current issues in marketing

The importance of cyber security

introduction

In simple terms cybersecurity is the mechanism which protects networks, computers, programs and protect data from unauthorized access or stealing. There are various types of cyber threats such as cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, cyber blackmailing. To corporate world having a good cyber security will help the organization to survive and do their business without any external interfering. At the moment international companies are under a cyber-attack which called ransomware and it is spreading quickly on the internet. It encrypts all your data and leaves some encrypted files which can’t be used, so far 1000 of companies have affected by ransomware and they have lost their all the data, even though they have paid the amount hackers asked hackers have not decrypted the files, problem is not the money they paid but the files they lost. It proves that Cybersecurity is essential and vital for every organization.

Literature review

Small to large scale companies have experienced security challenges due to lack of resources and lack of skills. Furthermore, cybersecurity getting even more challenging due to quick change in technology. According to (Smith, & Rupp, 2002) there are companies specialized in launching cybersecurity attacks and they sell the stolen data to competitors of that company. This business has become a multimillion business. Earlier companies were not worried about their networks safety computers vulnerabilities but now they have learned that if they didn’t protect their computer data they are going to lose the competition. According to (Chitrey, Singh, & Singh, 2012) study shows the motive behind the cyberattacks 30% of the attacks are for access to proprietary information that’s the highest volume and second is to steal financial gain. Then to gain competitive advantage and fourth for just for fun. This study explains why hackers are launching cyber-attacks and for organizations it’s important to know their vulnerabilities.

As per my opinion Organizations needs to recruit hackers to strength their cybersecurity and also organizations need to have contingency plan to overcome cyberattacks organizations needs to make policies against cyber-attacks. I believe cybersecurity has been a critical problem for us and cyber criminals always target the vulnerabilities of the computer networks and it is likely to increase day by day due to expanding of computer networks, yet there are practical safety measures organizations proceed to minimize and avoid the losses from the cybercriminals who try to do harm. As far as I know most of Sri Lankan organizations doesn’t bother about their cybersecurity, few months back school student hacked into Sri Lankan president’s official website that indicate level of security Sri Lanka has. And I think it is high time take the necessary actions to avoid cyber-attacks. I believe with right preparations and specialized people with right knowledge can stand against cyberattacks and avoid the damages that can occur,

Conclusion

As above mentioned cybersecurity has become an important issue for the world due to rapid increase of cyberattacks occurred in recent past. Every organization must understand their systems, network vulnerabilities and build a strong mechanism to strength their system and network. Storing all your computers inside a vault won’t help to protect the data inside the computers but if you have strong cyber security hackers won’t be able to steal your data. Organizations needs to invest in cybersecurity education, organizations need to train their employees to battle against cyber-attacks, however there is no permanent solution for cyberattacks, only organizations can reduce the chance of getting attacked by hackers by using high end security for their network and by using specialized people to work on their network.

  (2017). Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/cybersecurity-report-threats-and-opportunities-2016-3

Generating traffic and leads

According to 2017 state of inbound report creating traffic and leads was the top marketing issue. Marketers are struggling to make a sufficient demand for their content, they don’t know where to put their best effort since there are so many platforms for marketers. To generate enough leads marketers needs to create high quality content and content which attracts their audience. Early days marketers were finding the customers using mass advertising, but recently that way has changed into being found by customers and marketers needs to ensure that they create high quality content to attract the customers. Internet user are the top target market of the organizations where they can turn into customers by attracting leads.

literature review

 (An, 2017) article on Hub Spot research found that 43% of customers want and like to watch video from marketers than reading blogs, articles. Videos can directly increase the leads of the websites and also videos can turn leads into sales because videos are more appealing to consumers. Furthermore, Mimi An’s article explains to generate successful and continuous leads marketers need to approach different platforms in order to generate enough leads. Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn are the dominant content and lead generating sites and marketers need to ensure that they have covered all these social media to create traffic into their site.

(Ilfeld, & Winer, 2002) states after studying the performance of the persuasive hierarchy model, the low involvement hierarchy, and no involvement model, out of these low involvement hierarchy is the most effective model for the advertising disturbs awareness, moreover, offline advertising directly affects the website traffic due to its impact of brand equity for internet organizations. Furthermore, they stated internet advertising should emphasis on generating leads into the website, not on building a strong relationship. Loyalty for web site and brand equity can build through experience and usage of the web. Marketers need to their target market, what their target market wants to see, if a marketer can understand that basics he can attract the customer into site.

Personally I would rather watch a video about a website instead of reading a blog, it is true that video marketing has been viral for some years and it has the highest power to generate leads into a site. Normally I get to know about sites through either from Facebook or Instagram, because new generation is more into social media and it is the best platform to promote and generate new leads. I believe social media marketing, content marketing, search marketing and email marketing are the best and most effective ways to generate leads and if an organization can integrate all these that organization can create leads and traffic more than any other organization.

Conclusion

As above discussed generating leads and traffic not easy as we imagine. It is a huge process.as marketers you need to have a good understanding about your consumer’s behavior and need to spread their content on every platform available. Marketers need to pay more attention on Facebook twitter and LinkedIn because those are the social media sites which generates most leads to organizations website. New buying method has changed into online shopping because of that organizations need to start generating traffic and leads to their site or else they will lose the competition. Content marketing is the key to create traffic and having attracting and high end content will turn them into leads.

 

consumer behavior is changing

The development of media culture has hit another point, and advertisers can never again depend on tedious blog entries and long item depictions to make their point. Due to change in consumer behavior The connection between customer and marketer has changed as marketer must work hard in order to maintain the positive relationship with customers, this can be considered as the biggest problem marketers face. It is not simple as writing a blog expect that everybody will read the blog. Instead of content marketers have a duty to create new strategies to enhance the relationship between customer and marketer. Sometimes to create attractive content for consumer’s marketers have to go extra mile in order to create high end content.

Literature review

(Satell, 2016) states one more solution to significantly is to use the web things effectively. This way is the reforming the way products are associated to customers, with smartphones have been customers artificial brain which supplies all kind of data, furthermore, satell explains GPS and maps can supply the demographic information, apps can detect consumers buying patterns, cameras can identify information, all of these together can create more collaborating advertising and content marketing. According to satell organizations need to use the data which they get from the customers and using that data organizations need to personalized service, nowadays customers expect a unique experience which they can remember for long time. Earlier customers were trying to fit into the offering of the organization but now organizations have to find what each customers preference and cater according to that.

(Labrecque, vor dem Esche, Mathwick, Novak, & Hofacker, 2013) explains that customers power has increased due to the rapid changes in technology and growth of internet, customers are more knowledgeable than Ever before. All the information customers need is on the internet, even before marketer try to market it customers are aware of the products. According to them some organizations are not prepared to supply an Omni channel experience to their consumers. Mostly because of the hurdle such as cost and technology, furthermore, they state that marketers need to convince organizations to provide Omni channel experience where customers can access through various channels and where customers will be getting a personalized service.

However, it is true that consumer’s behaviour has changed drastically, earlier most of the customers used to read newspapers, used to watch television but the modern consumer is not doing anything that they used to do. According my opinion modern consumers are using more advanced technological devices such as tabs, smart phones, laptops. Using these devices, they can explore any information they need. It’s like having the world in your fingertips. I believe modern customers doesn’t want what organizations sells they need what they desire, and they are not looking for a product, they are looking for an experience, personally I prefer to have a personalized service when I shop for anything because it adds value for the product. We all like to have a personalized service which gives a recognition for us.

Conclusion

Organizations can’t no longer survive without customer’s satisfaction, in order to do that organizations, need to have sophisticated technologies to reach personally to their valued customers. Organizations need to understand customer’s preferences have changed earlier customers were used to buy whatever the items organizations sell, but now no longer such customers exist, modern customers are willing have a personalized service with unique shopping experience. Sri Lankan organizations need to adapt newest technology to deal with modern customers and in order to provide a unique experience Sri Lankan organizations need to have customer relationship management system to track them, customer analytics, social intelligence, to deliver a memorable experience. 

social media effect on marketing

social media is where people get to know each other by using cyberspace, most popular social media is Facebook where 1.94 billion active users from around the world using Facebook monthly. Twitter, Instagram also have huge number of users. Most of the leading organizations have understand the importance of the social media platforms, but organizations need to be very careful when they use these platforms, if something went wrong millions of people will see it and support it. 

literature review

(Keegan, & Rowley, 2017) states modern buyers use online ratings, feedback on social media to make their buying decisions. Modern buyers tend to visit their social media page more than the website and through the social media site buyers can easily find the information they need. Study has shown that 45% of the online buyers use social media reviews to their buying decision. Furthermore, this article explains organizations have higher chance in building trust and customer loyalty through social media and also point out following points

·         Buyer can use social media to keep up with the modern trends.

·         Buyers can study about the product and also about the company.

·         Every buyer can leave their feedback to official site.

·         Social followers are the ones to know first about promotions.

·         End of the day buyers can make a good decision with supporting information.

(Stephen, 2016) have explained that social media can create online WOM which can be very harmful for the organization, any social media user can post whatever they want and he or she can share it among his or her friends, such things can go viral. Stephen states that such negative WOM can impact badly on organization and will have many bad consequences, on the other hand if organizations able to use WOM positively they can easily brand loyalty and   encourage the followers to share organizations content which can result organic reach.

My opinion on this is social media is a powerful marketing tool. Which shares 4.75 billion content daily. Organizations need to create right content for social media and encourage sharing. Regardless of who your target market is, it is vital to get the greater part of our systems administration and use the energy of both online networking and WOM. Utilized together they enable business experts to be profoundly compelling at not just getting their message out to their objective markets additionally to create a solid and loyal customer base.

Conclusion

In the world of more than 70% of population using any kind of social media, who averagely spent more than one hour on social media sites. Where there are negative impacts yet if you handle social media properly there are so much organizations can benefit.  Organizations can build customer loyalty using social media because it is easy to track the people who follow the organization and it easy to cater to them. Yet again social media is the platform where you can learn from the feedback given by the customers, organizations can use that data to learn about their mistake and supply better service next time. Some of the Sri Lankan leading companies are using social media very well, for example Fonterra company they update their Facebook page daily with the new posts, and they have able to build a very loyal customer base by doing Facebook campaigns.

                         Nakane, P. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.savvygirlpr.com/blog