Statista reported that the total digital advertising spend in India was going to reach $8.3 billion by 2025.
Expert Market Research has said that the CAGR of the Indian digital marketing industry is going to grow at 32.1% from 2023 to 2028.
And according to a Goldman Sachs report the Indian digital marketing industry will be worth $160 billion by 2025. This is treble the value at present.
Given these projections, the future certainly looks promising for a digital marketing agency in India, doesn’t it? In today’s blog edition we look at the prospects of digital marketing, especially for an agency.
India is a country with a population of 1.366 billion as of 2021 according to the United Nations. Out of this number a hefty fraction uses mobile phones and smartphones, essential devices for online marketing. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reported that India has 1.2 billion mobile phone users and 600 million smartphone users.
These smartphone and mobile phone users spend a substantial portion of their time on the Internet, on social media, on ecommerce sites, researching products and deciding whether to buy them or not. Indians spend 4.9 hours daily on their smartphones daily and 2.4 hours on social media.
Given this premise, it is obvious that the future is online and will continue to be so for the next decade or so.
If the marketplace has transitioned to an online space, can advertising lag behind?
Most Indian businesses have come to terms with the usefulness of the Internet. The Internet makes the world a smaller place while enlarging the pockets of any business category. So, as businesses go online, they have two choices open to them.
According to one statistic there are 1297 digital marketing agencies In India as of 2018. However, another statistic says that there are around 5,000-10,000 digital marketing agencies in the country.
This may seem like a small number, but it goes on to prove the point that now is a good time to be a digital marketing agency in India.
Most businesses in India prefer to approach an agency for their work because of the issue of trust and because they are assured of good quality work.
An agency is different and a more valuable asset than an in-house team because of the problem of stagnancy. Without the collaborative spirit that is present inherently in an agency, it is impossible to come up with innovative creatives and social media posts. Moreover, agencies compete with each other and they work hard to bring the best creative offering for their clients’ business.
Hence, the digital marketing agency in India is not likely to die a slow death any time soon.
The sole problem with having an in-house team is that while there may be more accountability there is very little innovation and creativity.
The only way for digital marketing agencies to succeed is to stay competitive at all times. They need to bring forth the best creatively as well as monetarily. Indian digital marketing agencies need to step up their game, and stay competitive, if they want to compete with a global market.
They need to embrace the various changes that digital marketing is witnessing like the impact of artificial intelligence. AI promises to revolutionise the marketing field creating a term “Martech” which is the marriage of marketing and technology. As artificial intelligence takes over the automation jobs, marketers are free to focus on creating better campaigns and generating better results for their clients.
Being a digital marketing agency in 2023 is exciting. It’s a time full of innovation, new prospects and good energy. ChatGPT isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something to embrace.
A typical digital marketing agency in India comprises SEO, PPC and SEM, and SMO teams along with the entire creative team of content marketing and graphic design. Every team is important and vital to the success of the organisation. As there is strong interlinking between the teams, the entire agency works as a consolidated unit.
The future for agencies looks pretty promising if they are able to keep up with the trends and churn out innovative and exciting content for their clients. Moreover, given that there is going to be an increase in the advertising budgets all around, if an agency can play it the right way, they can certainly stay relevant in an ever-changing world.