Brand building and interaction with consumers go online

A number of Kenyan businesses are marketing their products and services online but are not utilising the full power of the internet to make a strong impact on consumers, analysts say.

Most of the products and services are presented using basic multimedia formats like combinations of pictures and text.

But there are more dynamic and interactive ways that can be used to make virtual demonstrations of products.

“Kenyans are still slow to fully exploit the advantages of the internet. The penetration of 3D (three-dimensional) animation is low,” Mr Joseph Njue, operations manager at Digital Consulting Group, a firm that offers online marketing services, said.

Unlike their local counterparts, multinationals and companies in the western world have moved to replicate product functions or services on the web in order to trigger consumer imaginations of what the real experience could be.

Virtual reality

Swiss luxury watch maker, Rolex, has arguably one of the best virtual product demonstrations.

On its official website, and in a recent advertisement on the Financial Times web page, an image of a Rolex wrist watch is shown, with the current local time reflected as soon as one opens the web page.

There is real time time-tracking, with the second hand visibly moving.

The page has little else other than links to official dealers and various Rolex brands, the idea being that the Rolex presented is good enough to persuade the consumer.

Combined with a strong brand name and reputation for quality like Rolex has, a product can use virtual reality to interact with consumers without the logistics and cost of having real product demonstrations.

Manufacturers have in the past held product demonstrations on various city streets and by visiting consumers’ homes but the sheer cost of rolling out such initiatives on a national scale remains prohibitive.

On the other hand, virtual demos carried over the internet offer a wider reach through ubiquity of the channel.

Another foreign detergent company offers a graphic, if intrusive, argument about the quality of its product.

Upon logging on the website, the page that first appears is ‘dirty’. Mud can be seen splattered across the page.

A moment later, the dirt peels away to reveal a squeaky clean background that soon gives way to an image of a detergent that did the “dirt stripping”.

Yves Saint Laurent, the high-end fashion house, uses a blend of virtual reality and footage of catwalks to showcase its product line on its website.

Though not real products, consumers are likely to accept the presented idea , just as they do when they see or hear commercials through traditional media channels.

Online advertisements have improved over time.

Recently, more websites have still pictures fading in and out in the same space, maximising on space and conveying multiple ideas.

Players in the tourism and hospitality industries have particularly used this concept to communicate to potential clients, mainly through their websites.

Analysts say that more sophisticated internet advertisements face several challenges.

One is that the internet connections of some end users may not support the high speed demand of dynamic digital advertisements which use a lot of graphics.

Mr Frank Maina, media executive at PHD, an online advertising firm, says that 3D adverts can be very engaging but adds that some consumers may not be able to see them because of limited bandwidth.

“There was a high expectation that fibre optics would enhance internet speeds. That has not been the case as data prices have remained a major barrier to many people,” Njue said.

Many small businesses and individuals are not connected to the fibre optic cables, mainly due to the challenge of last mile connection— linking individual homes or offices directly to the fibre optic cable network using either dedicated lines or wireless technologies like Wimax.

The second hurdle is cost of creating dynamic digital advertisements that requires high level IT skills which are hard to come by.

Those who can develop such content charge high prices for their skills.

According to Njue, clients want to spend as little as possible when seeking the services of website developers or graphic designers, hence the preference for basic website layouts and displays.

Broadband challenges of are set to ease out over time and analysts say that businesses should gear up for a mix of creative product promotions, among which internet advertising will become increasingly important.

According to a recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Global, online advertising is projected to grow in coming years.

“Over the next five years, as consumers receive an increasing proportion of their E&M (entertainment and media) through digital/mobile platforms, advertisers will shift their resources to reflect the increasingly fragmented ad market.”

Mobile advertising

The report, titled Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2009-2013, says that the growing proportion of Internet and mobile advertising in the world will rise from around 12 per cent in 2008 to 19 per cent in 2013.

The projected increase in online ads and content consumption is said to be driven by the Net generation— young people — who in the future will replace the current older generation as the dominant consumer base.

An alternative to creating dynamic digital advertisements is to shoot high quality videos of products or service offerings and post them within the company’s website or on paid-for space.

The real estate sector is likely to benefit the most from such videos that can provide virtual tours of homes or other properties, showing prospective buyers more features and building their interest.
Such videos should however be in compressed formats to optimise them for internet and computer resources of most end users.

Not all products or services are suitable candidates for online promotions which have traditionally worked well for players in tourism, property, and luxury goods market.

Whether a video, a 3D interactive demonstration, or a text-and-picture promotion, it should be placed within the right context in the selected website to ensure it reaches the relevant audiences.