Hottest Digital Marketing Strategies for The FMCG Industry – FMCGs are popular because of their immense marketing budgets and 360 marketing strategies.
As digital marketing became a common form of publicity, companies across the world are continuing to adapt their marketing strategies to sync with the wave of technology.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of this change are FMCGs. In this article, we will discuss the hottest digital marketing strategies used in the FMCG industry with some additional insights into the five methods FMCGs can achieve greater with digital marketing.
What Is FMCG?
For those of us who don’t know, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, popularly referred to as FMCGs, are essential products that are used daily by people. These products usually have a short shelf life and often include items like food, juices, lifestyle, and hygiene products, etc.
Because of how important these products are in our daily life, FMCGs are often in high demand.
Background of FMCG Marketing
FMCG marketing has been at the core of some of the most innovative and memorable marketing jingles, taglines, and advertisements.
Before the advent of digital marketing, FMCG marketing was done via traditional mediums such as door-to-door sales, newspapers, radio ads, and billboards.
In addition, these mediums were created to be mass messaged. This means a company can only send a specific message to a hugely diverse crowd and hope it records some degree of success from the campaign.
Following the popularity of digital marketing, FMCGs have adapted their marketing strategies and tactics.
As the widely-used medium of communication is continuing to change, so also is the FMCG industry.
In the next section, we will discover some of the trends that are shaping the industry and its marketing techniques.
Hottest Digital Marketing Strategies for the FMCG Industry
With the rise of social media, growing data networks, and the increase in the use of smart devices, as well as the advancement of e-commerce stores, the old methods employed by FMCGs in marketing is rapidly on its way to becoming obsolete.
The days where one FMCG would utilize a single advert for a product everywhere is long gone.
These days, digital marketing has made each promotional push customizable to effectively meet customers’ needs. Below are some of the hottest digital marketing strategies employed by FMCGs:
1. Customer-centric content marketing
Typically, FMCGs publicized their products by mainly talking about their attributes. Thus, you’d observe the same message about what the product was and does on TVs, Radios, and newspapers.
At the time, this method of marketing appeared to be effective to an extent, however, it wasn’t attractive and hardly appealed to most people individually.
Enter digital marketing which allowed FMCG brands to direct relevant content to the customer that needs it.
Digital marketing allows brands to engage customers to talk about the brand. They get to show other people what they use who, in turn, assist the brand in attaining recognition for their efforts.
FMCGs have relied heavily on this trend and it has paid off big time. By making use of user-centered content marketing, a customer gets more personalized branding which leads to more relevant ads being placed before them.
Content marketing helps in providing valuable and relatable content to relevant users that it would benefit the most. Take a look at the brands in the image here.
While Maggi provides recipes that include Maggi noodles in most cases, Dove has a category for beauty tips.
2. Driving presence with social media
According to Statista, the average individual spends around 2 hours and 40 minutes on social media.
That is a huge amount of time in which highly engaged customers of a brand can be easily reached.
It has now become a must for every company to have its presence in every social media platform relevant to their industry and customer segments.
Each social platform is different and also quite effective for various types of audiences. As Facebook appeals to a general age group, Instagram appears to be more effective for marketing to the younger folk.
With LinkedIn, you can drive up awareness about the work being done in a company and it is particularly effective for working professionals within the 25-45 age bracket. In addition, YouTube is an ideal platform for showcasing visual and long-form content.
The job of every brand is to identify the social media platforms that best complement their offering and then maximize their efforts on them.
In the image, L’Oreal implements a simple yet powerful message to get the trust and loyalty of customers by showing them the family side of the staff behind the company making it what it is.
Using Twitter along with the hashtag #lifeatloreal, the brand brilliantly displays the culture of their company.
3. User-generated content
With social media, communication between brands and consumers has changed dramatically.
By applying User Generated Content (UGC) as a strategy, brands can let their users do the promotions on their behalf.
UGC works by asking users to promote the product by making a post, tagging the brand’s social handle, and sharing branded hashtags.
UGC acts as an interesting form of digital word of mouth and has been proven to be one of the most original and trusted sources of digital marketing.
This is because it engages the user into discussing the brand and simultaneously enhances the brand’s perceived authenticity by the friends and families of the people who view the user’s posts and stories.
4. Influencer marketing
Because people often tend to believe other people they look up to, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool FMCGs utilize in their campaigns.
An influencer is someone with certain types of skills that have made them famous. They usually command a public presence on social media and are almost always trusted for their word.
In influencer marketing, a brand engages with an influencer, asking them to create content using the brand’s product or service and kickstart a conversation amongst their fans regarding that brand or its product (or service).
This helps in adding some sort of legitimacy to an FMCG company’s brand and offering. No doubt, influencer marketing remains one of the most innovative ways of selling your offer digitally.
Some internet celebrities do reviews and also recommend products for a living. Because they have a huge following, they can influence many of their fans to purchase a certain product.
In the image here, Pepsi made use of influencers for its Emoji product line. They also drove up engagements by using the hashtag #SayItWithPepsi.
5. Automated Email Marketing
The use of email marketing is another strategy that has really helped the FMCG industry. Traditionally, mass mailers were used to send general messages and offers.
However today, we now have automated email marketing that relies on user actions and preference-generated email journeys to deliver specialized experiences for every receiver.
This form of automated email marketing is referred to as Drip Marketing. Here’s how it works:
As soon as a customer signs up on a website, an email is sent to confirm the user’s registration.
After signing up, if the user goes ahead to add an item to their online shopping cart but doesn’t checkout, another email would be sent to remind them that they’re yet to complete their purchase.
Automated emails are an awesome strategy to use in influencing a customer. Specialized action-triggered emails can help you communicate more appropriately with your customers.
They also make it easier to guide them towards making a purchase. Lastly, these emails also help in your retargeting efforts for those customers who have previously purchased from you.
6. Hosting an in-house e-commerce store
Surprisingly, for some reason, many FMCGs don’t have their very own e-commerce store on their website. Indeed, they do make use of digital marketing to enhance their offline sales, however, they hardly make use of the easier way of directly selling to the consumer via their web pages.
Well, it is not too late for FMCGs to begin to sell directly via their websites as the number of online shoppers is continuing to go up.
Some newer FMCGs have already started setting up portals on websites like Facebook and Amazon to draw customers digitally from across the globe.
7. Online reputation management
Online shoppers are getting smarter with their decision-making when it comes to shopping online. These days, when people shop online, they take a look at the reviews on the item they want to buy.
E-commerce stores have a review section on each product’s page where customers who have previously purchased the product can rate the item and make comments on their experience with the product or service.
It is in these reviews that new customers develop strong convictions on whether to go ahead and purchase the item or pass.
Reviews greatly help in enhancing the authenticity of a product while also building trust with the customer in terms of its quality.
Those customers who take out time to leave reviews are also some of the most engaged patrons of a brand. That is why it is very important to communicate with them.
The process of engaging these users is known as ORM. FMCG brands can take advantage of every positive and negative review using a well-articulated ORM strategy.
8. Regional campaigns
People who live in a country where the local language isn’t the official language often get excited when brands communicate with them using their local language.
There’s no denying it – campaigns that are themed in regional language or incorporate regional places mostly always drive up good traction online. In the image here, you can see how Nescafe brilliantly uses this strategy in their campaign on Mumbai rains in the monsoon.
9. CSR
Many brands are beginning to see the inherent value of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and they are not daunted by the challenges in it.
Through CSR, FMCG brands can render help to the people within their niche. When this act of CSR is shown to the public, it underlines a positive outlook about the brand in the minds of the audience hence, further reinforcing customers’ loyalty and faith in them.
Once again, Nescafe is a good example as seen in the image here where it displayed how it was helping farmers in Mexico by training them in irrigation, planting, as well as land management through the company’s online management program.
Now that you have an idea of the trending digital marketing strategies for the FMCG industry, let us go further by discussing the methods to achieving success in FMCG digital marketing.
Five Methods to Achieve Success in FMCG Digital Marketing
FMCG brands that aim to get ahead of their competition and stay relevant have to do more than just sell their products at a competitive price.
They need to refine their strategy with a unique approach that delivers a memorable omnichannel experience.
About 90% of consumers want their experience to be the same across every available channel and nearly all buying decisions are believed to be done subconsciously, triggered by emotion.
This is why corporations need to strive to win over the hearts and minds of their audience, appealing to their emotions as a positive suggestion at every touchpoint.
Brand perception continues to remain relevant today as the way customers feel about a certain brand can directly influence sales.
91% of consumers have confirmed that they are more inclined to buy from an original brand. And although this statistic varies significantly across multiple generations and demographic values, it still remains a strong factor that brands need to consider when positioning themselves with their marketing.
Simply put, is your brand’s content in alignment with your core values? Is it consistent across multiple channels?
1. Have your brand reflected in every digital channel
Everything identifying the brand needs to be reflected on its website, social media handles, content, messaging, etc.
In addition, the color and feel of design assets, logo, and media have to be consistent with offline activity.
A user should be able to recognize that they are getting authentic content from the brand they trust the moment they land on the website or come across a social media update from the brand.
2. Identify your target audience
Now, this is a key element in positioning your FMCG digital marketing in the right direction.
You can employ some tactics that will help you develop an accurate picture of who your customers are such as behavioral data analysis (hobbies, priorities, etc.), focus groups, one-on-one interviews with key consumer segments, etc.
Research such as these above can paint a clear picture of how you should approach and segment your marketing campaigns.
As soon as you have established your customers’ personas using behavioral data as well as other demographics like age and location, the next step would be to identify where your focus audience is most digitally active.
It is very important to ensure that the customers’ journey between platforms, both online and offline should be smooth and seamless.
When used properly, customer data is priceless for marketers. Websites like Sitecore (https://www.sitecore.com/) with their customer experience features including marketing personalization and machine learning, can remodify relationships between brands and consumers.
In fact, not only companies are keen to develop personalized user experiences. Around 58% of consumers also love to have a more personalized experience.
According to McKinsey, personalization is effective not only in limiting acquisition costs by as much as 50% but can also improve revenues by 15% while enhancing marketing efficiency by up to 30%.
Businesses that are unwilling to take up this approach are at risk of falling behind their competitors.
This research extends beyond official channels and savvy marketers must have a good idea of every digital channel where their target audience congregates.
Forums like Money Saving Expert and Mumsnet are loaded with discussions bordering several FMCG brands.
You can leverage them to get crucial knowledge about the questions consumers are asking about these FMCG brands.
As a matter of fact, we consider them to be ideal sources of content inspiration for creating blogs and social media content.
3. Employ the use of content marketing
Content marketing is the essential battery that powers FMCG digital marketing through any digital roadmap.
Around 82% of people have admitted that they have purchased a product after consuming content.
However, we should keep in mind that this is where several brands get it wrong, especially in relation to their approach to social media.
Many large FMCG brands have been called out for merely using social media as broadcasting channels instead of a platform for engaging conversations. Below are some essential factors that brands have to consider when developing their content:
Channels
Like content, channels are key to the success of any digital marketing strategy. That’s why you’ll need to take out some time to review your owned, earned, as well as paid media.
Indeed, this entire auditing exercise can be a little boring, however, fine-tuning what is working presently and identifying gaps in your delivery, will go a long way in helping you achieve your overall target.
Subject Matter
Consumers are always seeking knowledge and one of the easiest ways to solve a problem is by searching on Google, asking their social network, or reaching out to any other related communities in forums.
This presents a fantastic opportunity for FMCG marketers. Creating SEO-optimized content for the brand’s website that answers these pertinent questions can give brands a significant boost on Google’s search engine.
This puts FMCG brands as the best source to answer the niggling questions relating to the consumption, use, or application of their products.
By amplifying these messages on social media, the brand’s reach would be expanded and it will also maximize their chances of being cited in forums as the key authority in answering consumers’ questions.
Mediums
Mediums such as email, copy, motion graphics, videos, audios, etc., not only help in influencing the target audience across each touchpoint while providing rich customer experiences but also delivers excellent SEO value.
Google adores varied content and brands that employ them will be rewarded with higher rankings that keep their marketing collection varied.
Devices
Brands have to optimize their content for all devices. It has become some sort of standard rule if they want to stay relevant across multiple channels.
Of the total number of people who purchase stuff online, around 40% of them do so using their mobile devices.
So, if your brand’s website is not well optimized for mobile (including its loading speed as well), then your competitors who have optimized theirs will be enjoying all the opportunities you’ve lost.
4. Create an army of influencers
The LadBible Group and Jungle Creations are social video media companies that boast some of the world’s most influential advertising channels.
Brands that utilize video content that appears to be a tip or a “how-to” rather than an ad usually help in improving online engagement and overall brand awareness massively.
In “Missing the Mark”, a report by the Economist Group, it was discovered that 71% of online readers are unattracted to companies that produce content similar to a sales pitch.
As over 2 million blog posts are written each day and with social channels like Instagram that constantly focuses on promoting new, original content along with the ever-growing popularity of subscription services such as Netflix; people are gulping gigantic volumes of content and thus, have high expectations.
Rather than outright sell, let your content answer questions directly related to your brand and its offering.
5. Develop a direct relationship with the customer
As soon as a consumer signs up for email updates or subscribes to a social media channel owned by an FMCG brand, the company has fostered a direct relationship with them.
It is for this reason email marketing has been touted as the leading digital tactic in terms of delivering ROI.
However, FMCG brands are often hesitant when it comes to building a database and using the medium to keep their customers updated, engaged, as well as entertained.
Email and social media together are excellent tools you can leverage to keep your customers aware of new product launches, promotions, new content marketing, and upcoming ad campaigns.
In addition, these options are also ideal for marketers seeking to provide vouchers, distribute samples, and strengthen their retail proposition with offers.
In the long term, developing a direct relationship with the subscriber can lead to e-commerce and direct selling.
This direct relationship with the customer works not just for you but for the customer as well.
Having an official branded social media presence means that the FMCG brands are approachable and available to answer pertinent queries.
And consumers expect answers to the questions they ask on social media to be quick and helpful as well as be in line with keeping with the brand presence.
Conclusion
And with that, we wrap it up. We can easily tell the difference between the strategies used by FMCG brands in digital media and traditional media.
Brands should really get creative when delivering their presentation to the audience. They should also take a more personal approach when engaging individual consumers.
We are at an age where we have to adapt to the digital way of life and reach out to consumers directly through their mobile devices.
Employ catchy and memorable strategies to create a buzz in the digital space. Also, always stay connected with your audience and never hesitate to take up new digital or social marketing trends.
If you can’t do this on your own, then perhaps, it is time to contact experienced professionals who can help.
