To start, we must define “digital marketing.” As we said before, this broad term can refer to numerous elements, though at its core, it is simply advertising and promoting brands through online channels. These online channels can include:
- WebsitesAny marketing campaign that finds its way through one of the abovementioned channels can be considered digital marketing. Most consumers rely on online channels for product research, so engaging customers in the digital landscape is crucial.
Digital marketing is a group of standalone marketing techniques businesses can use to reach potential customers and clients. In contrast, inbound marketing is a more long-term, committed marketing strategy.
We often consider digital marketing a single component of an umbrella inbound marketing strategy. At its most fundamental, inbound marketing is a complex, persona and interest-based marketing approach, which prioritizes delivering helpful answers and information over generating swarms of traffic. In a way, inbound marketing tactics can provide more value than digital marketing alone, which is why many businesses often opt to implement both.
As we said before, there are several unique channels under the digital marketing umbrella, including social networks, search engine marketing, email, mobile apps, and more. So while we’re not going to cover every single digital marketing channel in existence, we’ll instead dive in and explore a few of the most important channels that you should consider working with when you’re building a digital marketing strategy.
Website marketing is a form of online marketing aiming to strategically drive relevant traffic to a given site, namely, your company’s site! The idea here is to attract people who may be interested in the types of products or services that your company has to offer.
Effective content marketing can be promotional, though the main goal is to serve as an inspirational and educational platform for consumers seeking relevant information to your business’s niche. In addition, when you provide relevant content, you establish yourself as an authority or thought leader in your field!
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of taking your website’s content and optimizing it for search engines. This technical artform can help extend your website's reach, helping your pages appear at the top of the search engine results when consumers search for specific keyword terms. SEO is one of the best tools for increasing online visibility and organic site traffic.
Social media has become so deeply integrated into our society over the past decade that successful businesses must be on different platforms to optimize their reach. Each channel you have must be used properly to reap the greatest benefits.
One of the main goals of social media is to create content that an audience will engage with, making them more likely to share it and inspire others. Therefore, it’s a good idea to vary your content from one platform to the next, as something you post on Instagram may not perform as well on Twitter, for example.
Sponsored content is premium promotional content that an advertiser will pay a brand, publisher, or influencer to create and distribute. Sponsored content is most effective and easy for an audience to engage with if it aligns with the brand's values or the influencer publishing it. Sponsored content can come in many different forms, from videos to blogs, so find what works best for your unique target audience!
A quality marketing automation system will integrate with multiple platforms to automate the lead management process. Marketing automation has many benefits, as it can calculate digital campaign ROI, measure results, and streamline marketing tasks that could consume valuable time if performed manually. With proper marketing automation, you can collect more accurate data, reduce staff costs, and increase revenue for your business.
Though it’s been around for over a few decades now, email is still one of the best forms of communication between companies and customers, especially when creating marketing campaigns. However, email marketing requires more thought than it used to, as a successful email marketing campaign must be relevant, engaging, entertaining, and informative. Otherwise, it’ll get lost in your recipient’s inbox.
Timing is also important. Not only do you want your emails to reach your target audience when they are most likely checking, but you also want to ensure you aren’t bombarding their emails with irrelevant or repetitive emails.
Your mobile device is always around. It’s in your pocket, on your nightstand, and in your hand daily. With the prominence of our mobile devices, SMS messaging has become a crucial form of marketing. However, advertising through mobile requires nuance. One of the biggest issues with mobile marketing is privacy. It’s up to you to treat customer data with care!
Pay-per-click advertising, otherwise known as PPC or paid search, is a form of digital marketing that refers to the sponsored result portion found at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). PPC marketing is very cost-effective and gives you tons of control over how much you spend, as you only get charged for every click. Professional marketers can tailor PPC ads to appear when key search terms are entered that are related to your business niche.
There are a number of benefits your business can reap from your digital marketing efforts. We’ve listed a few of the biggest ones below!
One of the main benefits of digital marketing is customer acquisition, which converts generated leads into customers. You can think of this as the entire journey through the marketing funnel. Marketing is all about attracting new customers; the above digital marketing methods can help your company maximize customer acquisition.
Traditional marketing is limited by geography, and traditional marketing campaigns that go international can be very expensive and labor-intensive. On the other hand, digital marketing happens online, meaning you can achieve an immense reach with far less work and resources!
Digital marketing strategies offer convenience between customers and companies. With the right digital marketing strategy, you can increase your online conversions through your website. Customers will use digital marketing to make purchases online, check in-store availability, and compare prices from different brands. From a manufacturing business standpoint, digital marketing can also be used to share crucial information with potential clients and customers.
Digital marketing is about more than building campaigns and generating traffic. Another big part of it is building good relationships with customers and establishing a sense of trust. When you connect with customers, you provide them with information and entertainment, all while educating them on why your products or services can fulfill their needs.
Digital marketing is considered inexpensive compared to traditional marketing. As a result, there are fewer overheads to consider. You can create a sleek and professional website and partner with an email newsletter provider for a relatively small fee. Likewise, you don't have to spend a dime creating social media accounts! The beauty of digital marketing cost-efficiency is that it suits businesses of all sizes.
While there can be countless components of a digital marketing campaign, we’ve boiled it down to the basic, essential aspects below.
The first step to any great marketing plan is defining your goals and target audience. The goals you put in place will depend on your company’s objectives. For a goal to be achievable, it must be both specific and measurable! Goals can be anything from better leads to new customer acquisition and greater brand awareness.
Your target audience is a group of customers you are trying to reach with your digital marketing efforts. You want to target people with similar interests, goals, and problems as your ideal customer.
The rule of thumb most brands and companies put in place is spending around 7-10% of their overall revenue on marketing. On average, these companies will put around half of that 7-10% towards digital marketing. However, the numbers can change based on your company's costs and revenues, goals, and sales cycle. Contact our marketing experts today for more information and a free consultation!
There are several digital channels you can utilize, though that does not mean each one will be as effective as the last. When you determine your target audience and your goals, you can establish which marketing channels will deliver the best ROI. The main marketing channels to choose from include:
- Search engine marketing
- Social media marketing
- Digital advertising
- Digital public relations & media
- Digital partnerships
- Digital messaging
Look at which of these marketing channels your competitors are using to get a better idea of the ones in which to invest.
The goal of every brand is to create content that their audience can engage with. Of course, trying to determine which content is most engaging to your particular audience can be challenging. Generally, however, there are a few factors to consider when looking for effective ways to make your content more engaging.
- Know your audience
- Tell an interesting story
- Create valuable and purposeful content
- Lean into your strengths
Once you've created engaging content, you need to regularly check on its activity to see how well it is doing.
There are several ways to measure analytics for a digital marketing campaign, though the first thing you must do is choose the objective you want to measure. Is it brand awareness, engagement, conversions, or something else completely?
Brands often use tools like Google Analytics to get inside into the key metrics of their campaigns. They will then analyze their performance and use A/B testing strategies to make adjustments if necessary as the campaign progresses.
If you haven't already embraced digital marketing, the time is now! A business that is not using any form of digital marketing is greatly missing out, as it can tell you where your customers are now and help you acquire customers in the future.
Of course, with so many moving pieces, getting started in the complex world of digital marketing can be overwhelming. For this reason, many businesses look to digital marketing consultants. Acadia LMS is a trusted and long-standing marketing consultant that can help you launch your first digital marketing program with your audience and goals in mind.
Stay caught up, and don't let your competitors take the lead! Our digital marketing team is ready to help. Get in touch with us here at Acadia LMS to see how we can help you craft a stand-out digital marketing strategy today.
