More people are going online every day. That means businesses lie yours need effective and strategic digital marketing practices to stay competitive in your local market. It’s essential for business owners to understand the basics of digital marketing 101.
To help, here’s a short overview of the key aspects of Digital Marketing 101.
Defining Digital Marketing 101
Digital marketing is defined as marketing tactics that use the internet or electronic devices (like a tablet or smartphone). Businesses can use channels like social media, emails, landing pages, blogs, and search engines to market to current and potential customers.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing is limited to print, phone and physical marketing. While it isn’t irrelevant, traditional marketing doesn’t have the capability to reach customers in the way that digital marketing can.
Styles
Through digital marketing, there are many possibilities for reaching a customer base. Here’s a short rundown:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is how you optimize your website to rank higher on searches through search engines like Google or Bing. This naturally increases the amount of traffic on your site which leads to more conversions (or sales).
Social Media
Social media marketing is digital marketing through promotion of your brand and products on social media channels like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
It is key digital marketing practice to integrate brand strategy with a social media strategy to connect with potential customers on a personal level.
Content Marketing
This style of digital marketing refers to the creation of content like videos, blogs, whitepapers, and infographics to generate leads and increase awareness and traffic for your business. The idea is to promote your content through other marketing strategies like email and social media.
Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing (remember when we didn’t have a spam folder?). However, it’s still widely used and very useful for businesses who want to keep their current base in-the-know about current events, offers, and specials.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
This method drives traffic to your site or social media page by paying a publisher (FacebookAds, Google Ads, Twitter Ads) to put your ads in the face of the best potential audience. You pay when someone clicks on the ad.
Importance
These styles may seem too cutting edge for businesses used to traditional and word-of-mouth marketing practices. But in the current marketplace, it’s essential for every business to set up some type of digital marketing strategy.
The efficiency of digital marketing allows businesses to target specific audiences they know will buy their product. This a distinct competitive edge over other businesses who don’t know how to utilize the best practices.
In addition, digital marketing is the most cost effective and measurable marketing strategy with the highest return on investment (ROI) in the marketing world today.
Strategy
Create a digital marketing strategy using a framework known as SMART (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant or Realistic, and Timely). Then, apply that framework to these principles:
- Identify and define your business’ marketing goals
- Use analytics and experience to pinpoint your target audience
- Set a budget for each channel or style
- The mobile experience is important. Optimize your website and shopping cart for mobile use.
- Keywords are king…and constantly changing.
Remember: your digital marketing strategy is about PR and sales conversion. Be sure to balance sales language with language that creates a solid online reputation.
It’s nice to know the basics!
But if your business is ready to advance or having trouble creating a solid digital marketing campaign from the ground up, it’s time to work with an established and trusted digital marketing service like the ones offered by International Bancard. That’s what we’re here for. You don’t have to know Digital Marketing 101, because we handle it all for you.
We can help you set your marketing goals, identify your target audience, and select the best channels to help you maximize your digital marketing ROI. Stop losing revenue to bad SEO practices, and contact us today!
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