In today’s era, without it your business will be like a ghost – a body without a soul, invisible and disregarded. Though it will float around everywhere, its presence will not be felt by everyone.
However, digital marketing can bring your ghost of a business to life. It can differentiate your business, drive traffic in its direction, convert people into customers and lastly, help achieve all of your business goals and put money into your bank account.
But what exactly is digital marketing? Well, in simple terms, digital marketing is an umbrella term for all your company’s online marketing efforts. When you leverage digital channels such as Google, social media, email, website, etc. to promote your brand, you are engaging in digital marketing.
The Benefits Of Digital Marketing
While there are endless reasons that make digital marketing an excellent solution for your business, here are two that matters most.
Reaching your target audience
They are currently around 4 billion and increasing internet users worldwide. So, with an online presence, you can bridge the gap between your business and your customers. And if you use it the right way, digital marketing places you right in front of the people who are more likely to be interested in your brand and can become your loyal customers. For instance, rather than placing an ad promoting women’s workout wear in a magazine and hoping that customers will notice, you can use Facebook ads to target women around the age group 20-30 in metropolitan areas, who are interested in fitness.
Acheiving results
Another major benefit offered by digital marketing is that it allows businesses to see accurate results in real-time. Now, after placing an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, it is impossible to measure the impact of the advert on your business. However, the same thing is not true for digital marketing. You can measure the ROI of your marketing campaign using different analytic tools. It precisely tells you how effective your campaign has been. With these results, you can plan and implement your future campaigns in a better way for much better results.
The 6 Primary digital marketing channels
Now that you know about digital marketing and why it is important, let’s take a look at the 6 key digital channels that can help grow your business in a profound manner.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
PPC is a paid digital marketing channel where you pay only when a user clicks on your ad. For instance, Google Adwords is a PPC advertising platform that allows you to place ads on SERPs such as Google and other affiliate websites. These ads often appear at the top of the SERP and are usually determined by bids on certain keywords. It is preferably used to drive traffic towards the website.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the oldest marketing channels, still relevant and popular. It offers a higher ROI as compared to any other marketing platform. Most businesses use it to advertise special deals, highlight essential content such as their blog posts or promote an event or a product/service. However, it is said that rather than including too much promotional content, your email should be more informative and personalized.
Social media marketing
It is highly possible that you are probably aware of this marketing channel. Still, allow us to tell you that social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram allow SMEs to build a community in their respective niche, build brand awareness and engagement and also drive traffic towards their websites. Social media marketing can also be used to make sales directly or to engage in virtual conversation with current and prospective customers.
Influencer marketing
It is a marketing method in which businesses partner with influencers – individuals with a dedicated social following and who are experts in their respective niches. Influencer marketing works because of the trust that influencers have built up with their following and this is the reason many brands partner with influencers of their respective market and build trust and credibility for their brand.
Content marketing
Your content is what drives potential customers towards your brands. It is at the threshold of all your marketing efforts. Without creating relevant content, you won’t be able to achieve any of your business goals. To make sure that your content works as a magnet for highly qualified leads, you need to craft content that fits your customer’s needs, answers their queries, resonates with them and motivates them to take action.
SEO
SEO or search engine optimization is the method to optimize your website and its content to rank higher in SERPs. The higher your website is in SERP, the more organic traffic will drive towards it. With SEO, you figure out what your audience is looking for and how you can provide them that with your content. SEO and content marketing typically go hand in hand.
Digital marketing does not end here. In fact, it entails many other strategies and tactics that allow you to reach your target prospects easily for tangible ROI. It could be possible that you are already using these in a feeble manner. However, now the time has come for you to implement digital marketing in your business in a full-fledged manner. It is the present and the future upon which your business’ success depends. Hopefully, this guide made digital marketing simpler for you.
