Given how easy the internet has become, would you believe that the number of people using the internet every day is growing?
Pew Research says it is. In the past three years, “constant” internet use among adults has increased by 5%. Although we often say this, the way people shop has changed, and offline marketing is less effective than it once was.
Marketing is about connecting with your audience at the right place and time. You need to reach them online, as they are spending their time online.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing refers to all marketing activities that make use of an electronic device or internet. Digital channels include search engines, social media, and email to reach current and potential customers.
While a seasoned inbound marketer may say that inbound marketing and online marketing are almost identical, there are some differences. Through conversations with business owners and marketers in the U.S. and U.K., Asia and Australia, and New Zealand, I have learned a lot about these minor differences.
Why is digital marketing important?
You can reach more people with digital marketing than traditional advertising and target prospects who will most likely purchase your product or services. It’s also more affordable than traditional advertising and allows you to track your success and pivot as needed.
Digital marketing has many significant benefits. Let’s take a look at four of these benefits.
Target only those prospects who are most likely to buy your product or services. Advertisements can be placed on television, in magazines, and on billboards. Although you can measure specific demographics, such as the magazine’s readership or the neighborhood where the ad is being placed, it’s still not possible to know the exact audience.
Digital marketing allows you to target specific audiences and send them personalized, high-converting messages.
You might use social media’s targeting tools to target specific audiences based on certain variables, such as gender, age, location, interests, and networks. You might also use PPC and SEO strategies to show ads to people who have shown interest in your product/service or searched for keywords related to your industry.
Digital marketing allows you to do the research required to identify your buyer persona. It also lets you fine-tune your marketing strategy over time so that you reach prospects who are most likely to purchase. Digital marketing allows you to market to sub-groups of your larger target audience. This is particularly useful if you want to sell multiple products and services to different buyer personas.
It is more cost-effective than traditional marketing strategies.
Digital marketing allows you to monitor campaigns and reduce the amount you spend on one channel. However, you can’t show a high ROI. This is not possible with traditional advertising. It doesn’t matter how well your billboard performs; it still costs the same regardless of whether it converts.
Digital marketing gives you complete control over how you spend your money. Instead of spending money on PPC campaigns, perhaps you choose to invest in design software to create high-converting Instagram posts. Digital marketing strategies allow you to pivot and ensure that you don’t waste money on channels that aren’t performing well.
Digital marketing allows you to outrank other prominent players in your industry.
It’s difficult to compete with big brands if you are a small business. Many of these companies have millions of dollars invested in national campaigns and television commercials. There are many opportunities to surpass the big players with strategic digital marketing strategies.
You might, for example, identify long-tail keywords that are relevant to your product or services and create high-quality content to rank higher on search engines. Search engines don’t care about which brand is the biggest. Instead, they will prioritize content that resonates with the target audience.
Social media allows you to reach new audiences via influencer marketing. I don’t follow any major brands on social media. Still, I follow influencers who will occasionally showcase products or services they like — if you work for a small-to-medium-sized company, this could be an excellent avenue to consider.
Measurable digital marketing.
Digital marketing gives you a complete, end-to-end view of all metrics that may matter to your company, including impressions and clicks. This is one of the most significant benefits of digital marketing. Traditional advertising is helpful for specific goals, but its most important limitation is measurability.
Digital marketing, unlike other offline marketing strategies, allows marketers to view real-time results. You’ll be familiar with the difficulty of estimating how many people saw your advertisement in a newspaper. It’s impossible to determine if the ad is responsible for any sales.
