Online, we’re all just one click away. Believe it or not, the number of users that go online every day is still increasing at lightning speed.
It’s true that the way people shop has changed with the constant use of technology. Since marketing in person is less effective, brick and mortar stores are becoming obsolete. With the shift towards online marketing, offline marketing isn’t as effective as it used to be.
Your audience is on the internet? You should meet them there. Marketing used to be about getting out there in the real world, but today it’s all about reaching your audience on the internet.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a great way to connect with your current and prospective customers through a variety of electronic devices and the internet. When a business leverages digital channels such as social media, email, and search engines, they are able to better communicate with their existing and potential clientele.
Why digital marketing is so important?
Digital marketing can give you a much wider reach for your product or service. You can target the people who are most likely to buy it, and in turn spend less time and money on traditional advertising. Digital marketing also lets you measure your success every day, and tweak your strategy accordingly.
Some key benefits may include:
Target the audience willing to buy
The world of advertising is changing. It used to be that you would place an ad on TV, in a magazine, or on a billboard, but these are no longer the only options. With Facebook ads, or with Google Ads for that matter, you can target your audience more specifically. You can offer products to certain demographics, not just hope that they’ll be spotted.
Digital marketing lets you identify the target audience based on specific criteria and you can send them personalized offers.
Marketing techniques have evolved over the years to help us understand our customers better. Digital marketing lets you do research necessary to identify your buyer persona, and can refine your strategy over time.
Highly cost effective practice
It’s essential for businesses to be able to track their campaigns on a daily basis. A good way to do this is through digital marketing. Digital marketing enables you to track campaigns, decrease the amount of money you’re spending on a certain channel if it’s not showing high ROI, and generally manage your business more effectively. A traditional form of advertising is not as cost-efficient as an online form of advertising. It doesn’t matter how a billboard or a TV commercial performs. If it doesn’t convert for you, you still have to pay the same price.
Empowers you to compete
You’re a small business. You can’t compete with the big brands in your industry. But you have plenty of opportunities to outrank them! By doing digital marketing right, you can get customers who are looking for your products.
Social media is a fabulous way to reach new audiences. For small-to-medium sized companies, influencer marketing could be a very useful opportunity. I may not follow any big brands on social media but I do follow influencers who sometimes showcase products or services they like.
Measure the success as you like
Digital marketing is much more than ads. It can also give you a comprehensive, start-to-finish view of all the metrics that matter to your company, including how much time people spend with your content. One of the advantages of digital marketing is that it’s great for measuring success. The downside is that, while it can be useful for certain goals, traditional advertising is limited in its measurability.
How can your business benefit from digital marketing?
Digital marketing refers to any technique that utilizes digital technology to connect with customers. Digital marketing covers a wide range of practices, including the website itself, branding assets, and advertisements. This strategy reaches the customers where they spend most of their time: online.
To have the best marketing strategy, marketers should have a clear picture. The goals of their marketing strategy determine how they will support it. If the goals are to get customers to buy something, for example, they may use free or paid channels.