Scientific advisor:
Candidate of Economic Sciences, Docent, Novikova E.S.

Introduction

In the digital era, the ability to respond quickly to changes and trends in consumers behavior has become critical for companies. Today’s customers have less time and attention to devote to the brand—and they are surrounded by alternatives every step of the way. That is why companies need to focus more on new, innovative and creative marketing communication tactics that will help them to attract new consumers and increase their sales.

Marketing communications are a management process through which an organization engages with potential and current customers. It helps businesses to build a positive brand image in the eyes of potential buyers, increase brand awareness, maintain a close relationship with the audience, strengthen emotional connection and increase competitiveness. Marketing communications are essential for business. It is a part of the last P of the marketing mix – Promotion.

1. Literature review

Marketing is the combination of activities, that move goods and services from producers to consumers. Most aspects of a business depend on successful marketing. Without a proper marketing communication strategy the company may produce and offer the best products or services in the industry, but none of the potential customers would know about it[1]. (Ms. Enu Sambyal, Online Marketing Communication). Especially, nowadays when the market of different products and services is full and diverse.

According to F.Kotler the shortage of goods has been replaced by the shortage of consumers. The continuing growth in the number of products and competitors on the market led to the wide variety of goods and it made the customer the center of the market universe. From this point, well known 4P marketing mix (product, place, price, promotion) is losing its relevance. This concept is focused on in-house processes, and not on the customers[2]. Therefore, the 4C marketing mix (consumer wants and needs, cost, convenience, and communication) is becoming more and more popular among companies that are working with consumers. This method is a customer-centric alternative to the 4P, it focuses on the people who are buying products or services rather than on the brand

Åke Finne in her work “Rethinking marketing communication: From integrated marketing communication to relationship communication” considered that due to digitalization and customer orientation, the model of integrated marketing communication (IMC) that is based on using traditional promotion channels, now is focusing more on digital and highlighting the consumer’s message integration[3].

In the work “Innovative Opportunities and Reserves of Contemporary Marketing Communication” the authors highlighted the decrease in the effectiveness of traditional marketing communication and suggested new methods and techniques of innovative marketing, such as alternative marketing, word-of-mouth, buzz, blogs, sponsored marketing, provocative marketing, social networks[4].

Digital marketing has transformed how businesses and other organizations communicate with their audiences. The proliferation of new media channels, digital technologies, and interaction options has given a challenge of understanding, prioritizing, and managing many new digital communications techniques[5] (Ellis-Chadwick F. Digital marketing).  Internet is expanding and influences consumers which shifts consumer behavior. It also creates new means of purchasing products. This has bought new opportunities, challenges, and threats in the form of competition to both existing and new businesses. Online Marketing Communication are the methods which are used by online firms to communicate with the consumers, makes the use of entire marketing efforts in the form of advertising, public relation, personal selling, sales promotion, internet marketing, direct marketing in order to generate maximum impact on the target audience at the minimum cost and as well as create strong expectations.

2. Methodology

Secondary data has been collected through articles, research reports related to marketing communication, digitalization, and reports performed by marketing consulting companies. In order to analyze current and previous tactics data about traditional and digital marketing were analyzed and generalized.

Primary data was collected through the survey, that was conducted among 20 people from Russia and France. The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions. Most of the questions were aimed to identify consumers’ attitudes to digital marketing and its impact on decision making process.

Purpose – To prove that with a help of digital communication tactics companies will be able to increase brand awareness and sales, and prepare recommendations for JYSK company.

Methodology – Theoretical methods: comparison, analysis, generalization, explanation, classification.

Empirical methods: Study of the information source, analysis of the received information.

Quantitative research methods: Primary data were collected using a survey among 20 people.

Object – JYSK company. Subject – Recommendations of implementations of new digital marketing communication tactics in JYSK company.

Hypothesis –  In order to increase brand awareness and sales companies should use more new innovative communication marketing tactics.

Paper type Research paper.

3.Findings

3.1 Digital vs traditional marketing communications

Over a period, several tactics of marketing communication have been used, such as advertising, public relation, branding, direct marketing, and others. However, now due to digitalization some of these tactics have been updated in more online-orientated ways and some new tactics have emerged. Internet is expanding and influences consumers, which is changing their behavior. It creates new ways of purchasing products and at the same time new ways of promotion. Important to mention that the internet is not the only digital marketing tool, there is also an offline environment: advertising displays on the street, QR codes, mobile applications, video walls, interactive kiosks, that can be classified as digital channels for the dissemination of information.

Digital marketing is a part of marketing that involves the promotion of services and goods using digital technologies at all stages of interaction with consumers. Today, digital marketing is at the forefront of every business’s online presence. In recent years, digital marketing has become the dominant form of marketing because it offers a wider range of opportunities for businesses to engage customers using relevant messaging and creative content. Digital marketers can now create highly targeted campaigns that reach potential customers on their preferred digital platform.

Nowadays in order to be visible and successful on the market, companies need to find the right balance between traditional and digital marketing. Both play an important role in a marketing strategy, but they are each elevated when used in unison.[6] Traditional marketing includes many forms of advertising and marketing.  It’s the most recognizable type of marketing, encompassing the advertisements that we see and hear every day. Most traditional marketing strategies fall under one of four categories: print, broadcast, direct mail, and telephone.

However, due to digitalization, traditional marketing communications are gradually losing their effectiveness and more companies consider them only in a combination with digital marketing. There are several reasons why.

• Firstly, an increase in emotional fatigue from a wide range of advertising and aggressive presentation of them. According to the survey, that was conducted 70% of respondents consider, that billboards are ruined the beauty of the city, and they would not like to see them on the historical facades of buildings. In the table below only 15% read printed newspapers and 25% magazines. This data represents that more and more people prefer to get information from digital sources, such as Instagram, YouTube, and online media.

 

Figure 1. Sources of media, that respondents use every day.

Source: survey conducted by the author

• Secondly, a decrease in the strength of the impact. Traditional marketing and advertising are not that eye-catching and unimaginably as it was some years ago when it just appear. That is why now consumers are skipping the advertising and not paying attention to it.
• Advertising through traditional media is expensive. And the level of trust to traditional media is gradually decreasing. The diagram below represents that 55% of respondents don’t trust TV and newspapers. It doesn’t mean that consumers don’t trust anything, but considering this fact and appearing tendency don’t use these sources of information, it is important to focus on new channels too.

Figure 2. The level of trust to traditional media.

Source: survey conducted by the author

• There are a large number of competitors. Due to it, it is harder for the companies to pull buyers over to their side using only traditional ways of advertising[7].
• There are no direct interaction with the consumer. Unlike social media and digital marketing, companies that use traditional marketing are more or less in the dark about the audience’s reaction to marketing efforts[8].

According to ClickZ, Internet users now make up 57% of the global population. On average, people spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day. By 2021, a projected 73% of all ecommerce sales will come from mobile[9].

The survey has shown that 73,7% of respondents have bought something at least once after the recommendation of their favorite blogger. That means the market of influencers will grow, and companies need to consider these ways of advertising.

Figure 3. The percentage of participants that have ever bought something after the recommendation of blogger.

Source: survey conducted by the author

Traditional marketing still plays an important role in people’s lives, but digital marketing uses every touchpoint of consumers’ daily use of the internet to reach them.

3.2 Digital marketing communication tactics

The dynamic development of new technologies and the digital world, lead to the constant development of digital marketing.  Digital marketing tools create new ways to promote products and increase the speed of attracting customers. In a general sense, the concept of “digital” is considered as brand promotion with all possible informational, electronic channels, such as television, the Internet, social networks, radio, and also other media on the Internet.

Digital marketing tools include all methods, means, and activities that allow a company to be aware of people, draw the attention of potential customers to a company, brand, service, or product. Most often, several tools are used simultaneously, which allows businesses to reach the maximum of the target audience and achieve high promotion efficiency. The list of tools used depends on the goals of the marketing campaign, the stage of its implementation, the characteristics of the target audience, the product being promoted, etc. The main digital marketing tools are as follows:

-         Content marketing

It is a long-term marketing strategy that aims to reach target audiences and build trusting relationships. To achieve these goals, marketers create and distribute relevant content. According to statistics from the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing generates three times more leads than paid search advertising[10]. And Demand Gen Report research found that 47% of shoppers view three to five posts before purchasing a product or service[11].

-         SEM (search engine marketing)

Increasing the position of the site in search engines using paid advertising. Using SEM in a marketing campaign is a quick way to drive traffic to a website and, in the long term, increase organic search engine rankings. The most famous and used paid SEM search tool is Google Ads.

-         SEO (search engine optimization)

A set of optimization measures for a site for search engines. The goal of SEO is to increase the relevance of pages and organic rankings. Getting a site into the TOP-10 for targeted queries significantly increases the number of orders, and with this, the company’s profit. If the site takes the first position in organic search results, the company gets the bulk of targeted visitors for a search query.

-         Social media marketing

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with the target audience to build brand awareness, increase sales, and drive website traffic. This involves publishing content on social media profiles, analyzing results, and running social media advertisements.

The major social media platforms are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok, VK.

-         Collaboration marketing

Collaborative marketing is a marketing strategy that involves working with similar companies or influencers to promote a brand. Co-marketing helps to expand the reach of the target audience through side-by-side advertising with competitors. It is a popular and effective system, especially in online presences.

-         Alternative / contemporary marketing

Alternative or contemporary marketing involves finding and creating new places where consumers can interact with a brand, and then catching the ultimate attention-providing marketing messages.

This advertising technique aims to highlight products or services in an unconventional way, surprise consumers, make an indelible impression, and create a wide amount of social buzz.

There are different approaches that are used in alternative marketing, such as street marketing, stealth marketing/ undercover marketing,  ambient marketing, ambush marketing, experiential marketing,  guerrilla projections. Most of these techniques may easily become earned media. When potential consumers will have a desire to share it, and more people will know about it.

In recent years, the growth in spending on viral and alternative marketing has outpaced the growth in spending on traditional advertising by almost ten times. According to research center Jupiter Research, almost half of American companies with experience in using viral marketing to promote their products and services spend more than 40% of their communication budgets on it.   Procter & Gamble recently announced that it is going to spend on viral marketing up to 70% of the multi-billion dollar communications budget. [12]

3.3 Recommendations of implementations new communication marketing tactics on the example of JYSK company

JYSK is a Danish retail chain, that is selling household goods such as mattresses, furniture, and interior decor. Jysk is the largest Danish retailer operating internationally. In total, the companies have 2,937 stores in 50 countries and over 22,000 employees[13]. The company has entered the Russian market in 2020. However, it is the third time when JYSK is doing it. The first attempt was in 1996, the number of stores quickly grew to 12, but in 1998 due to crisis stores were closed. Then in 2005, three stores were opened again, but after a couple of years, JYSK decided to leave, as the company has failed to attract enough customers.

The main competitor of the company is IKEA. Both produce similar furniture, but one of the main advantages of JYSK is the price of the products is more affordable. However, not a lot of customers know about this brand. According to the statistics from the YouScan app (the program analyze and counts all brand mentions on the internet), Ikea is discussed in social networks in Eastern Europe twice actively, than JYSK (Although, Jysk owns almost 3 thousand stores around the world, while Ikea has less than 500).

 

Figure 4. The number of mentions of JYSK and IKEA on the Internet

Source: YouScan app, data from 20^th of November- 20^th of December

At the same time, the tonality of the Jysk brand is predominantly neutral, and the number of positive mentions is greater than negative. Ikea, in turn, is much more often written in a negative context. Moreover, the number of negative references prevails.

 

Figure 5. Consumers’ attitude to the brands JYSK, IKEA (Positive, Negative, Neutral

Source: YouScan app, data from 20^th of November- 20^th of December

Therefore, most consumers all around the world are satisfied with JYSK products, but the company lacks brand awareness, especially in the Russian market. That is why most of the recommendations will be focused on increasing brand visibility and attracting new customers, which in the long-term will lead to a sales increase.

The company has a website and Instagram, however, content strategy on the social network is not aiming to engage with a target audience. One of the simple ways of communicating with consumers is constantly posting materials, creating a competition, asking for consumers’ feedback, etc.  Secondly, JYSK may explore new social networks such as Pinterest and YouTube. On the Pinterest website million of users, every day are searching for home decoration inspiration, that is why a furniture company may easily find their target audience there. On Youtube, JYSK  may post home DIY(do it yourself) tutorials with their products. In order to increase online traffic, the company may work on SEO (search engine optimization) and have pay-per-click ads on other social networks. In 2021 collaboration with influencers may also bring great visibility to the brand. Tiktok and Instagram bloggers have a large audience, that trusts them and will follow their favorite influencer’s recommendations. As the main goal is to increase brand awareness, the company may consider launching a street marketing installation or performance, that will create buzz and attract more consumers. For example, built a giant bed in the middle of the street and allow the public to take photos with it.

Discussion and conclusion

Marketing communications are essential for companies, it helps businesses to increase brand awareness, build a positive brand image, maintain a close relationship with the audience, increase competitiveness and sales. Digitalisation is a key condition of the development of global markets. More and more advertising messages through digital are arriving at consumer’s attention. The marketing is becoming louder, the media devices are multiplying, and the new channels have been increasing. Furthermore, these ads are getting more sophisticated and emotional. It has become important to integrate all the systems with the digital platform. The transition of newspaper from the printed version to the online version has been exemplified the current trends of the digitalisation. The research and practice of digital marketing is improving with the advancement of technology.   That is why, in order to be competitive and attract new customers, companies need to focus on a combination of traditional and digital marketing communication.

Therefore, digital marketing is a future, more and more and more companies will shift to online orientated tactics, as it  helps to target a wider audience,  raise brand awareness and sales. The hypothesis of the article is proved, the use of digital marketing tactics will lead to brand visibility and sales increase.

References

1. Ms. Enu Sambyal Assistant Professor Chandigarh College of Education, Online Marketing Communication/ Biz and Bytes (Vol. 8. Issue: 1, 2017)
2. Kotler F., 300 Key Marketing Questions
3. Åke Finne , Rethinking marketing communication: From integrated marketing communication to relationship communication (2019)-  [Electronic source]- URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13527260902757654
4. Prikhodko K. S. et al. Innovative opportunities and reserves of contemporary marketing communication. – 2019
5. Chaffey D., Ellis-Chadwick F. Digital marketing, 2019– Pearson uk
6. J. Bailey., Digital marketing vs. traditional marketing: what’s the difference?, 2019, [Electronic source]- URL: https://en.99designs.fr/blog/marketing-advertising/digital-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing/
7. A. Korol., Innovative types of marketing communications, 2013, [Text] / A. N. King Modern problems of the development of enterprises, industries, complexes, territories: collection of scientific papers: in 2 books. – Khabarovsk, PNU, 2013 .– S. 78 – 83 (246 p.)
8. J. Bailey., Digital marketing vs. traditional marketing: what’s the difference?, 2019, [Electronic source]- URL: https://en.99designs.fr/blog/marketing-advertising/digital-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing/
9. J. Dougherty, Internet growth + usage stats 2019: Time online, devices, users, 2019, [Electronic source]- URL: https://www.clickz.com/internet-growth-usage-stats-2019-time-online-devices-users/235102/
10. J. MCCOY, Why is Content Marketing Today’s Marketing? 10 Stats That Prove It, 2016, [Electronic source]- URL:< https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/08/content-marketing-stats/>
11. Deman Gen report,  Content Preferences Survey: B2B Buyers Value Content That Offers Data And Analysis, 2016, [Electronic source]- URL: https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/research/2016-content-preferences-survey-b2b-buyers-value-content-that-offers-data-and-analysis/
12. L. M. Lekhanya,et all, The Impact Of Viral Marketing On Corporate Brand Reputation, 2014, Durban University of Technology, South Africa
13. Wikipedia, JYSK, , [Electronic source]- URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jysk

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