Digital marketing is the key to business success in this modern era.
How can you tell?
Because businesses are set to spend a whopping $118 billion on it by 2021. If the returns were insufficient, then such enormous sums of money simply wouldn’t be spent on it!
It makes sense. After all, people’s eyes are firmly fixed to screens these days. Phones, tablets, and computers are the consumer’s drug of choice. Billboards and business cards are old news. If you want your product or service to get noticed, then you need to be online.
Businesses have clearly taken note! And you should too.
But what specific advantages are these companies enjoying? Want to find out?
Keep reading to discover the top 7 benefits of digital marketing to enjoy this year.
1. It’s Cost-Effective
Marketing of old wasn’t cheap.
Getting your business in front of people required significant sums of money.
Radio advertisements, billboards, and TV ads could set you back tens of thousands of dollars. That was simply out of reach for smaller companies.
Digital marketing lowers the barrier to entry. It’s now exceptionally cheap to market your business. Heck, you can launch an ad campaign on as little as $5 on social media!
The right content, to the right audience, can go viral. The engagements and shares that go with it can drive vast swathes of traffic to your website. Brand awareness explodes with it.
2. It Can Be Totally Free
What’s better than cheap?
Free, of course.
Digital marketing doesn’t have to cost a thing. The rise of the internet and the power of search engines means you can drive traffic and leads for no money whatsoever.
Take search engine optimization. SEO is a core principle to all digital marketing nowadays. Optimizing website and content to rank highly in search results is a key to success.
And it is (or can be) totally free!
Sure, you’ll need to be time rich. But if you’re cash poor, then this is a lifesaver. Want help with your SEO? This SEO company can help.
3. It Levels the Playing Field
This lower cost of entry has additional positive effects.
One of the main ones?
Everyone can afford to play the game.
Digital marketing is the great leveler. The playing field has never been flatter. Businesses of all shapes and sizes can now compete. You don’t need to be a giant corporation to market yourself.
Someone in their garage can advertise their start-up, in the same way as the biggest brands do. They might even do a better job of it!
4. Specific Targeting
Digital marketing is a marketers’ dream come true.
Go back 20 years. Imagine having the chance to market a product to your target customer at the push of a button. Not only that, but a notification sounds and this magical device in their pocket lights up, telling them about your latest promotion.
You’d have laughed in disbelief and bitten someone’s hand off for the opportunity!
Yet this is exactly what digital marketing enables. Push notifications to smartphones are just one example of their immense potential. You can direct personalized, relevant adverts directly to the pockets of your target customer. That’s huge marketing power!
5. Easy Analytics
Success in marketing almost always comes down to testing and analysis.
Sure, some people get lucky. They’re in the right place at the right time. Maybe they just have an innate knack for quality marketing.
For the vast majority of businesses, though, testing and analysis are foundational.
Without it, you’re shooting blind and from the hip. There’s no way of knowing what’s working and what isn’t. Back in the day, it was difficult to accurately measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Digital marketing solves the problem. Every platform worth its salt allows you to test and measure as standard. You can track performance, A/B test, and alter course accordingly. Optimization is (relatively speaking, at least) easy.
6. Improved Conversions
It’s never been easier to make a sale.
Why?
Because digital marketing makes it exponentially more straight forward.
People like things to be easy. Every step between them and buying something is a hurdle. The more hurdles there are, the less likely they’ll convert.
In the past, there were all sorts of hurdles to get through. They’d need to use pick up a phone, dial a number, and speak with a salesperson. Heck, people actually had to get in their cars and leave their home to buy something!
Nowadays, customers can stay in bed and in their pajamas while buying everything they could ever want. They don’t even have to move. They go the website, click one single button, and have the product delivered to their door the very next day.
Digital marketing makes that happen. Done well, it helps to drive conversions like nothing else.
7. Improved Reach
What happens when you combine easy conversions with greater reach?
Massive growth, that’s what happens.
Digital marketing expands your reach to incredible levels. Billions of people are now online. You have instant access to almost all of them. People are more connected than ever before. What’s more, most people have more expendable income than ever before.
You, as a business, can get your product/service in front of exponentially more of them, at a discount price. The return on investment can be enormous.
Final Thoughts on the Benefits of Digital Marketing
There you have it: the top benefits of digital marketing for your business to leverage this year.
Marketing has come a long way over the last few decades. In recent years, the rise of digital marketing has catapulted businesses to ever greater success. They’re spending increasing sums of money on it as a result!
Hopefully, this post has highlighted why that’s the case. If you aren’t already leveraging the power of the internet in your marketing efforts, then it’s time to get started.
Want some help doing it? Did you find value in this post? Head on over to our ‘Favorite SEO Articles’ section for more digital marketing information to stay up to date.