What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing refers to the usage of online advertising tools to project products and services to potential customers. Digital Marketing has become a key component of the marketing strategy of most companies today, because as much as a third of the world’s population now spends time online.
What are the benefits?
Digital marketing provides advantages that were previously unprecedented. With over 2 billion people having an active online presence, online marketing provides an incredible outreach. Also, most social platforms provide their services for free, making them very cost-effective. People also tend to prefer an online marketing approach because of its personal touch and interactive nature. With these features, online advertising provides opportunities that traditional marketing hardly can; and even if it could, it would be a financial and logistical nightmare.
Now that we have established the importance of digital marketing, here are the basic strategies one must apply to get maximum results:
1. Know your audience: It is important that you discern exactly what your brand is, what it stands for, and which people make up your target demographic. This knowledge will enable you select the most appropriate digital platforms for your brand, as well as use available online tools to target customers that will most likely lead to sales conversions.
2. Have a comprehensive strategy: This involves you defining specific goals your brand intends to achieve with online advertising. This allows you to leverage on particular strengths of relevant e-marketing platforms and also use analytical tools such as Google Analytics ton track and manage progress and goal achievement.
3. Have Optimized and Integrated accounts across all relevant platforms: It is not just enough to have accounts across several online marketing platforms; you must also make sure that they are functioning to their fullest capability. This includes rich media for all your social media accounts (i.e. quality photos and videos) and regular interaction with your customers; as well as a fast and aesthetically pleasing website with enough backlinks and very active SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most e-marketing platforms also provide facilities for cross-platform integration, enabling you to seamlessly synchronize your brand’s online presence; and also make it easier for potential customers to locate your brand across different platforms.
4. Have a consistent voice: Carve out a particular niche for yourself which is relevant to your brand, and remain consistent to it throughout all your online activity. Saying something today and something else tomorrow could easily confuse potential customers and chase them away.
5. Provide quality content: With regards to your internet marketing content, go with the acronym QERO, which stands for Quality, Engaging, Regular and Original. If your online content consistently possesses these qualities, you can be sure of comfortably winning over the hearts of several customers.
6. Use Smart Tools: There are a plethora of online marketing platforms, and handling each one separately could be cumbersome. Instead, make your work easier and smarter by using the variety of smart tools available. Tools like Buffer, Everypost and Hootsuite enable you handle several social media accounts at once, MailChimp is great for e-mail marketing, and Adroll helps you re-market to customers who are already loyal.
7. Combine with Traditional Marketing: In as much as digital marketing has immense potential, traditional marketing should not be jettisoned just yet. In fact, the best results are achieved when digital and traditional marketing strategies are combined. So by all means have a robust online presence, but also complement that with TV and Radio ads, as well as the timeless one-on-one customer relationship.
Digital marketing has developed rapidly over the past few years, and it promises to be a major player in the marketing industry for years to come. Hence, the sooner you get acquainted with it, the better; and the more you save yourself the unnecessary expense of outsourcing your online advertising to a digital marketing agency.
