Global spending on digital marketing’s set to reach $526 billion by the end of 2024, and that’s only for the paid parts of it. There are plenty of unpaid ways to boost your business online too.
So, what’s this huge trend all about, and should your business get involved? Absolutely!
Here’s why you need to get up to speed with your digital marketing fast.
What Is Digital Marketing?
If you’re relatively new to competing in the online realm, you need a clear idea of what digital marketing is, and what it isn’t. Digital marketing can include some or all of the following:
- Pay-per-click – you only pay the advertiser when someone clicks on your ad
- Social Media – using platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook to promote your product
- Content Marketing – publishing useful information to establish yourself as an authority in your field
- SEO – optimizing your marketing efforts so they’re easily discoverable by search engines
- Video marketing – producing informative or entertaining content to create awareness of your brand
- Email marketing – reaching out to customers directly via personalized emails to promote your goods and services
Digital marketing means mobilizing these aspects as a whole. In this way, you can build your brand, create credibility, win customers, and drive sales.
It doesn’t mean randomly posting items online. You need a comprehensive strategy with clearly defined objectives at every level.
Why Does Your Business Need Digital Marketing Right Now?
Digital marketing’s been around since the internet has. So, why should you suddenly focus on it now? Things have changed in the last few years.
Before 2010, you had to pay an ad agency to place expensive adverts with common media sources like television, billboards, and newspapers. After all that expense and effort, there was no guarantee that your target market would ever get to see your ad.
If they did, it would take months for you to see results and you’d never really know which ads worked best. If you did figure it out, you’d have to go to all that expense to renew your advertisement over and over.
Well, that’s all changed now.
Your Customers Are Looking for You Online
When last did you look for something you needed in the Yellow Pages?
The internet is the first place people go when they want to see what a company offers, whether it exists, and what other people think of that business. In short, if they can’t find you online quickly and easily, you lose credibility in their eyes.
During 2020, internet usage increased by a phenomenal 30% globally. So, if you’re not engaged in digital marketing, you’re losing more customers every day.
Nowadays almost everybody has a smartphone that allows them instant access to the online world. They’re using these devices increasingly to find local businesses, look up information, and buy items online.
That means, your customers are much more likely to find your business if they can access your information quickly and easily using the internet on their phones.
Your Competitors Have (Probably) Got the Jump on You
It’s not enough to list your business on Google My Business and hope for the best. If you’re not actively marketing your business online yet, you’ve already missed out on huge volumes of business.
A simple Google search will reveal how many of your competitors come to the fore when potential customers reach for their phones to look up goods and services available locally.
These businesses are everywhere their customers are, they’re engaging people on social media, reaching them via pay-per-click advertising, and using SEO to build their brands.
Some of them may have engaged the help of professional digital marketing services, others are going it alone. Regardless of their methods, they’re out there, and they’re taking income away from you.
The good news is you can see what they’re doing online and work on ways to beat them at their own game. There are several tools available online that let you keep track of your competitors posts and advertisements, so you can see what they’re up to.
Online Marketing’s Fantastic for Engaging With Your Customers
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could find out more about your customers’ needs and wants? A digital marketing agency can help you set up campaigns that build your relationships with customers.
These marketing efforts help answer customer queries and resolve their issues quickly, so they don’t go elsewhere out of frustration.
You can also build your brand by engaging customers on social media or webinars on relevant, helpful topics.
When your customers feel connected with your business, they help promote your brand and think of your business first when they need something.
You Can Pick and Choose Your Target Audience
With digital marketing, you can cast your net wide or target extremely specific demographics.
Modern-day digital experts can help pinpoint the best digital marketing platform for your marketing efforts. For instance, user statistics can show you which age groups and genders use particular social platforms most.
With paid social media ads, these digital platforms will put your advertisements in front of your chosen demographic since they have all their users’ personal particulars.
Thanks to hashtags (#), you can see what they’re posting about online and find out their interests. You can also tell more about their hobbies and even their career from the types of groups they belong to on social media.
In this way, you can tailor-make your ads to attract attention from people who could genuinely benefit from your products and services.
SEO hinges on keywords, which are the terms people use to search for goods, services, and information online. Using online tools, it’s easy to evaluate how many people are searching for certain terms and target your digital posts and advertisements accordingly.
You Can Monitor Your Marketing Campaigns Accurately
With traditional forms of advertising, businesses could never really know how many customers ever paid attention to their marketing efforts.
Thanks to the latest digital tools, you can see how many online users viewed your advert and how many of them clicked through to your website from a particular advert. Once they’re there you can track their activities, so it’s easy to tell how they’re navigating their website.
With the help of a digital marketing specialist, you can use this information to fine-tune your online marketing efforts. Sophisticated analytics tools can even pinpoint the location of people viewing your posts.
On social media, it’s easy to see if people are ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ your posts. This provides insights into their preferences as well as how effectively you’re reaching your desired audience.
It may even help you discover new target markets.
Digital Marketing’s Cheap as Chips
It doesn’t cost you anything to engage in online marketing unless you pay for a digital marketing company to help you. Even then, you can learn from their efforts and continue your marketing if your budget runs out.
Online content might shift and change rapidly, but once you’ve posted something online, it’s there forever.
Although it’s best to stay active and post new content regularly, your clients can find the information they need on your site for as long as you keep it available to them. If you want to update, your information or product offering, you can do it quickly and easily.
You won’t need to pay for the whole design and creation process from the start as you do with conventional advertising.
Thanks to the cost-effective nature of digital marketing, you can expect a huge ROI for your efforts.
Digital Marketing Works at Every Stage of the Customer Journey
People are fickle creatures with short attention spans. If you don’t engage them at every stage of your sales funnel and leave them wanting more, they’ll lose interest.
That’s why it’s not enough to get them onto your website. You’ve got to keep them there and lure them down the path toward buying something.
If you’d like to automate some aspects of your sales funnel, you should compare ClickFunnels, Hubspot, and Kartra pricing. These tools help guide users through your webpages and upsell products during the process.
Getting Onboard With Digital Marketing
Nothing’s stopping you from getting your digital marketing efforts up to speed quickly. You can hire expert help right away, reach out for advice online, or research more articles like this one.
Are you excited to get started?
Browse our blog for some more insights on how to grow your business online this year.