How companies can take advantage of Digital Marketing

Alex Anderson

How Companies can Take Advantage of Digital Marketing

Companies may have their own specific goals, but they will almost always have one objective in common: to build continuing relationships with customers that will eventually lead to a conversion or purchase. In order to accomplish this, companies may choose to take advantage of the most advanced marketing methods and tools at their disposal. Digital Marketing is one of the best options, it is the marketing of products and services using digital technologies. It is done mostly through the internet, but also through mobile phones and other digital mediums.

There are several advantages Digital Marketing has over traditional Marketing. For example, one of the biggest financial burdens for businesses is Marketing and Advertising costs. Digital Marketing is much cheaper than traditional Marketing but just as effective, if not more effective. This is especially enchanting for smaller businesses that do not have the capital that is available to a larger business.

Another advantage is that Digital Marketing has the potential for global reach, while traditional Marketing reaches people only where it is carried out. This gives it a considerable upper hand by providing the opportunity to get ads in front of a much larger market.

It is easy to measure the results of Digital Marketing campaigns. With traditional Marketing, it can take weeks or months to see results. With Digital Marketing, you can see how your ads are performing in real time using analytics software. Specific information like the number of people who have been shown an ad, how long the ad has been running, and the click-through rate (or engagement) of an ad can all be measured. This makes adjusting ads if things are not working as they should be, duplicating the ones that are working to scale your efforts, or ditching ads altogether if they are not profitable all much easier. This versatility may be one of the most alluring aspects of Digital Marketing.

There are several sectors in Digital Marketing, each has its own purpose and can help a company in different ways. Before developing and utilizing a Digital Marketing strategy, many things must be considered. Questions like:

· Who is my target market and where do they spend their time on the internet?

· How can I reach them?

· What is my ranking on search engines and how is that effecting my business?

· Where is my traffic coming from?

· How can I engage with my customers and get more conversions?

are just a few examples of questions that must be considered. It is important to clarify business goals as they relate to Marketing such as:

· What do we want to accomplish with this strategy?

· What are our expectations? Are they realistic?

· What is our timeline to accomplish these goals? Is this a realistic timeline?

· What ROI can we expect?

This way, there are baselines to measure from. Once objectives have been established, a brand specific strategy can be developed.

If nothing else, a company should optimize their web site for Search Engines. It is known that 95% of people do not look past the first page in search results (Oberlo). Because of this, Search Engine Optimization is a very important aspect of Digital Marketing. That is: optimizing your site to attain a better ranking in search engines with the ultimate goal of getting as close as possible to the top of the first page. This involves including relevant, competitively realistic keywords and long-tail keywords in your website. These keywords are worked naturally into the website’s copy. HTML tags need to be optimized and the website needs to be aesthetically pleasing, with relevant content and photos.

The most important part of SEO is what is known as “link building”. It is measured by the number and quality of link referrals to your site from other websites. One way to do this is by building strategic relationships with people who have an audience in a subject related to your business. Writing a guest post for a blogger in your field can be a great place to start. The more reputable and popular the blogger (and the higher the Domain Authority of their site), the more valuable the link is for your site. This is an example of where one might start, there are many ways to build links. Link building is something that needs constant effort and work but is a good use of time and resources. The algorithm used by Search Engines to determine a site’s ranking is constantly changing and rankings will improve or decline over time depending on multiple factors. It is vital to stay up to date with SEO, pay attention to results, and adjust when necessary.

Advertising online is a very good way to reach customers and develop an audience for a brand or business. A great way to do this is by utilizing Social Media for ad campaigns. This is referred to as “Social Media Marketing”, or “SMM”. SMM can be used to target very specific demographics that will be most likely to convert. “74% of marketers say targeted personalization increases customer engagement” (Econsultancy). To achieve this, a profile can be built on customers that includes things like where they live, age, gender, career, interests, and purchasing habits. This profile will be useful for targeting people who might be more interested in your product or business specifically so your advertisements will be shown to them. An ad budget is developed, ad performance is monitored, and adjustments are made based on results versus expectations. Facebook is great; however, alternative Social Media platforms should also be considered depending on the specific business objectives. For example, if the target demographic is a younger group, then Snap Chat or Tik Tok would best suit that business. Whereas professionals may gravitate to a platform such as Linkedin.

Search Engine Marketing, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Ads, can be profitable and should be utilized for certain campaigns. Google Ads is a popular choice and can be used for Search Network ads which will show up on Google search results when specific search queries are made. Display Network ads are image ads that show when someone visits a website, and Video campaigns are the short video ads we see before or during a YouTube video.

Influencer marketing can be a very effective form of marketing, especially for a company selling products or services. Relationships are built with influencers and they endorse your product or service and share it with their audience. This can be used as an effective short cut if your company does not have a large customer base or substantial following. It is a great way to quickly gain access to a large audience in a company’s field. It usually works like a trade: the influencer shares about your product to their audience and endorses it in exchange for a sponsorship, free product or service, money, or discount. This can also help with your SEO link building efforts too because the influencer will be linking to your company’s site.

Regardless of what methods are utilized, content always needs to be relevant and high quality. This is especially important when doing Content Marketing. Content Marketing is “the process of creating, publishing, and promoting content to attract an audience that will grow your brand and acquire customers” (theHOTH). After the content is written, it can be posted to Social Media accounts or a company blog. One example of how this might work: say a drug and alcohol treatment center wanted to increase their visibility online. They can blog about relevant topics such as: “What are the best treatment centers in Northern California”, or “How do I get sober?”. When a person searches for these topics, they will be led to that business’s site. Making blog posts on topics that are searched for often, over time, will increase traffic to a website substantially: “Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic” (WPforms). Strategic blogging offers people value by helping them with a question, or simply engaging them with interesting, relevant, accurate content. OptinMonster.com says: “The CMI’s digital content marketing stats show that 72% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement”. Here are some Twitter statistics on Content Marketing ROI: 66% of people have found a new business on Twitter, 69% of people bought something because of a tweet, 94% plan to make a purchase from a business they follow (Business2Community). It has great potential for returns if done correctly.

One of the most efficient strategies is Email Marketing. Based on studies, the average return on investment from email marketing is about 122%, or 4 times higher than other Digital Marketing strategies (LYFEMarketing). Email Marketing can be used to increase customer engagement between purchases, make a customer list aware of promotions, new products, discounts, or other services. It is also a great way to distribute high quality content from your Content Marketing strategy. Proper Email Marketing can be one of the most cost effective and high converting Digital Marketing strategies by far. “For every $1 you spend on Email Marketing, you can expect an average return of $42” (Digital Marketing Association). Email marketing is also a great way to reengage Ecommerce leads: Sending 3 abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders than just one email which helps you reduce order form abandonment (Omnisend). It is important to try to personalize emails if possible as this will increase the engagement rate. “Personalized subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened” (SalesForce). It can also be effective to tell a story with the emails; staggering related emails with strategic product placement can help customers stay interested. Emails should have creative subject lines, be personalized, and anything that might be considered spam should be avoided.

People consume their internet and advertising in different ways depending on the device they are using. Globally, the average order value on a desktop is 55% higher than on a mobile phone (Smartinsights). This is important to consider when developing Marketing strategies and ad campaigns. This can be taken advantage of by developing certain campaigns with an emphasis on mobile or desktop depending on what is being advertised. For example, according to a survey of Facebook users in the United States, 76 percent of respondents stated that they accessed the social platform via mobile. During the same third quarter 2019 survey period, 41 percent of responding U.S. YouTube users claimed that they used the video platform through a tablet device (Smartinsights). This considered, some SMM and Video Network ads should be geared toward and optimized for mobile consumption. 69% Millennials experience FOMO (fear of missing out), the most of any age group (Eventbrite). Consideration of this statistic can be useful (for Ecommerce especially) advertising when determining where to place ads: products meant for that age bracket could be advertised on Facebook or TikTok, where a lot of millennials consume their content and optimized for mobile (the device they are more likely to use to consume said content on). Many people make purchases based on emotion, and FOMO facilitates many of those reactive purchases, 60% in fact (Strategy).

A business or brand needs to make some considerations before deciding on which Digital Marketing strategy to utilize. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, and some will be more effective for a business than others. They can be combined with one another or used on their own. The most important thing in any strategy is to write quality, relevant content. A great place to start for any business is to begin building brand awareness, start developing an audience, and start optimizing their site for Search Engines (SEO). Then, other strategies can be combined to fit the more specific needs of the business.

In closing, the market share that Digital Marketing is claiming grows by the day. Choosing not to capitalize on the opportunity may be a mistake for many businesses. It has so many advantages and it is here to stay. It is vital to have a presence online and Digital Marketing is the way to make that happen. Businesses that have the means to hire a Digital Marketer or do some Digital Marketing themselves should do so. It will benefit their Marketing efforts greatly and in perpetuity.

References

Oberlo: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/google-search-statistics

Econsultancy: https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-realities-of-online-personalisation-report

theHOTH: https://www.thehoth.com/learn/content-marketing/basics/what-is/

WPForms: https://wpforms.com/digital-marketing-statistics/

Business2Community: http://strategyonline.ca/2015/03/09/the-impact-of-fomo/

Digital Marketing Association: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/email-marketing-statistics

LYFEMarketing: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/email-marketing-roi/

OmniSend: https://www.omnisend.com/blog/cart-abandonment-emails-the-best-practices-and-stats-infographic/

Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/email-marketing-stats-blog/

SmartInsights: https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/

Eventbright: https://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/marketing/Millennials_Research/Gen_PR_Final.pdf

Strategy: https://eventbrites3.s3.amazonaws.com/marketing/Millennials_Research/Gen_PR_Final.pdf