Top 7 Digital Marketing Strategies of FMCGs in India

Definition of FMCG

FMCGs or Fast Moving consumer goods are products that have a small shelf life and are used daily by its users. These products define our everyday usage materials like packaged food, juices, hygiene and lifestyle products etc. FMCGs are always in high demand because of their regular use of nature. 

What is FMCG Marketing?

FMCG marketing has been the centre of some of the most iconic marketing jingles, taglines and advertisements. Traditionally, FMCG marketing was done through mediums such as door to door salesman, radio advertisements, newspapers and banners. These mediums were mass messaged, i.e., a company would be able to only send one common message to a very diverse crowd and hope for some success.

As digital marketing has crept on the scene, the same FMCGs are now changing their marketing strategies and tactics. With the medium of communication changing, the industry is going through a transition. Let us learn more about these trends that are shaping the industry and its marketing techniques.

Top 7 FMCG Digital Marketing Strategies in India

With the advent of social media, expanding data networks and spread in the usage of smartphones and the boom of eCommerce stores, the traditional marketing method for FMCGs are under attack. Long gone are the days where a FMCG would have only one advertisement they used for a product everywhere, with digital marketing, each promotional push can be customised to meet the consumers’ needs.

Let us now discuss the top 7 trends in digital marketing strategies of FMCGs in India.

1. Customer-Centric Content Marketing:

Traditionally, FMCGs marketed their products by only talking about its attributes. TVs, newspapers and radios all had the same message about what the product was and does. Such marketing was not very effective because it was not attractive and did not appeal to people individually. With the arrival of digital marketing, the strategies of FMCGs in India have changed drastically.

Through digital marketing, the customers get the content which revolves around them. They can engage and talk about the brand, show other people what they use and help the brand reach recognition for their efforts. FMCGs have capitalised on this trend heavily. With user-centric content marketing, a customer receives more personalised branding and more relevant advertisement is shown to them. 

2. Creating presence with social media

According to a survey, an average adult spends about 2 hours and 40 minutes on their social media applications daily in 2020. This is a massive amount of time where customers of a brand are highly engaged and can be easily reached. For an organisation, it is now a must to have their presence in all the platforms relevant to them. 

Every social media platform is different and effective for different kinds of audience. While Facebook appeals well to age groups, Instagram is highly effective for marketing to the youth. LinkedIn is effective for increasing awareness about the work of an organisation, especially with professionals from the age of 25 – 45. YouTube is a great platform to put on the visual and long-form content, where Pinterest is great for running informative campaigns and pictorial content. 

An organisation needs to identify the best social media platforms for their purpose and maximize their efforts on them.

3. User-generated content

Traditional methods only allowed for one way communication, that is, the company promoting its products to the users. Now with social media, the ability to communicate between companies and users has changed things. Smart organisations let their users do their promotions for them through applying UGC or User Generated Content strategy.

In UGC, a user is asked to promote the product or service through putting a story or post, tagging them and sharing hashtags. Such content acts as a great piece of digital word of mouth and is considered to be one of the most authentic and trusted sources of digital marketing. It engages the user to talk about the brand at the same time increasing the brand’s perceived authenticity by the people who see their friends’ posts and stories.

4. Increasing appeal through Influencer Marketing:

People like to believe other people they look up to, and that precisely what influencer marketing is based on. An influencer is someone with some form of skills they are famous for. They command a public presence and are trusted for their word. Through influencer marketing, a company asks them to produce content using the brand’s product or service, and drive conversation amongst their fans regarding that. An influencer can add a lot of legitimacy to a brand and its product, this is especially true for FMCG brands.

5. Automated Email Marketing

As people get used to more and more email marketing, they get bored and unaffected by them. The newest innovation in marketing is automated email marketing. While earlier mass mailers for sending general messages and offers were used, now we use action and preference generated email journeys to give specialised experience for all. This email marketing format is also known as Drip Marketing.

For example: When a customer first signs up, one email will be sent regarding that. Now if the customer after signing up goes and puts an item in their online cart, but does not check out, another email will be sent to remind you to complete your purchase and so on.

Automated emails are a great way to influence a customer. By making specialised action triggered emails, you can communicate to your customer more appropriately and be better able to guide them to make a purchase. Such emails also assist you in retargeting consumers who have already purchased from you. 

6. Hosting in-house eCommerce Store

This might sound absurd, but many FMCGs do not have their eCommerce stores on their website. They rely on digital marketing to increase their offline sales but do not use the easy way of directly selling to the customer online. Now is a great time for the FMCGs to start direct selling through their websites as increasing numbers of consumers are beginning to shop online. FMCGs should also have their portals on websites like Amazon and Facebook to capture their customers digitally, everywhere.

7. Online Reputation Management

When customers shop online, one of the key decision making factors before making a purchase is online reviews. All the eCommerce stores have a review section where anyone who has bought the product can put a review. These reviews help in increasing the authenticity of the product at the same time develop trust with the customer that the product quality and usage is satisfying.

Customers who write reviews are also some of the most engaged users of a brand, hence it is very important to talk to them. This process of engaging the users is called ORM. An FMCG can capitalise on every positive review and smooth overall negative reviews with a proper ORM strategy.

Now that we have looked at the latest trends in Digital marketing strategies for FMCGs in India, let us now discuss three separate case studies to understand where and how these trends can be used in an FMCGs’ digital marketing strategy. We will look at the research and then solutions proposed for each brand and learn how to implement a business strategy using deep insights.