Comparative study of digital marketing capabilities of selected companies operating in Indian automotive industry: Capgemini Consulting

Abstract

Technology evolution and rise of internet has caused a deep impact on human life. Almost every aspect of life has been influenced by information & communication technology and its carrier digital devices. Consumer behavior is no exception to that. Rapidly evolving digital channels like internet, social media, mobile devices etc have changed consumer’s approach towards product search & purchase and in turn have influenced the ‘buying behavior’. Today’s consumer is much empowered by having access to the vast pool of information available across these channels. This has caused a shift of center of business from producer to the consumer. Therefore in this context it has become imperative to understand these changes happening in the business environment and accordingly set the marketing strategy. Digital Marketing, the term used to refer marketing through internet, mobile & other interactive devices, has become a cause of concern for every marketer due to steep rise in the users of digital media and cost effective results. Proliferation of mobile devices and social media also has increased the reach of marketers. Engaging the consumer has become more important than merely communicating. In order to reap the benefits of digital media marketers need to develop their digital marketing plans so as to consider which channels to invest in and to what extent. Effective implementation of digital marketing strategy requires building digital marketing capabilities. The main objective of this project is to identify existing digital marketing capabilities of few selected automobile companies operating in India and present the findings in a comparative manner. This will be achieved through development of a framework which would enable to map the digital marketing activities of these companies against identified capabilities, stages of customer life cycle & digital marketing channels. Each digital channel has been assessed in terms of various technologies coming under it and each company has been rated based upon a defined criteria. Based upon framework total score of a given company is obtained in terms of capability scores, life cycle stage scores & digital channel activity score. Later, performance metrics for digital marketing have been discussed so that performance of each channel can be assessed and accordingly action can be taken.