A refined digital marketing strategy holds the key to attracting customers to your business. The truth is almost every company participates in some kind of marketing; after all, effective marketing efforts will drive leads and boost revenue for businesses in any industry.
In 2020, companies were forced to pivot their marketing strategies to online digital platforms to survive. In 2021, businesses must continuously adapt their marketing efforts and dive deep into the digital marketing strategy world to survive and thrive!
What is Digital Marketing?
Before we can jump into the essentials of digital marketing strategy, we need to understand what digital marketing is and how it can be leveraged.
Digital marketing promotes a brand and its products or services through digital media channels such as websites, search engines, social media and email. Crafting a digital marketing strategy allows you to optimize these channels and drive more than just traffic to your website. An effective digital marketing strategy will include:
Website Design
A well-designed website attracts online users and helps them easily navigate your information through interactive buttons and forms. User experience (UX) design creates meaningful, relevant and easy-to-digest experiences for users. UX designers prioritize experience every step of the way – from branding to usability and functionality. A website is the center of your business and should link to your other media channels to help customers stay connected.
Content Marketing
Content marketing informs customers about the value of your product or service. Excellent content marketing will position your brand as trustworthy and reliable, in turn generating both brand awareness and lead generation. Blogging is the ultimate form of content marketing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO drives organic traffic to websites by using keywords and phrases to maximize the chance of content showing up in the top spot of the search engine result page (SERP). Online tools like Google My Business are an excellent place to start establishing local SEO for your business.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM is similar to SEO, however, it uses paid advertising to guarantee the top spot on SERP instead of using organic methods like keywords.
Paid Per Click (PPC)
PPC campaigns are paid advertising, meaning companies pay search engines when their ads are clicked. The goal of PPC is to convert a high volume of customers. Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are all PPC ad platforms.
Email Marketing
Email marketing builds personal relationships with customers by promoting content, offers or events through email communication.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing builds brand awareness and helps businesses develop connections with their audience. An effective social media strategy will help you reach a larger audience and increase overall conversions. Platforms to start with include Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Clubhouse, etc.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is all about telling a story. Creating curated video content is a valuable tool for reaching, entertaining and informing your customers with valuable information about your business. It’s also more accessible than you may think, with many brands recording videos remotely.
Why Do You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Online marketing presents exciting advantages that all companies should be leveraging. With a refined digital marketing strategy, businesses will attract more leads and convert them into paying customers.
1. Cost-Effective
Digital advertising can be highly effective and very affordable. Establishing an online presence, building social media followers and writing blog posts are cost-effective alternatives to traditional advertising methods. Affordable marketing means businesses of any size can participate and see desired results.
2. Easy-to-track
Want to know how your campaigns are performing? Digital marketing gives you easy access to performance data and presents accurate insights into the measure of ROI. With online analytics tools, you can see how audiences interact with your campaigns and identify areas for improvement. Easy-to-track metrics help businesses optimize their marketing strategy to drive the best results.
3. Increased Visibility
In the era of COVID-19, almost everyone is reliant on the internet to get what they need, and consumers use search engines such as Google and Bing to make purchases. Businesses must be engaging in the right push and pull strategies to become visible through search and reach their target audience online.
4. Establish Relationships and Brand Reputation
Businesses can create personal relationships with their customers through online engagement. You have access to direct connections with users who view and interact with your content through reviews, comments, direct messages or shared social media posts. By engaging with consumers online, business owners can fine-tune marketing efforts and meet their customers’ needs. Not to mention, genuine online interactions can lead to developing your brand’s reputation and trust with your customers!
Online advertising gives businesses new ways to target audiences and build effective brand recognition. With a well-planned strategy, you can target the right audience for your business and increase your brand’s visibility. Through online initiatives like blogging, social media and search engine marketing, businesses can effectively target leads and convert them into customers.
How to Create an Effective Strategy
Digital marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be effective.
If you want to learn how to promote your business through digital marketing, the first step you need to take is determining your business objectives and establishing the goals you want to achieve. At Candybox Marketing, we believe in marketing that works. Our team of digital marketing experts are here to help businesses of any size develop effective marketing plans that will help their business grow and achieve their goals.
If you are a business owner looking to pivot your strategy online but don’t know where to start, reach out to us! We are here to help you thrive with a refined and effective digital marketing strategy.
Take the first steps towards developing a strategy for your business today and join our social media workshop!