Harmonising Metrics & Creativity In Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital strategy development has become a crucial process today, helping businesses leverage the power of digital technologies to achieve their goals and stay competitive in what we call the digital age.

At the first edition of the BW Merit Awards 2024, marketing leaders shared insights into the transformative journey of campaigns from traditional media to digital and how finding the right balance between data-driven decisions and innovative storytelling is the call of the hour.

Rohan Tyagi, Product Head at NDTV, gave an outline of how the different metrics have contributed to this change. “The abundance of data is both a blessing and a curse. While metrics provide immediate results, they often overshadow the long-term creative strategies that build enduring brand narratives.”

Harshdeep Singh, AVP-Marketing at Droom, on the other hand, talked about the paradox that comes with instant metrics from digital media marketing, signalling the danger of stifling creativity and the fact that marketers get so caught up in measuring clicks and conversions that they forget the essence of crafting compelling stories. However, he firmly stated, “The virality of traditional advertising happens on digital platforms. Right now, probably online advertising accounts for around 50 to 55 percent of the overall spend, and the rest would be for traditional advertising, but almost 80 percent of your audience is online and spends a lot more time online every day. Therefore, where our audience is, we need to be.”

While the experts approved the perks of quick feedback that comes with digital media, they also pointed out the strategic benefit for businesses to enable their brand presence and consumer retention if they allocate around 10 to 20 percent of their funds for experimenting with their campaigns and not play safe by taking insights from the metrics only.

Ishwinder Singh, GM Marketing at Pernod Ricard, echoed the sentiment when he said that if creativity is solely driven by metrics, we risk mediocrity. Brands must balance ROI with daring creative choices. The essence of great marketing lies in taking calculated risks. He further added, "While digital media offers personalised and interactive experiences, traditional media still holds sway in certain contexts. The key is understanding where your audience is and adapting your strategy accordingly." 

Tyagi here also stated, "Creativity takes time to yield results. It's about nurturing narratives that resonate with audiences beyond immediate metrics."

The importance of quick metrics generation with digital media marketing and aspects like click-through rate (CTR) and cost to customer (CTC) for navigating campaigns’ successes and development was indisputable, while a balance between the speed of content development and the quality, innovativeness, and power of customer retention is a solid viewpoint to consider, as per the panel. 

Kashish Saxena

BW Reporters The author is a trainee content writer at BW Businessworld.