No matter how big or small your business is, it is important to understand the power of digital marketing. Digital marketing is an important tool to create brand awareness in your target audience, cleverly market your product to specific groups, and drive sales.
Consumers spend much of their time online, so if you are not advertising online, you are missing out on a huge number of potential customers. It’s essential for businesses to market themselves online.
Before we go through the most important strategies and platforms you can use in your digital marketing, it is important to ask yourself: what is your goal? Who is your target audience? What is your budge? How much time do you have to dedicate to your marketing? These questions will help determine which digital marketing strategy will work best for your business.
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for a huge number of online activities that all contribute to your digital presence. Used together, these activities, strategies and platforms will help you reach your desired audience and in turn increase your conversions. Here are a few of the most important:
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of activities with the goal of getting your website to appear higher on search engine results pages like Google and Bing for your business’s most important keywords. For example, if you are an Italian shoe store in Dublin, the keyword ‘shoe stores Dublin’ would be important to you. SEO increases your business’s visibility, drives more customers to your website, and ultimately grows sales.
- Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are a great tool for businesses. This is a catch-all term for marketing on platforms where you typically pay only when a customer clicks on your ad. For example, Google Search, Instagram, and banner display advertising are all PPC platforms. You can decide on the budget, ad creative and audience you want to reach, and you are in full control of the message you want to get across. PPC is a great way to reach your audience when they are actively searching for your business or products.
- Social media marketing is one of the most popular options for businesses. You can create ads that target specific audiences and use organic posts to build relationships with potential customers. There are many social media platforms to choose from, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Research which platform is most popular with your targeted audience and start from there. It is better to be on a few platforms and do it well then be on all and not give them your full attention!
- Email marketing is another powerful digital advertising channel, and also one of the oldest digital marketing channels. It gives you the ability to build more personal relationships with customers and target individuals with specific messages. This specificity and warmer touch increases your chances of converting leads into customers. Additionally, you can use email marketing to stay in touch with existing customers with news and special offers, and to encourage them to buy more of your products or services.
- Video advertising is a great way to engage with customers and boost your reach. Videos allow you to showcase products or service in a more interactive way. Videos can be very visually appealing and catch the attention of the consumer more than a static image when scrolling through their phone. It is important to keep your videos short; if they are too long, you will lose the attention of the consumer. You can use videos to tell a story and create an emotional connection with your customers.
If you are looking for advice on the best digital marketing plan for your business or need assistance on managing your digital marketing segments, Sprint Digital would be delighted to assist.
