Modern Marketing in Digital Era

Marketing is a way to promote businesses, brands, products, and services.  In earlier times, marketing was more word of mouth and extremely restricted. It was bound to the nearest towns and local cities due to a lack of communication facilities, and time-consuming and limited transportation. It all began with the barter system, and it was extremely restricted where some edibles or consumer products were exchanged.

As transportation grew to connect more towns and cities, businesses began to expand using the trading mechanism. Eventually full-fledged business grew manifold in the 20th century as technology expanded to facilitate, communication and transportation. Greater expansion in businesses made them growth-oriented and sustainable. With the advent of telephones and vehicles, there was an exponential rise in business possibilities.    The trade and commerce world was fast changing.

Modern Marketing

Modern Marketing is technology oriented. It is subject to fast changes in technology in the larger sphere.  The business paradigms are fast changing due to technological impact.  Businesses are not impacted by only one technology but many. The biggest paradigm change has been brought about by the advent of the Internet in India, and elsewhere. The US was the first to introduce the Internet followed by many other countries. 

The Internet brought about the world wide web, and as the development technology advance more dynamic websites came into the picture. They began to populate the world wide web for information transmission.  These websites and portals could facilitate ecommerce which is raging hot. Advanced web development and technology brought the emergence of social media. Marketing using social profiles and social media feeds gave a Filip to digital marketing.

Now content creators could create engaging content, and publish them on the feed. This attracted the target audience, and the social profiles grew exponentially.  With the growth of social media profiles targeting the audience for promotion became very fruitful, and online marketing now flourishes. The market size stands at 22 billion USD as of 2022. It is growing at the rate of 17.5 % and is projected to reach 81.6 % by the year2030.

This is proving as a boon to the best marketing agencies in the World. In India, the digital marketing size stands at 4.5 billion USD. The Indian growth rate is stupendous 32 % and there is no end to it. This augurs well for companies in the marketing business.    

Signatures in The Digital World

 The History of Signatures

It all must have started with a thumb impression as the World moved towards modernization.  As the writing paper came into the existence and a large number of the populace become literature handwritten signatures came into practice. The signatures became a vital instrument for acceptance, and their impersonation and forced enforcement became a crime. All valid documentation intended for legal purposes and otherwise required the producer to sign using an inked pen.   

The first instance of a pictorial signature is recorded in 3000 BC. A series of pictures and symbols represented a person in those days. In Sumeria in 3100 BC, a scribe named Gar Ama first recorded his signature as a composition of words and pictures on a clay tablet.

Modern Signatures

It was the State of Fraud Act 1677 that truly legalized signatures as we recognize them today. Thus, contracts began to be legalized by parties subject to an agreement, a contract, or any legal tender.  Signatures became mandatory from then onwards.

Signatures in the Electronic Age

With the introduction of the Fax Machine, Computers, and Printers a large amount of communication turned into a digitized print form. The Fax machine became very popular and documents were scanned and sent electronically. This was a great challenge to the fast-developing business world thrust into a changing paradigm as technologies advanced.

The E-Signature Technologies

Bill Clinton in the year 2000 signed the E-Sign Act giving a big boost to electronic signature technologies. Thus data or documents could be sent through electronic medium or faxed by legalizing them with electronic signatures. This was revolutionary and the business world was being transformed by technologies. The fast-advancing computerization, the introduction of the Internet, and the World Wide Web. The introduction of email messaging meant complete trade transactions on the Net.   Electronic payment systems plugged the remaining hole in online business a system where most often the two parties did not meet each other but communicated electronically or on the World Wide Web.

Thus, acceptance of electronic signatures revolutionalized online transactions and complete business modes. But there were flaws, since sending documents or signed documents was fraught with risk.  A more secure method was being developed using cryptographical means. A method that could encrypt documents and prevent manipulation by hackers. This development was advancing fast and the emergence of digital signatures was becoming a possibility from 1988 onwards. 

The Emergence of Digital Signatures & Benefits

In 1988 digital signature scheme was launched. In the time to come, it has become a legal instrument in many countries including India. In the year 2006 digital signatures became legal under the Information Technology Act. DS is widely used in many legal tenders all over the world. They are globally popular and help online businesses and e-tendering grow.

 Why Digital Signature Certifications?

DSC is secure and cannot be manipulated and identify the sender. The certification guarantees it hence the acronym DSC.

The DS short for digital signature is certified CA or certifying authority. CA is an entrusted authority that verifies the owner of the digital signature. In India, the CA is authorized by the CCA or Controller of Certifying Authority under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs or MCA. Businesses can obtain DSC Online from the CA Website. Thus there is no need to be physically present in the CA office. The DSC in India is generally issued in five days and sent by post to the registered address.