This article is written by Hemal Shah who is pursuing a Diploma in Advanced Contract Drafting, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from LawSikho.
Table of Contents
Introduction
An online presence is as pertinent as an offline goodwill in this fast-paced technological environment. Right from the lawyers to the layman everyone wants to be on the internet and be tech savvy or hire such services that enable them to take care of such services. With the growing components on the market, the importance of such internet enabled services are also important. Nearly, all of us want to be on the top of the google search engine. In a recent report conducted by the Psychology department of the Yale University, humans make up their decisions within 8 seconds of the google search and in such scenario’s the SEO (Search engine optimisation) plays a vital role to ensure that the key words typed by the user follows the page of the website.
Let’s just say for an example- You are a service provider of printed shirts, t-shirts and cushion covers which can be provided by customising as per your instructions. You offer such services online without users needing to walk all the way till your store. Now there’s a user who is in need of such customised apparels for his organisation and as a regular practise he types the following keywords “Customised T-Shirts and Shirts”, “Customised Apparels”, “Cheap Customised apparels near me”, “Cheap personalised corporate bulk orders for t-shirts”, on finding for the first three pages, he could trace your website and then get connected to you for his set of services. Observe the pattern that I have upheld in the above scenario. I have commonly used the words Customised and personalised specifically which talks about the given words. It is only a matter of time that your page gets on the top on the usage of such terms every time a user on the internet finds your page provided the website has such terms in the place.
(pro hack: If you have a website that is listed on Google or any other searchable website, keep updating the terms or the website and look at it once in every month and make sure you add maximum search words to stay in the loop)
Activities conducted by the digital marketer
In general terms, the use of digital platforms to produce leads and create brand recognition is the responsibility of a digital marketer. Digital networks contain:
- Websites for Companies
- The social media
- Rankings on search engines
- Marketing by email
- Advertisements for online display
- Blogs from corporations
In addition, to detect gaps and find ways to boost efficiency across all platforms, the digital marketer must still use observable analytics. They may be accountable on all facets of the digital strategies of an organisation in this role or only concentrate on one.
Digital marketing sees continuous improvement and involves a mind that is forward-thinking. They must be a visionary, actively championing the new developments in the industry. You must therefore have a sense of cooperation and be able to cooperate with other departments.
They would have to establish an online identity that represents the brand; an enthusiasm for branding is also important – as they will have to look at statistics and learn how to find the important information that will keep the plan solid. For this an analytical mind is crucial. In a nutshell, the vision that digital marketing reigns supreme, stays up-to-date to promote your views, but still collaborates well with others, because people continue to help see their proposals come to life.
Important clauses in a digital marketing agreement
SERVICES
The Digital marketing in this Agreement should be provided with a defined area of the work to be conducted by the Digital Marketers as they are responsible for the turnaround rates along with the brand development in the organisation and sometimes the work agreed upon by the parties may overlap with the set of responsibilities that shall be non-negotiable by the marketer. Hence it is important for the Employer to demarcate the areas of service and turn around rate for the leads generated. In case the company or any individual hires an agency, they need to request a designated representative that shall be the point of contact for all the services.
PRIVACY POLICY
A major portion of the work of the Digital Marketer (s) (hereinafter referred to as “DM”) is to place appropriate ads on the websites of other individuals and to also ensure that the SEO for the given company is in place. Since, the majority of the terms of use provided on the websites of online businesses have a stipulated clause of third-party links that may cause virus and the company or the business listed online shall not be liable for the same. It is the duty of the DM to ensure that correct links are provided on the website and more importantly, by placing ads on those websites, they’re not restricted. This clause is highly neglected but, it is pertinent to mention here that in case of any negligence caused by the DM, the ad placed shall be penalised.
APPROVAL OF THE MATERIALS TO BE PLACED
All elements of any material to be placed hereunder, including but not limited to all copies, layouts, slogans, website artworks, graphic materials and photographs (collectively, ‘Materials’), shall be submitted to the Company for approval by DM. Materials shall not be required to be submitted for prior approval to the extent that they are preliminary only. It is extremely important for the Company to have a faster approval process, since placing ads might take a little longer other than what it is expected.
TRADEMARKS
All the marks, designs, taglines and concepts used by the DM while building the brand shall exclusively belong to the Company and in case of such registrations, the DM shall assist in case of such requirement. Assignment of license should include points pertaining to Exclusive or Non-exclusive, Sub-license, indicative list of the rights and the ownership. There are times when the DM shall use the Intellectual Property in his set of portfolios or on his social media to indicate the list of the completed assignments. A clear definition of such restraint should also be included in the Agreement.
THIRD PARTY LICENSES
In order to develop a brand, there shall be a variety of the marketing and sales tools that shall be required for such development and the DM might need the permission to purchase such tools. It is imperative for the companies and the individuals to mention that they shall use such tools exclusively for the assignment assigned and not for any other assignment. In circumstances, certain tools provide an overlook for the companies to keep a track of the activities conducted by the holder and may raise flags, if any.
TURN AROUND RATE
The DM’s job is to ensure that the company’s brand is not only improved but place the right ads on the users of the website. Turnaround rate is nothing but the number of views on the ad, clients that seek services of the website after looking at such ads and the improvement of the SEOs while typing the list of the services that shall be listed on the website. Companies in the beginning may not necessarily keep a tab on such turn around rates as it may generally take some time to build the brand of the company or an individual. However, such measures can be resorted after some months to keep a good track of the turnover rate made by the DM.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is changing slowly. In comparison to conventional ads, you could quickly slip behind if you don’t remain on top of the new developments in the global landscape. The challenge for advertisers is to be able to catch” their intended customer in the tiny window of this moment in essence. Based on this new model of customer behaviour, companies need to find out how to keep themselves recognisable and active through for example, single-touch (mobile-friendly) deals and ensure that they can still maintain their own in search rankings (versus Amazon). Highly personalised content (via AI) is one-way corporations can compete.
In order to ensure that you have international exposure, being Global is highly recommended and that can only happen if the digital presence is robust and is easily able to approach the target audience at the same time as improving the SEO results for such clients.
With the ever-growing demands for such technology, there are ways and means through which a DM may deceit a client only by simply modifying some terms or graphics from here to there. It is significant for the lawyers in such circumstances to refrain from using a copy paste agreement and include all the possible scenarios’ right from the set of the services to penalty in case of such slight modifications without assigning appropriate reasons to the Company/Individual/Client. It is often noted that after the termination of the contract, certain companies lose their SEO count as the earlier DM’s eliminate the words used for such SEO. Forecasting the palpable circumstances should be a part of road-mapping while drafting the Agreement.
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