Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience. For a marketing strategy to work, you need to engage with your audience right where they are. Today’s market tells us exactly where we can meet those audiences. And it’s not the kind of place where you need to travel far for you to reach it. With a click of the mouse, you can now engage with your audience and make flexible marketing efforts to convince your audience to become your valued customers. What makes marketing in today’s digitally advanced world easier and efficient, is none other than “The Internet”.
Gone are the days where brands needed to advertise on television, radios, print ads, and even spend tons of money on a billboard for their brand to be seen. Although these strategies still work today, people are now more engrossed in the digital world. Thus, marketers must build their brand or business on the Internet where potential customers spend most of their time.
This is where Digital Marketing comes in.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing encompasses a range of strategies that are applied online to market products and services using various technologies (computers, tablets, mobile phones, apps, etc.) that access the Internet. Our daily activities in the online world such as in social media, Google, and other online platforms all have something to do with digital marketing.
The Internet is a huge virtual place to do business. Because of the opportunities given by the Internet to marketers, digital marketing gets used by various businesses— from online retail to brick and mortar businesses through their websites. Digital marketing is vital for businesses today because the internet plays a significant role in consumers’ purchasing decisions.
As consumers spend more hours online every day, businesses feel the need to extend their marketing efforts online and establish their online presence. Because of this demand, digital marketing has now become a growing field in the marketing industries. Along with this demand is the need for efficient digital marketing agencies to fill in the role of bringing your business to the digital scene.
What Skills Do You Need for Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is just like a company. Its employees work in different departments each working to fulfill their roles to help the company succeed. Digital marketing involves different marketing strategies, each working on a marketing focus and at the same time can perform a combined work with other strategies to make a more effective digital marketing effort.
Here are some of the most well-known strategies of Digital marketing that you should know:
1. Social Media Marketing (SMM)
We are in the era of social media where consumers spend multiple times logging in to Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites to socialize. These days, people aren’t just logging in to make friends. They log in because business is thriving on these platforms. Marketing is all about reaching out to your customers right where they are and social media is just the perfect place to find your audience.
Social networking sites have millions of active users online with Facebook alone accounts for over 2.7 billion active users. Using various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms as a form of social media marketing strategy, can help you expand your reach and find your market.
With the ever-growing number of social media users all around the world, it’s hard not to think about how far your business can reach. Social Media is your golden ticket to introduce your brand to a wide range of audiences. If this strategy is done properly, you’ll be able to find your audience who are interested in what you are offering. Apart from introducing your brand to your audience, you’ll be able to engage with them which builds trust and credibility between you and your audience. You can use social media to advertise your brand in the forms of campaigns, video content, contests, and other means that represent your brand.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When you want to look for information on the Internet, the first thing you do is search Google. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a digital marketing process in which its goal is to get your platform to appear on top of the SERPs or Search Engine Result Pages. When users type on the search bar, Google automatically gives the best search results possible based on their rankings. Google’s algorithm is programmed to rank websites based on their contents, and overall performance as a website. There are standards that website owners should keep up for Google to rank them on the search engine. Consumers usually find what they look for on the first and second pages of SERPs.
Optimizing your website to be Search Engine friendly will get you on top of the SERPs where there is a higher chance of people finding your website or business. If you want to improve your brand awareness, SEO is a good way to go plus SMM and Content Marketing. SEO is free to implement and increases the site’s traffic over time. SEO is a great guide for you to improve the quality of your platform. Its main approach in SEO is mainly about being smart in planning your main keywords and using them in creating meaningful content that is good enough for link building. It is also the best way to gain organic traffic for your website.
3. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
PPC stands for “pay-per-click” which is a form of advertising that you use a set a budget for to intended for your ads on a given platform, such as Google or Facebook and other platforms on the Internet. It’s cost-effective marketing that allows you to advertise your brand anywhere and the quickest way to gain traffic for your website. The cost is entailed every time a user clicks on your advertised ad.
This strategy, however, does not gain your organic traffic as you can with SEO. Nonetheless, it is helpful that you use PPC since the result from your SEO efforts may take time.
4. Website Marketing
Your website represents your business and is considered one of the biggest marketing assets that allow your customers to find your business. This is why having a website is beneficial for your business. A website serves as the base of all online marketing operations. This is where you can showcase your products and post your content for your visitors to read. As a website owner, it is your responsibility to provide an excellent user experience to your visitors so that your customer will stay longer and explore your website and get to know your products and services which in return will generate organic traffic.
When you create your website, it is important to consider your site’s graphics, design, and overall layout. Make sure it is mobile friendly so they can access it on any device.
5. Content Marketing
Content Marketing is all about connecting directly with your audience using various forms of content. Without good content, your SEO strategy will not be as effective as you want it to be. Content Marketing is an essential tactic that plays a significant role in making your digital marketing strategies work. Content is essential when you want to engage with your consumers which is an important aspect of marketing. It can be created for several purposes such as boosting leads, generating traffic, engaging for customer retention and conversion, and to build your brand reputation and awareness.
6. Email Marketing
Email is still one of the most used communication channels even in the present. It may not be the most effective strategy to generate fresh leads, it’s benefit goes to the retention of your customers. The goal of email marketing is to send content about your brand to your prospective consumers at a close range as possible. Unlike social media profiles, your email is not something that is publicly accessible to anyone.
For email marketing campaigns, your goal is to create content such as weekly newsletters, promotional offers, and updates about their products and services that will entice your consumer to check out your brand. If marketing emails are effective, your prospects can turn into real customers and one-time buyers into loyal customers.
7. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that allows you to earn commissions by promoting other company’s products and services. For influencers, bloggers, and brand ambassadors, this is a form of passive income. For businesses, it is a way to gather traffic, potential leads, and even paying customers.
Digital Marketing is such a vast topic to discuss. However, these are some of the basic knowledge that you need to know. In today’s business world, getting your business online is one of the most essential strategies that you should work for your business to have a chance of succeeding. In this overly competitive market, having a good digital strategy is the best edge that you can have for your business.
