What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a bit of a catch-all phrase to cover all the services we offer. There are likely all sorts of definitions, but in our particular case it covers anything based online. This includes:
• SEO
• PPC
• Analytics and conversion rate optimisation
• Content creation and marketing
• Social media
• Email marketing
• Marketing automation
•
Advertisement Agencies
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and while there are many detailed explanations, the best one we can think of is “making things appear higher in Google (or any other search engine)”. In our case, we also break SEO into on-site and off-site
SEO.
On-site SEO works on things on your own site that will help search engines understand what you do and find all the pages on your site. Off-site SEO is concerned with creating links back to your site in order to help demonstrate relevance and popularity to Google.
It is obviously more technical than that, but we reckon these are good summaries.
What is PPC?
PPC stands for pay-per-click, and is a phrase used to describe the paid advertising model available to companies on sites such as Google (the results at the right or top of the normal search results). The name comes from the fact you only pay for the advertising when someone clicks on it.
It is commonly used to refer to Google AdWords, but could equally describe Bing Advertising, Facebook Advertising or any other kind of online advertising where you pay per click.
Benefits of Digital Marketing
1. Level playing field: Any business can compete with any competitor regardless of size with a solid digital marketing strategy. Traditionally a smaller retailer would struggle to match the finesse of the fixtures and fittings of its larger competitors. Online, a crisp well thought out site with a smooth customer journey and fantastic service is king – not size.
2. Reduced cost: Your business can develop its online marketing strategy for very little cost and can potentially replace costly advertising channels such as Yellow Pages, television, radio and magazine.
3. Simple to measure: Unlike traditional methods you can see in real time what is or is not working for your business online and you can adapt very quickly to improve your results. For measuring traffic to your site you can use Google Analytics to measure specific goals you want to achieve for your website or blog and most packaged email marketing solutions provide good insight into how many people are opening, reading and converting from your emails.
4. Real time results: you don’t have to wait weeks for a boost to your business like you would have to waiting for a fax or form to be returned. You can see the numbers of visitors to your site and its subscribers increase, peak trading times, conversion rates and much more at the touch of a button.
5. Refinement of your strategy: Basically anything that you capture in your customer journey can be reported on and honed for greater success at the fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. After all, how annoying is it to get a couple of forms returned from a mailshot. Marketing online enables you to refine your strategy at any point in time and see any improvements or opportunities for further refinement almost instantaneously.
6. Brand Development: A well maintained website with quality content targeting the needs and adding value to your target audience can provide significant value and lead generation opportunities. The same can be said for utilising social media channels and personalised email marketing.
7. Far greater exposure: your business can be seen anywhere in the world from one marketing campaign, the cost to do this using traditional methods would be considerable. Plus once you have optimised the key word search content in your website you should see a long-term return on your investment and will be fairly low cost to maintain your ranking.
8. Viral: how often do your sales flyers get passed around instantly by your customers and prospects? Online, using social media share buttons on your website, email and social media channels enables your message to be shared incredibly quickly, just look how effective it is for sharing breaking news. If you consider the average facebook user has 190 friends of which an average of 12% see their liked posts – your one message has actually been seen by 15 new prospects, now imagine a number of them also like and share your message and their friends do the same? Mind blowing isn’t it. However a word of caution, bad news can travel much quicker so make sure you have a risk management strategy to tackle negative press as soon as it is circulated.
9. Not Intrusive: I know most people hate receiving sales mailshots or phone calls at inconvenient times on stuff that they have little interest in. Online people get the choice to opt in or out of communications and often it is relevant because they were the ones searching for it in the first place. Also, have you ever got frustrated receiving a regular email on a topic that interests and adds value to you? Nor me so don’t underestimate the power of market segmentation and tailored marketing.
10. Greater engagement: With digital marketing you can encourage your prospects, clients and followers to take action, visit your website, read about your products and services, rate them, buy them and provide feedback which is visible to your market. So it doesn’t take long for good publicity to enhance the prospects of your business.
Features
A common mistake companies make is to assume that all customers have the technical background, understanding and product knowledge to appreciate information related to features. Many companies try to one-up each other in terms of the features they offer and much of their digital marketing is focused on promoting these features. However, not every customer is tech-savvy or knowledgeable enough to understand the value related to the features; customers want to know what's in it for them. In other words, they are looking for a solution to a problem. While features may be the power that provides the benefit the customer will appreciate, most customers are focused on the outcome, not the technicalities that make the outcome possible.
Companies whose content focuses predominately on features will find it hard to define how those features solve problems. They'll boast about the payoffs those features and add-ons provide, but they won't translate them into quantifiable benefits all customers can appreciate. More importantly, being too technical with your content means you're ignoring a large portion of your market, a portion who would likely buy but choose to abandon pursuit because they can't connect with the product or understand its inner workings.
Why?
This means that we can expect a significant boost in digital marketing this year because not only will more consumers move there organically, but also because it has evolved into an area that is ingrained in people’s lives and they genuinely enjoy. There are many factors that have brought us to this point, but the main reasons why people are more attracted to the digital world is because it has become more empowering, friendly, social—and it happens in real time.
Digital marketing is essential because it’s empowering
Online, people can get information on anything they want with just a few simple clicks, from being a good parent to getting a better job to keeping up with the stock market. There is no better place for brands to communicate what makes them valuable than in the places where people are already searching for information and answers.
The digital world is gives consumers a voice that in the past was a mumble, and it’s a very public voice at that. Today if someone is unsatisfied with a product it isn’t possible for a company to hide or ignore their feedback, and if they choose to do so, they can suffer greatly. Multiple platforms have given people a voice and helped them discover the best of anything from restaurants to banana slicers. This has empowered both the consumers and the companies who put energy into interacting with people and offering quality products or services.
Digital marketing is essential because it’s to the point
Some of the same platforms that have given people a voice have also helped companies learn more information about them. This is extraordinarily valuable because it gives brands the ability to tailor messages to individuals instead of creating one generic message for their whole audience. Today and moving forward consumers get more direct messages that reflect their interests and needs. The result is that information that relates to people is directed to them in a more efficient and valuable way.
Digital marketing is essential because it’s friendly
On digital platforms brands are identities, not corporations. This gives them the opportunity to make themselves closer to their consumers who are in fact now their friends. It also gives companies the ability to create a personality, which makes people feel connected to them and fosters brand loyalty. Digital marketing adds significantly to the overall conversation and the language is typically more casual, which adds a human element to marketing in the best possible way.
Digital marketing is essential because it’s social
While digital marketing gives companies the opportunity to connect directly with people, it also creates a ripple effect among its customers. Instead of trying to reach a million people on your own, you can now reach this number through the audience you’ve already cultivated. Since digital marketing takes place on some of the most social spaces on the internet, it is inherently a very social way to connect with your audience, which they find enjoyable.
Digital marketing is essential because it happens in real time
Today marketers have the opportunity to get their products and services in front of billions of people with the click of a mouse. They can also develop, adjust, and refine these activities instantly based on feedback from customers or events in the digital marketplace with the help of digital analytics tools that offer instant feedback. Continuous innovation of these analytical tools will help strengthen the ability to pinpoint the successes and shortcomings of marketing campaigns further. These efforts and innovations will help guide investment decisions for the companies and consumer targeting. More importantly, it also helps their messaging become extremely efficient and relevant.
Digital Marketing is a Brand’s New Best Friend
These new characteristics of digital world benefit both consumers and brands, and make the communication more direct and enjoyable. By embracing these qualities, companies can easily interact with their existing audiences and reach more people in a way that’s more personable than ever before. The companies who see this value and invest in digital marketing will not only emerge as leaders within the space, but will quickly become brands that people truly love. The success of a company will soon depend on not only their products, also but how they develop this aspect of their business to tackle the new digital world we live in.
