Digital marketing allows you to reach customers who might not be exposed to traditional advertising. It also helps you engage with your customers throughout their day, rather than simply interrupting them with a billboard or TV ad.
It encompasses a wide variety of techniques, such as pay-per-click advertising and organic SEO. This article will outline how to find a form of digital marketing that is right for your business.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to make your customers aware of new products and services or keep them engaged between purchases. It can also be used to nurture prospects and encourage brand loyalty.
Ensure your emails are relevant to your audience and avoid using “salesy” language, which can trigger spam filters and get your emails sent straight to junk or spam folders. Instead, focus on providing value to your subscribers by sending them links to epic blog posts or valuable resources.
For example, personal finance company NerdWallet uses email to maintain customer engagement by promoting new ways to manage money, including setting financial goals and starting savings goals. They use clear and clever copy to entice their audience to click through and learn more.
Online Advertising
Online advertising is a powerful digital marketing tool that helps businesses reach their target audience online. It can be used to generate website traffic, increase brand awareness, and persuade customers to take action like making a purchase.
Examples of online advertising include search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, native advertising, and social media advertising. SEM leverages paid ads to boost a business’s visibility within search engine result pages (SERPs), while PPC ads are displayed when users search for specific keywords on Google or other search engines.
Native advertising is a form of paid media that blends marketing materials into the medium it appears on, such as a blog or news site. It is also sometimes known as sponsored content.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines like Google are used by consumers to find information about products and services. Businesses can leverage SEO to ensure that their online content is appearing when consumers are searching for specific keywords.
A good SEO strategy involves developing a list of keywords that potential customers are typing into Google. Then, each piece of online content can be tailored to these search terms.
Unlike pay-per-click advertising, SEO is an organic way to direct traffic to your website. It takes time and effort to implement, but can be a very effective long-term strategy. Search engine optimization also encompasses ensuring that websites are technically configured correctly, feature relevant content and are popular amongst the user community. This includes the use of title tags, meta descriptions, descriptive URLs and schema markup to specify a page’s content meaning.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing uses a mix of “owned” content from a business’s existing customer database, plus “paid” ads and influencer rev-share agreements to generate awareness or sales. It’s relatively inexpensive, compared to traditional marketing tactics.
It also enables companies to humanize themselves, giving end users a platform to voice concerns or compliments. This helps to ensure that the company’s profile and posts reflect a personable, approachable face.
When done well, it can be incredibly effective. However, it’s important to understand that social media marketing shouldn’t exist in a silo separate from other marketing efforts. The content created should be crafted with care and coordinated with other promotions to ensure consistency and a cohesive message across all channels.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing involves sending text messages, social media notifications and other content to users’ smartphones or tablets. It allows marketers to target their message based on the user’s location or activity, which can be useful for businesses that want to offer specific deals or promotions at certain times.
This form of digital marketing can also have a viral component, as people can share content with their friends and family through apps like TikTok or Instagram. This can help businesses reach a large audience for free.
Mobile marketing is also a good choice for small businesses that don’t have the budget to advertise on traditional channels like radio or television. Campaigns can be created quickly and can be tracked in real-time, which gives companies more control over their results.
