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Highlights from the Deep Dive Session: Brand Activation with Interactive Tech at the Digital Marketing Summit 2015

The Deep Dive sessions were different from the main sessions as they were held in a smaller auditorium, thus enabling more interaction among the participants and attendants of the summit. Coupled with exciting demonstrations of the latest brand activation hardwares, the Deep Dive sessions were more engaging than the traditional ones held in a larger setting. 

SSD-TECH with Telco

“The technology is already here,” began Firoze M Zahidur Rahman (Jewel), CEO of SSD-Tech. He explained that the reach and technical infrastructure for distribution of digital marketing is already here in Bangladesh. In effect, digital means cell phones in this country as the numbers showing cell phone penetration are too significant to ignore. “Digital means mobile,” Rahman emphasized. In the ecosystem of digital marketing in Bangladesh, Rahman emphasized the importance of three major players: telecom operators, enterprises\businesses, and content service providers. “Leverage on everyone’s strengths,” emphasized Rahman. Any one stakeholder in the digital marketing arena lacks knowledge and power. Telecom providers cannot make application program interface (API), which  is why they need middle men. At the same time app developers and corporates need information from telecom providers. In Bangladesh, a hybrid is required to leverage the large mobile penetration to foster more meaningful digital marketing.

Major Role of Telecom Operators

The aforementioned three entities, tend to run independently in Bangladesh. However, by joining hands, providing digital marketing services can become a very smooth process. The process requires the service providers to know the location of the person to whom to send an SMS to. The right person to send the SMS to at the right time, can be facilitated by Telecom operators who must extend to service providers and corporates and offer the information available to them. This is return can bolster an easier, smoother system. “Corporate needs to know what can be done digitally,” explained Rahman. Telecommunications has a major role to play in digitizing the marketing world of Bangladesh.  Telecom has the network, charging capability and distribution. For digital marketing, “telecom can be the marketplace,” explained Rahman,  “they are going to be your delivery partner”.

However, Rahman raised the issue of only catering to smartphone users, as the larger population do not have sophisticated phones. “If we only include smartphone, then it’s not enough,” he said. It is imperative for enterprises to expand their reach beyond Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc, and this can be done through digital\mobile mediums.

Read Also: Brand Activation with Interactive Tech

Onubha, a sister concern of SSD-TECH that provides content and service marketplace, is setting an example in attempting to localize digital marketing in Bangladesh. The platform is easy for developers and regular e-commerce can flourish by partnering with them.

Business to Business Digital Marketing

While for business to consumer market, information is made available by telecom operators, the question comes whether business to business enterprises can reap the benefits of digital marketing. “There is no demand or supply platform for B2B,” said one attendee. First and second party data sharing is available through telecom operators for B2C only. However, corporates have their own set of data that they need. For B2B, it is not necessary to get shared data, the enterprise itself knows the exact demographics of its customers. For Bangladesh, required data set is sufficient for B2C marketing, the experts and attendees agreed.

Localized Marketing

“Very localized is the next big thing,” emphasized Mahbubul Matin, President of SSD-TECH “after all, 80% revenue comes from 20% customers”. According to Matin, geomarketing is becoming a widely used tool to reach customers when they enter a certain a location.Partnerships between telecom networks, corporates, and marketers, is vital to make geomarketing a more widely used medium for reaching customers.

Read Also: Address the Fundamentals for Success in Digital Space

Seventy percent of google business comes from small business. “That’s the opportunity,” explained Matin. But there is an issue with data availability and accessibility, “Yes, we have a problem with data,” he said. But it is important to note that not only does corporates need data from telecoms, but telecoms also need data from corporates. Hence, an ecosystem for digital marketing is required.

“There are opportunities,” explained Matin. Niches among the large number of customers can be found out very easily through such metrics like spending pattern, however what is important is whether or not corporates have the specific services to match this specific data.

“The challenge is user experience,” said one of the attendee. According to him, developers are not user focused, and focus too much technology. If something goes wrong, the tendency is to blame customers. There is also a shortage of right products and services, but once the value  is right, the response is huge.“Services must be part of your lifestyle,” added another  attendee.