Online marketing is a key part of any business in today’s technology-fueled world. As such, you need to ensure that you are not just familiar with popular digital marketing buzzwords in 2019, but also know how to use those terms to craft successful strategies.
Why Digital Marketing Matters
Before getting into how to successfully market your business online, take the time to understand why digital marketing is so important. Simply put, nearly everyone spends time online and the world is increasingly-connected.
By using digital marketing, you will reach a much wider audience than if you relied on traditional marketing methods. Remember that younger generations read fewer physical magazines and newspapers and watch less cable TV than they did in the past. These have been replaced by online magazines and papers and streaming services, respectively. That means that if you relied solely on traditional advertising, a large segment of the population would only hear about you through word of mouth or perhaps billboards.
Not only does digital marketing give you access to a wider audience, but it targets that audience where they spend the most time. Most adults under 65 in the United States visit social media every single day and 97% do so at least monthly.
Digital marketing also gives you some advantages that are not available via traditional marketing. For example, you can target your advertisement more, adjusting your ad slightly for various demographics. There is also a lower cost of entry and more advertising options available. Using online marketing also allows for more in-depth analysis and improved scalability.
Segmentation And Personalization Are Key For Digital Marketing
As mentioned, one of the benefits of using online marketing is the ability to easily segment and personalize your marketing. These are both key elements for your digital marketing strategy and work hand in hand.
With segmentation, you take a look at your various target audiences and figure out what they are looking for. Based on that information, you can create customized advertisements for each segment depending on how they use the product. If, for example, you sell a kitchen gadget, you could create a targeted advertisement for busy parents who want to spend time and another for chefs who make use of convenient tools.
You can segment your target audience by any factor that makes sense for you. Use demographics like age, gender, socio-economic status, education level, or job. Or use factors such as whether it is a new or repeat customer or how the person viewing the ad expressed interest in your company.
Those familiar with popular digital marketing buzzwords will note that segmentation is dividing your target audience into larger segments by the above factors while personalization takes this a step further. Personalization is even more tailored to each individual based on things like purchase history or the results of a survey.
Make Use Of Advanced Analytics
Regardless of your marketing strategy, you need to have a method of tracking the success of your strategy. Otherwise, you will not know whether it works well or you need to make changes. Online marketing makes performing this type of analytics much simpler since you can get concrete data.
Analytic programs can collect information such as whether viewers actually saw your advertisement and other actions, such as if they shared it, liked it, commented on it, clicked on the link, or simply just lingered on it. Advanced programs can even record whether the advertisement likely led to a future sale. None of those things would be possible in traditional advertising without asking people to report their actions.
There are many analytics programs available that will automatically record this data for you and consolidate it in a simple, easy-to-use chart or graph. Google Analytics is the perfect example and among the most popular. You can find both free and paid programs that do this.
Use the analytics to see what advertisements perform well and what types of interactions potential customers prefer. This lets you better target your spending so you can get the most for your money with digital advertising.
Always Use Google My Business
The Google My Business (GMB) page is an essential tool for any business, regardless of size, and is free. This is where you fill out the information about your business, including your website, contact information, photos, and location. Customers can leave reviews and ask questions as well. Essentially, claiming your GMB page ensures that when people search for your company, they will get accurate information.
Figure Out The Best Marketing Channel For You
There are numerous digital marketing methods and channels available, including both organic and paid. If you were to use every single channel, you would not be able to put much time or effort into each of them, hurting your efforts and ROI. Instead, take the time to test out various channels and determine which one works best for you. Then, you can focus on the channels that make the most sense for your company.
Consider everything, including various social media platforms. It is important to note that different companies should focus on different channels. A B2B service provider, for example, would likely want to focus their efforts on LinkedIn advertising while a fashion company should probably focus on Instagram.
Use Social Media
No matter the type of company that you have, it will be a smart idea to make use of social media, at least to some extent. At the very least, consider setting up a Twitter account and/or a Facebook page for your business. From there, use your evaluations of marketing channels to figure out where to spend your efforts.
Use social media to share news about your company and promote your content. Also use social media to interact with the community. You want your followers to feel as if you bring them valuable or interesting content, not just an endless stream of promotions. You can achieve this by commenting on posts from others and using popular hashtags.
Use Videos Or Infographics As Well
Integrate videos into your social media campaigns to reach an audience and show quality content. Visuals tend to get high levels of engagement and this is particularly true of videos. Try making explainer videos, keeping them short and sweet. Explainer videos will show off the benefits of your product or service or explain a concept within your industry. Just remember to keep them fun, otherwise engagement will be low.
Include Email Marketing
No digital marketing strategy is complete without the inclusion of email marketing. This is a great way to build relationships with your customers and it is among the most effective strategies that you can use to connect with your clients. In fact, one report indicated that 83% of people have a preference for email as one of the promotional channels.
When used correctly, email marketing will convert visitors from your website into contacts. Luckily, you can find a long list of free email marketing tools that let you integrate that software with your website. Those tools fully automate the process of collecting email addresses so you have one less thing to worry about. Or you can use your own strategy to collect those addresses. Things like a contact form or pop-up are more obvious options. Or you can tempt them with something such as a free trial, discount, or free item/service by signing up for your email newsletter.
Once you have your email list, you can segment it according to the previously mentioned factors. From there, you can run various email campaigns. You should always consider including a welcome email that thanks to new subscribers for signing up and letting them know why it is good to be on your email list. You may also want to include things like introductions to new products, emails with discounts, educational content, and re-engagement campaigns for subscribers who have not made a purchase in a while.
Use SEO And PPC To Bring In Traffic
One of the focuses of your digital marketing campaign will be to bring new traffic to your website. This is done via various advertisements as well as people finding your company on their favorite search engine. There are two main methods for getting visitors via searches, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC). Both have their uses and require slightly different strategies, but they work perfectly in harmony.
PPC is when you choose a keyword and pay to be one of the top search results for that keyword. You pay a set amount for each click on your link, so you end up paying for what you get in terms of visits. SEO is when you work to organically increase your ranking on the search results page for a given keyword. This requires effort but is an excellent long-term strategy. Your SEO strategy must include various components, such as creating unique and high-quality content, having a fast website, being mobile-friendly, organic backlinks, and more. Both strategies require familiarity with popular digital marketing buzzwords within your industry.
Don’t Be Afraid To Get Professional Assistance
The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving and staying up-to-date on the latest trends and algorithms requires time and effort. Because of this, many companies turn to professionals to help with marketing. Doing so lets you take advantage of their experience and professional insights while saving time for your important day-to-day tasks.
