The Digital Marketing Facade: Why Attention Isn't Demand
Most people struggle to recall a clear example. And that is exactly the problem.
After spending the past year working closely within the marketing industry — while also studying marketing through the lens of consumer psychology and behavioral patterns — I began noticing a significant gap between what businesses expect from digital marketing and what it actually delivers. Learning both digital and traditional marketing, along with hands-on execution, reveals how differently customers behave compared to how platforms promise they will behave.
Over time, digital marketing has been heavily glorified. Everywhere you look, businesses are told that visibility equals growth and that consistent posting guarantees demand. So naturally, companies follow the trend hoping for a sudden boom — more followers, more engagement, and ultimately more revenue.
The Attention- Purchasing power mismatch:
Most major social media platform users age between 15-30 who are active. Now these people are highly engaged with the content, very opinionated but also the demographic is that they are students, early career employees. They might give you the desired engagement to your platform but the lack of disposable income is also very low among this group. Now if a business who has a product he wants to sell example: a high ticket product, technology, or even consumer products creates content but caters to the wrong economic class. Now, they might get the popularity but not actual buyer.
Entertainment behavior v/s Buying behavior:
Social media platforms are designed for entertainment purpose. People on social media scroll for something fun continuously. Buying even a small thing requires attention, evaluation, seriousness. Social media trains users to consume content. It works for already existing customers but may not necessarily help you in attracting new purchases.
Same applies for digital marketing too. All the SEOs, Influencer marketing, PPC advertising all can be measured in metrics. But at the same time they lack the very essence of human emotion. You see businesses pouring their entire marketing budget on digital marketing. Ideally any business starting out should focus on building their product first and then focus on the marketing part. But most of the time the opposite happens, where even if there is a average product most of their time and energy goes into preparing the marketing budget instead of focusing on R&D. This is where traditional marketing still has a upper hand. Where most people think it has so use. But, I think about it from a different perspective.
Word of mouth, Partnerships, events, direct outreach, communities, reputation network. Here the audience may be smaller, but economically relevant and the opportunities to enter the market relevant to your business. And no I am not saying that digital marketing is not important, but should be used a tool as enhancing your business rather than building your business. A strong way to navigate the digital landscape without getting lost in trends is through personal branding. and by personal branding means doing identity branding. A personal brand travels across platforms because it lives in memory, not algorithms.
Ultimately, always prioritize the value of your product. It has a long term value.
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