Mark AdamsThere are so many digital marketing strategies, and sometimes it can be overwhelming when you’re trying to decide which one to prioritize. Marketers looking for the ultimate digital marketing strategy need to have a clear understanding of their business, product, and demographics before choosing a digital marketing strategy that will be effective for their needs.
Many organizations today use digital marketing strategies to bring new customers to their websites and into their businesses, to encourage the sale of a product, and to drive overall brand awareness. If an organization is unsure of their marketing goals or audience, they should consult a market expert or qualified marketing professionals for help.
Marketing strategies can be broken down into three main parts: online marketing, offline marketing, and social media marketing.
Online marketing typically involves all the internet marketing methods mentioned below, such as web banner ads, Google AdWords, email marketing, and search engine marketing.
Offline marketing focuses more on getting your prospect or customer to interact with you or to go from place to place where they may be able to make a buying decision. Offline marketing tactics include advertising in local business shops or magazines, canvassing, word-of-mouth marketing, and direct advertising.
Social media marketing encompasses social media platforms, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. While social media marketing focuses less on the sale of a product and more on building awareness and a reputation for your business, it still involves marketing strategies like creating a company page, interacting with other organizations, and following up with relationships and sales.
While each strategy has its own benefits and disadvantages, when used together, they can increase your company’s reach by changing how your company is perceived and how you are perceived by your customers and prospects.
Furthermore, you must be aware that not every strategy will be weighted equally. Tailoring your online marketing strategy to your wants and needs will increase the chance of achieving your highest amount of success. It is suggested to assign each strategy a point value, and then alter your strategy based on the points you have scored. This way, you will be able to determine whether or not a marketing strategy is worth the cost.
While many strategies have difficulty being implemented successfully, the key to successful campaigns is to use a strategy that actually matches your business and your customer’s wants and needs. For example, if you have a small business with a fairly small clientele, it may not be worth the effort to create online marketing campaigns that may reach only six to eight people. In this case, you would be better off saving your money for local advertisements or for paying in-person visits to the customer.
Whatever your strategy, when looking to plan your digital marketing strategy, you must make sure it works for your business. Because if it does not result in successful sales, it will be much more beneficial to have a well-designed Web site that contains information about your company, such as your e-mail, phone number, and address if it is available.
Step for Digital Marketing Strategy
The first step to marketing your business using the strategies in this article is to evaluate your company, including your demographics and don’t forget to cover your competitors.
Know Us-Know You
The next step is to assess the value of every digital marketing strategy you consider. Here is a list of the top digital marketing strategies used by major companies today. Each strategy consists of a number for how effective it is.
Email marketing is a very effective way to spread the word on your products, services, and your company. It uses email to send messages to people who are interested in what you have to offer. According to one study, more than 89% of the internet users are active email users and may even use it as a primary method of communication.
Email marketing is particularly useful for smaller companies, as they may not be able to afford expensive TV commercials.
Website
Website visitors are already familiar with your company’s products and business. Your website can include viewers and your most important product; from there, it is a very simple all-in-one plan.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is something that takes advantage of social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media marketing is about making effective use of online social networks to generate leads and sales.
Online Advertising
Online advertising involves placing banner ads on websites. The ads may be simply messages asking visitors to take action; the ads can also be reminders, such as “Buy now or your Christmas tree is going to die”, to sales, such as “If you order now, you’ll get this fantastic bumper-sticker set for your car”.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing can be measured simply by tracking how many visitors to your website come from search engines. Search engine marketing is also known as a pay-per-click (PPC) marketing strategy.
Let’s look at an example:
A game developer, with a $3,000 budget for marketing, will be able to reach 40,000 people about their game if they place advertisements on the first three pages of search engines. This takes a lot of money, but the payoff could be very large.
Retail Advertising
Retail advertising is a very quick marketing method. It is often measured in months and requires a small budget to begin with. Retail advertising involves placing signs in brick-and-mortar stores.
In some cases, a retailer may choose to sponsor online advertisements based on the success of the placement of the online ad in the physical store.
Benifits of Digital Marketing?
Target your message
Opportunities can be defined by using different data that is not directly visible to users. Targeting messaging to fit the needs of specific demographics opens up the possibility to use keywords and advertisements that have the most value to the users.
Content management
Through programs like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor, marketers can gain control over their messages through a more advanced and efficient marketing process.
Scalability
Businesses can scale their campaign at will based on revenue and site traffic.
Ease of use
With all digital marketing channels, the process is much easier to manage. Advertisements and marketing messages are directly tailored and there is no need for editing.
High engagement
Active users are less likely to quit, and more likely to keep engaging with your pages and content. Users are more likely to call or email to personally contact with you, and are more likely to leave a positive review.
Visibility
The more people can see your advertisement the more likely they are to see it in the search results, and the more likely they are to click on it.
Achievements
One of the main benefits of digital marketing is the ease of tracking and reporting.
Sending specific messages
Marketers can customize their messages and messages to specific segments of people.
High conversion rates
In the case of retail sites, customers may decide to make a purchase based on a quick scan of your product, or being reminded that it is a holiday. These small purchases can translate into large returns for the retailer.
Targeting
Digital advertising services can target your audience even more broadly than traditional advertising, engaging fragmented audiences like teens, who may be harder to reach with traditional advertising.
The disadvantages of digital marketing strategies that cut across brands and industries are that:
- There are no results overnight. You must build a relationship with your audience, and deliver on that relationship slowly, over a long period of time.
- It doesn’t work for every audience. If you target people who have grown up in the digital age, it may be too late to win them over with traditional media.
- It is expensive. That said, it generally benefits you more in the long run.
- Content management isn’t possible. You have to have a good understanding of your product and how it needs to be marketed. If you don’t, you won’t know how to effectively manage the marketing as you build it.
What now?
If you have a brand, you know your audience well and have decided on a marketing strategy. Before you start investing in your next campaign, consider an evaluation of your current marketing strategy. How are you spending your time and money?
There are many digital marketing strategies, and determining which best fits your business can be challenging. Fortunately, there are resources that provide assistance in building the perfect digital marketing campaign.
Learning more, means you are on the right track, reduces complexity and improves ROI. It also creates a healthy work-life balance for yourself, which is important to your family and friends.
A simple exercise to perform is to divide your marketing resources into these four areas:
Retention Advertising
Use Retention campaigns to save your current customers.
Acquisition Advertising
Wholesale your customers by building a relationship with them.
Lead Generation Advertising
Create opportunities for your current customers to become customers.
ontent Marketer
Create your brand, through unique and creative content that has a genuine interest to your customers.
It is important to look at any type of marketing campaign carefully. You are now your company’s sole, and most important advertisement. It is important to be truthful with your customers, positive about yourself, and realistic about what you can deliver.
It is important to look at any type of digital marketing strategy carefully. You are now your company’s sole, and most important advertisement. It is important to be truthful with your customers, positive about yourself, and realistic about what you can deliver.
The whole point of marketing is to create awareness of your services, how good you are or your business, and to solve problems that your customers may have.
You will make sure that your communication strategy will be able to reach your target audience.
You should conduct research, and consider your resources. Remember, it is a full time job to be able to talk to people. How much is enough?
Know your audience, and don’t be afraid to ask. Hear what they say. What they need, and why they need it. This will help in creating content that will benefit them.
CONCLUSION
The internet is a perfect place to conduct a digital marketing campaign. There are huge numbers of people using it, making it a great place to win new customers.
You need to carefully study your market, and find out what is important to them. Remember, you make your money from your sales, not from advertising. Identify your top priority customers, and learn about their needs and what benefits they will gain.
