DECLARATION

I, CHITRESH LAHIRI, student of MBA Faculty of Management Science

Shri Ram Murti Smarak College of Engineering & Technology, Bareilly hereby

declare that the project report on “A STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF DIGITAL

MARKETING IN TODAY’S SCENARIO” is an original and authenticated work

done by me.

CHITRESH LAHIRI

MBA – IVth sem.

Page iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me

throughout the course of this project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance,

invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice during the project work. I am

sincerely grateful to them for sharing their truthful and illuminating views on a number

of issues related to the project.

I would also like to thank my project guide Mr. S. K. Suman Faculty of Management

Science for her guidance which has resulted in successful completion of the project.

Chitresh Lahiri

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 Table of Contents
Chapters Subject Page No.

Chapter 1 Introduction to the study 01 – 03

Chapter 2 Literature Review 04 – 05

Chapter 3 Research Methodology 06 - 07

Chapter 4 Data Analysis and Interpretation 08 – 18

Chapter 5 Findings, Suggestions and Limitations 19 – 24

Bibliography 25

Annexure 26 - 28

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 CHAPTER – 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

 MARKETING
Advertisers are expected to spend Rs. 22,500 million in digital advertising in the year

2009 third only to TV and Print ads, which is around 5257% more than that in the year

2004, compound percentage increase of 124% over the last 5 years. This is the new age

of advertising.

It is true that people have started realizing that internet can serve as a one stop point for

all their needs. Be it communication, entertainment, shopping, information search,

internet serves as a panacea for all their requirements. This has led 70% of the ever users

to glue themselves to the Internet and access it on a regular basis. This is an opportunity

for advertisers to exploit this revolution. But, is it the end of traditional advertising? Is

digital advertising effective and efficient compared to the traditional form?? Does it

fulfill the basic objectives of advertising (create awareness, to generate sales, build

positive image, etc…)???

The problem is that, volumes of consumers are online every day for their personal work,

but do they notice the ads, banners etc. displayed on that webpage, most important what

is their recall/remembrance value. What about the reach of online advertising, is it

effective across over all target groups? We have trusted traditional advertising all these

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years and it’s a proven medium that fulfills all the objectives of advertising, can one have

the same trust for online advertising…

1. The act of buying or selling in a market.

2. The total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to

the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling. At the

beginning of the century, social life was mostly local. It was followed by a period in

which commodities were produced on a mass scale. Consumer Marketing operated on

mass marketing principles and business primarily concerned itself with how to build the

best sales force. At the end of the century, there is an emerging global culture. The major

driver of these changes is technology. Technological change has moved steadily back

focusing on the individual. These changes shape the possibility and conduct of business.

Marketing is especially tied to communication and transportation revolution. As the tools

and reach of marketing increase, the job and responsibilities of marketers have evolved

with them.

Philip Kotler formalized this evolution with his book "Marketing Management". His key

stages are production, sales and brand management. Each of these is strongly motivated

by technological opportunities, which permit new methods and new opportunities. A

fourth stage, a focus on the individual customer, is also important. As the new technology

of the Internet develops, it reinforces the new marketing emphasis - which in many ways

is a return to business at the turn of the century.

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In today’s technology driven world, a new fast paced digital economy is emerging.

Tomorrow there will be companies that will exist only inside computer networks. Most

business transactions will be made electronically, directly from the producer to the

consumer, bypassing the supply chain. In the digital marketing environment, the

consumer becomes an integral player in the development of the product. In fact, a

consumer might build the product himself from a wide array of parts provided by the

Company. It is e-commerce that is changing the way products and services are conceived,

manufactured, promoted, priced, distributed and sold. The reason being that it is much

cheaper; it allows vast coverage and helps in serving the customer better.

 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 To compare the trust level of traditional advertising and digital advertising

(consumers point of view)

 To find the effectiveness of digital advertising (reach and creation of awareness)

 To find the reliability of digital advertising (recall and remembrance)

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 CHAPTER – 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

 Chaffey, 2013 The purpose of doing research in the area of digital marketing is

because it seem huge, intimidating and foreign. Businesses are looking for clearer

picture to start but do not know where and how to start doing digital marketing. In

today’s time, social media channels such as Face book, Twitter, Google and other

social media firms have successfully transformed the attitudes and perceptions of

consumers and in the end helped revolutionized many businesses. This was done

through measurable vast network of customers with trustworthy data with real-

time feedback of customer experiences. It is much more convenient for businesses

to conduct surveys online with a purpose to get relevant information from targeted

groups and analyzing the results based on their responses. Potential customers can

look for reviews and recommendations to make informed decisions about buying a

product or using the service. On the other hand, businesses can use the exercise to

take action on relevant feedback from customers in meeting their needs more

accurately. Digital marketing is the use of technologies to help marketing activities

in order to improve customer knowledge by matching their needs.

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  Smyth 2007 Marketing has been around for a long time. Business owners felt the

need to spread the word about their products or services through newspapers and

word of mouth. Digital marketing on the other end is becoming popular because it

utilizes mass media devices like television, radio and the Internet. The most

common digital marketing tool used today is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Its role is to maximize the way search engines like Google find your website.

Digital marketing concept originated from the Internet and search engines ranking

of websites. The first search engine was started in 1991 with a network protocol

called Gopher for query and search. After the launch of Yahoo in 1994 companies

started to maximize their ranking on the website. When the Internet bubble burst

in 2001, market was dominated by Google and Yahoo for search optimization.

Internet search traffic grew in 2006; the rise of search engine optimization grew

for major companies like Google.

 Parsons, Zinsser, Wait man 1996 In 2007, the usage of mobile devices increased

the Internet usage on the move drastically and people all over the world started

connecting with each other more conveniently through social media. In the

developed world, companies have realized the importance of digital marketing. In

order for businesses to be successful they will have to merge online with

traditional methods for meeting the needs of customers more precisely.

Introduction of new technologies has creating new business oppose.

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 CHAPTER – 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 RESEARCH DESIGN

This is a descriptive research as it will clarify the doubts about online advertising. It

would give us a clear picture on the effectiveness and reliability of online advertising

compared to the traditional form of advertising.

 DATA COLLECTION

 Secondary data: Online reports related to advertising

 Primary data: Questionnaire, Personal Interview, Interview with Marketing

Professional

 SAMPLE UNIVERSE

Basis of sampling:

 Sample should be a user of internet or should have knowledge about internet

 50 numbers in all

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  SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Judgmental Non Probability sampling can be used to select the individual units for

better productivity of the questionnaire. A well educated person may be able to

reason out the questions in the better way.

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 CHAPTER – 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
Q.1 WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING?

Attitude towards Advertisements

One can clearly make out that consumers perceive advertisements as a source of

information and awareness, be it general or towards TV commercials.

Attitude towards Ads

3% 3% 3%

35% Informative
31% Entetaining
Creates awareness
Irritating

25% Annoying
Waste of time

INTERPRETATION

Not many people find advertisements to be irritating, annoying or waste of time. This

clearly shows a positive attitude toward them and hence is a good indication for

marketers; as from above survey only 35% think digital marketing as informative purpose

while only 3% feel as annoying and irritating.

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Q.2 DO YOU WATCH THE TV/RADIO COMMERCIALS DURING

COMMERCIAL BREAK?

Attitude towards TV/Radio Ads

5% 11%
30%
Informative
11%
Entertaining
Creates awareness

19% Irritating
24% Annoying
Waste of time

INTERPRETATION

From above chart and survey done around 30% watch for informative purpose other 11%

just watch to waste time.

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Q.3 WHICH MODE OF ADVERTISING INFLUENCES YOU TO BUY/

SUGGEST PRODUCT?

Influencers

Magazines and newspaper

6%
8% 17%
Friends and relatives

29%

40% TV Commercial

Online advertisement

INTERPRETATION

As above seen consumer are more influence by friends and relative of 40% Where online

advertisement is only 6% as survey from different consumer is from friends and relative.

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Q.4 WHICH MODE OF ADVERTISMENT WOULD YOU PREFERS?

Consumer preference of advertising

Preference

17%
TV Commercials
34%

18% Print Ads:

Newspaper,Magazines
OOH: Banners, Posters
31%
Online Ads: Banners, Email

INTERPRETATION

Again, one can easily make out that traditional form of advertising has an edge over

internet advertising in terms of consumer preference mode of advertising. Traditional

mode got over31% preferences than that of internet advertising which is a huge margin.

The reason for this is same as that of influencer, i.e. cultural attitude of consumers

towards advertising.

Consumers would prefer to check out ATL elements in case there is a need i.e.

information search and take their decision in terms of purchasing.

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Q.5 WHICH MODE OF ADVERTISING YOU TRUST?

Consumers Trust on advertising

17%
RECOMMENDATION FROM
36% CONSUMER
RADIO

31% TV

16% NEWSPAPER

INTERPRETATION

The above is the chart for trust level of advertisement medium from consumer’s point of

view. Again recommendation and traditional advertisement are a leap ahead of online

mobile and BTL form of advertising. One can say that Indian mentality towards online

form of advertising is still at the baseline and that of mobile is even worse.

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Q.6 I CHANGE CHANNEL DURING COMMERCIAL BREAKS?

I see/check online Ads

21%
Its depends

79%
Never

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

INTERPRETATION

According to the survey, around of course there are people (21%) who change channels

during breaks but not always. In fact, according to the survey there was no one who

change the channel each and every time. Effectively, 79% of viewers will see the

advertisement if the ad is attractive and appealing.

Hence there is a probability of .79 of a consumer viewing the particular advertisement

(for creating awareness and information) on television making it an effective mode of

communication. As it is, it is the second most trusted mode of communication in the

minds of people.

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Q.7 DOES YOU SEE/CHECK ONLINE ADS/MAILS WHEN YOU SURF THE
INTERNET?

I change the channel during Ads

63.%
It depends

26%.
Often

11%
Sommetimes

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%

INTERPRETATION

Whereas in case of online advertising, around 63% of consumers ignore it completely,

i.e. they don’t even see them and that of 21% see them if they find it to be attractive. Out

of that 26%, 11% said that the intension was not to see those ads, but they didn’t have

any option but to see them as they were Interstitial Adverts, Pop – up ads or Floating ads.

These ads either block the view of the content, or appear right in the middle of the page,

or keeps on floating (moving) around which is considered to be very irritating for the

consumers.

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Effectively, only 6% saw the online advertisement coz they were of their interest or was

attractive. Some said they liked few ads coz of their interactivity and animation effects.

This might give that flash ads are more appealing.

Trust levels of online advertisements are at the bottom of the list. Hence considering the

trust levels and the effective impression, one can conclude that it is not an effective mode

of communication.

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Q.8 YOU USE INTERNET FOR?

Internet usage

14% 18%
1% Chatting and Social Networking
Email
12%
Information
Entertainment
E-Commerce
30%
Downloading
25%

INTERPRETATION

From above survey:

1. Around 18% use internet for chatting like facebook, whatsapp, etc.

2. 30% use email as part of their business

3. It is bad that 1% is doing e commerce

4. 14% consumer only do downloading from internet.

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Q.9 YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?

INTERPRETATION

From the above survey mostly youngster about 18/25 years of age has selected computer

with internet with50%

It was strange that mo one selected books as no one can live without online sites.

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Q.10 DO YOU THINK THAT THE FACE OF ADVT IS TRANSFORMING IN

TERMS OF TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT?

AD.CULTURAL IMPACT

INTERPRETATION

From the above survey made on September Around 60 % has given positive reply on

cultural impact such As standard of living, income etc But around 40% has given

negative an as they don’t feel any transformation as during survey i asked people why

they are selecting no some said it is not our Indian culture

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 CHAPTER – 5
FINDINGS, LIMITATIONS &
SUGGESTIONS

 FINDINGS
 This clearly shows a positive attitude toward them and hence is a good indication

for marketers; as from above survey only 35% think digital marketing as

informative purpose while only 3% feel as annoying and irritating.

 From above chart and survey done around 30% watch for informative purpose

other 11% just watch to waste time.

 As above seen consumer are more influence by friends and relative of 40% Where

online advertisement is only 6% as survey from different consumer is from friends

and relative.

 Traditional mode got over31% preferences than that of internet advertising which

is a huge margin. The reason for this is same as that of influencer, i.e. cultural

attitude of consumers towards advertising.

 The above is the chart for trust level of advertisement medium from consumer’s

point of view. Again recommendation and traditional advertisement are a leap

ahead of online mobile and BTL form of advertising. One can say that Indian

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 mentality towards online form of advertising is still at the baseline and that of

mobile is even worse.

 According to the survey, around of course there are people (21%) who change

channels during breaks but not always. In fact, according to the survey there was

no one who change the channel each and every time. Effectively, 79% of viewers

will see the advertisement if the ad is attractive and appealing.

 Whereas in case of online advertising, around 63% of consumers ignore it

completely, i.e. they don’t even see them and that of 21% see them if they find it

to be attractive. Out of that 26%, 11% said that the intension was not to see those

ads, but they didn’t have any option but to see them as they were Interstitial

Adverts, Pop – up ads or Floating ads.

 - Around 18% use internet for chatting like facebook, whatsapp, etc.

- 30% use email as part of their business

- It is bad that 1% is doing e commerce

- 14% consumer only does downloading from internet.

 From the above survey mostly youngster about 18/25 years of age has selected

computer with internet with50% It was strange that mo one selected books as no

one can live without online sites.

 From the above survey made on September Around 60 % has given positive

reply on cultural impact such As standard of living, income etc But around 40%

has given negative an as they don’t feel any transformation as during survey I

asked people why they are selecting no some said it is not our Indian culture.
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  CONCLUSION

Practically it has been proved through the research that online advertising is neither

effective nor reliable as compared to the traditional medium which is Television

commercials and print media i.e. newspapers and magazines. Also, consumers trust the

traditional medium more than that of online and there is a vast difference in their trust

levels. Of course, it could be because of the Indian culture which is different from the

western countries that are more into e-commerce and prefer to buy things online and they

trust the internet more as compared to the other forms. Therefore, Internet advertising is

more successful in those countries. All in vain in India, as we prefer to tangibles the

things that we buy. Being collective we go shopping along with family friends and

relatives.

The other side of the coin

In the world of digital advertising, click-through is viewed as the primary measure of

advertising effectiveness. This metric quantifies how marketing communication can be

directly linked to immediate consumer action. But, the metric has certain shortcomings;

primary reliance on click-through does not recognize that in most cases consumers who

are exposed to advertising over the Internet may not currently have a need for the

products or services being advertised to them. Additionally, click-through does not

quantify the impactthat the exposure of the advertisement has on a consumer’s attitudes

and perceptions of the brand being advertised. Advertisers in the offline world realize that

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consumers may not have an immediate need to purchase a product or service at the

moment it is being advertised.

Realizing this aspect of consumer behavior, a common advertising strategy is to build

awareness of a product and form positive associations (Subliminal effect) between that

product and a consumer over time so that when the need arises to purchase from a given

category, a consumer is more likely to consider that advertiser’s product.

In most cases, users view banner advertisements as a nuisance as they are engaged

inother activities while they are being exposed to the ads. Additionally, we can assume

the most people exposed to an ad do not have the need for the products being advertised

at that time. Therefore, these ads are less likely to be noticed. In order to have an impact

on brand metrics, we can hypothesize that getting a message in front of someone as

quickly as possible, before they scroll away, is of extreme importance. In addition, the

presence of alogo, the size of a logo, and the size of the banner should all have an impact

on the banner’s ability to brand.

Applied appropriately, these characteristics may serve as positive reinforcement and

therefore have a positive impact on branding. Conversely, when applied improperly,

these ads may serve to punish viewers thus resulting in little to no impact on brand

metrics.

Also, the banner could lay a subliminal effect on the consumer which might drive him to

buy the product or create some association with it. Because it is the subconscious mind

that plays the game here. If one can take target this subconscious mind then definitely it

can create a positive impact on branding.

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Finally I would like to end by saying that even though the internet has opened up a new

avenue for reaching the end consumer; it is still very much an open field. This is true as

there is no fixed way or strategy for marketing on the net. It is still very much an arena

where ingenuity and creative thinking very much rule the roost. Thus marketing as usual

has not changed, i.e. it is still the same usual self……. unpredictable but very much

required.

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  LIMITATIONS

Though, best efforts have been made to make the study fair, transparent and error free.

But there might be some inevitable and inherent limitations. Though outright measure are

undertaken to make the report most accurate.

The limitations of the survey are narrated below:

 The project is valid for Bareilly city only.

 It was not possible to cover each and every respondent due to time constrains.

 There may be some biased response from the respondents

 Unwillingness on the part of the customers to disclose the information as per the

questionnaire.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. C.R. Kothari 2004. Research Methodology Methods and Techniques

2. http://www.ranker.com/list/indian-social-networks/dot-commander

3. http://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/top-10-social-networking-sites

4. http://digitalworld.com/impact/onpeople/prefrence

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 ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNIARE

Name: GENDER:___ OCCUPATION:______

1. What do you think about digital marketing?

Informative
Entertaining
Creates awareness
It’s irritating
Annoying
Waste of time

2. For what purpose you watch the TV/Radio commercials during commercial break?
Informative
Entertaining
Creates awareness
It’s irritating
Annoying
Waste of time

3. What mode of advertising influences you to buy/suggest any product?

Magazines and newspaper
Friends and relatives
TV Commercial
Online advertisement
Social Media – Blogs, forums, Social Networking sites

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 4. Which mode of advertising would you prefer? (Rank in order of preference)
TV commercials
Print Ads: Newspaper, Magazines
OOH: Banners, Posters
Online Ads: Banners, Emails

5. Which mode of Advertising would you trust? (Rank in order of preference)

Recommendations from consumers
Radio
TV
Newspapers

6. I change the channel during commercial breaks…

Never
Depends on ad

7. Do you see/check online ads/mails when you surf the internet?

Sometimes
Depends on ad
Often

8. You use the internet for

Chatting and Social
Email
Information
Entertainment
E-Commerce
Downloading

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 9. You cannot live without… (Rank in order of preference)
Computer with Internet
TV
Mobile
IPod/ Music Player
Books

10. Do you think that the face of advertising is transforming in terms of technological
and cultural impact?
Yes
No

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