Digital Marketing is about making a brand known and promoting using all available digital channels. The various channels include web, SEM (which includes SEO and pay-per-click advertising), smartphones, app stores (Google Play, Apple Store), email marketing, online banner ads, and social media (JDN, 2022) [15]. As a company, start-up or individual, the use of digital platforms allows us to understand the audience we are interested in, as well as to improve the marketing of our product or service.
It's no secret that the internet has transformed the way we consume information. This is why digital marketing and e-commerce has gained strength and presence in our daily lives. Television was replaced by Netflix or YouTube, and radio gave way to Spotify or Deezer. The press has switched to digital versions where each brand has invented its own newsletter.
The role of digital marketing has been essential for the growth of a company since its inception. With a lower budget than traditional marketing, take advantage of the Internet to advertise a business through online marketing strategies. The world of digital marketing can seem quirky if there are no adequate strategies. According to Kotler, digital marketing refers to any marketing effort involving the Internet or an online-based electronic device. Digital marketing has gained popularity in recent years. And there's a simple reason for that: Because the world is online. According to a study by the technology journal, statistics on Internet users and the number of hours has been growing steadily since 2000. This study revealed that the average American spent about 9.4 hours online. Today, this figure is increasing dramatically as most people spend 24 hours a week on the Internet, mostly using their smartphone or computer. This field is concerned with all economic sectors of a country. Because of its massive use, every company will have to know how to take advantage of it. This significant advance in the digital world engages us in an ideal fight to help Moroccan farmers position themselves on the national and/or international market through the variety of their agricultural production. As a small business, a start-up, an agricultural cooperative or an individual, you lack the time, resources or skilled workforce to adopt a traditional marketing approach that has become more expensive because of the different methods deployed. This is not a problem in digital times, because you will not need a high-end building, thousands of employees or cutting-edge technology. The best solution for business is to have a digital marketing strategy within everyone's reach through social media (e-mail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, website, mobile application, blogs... etc.). Our goal is to allow Moroccan farmers to benefit and utilize this tool and press some influence on consumers through digital marketing. It is through these means that they could make themselves known throughout the world.
3.4 What are the benefits for Moroccan farmers?
In Morocco, the dominant climate is of the Mediterranean type; tempered to the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean. Inside, the climate of the continental type with significant temperature differences. The atlas area is humid, snow cover is frequent. The southeast of the desert type. The country has average annual rainfall ranging from: 500 to 2,000 mm in the most watered area in the northwest, which is also subject to Atlantic influence. 200 to 1,000 mm in the West and Centre, subject to Atlantic influence. In the eastern part of the country, with 100–200 mm and less than 100 mm in the south of the country. With all its climatic assets, the country is in favor of a development agriculture that not only has an agriculture of substance.
With a job of more than half of the population, agriculture, through Digital Marketing, could well go beyond the expectations of Moroccan farmers through advertising programs, agricultural campaigns, the implementation of e-commerce platforms dedicated to national and international consumers such as the case of the Asian E-commerce giant (Alibaba) or the American Amazon.
Selling products and services online is a very competitive field. Faced with a growing number of professionals, it is increasingly complex to pull out of the game. This is why digital marketing is essential because it allows you to:
• Position yourself against the competition on the same product or service.
• Make yourself known to a potentially interested audience.
• Communicate locally with users in your area.
• Work on engagement and proximity with your customers.
• Maintain your business over time by communicating about new developments.
In addition to having a sufficiently loyal and large customer base, Digital Marketing is an essential step for any physical or networked worker. This persuasion tool can come in several forms: emails and newsletters; advertising on social networks or search engines; buying guides and recommendations; tips and tricks from influencers; SMS and phone calls.
Apart from these techniques that are aimed directly at customers, we can also talk about the natural referencing of websites, which makes it possible to go up the pages in the search results. All these methods aim to bring visibility, and therefore to allow a greater number of visits and sales.
Online marketing is the process of attracting the attention of potential customers for businesses through particular banners, articles, videos, images, flash animations, etc. Digital marketing activities or information are planned as an elegant temptation for visitors to a particular website that the company wants to draw their attention to products and services. There are many ways to get traffic for businesses through digital marketing principles. The goal of digital marketing is to get people to visit the company's website and then convert them into offering customers.
This practice of digital marketing wouldn't only allow Moroccan farmers to increase their agricultural production, but also their sales through partners such as communication agencies, influencers, and the State through its Ministry of Agriculture.
3.5 Digital Marketing, the future of commerce
We engaged in telephone interviews, WhatsApp discussions, and e-mail exchanges with heads of communication agencies, influencers, and Moroccan farmers regarding their opinions on the trend of Marketing in the digital age in general, but on agricultural products in particular.
The results of our survey show that communication/marketing agency managers know the importance of marketing in the promotion of agricultural products, and do their best to ensure that there is a climate of trust between agencies and farmers, a guarantee of any good deal.
More than 85% of agency managers let us understand that they adopt several marketing strategies for the valorization of Moroccan agricultural products through websites, social networks. In addition to their efforts, they mention some difficulties encountered each year, including the high cost of state fees, the high cost of connecting and maintaining websites, but also the fees paid to social networks for a wide visibility of publications (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Business, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn... etc.). For them, the internet penetration rate of more than 84.1% is an opportunity for each farmer, from his Smartphone, tablet, computer to make his products known to a much wider audience than traditional marketing. For our respondents, marketing has a huge advantage and is not ready to stop. In 2020, an amount of USD 120 billion was spent by Americans on digital marketing, and that amount is not so high compared to the amount invested in traditional media. This proves how often digital marketing is accessible by each entrepreneurial entity as the world has become a global village. For our respondents, people prefer online content such as a short video on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram talking about the benefits of a product. Or the presentation of a product by an influencer on social networks.
In recent years, the internet has changed the way of life of people, according to Kevin, General Manager of Google Marketing in Asia-Pacific. For its part, the "Internet" is like a fuel for business growth. In this way, no fuel vehicle can do without fuel, nor can any company do without the internet for its survival.
Among the farmers surveyed, 70% have access to the internet to make calls through social networks or to carry out searches through websites. At their level, there are some who are illiterate, something that complicates the digital promotion of their agricultural production by themselves. Asking the heads of communication agencies about this issue of illiteracy, they let us understand that this should not be a problem, because if there is a reduction in state fees, and a solid partnership, all responsibilities would fall to them for a high-end digital promotion.
According to search engine Marketing from the Stat counter Global stats search engine Market share report on Morocco in 2021, Google controls (95.92%) the overwhelming majority of the market in Morocco. It might not be worth the investment to advertise on other platforms due to the strikingly low market share in each competing site. However, it is worth mentioning that advertisements should be targeted to both the Morocco specific Google site and the American site. Google.com, rather than Google.co.ma, receives a larger amount of traffic from Moroccan users.
3.6 Role of Influencers in the promotion of Moroccan agricultural products
According to the blog "Portal of Economic Intelligence", influence is the art of making believe, to know and to do. Concretely, it is a question of modifying the representations and beliefs of others. This induces a change in perceptions and then behavior.
It is a process carried out invisibly, indirectly and continuously. Today, influence is both the trigger and the purpose of the strategy. From this definition, we equate it with Digital Marketing in the promotion of products and services the "Influencer Marketing". For (Benamar & Margom, 2020), influencer marketing aims to promote products, increase brand awareness through influencers. According to (Haji & Bouziane, 2021) [16], in Morocco there are today 31.59 million Internet users, and internet penetration rate stood at 84.1% of the total population, and 15.9% rate of population did not use the internet, 23.80 million users of social media equivalent of 63.4% of the total population (Data Reportel, 2022), the main of web influencer marketing.
This increase in Internet user rates is an opportunity for influencers to pass on enough advertising of products and services on behalf of their employers (companies, individuals).
From there, some authors (De Veirman et al., 2019) [17], define influencers as people who have been able to set up a vast network of exchange with Internet users, that is to say those who trust them in all directions. (Boerman & van Reijmersdal, 2020) [18] for their part, considers them as sources of inspiration, opinion leaders, in whom Internet users believe. This is why companies and individuals trust them in the promotion of their products and services. The study on influencer marketing in Morocco, carried out by (Rouissi, 2019) cited by (Haji & Bouziane, 2021) [16] shows that there are different types of influencers, whose typology is defined according to the size of their community.
Table 3
Distribution by size and types of influencers in Morocco
Types of influencers | Definitions and presentations |
Megas– Influencers and celebrities (500K -> + 1M) | They have very large communities and are very much in demand by brands. Their influence emanates in particular from the physical appearance, credibility and expertise demonstrated via the knowledge of the product represented, the reliability based essentially on the honesty of the influencer and finally the match-up hypothesis demonstrating that there is a congruent relationship between the model and the product (Moras et al.2019). |
Macros– influencers (20K > 500K) | Popular influencers with a large audience and the ability to trigger a buzz. They are often approached by brands to participate in launch campaigns and driven by a passion for social networks. |
Micros – influencers (5K > 20K) | They have a smaller community; however, the engagement rate is higher and the content published tends to be more authentic. This type of influencer is attracting more and more brands. |
Nano – influencers or advisers (Less than 5K) | Ordinary individuals who spontaneously share their experiences with a product/service on social networks and especially Facebook groups. Their opinion can be influential and credible especially when it is followed by the testimonies of other advisers. |
Source: Rouissi, 2019 |
3.7 Successful experiences of other countries of the world (e.g. China)
Digital marketing in China is much more advanced than in the rest of the world because of the enthusiasm that the consumers is China has for this new scientific advance, but also the high rate of Internet penetration with more than 70.4% for a number of Internet users of more than 989 million with an average of 26.2 hours on the Internet per week. According to the (China Internet Network Information Center, 2020). For years, the Internet has become the preferred means of the Chinese for the conquest of the national and international market for the sale of various products and services through digital marketing. As far as the agricultural sector is concerned, digital marketing plays a very important role in the circulation of agricultural products.
In a study by (Ren Shujuan, 2022) [19] on digital marketing strategies for Chinese agricultural products based on the long-tail theory, the results showed that the creation of IP traffic, the attraction of customers through omnichannel and experimental marketing are important aspects of digital marketing of agricultural products. Further, he adds that the practice of digital marketing can reduce the cost of circulating agricultural products and provide a competitive advantage in terms of price, thus increasing sales in the markets. Based on the "stimulus-body-response" model, (Yang Linguang, 2021) [20] studies the effect of word-of-mouth on the internet as well as the catalytic effect of images of original products. The results deduce that positive word-of-mouth can significantly improve the willingness of consumers to buy agricultural products with special mentions of the geographical origin of these products. As for the catalytic effect, if word of mouth presents positive images of the products, the commitment to purchase by consumers is imminent. Otherwise, if there is a negative effect of word of mouth, consumers will not engage in it. (Qu Juanjuan, 2020) [21], for its part believes that the internalization of agricultural products and the development of social networks are the main orientations of agricultural development, thanks to the development of digital marketing, technical means can be used to provide continuous services to the entire chain of the agricultural industry, which is more conducive to the cultivation and promotion of agricultural product brands.
Through internship programs initiated by some Chinese universities, or marketing plans of communication agencies, students, professionals travel to agricultural fields to digitally promote agricultural products through mobile applications that put Internet users live to different agricultural products. This trend is called by some authors as "experimental marketing". Because it creates a direct interaction between consumers and agricultural producers explaining to them all the production process of each type of agricultural product.
This practice has led to an improvement in sales of agricultural products over the past four years. This led to an increase in the value added to GDP of agriculture and related sectors to 16.47% (January 2022) from 7.2% in 2018 according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.