results.

An industry-wide benchmark by Campaign Monitor is provided below. Are you hitting these numbers?

                                                                                Inbound Marketing Services With Emails

Email marketing is not a ‘Mail-it and wait-for-it activity’.

It’s a continuous undertaking.

Does your email automation trigger an instance or action in the manner it should?

Does it factor in various response scenarios and actions as a follow-up to a user’s response?

Do you have a sequence of events programmed in your marketing automation software?

Technology is important but it is a means to an end, you also need talent to harness technology. If you’re running an ecommerce business, imagine the importance of emails to your customers that provide information on purchases, refunds, shipping, loyalty points, cart abandonment, grievances, etc.

Your team must be able to plan these events and your automation software must be able to orchestrate the delivery of these events.

The moving parts of your email program – Creativity, compelling content, personalization, and email hygiene such as options to ‘unsubscribe’ define the deliverability of your email campaigns. Better deliverability results in a better ROI.

Marketers must have meaningful metrics to define the success of email campaigns. These are important to provide quality marketing services. HubSpot has listed the critical ones – Open Rate, Clickthrough Rate, Conversion Rate, Bounce Rate, List Growth Rate, Unsubscribe Rate, and Overall ROI.

To know more about these metrics, go through this piece by HubSpot.

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Today content is produced at a phenomenal rate, and what I mean by content from a marketer’s view is all the digital assets that are created, edited, and ingested regularly.

Your organization has troves of images and graphic content used for social media, print, marketing material, press releases, and events. All necessary marketing services.

Imagine the content that is created and shared by your own internal teams, agencies, vendors, and channel partners. Digital Asset Management (DAM) is serious business.

Digital assets have a (monetary) value assigned to them and tagging them like a physical asset is now possible. DAM software at an enterprise level can sort, curate, search (through AI), distribute, control usage, and publish digital content.

Read more on DAM on our blog This Digital Tool is what Marketing and Agency teams need.

There are various stages to the adoption of DAM in an organization, and Gartner nicely sums it up.

                                                                                 DAM Marketing Services Use Cases

This is something that cannot be ignored by growing organizations.

According to statista.com – In 2020, we consumed over 64 zettabytes of data (1 zettabyte=1 trillion gigabytes), and by 2025, data creation is projected to be more than 180 zettabytes. The COVID pandemic is a growth factor.

The role of a MaaS partner here is to mine, curate, and at times publish these digital assets. It involves managing the lifecycle cycle of the asset. Adoption is a slow process and requires a commitment of resources and time from the marketing division.

We’ve witnessed that it ends up being a joint responsibility of marketing and technology in a company, with marketing being the primary stakeholder.

The MaaS partner can accelerate the implementation and utilization of DAM software within an organization allowing marketing teams to focus on their core responsibilities.

Importance Of Social Reputation Management For Marketing Services

You have the best digital agencies conceiving and executing your social media plans. There’s plenty of buzzes created for your brand – paid, owned, and earned media.

But the thing that companies don’t invest enough time in is monitoring and managing their reputation online – on social media, forums, blogs, review sites, etc.

An untoward tweet by an employee or senior leader in the company, or a review by a disgruntled customer unhappy with your service or product can snowball into a crisis. ‘No response’ is not the right way to deal with an issue. Your business and company valuation is at stake here.

The graph below indicates the impact of responding to customer complaints on business.

                                Importance Of Social Reputation Management For Marketing Services

Here’s an article from Harvard Business Review on how angry customers can turn into loyal ones.

A MaaS provider can set up a ‘listening room’ to capture every mention (neutral, good, bad, and ugly), gauge sentiment, and measure the share of voice for your brand – All of this is to build a long-term strategy to maintain consumer trust. A view by a third-party such as a MaaS provider can be objective.

Marketing Services – Brass Tacks

When appointing a MaaS provider, the KPIs must be explicit.

You may have defined the metrics for various activities but what matters is the value delivered to the business.

E.g., A good Click-to-Open-Rate (CTOR) for email campaign marketing services is a relevant metric, but what is important is whether the campaign has led to customer acquisition or new business from existing customers.

Agencies or marketing service providers will stop at a superficial level to ascertain the true impact of a campaign because they are not fully integrated into the marketing operations of a company – something that CMOs must ponder. This is a discussion for another time.

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