All you need to know about Digital Marketing

24/7 internet connectivity has changed our world so much. From our everyday routines to corporate life, the internet's presence has significantly impacted everything that one can think of possibly. Today, almost 85% of the world population owns a smartphone, and an average person spends approx. 8 hours of their day online.

Resultantly, it has become imperative for businesses to maintain a robust online presence of their brand. An expertly planned and strategised digital marketing campaign has become the need of the hour to reach the target audience and increase sales.

Incorporating digital marketing into advertising strategies helps companies capture great expansion opportunities while offering them a platform to elevate their products and services before prospective customers.

Digital Marketing - An Overview

Digital marketing or online marketing refers to all engagement and marketing activities carried out online through different mediums for promoting a brand on the internet. It helps brands to be found and noticed by potential customers. It is also an ideal way to increase the conversion rate and get more leads.

Online marketing campaigns include Pay-per-click advertising, Search engine marketing, Social media marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Video marketing, email marketing, and others.

Each digital marketing method has unique tricks and tactics for building relationships with prospects. You may either use one of these methods or strategies where all these activities work together to create a strong foundation for a brand. Let's learn how the magic of Digital Marketing works.

How Digital Marketing brings a Company and its target audience closer?

Most people argue that digital marketing and traditional forms of marketing are similar. This is true to some extent as both the marketing mediums are used for developing relationships with customers, leads, and prospects. But the online mode of marketing has the upper hand. It’s a modern and more uniform technique for reaching consumers.

Let’s learn how.

From small things like needles to big purchases and fixing roofs, everything is online these days. Think about your latest significant expense. How did things get started? We are sure that you would have searched the internet to learn about the best options available in and around your area.

Irrespective of their unique needs, today, every individual begins shopping by checking the solutions online to find out the answers and the best product/service providers for it. The final decision of the buyers is dependent on customer reviews published online. Additionally, the internet also serves as a convenient mode of researching product/service pricing and features.

In a nutshell, most buying decisions start on the internet, making an online presence mandatory for businesses.

There are several online marketing methods to mark the presence of your brand on the web –

1. Website Marketing

It tops the list of digital marketing strategies for many reasons. A brand’s website holds excellent value as it helps target customers to build a perception of the company’s products and services. Let’s dig deeper into this.

Digital marketing attracts and engages the leads which ultimately end-up in the list of potential customers. The strategies and tactics used in marketing direct the target audience to its website, where customers can get detailed info about the products.

A well-designed, user-friendly website “convinces” the customers to make their first purchase. If planned and executed effectively, the strategy also does wonders in retaining the buyers. Thus, the brands need to pay attention to their website’s layout including the graphics and colours.

2. Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is one of the crucial elements of a digital marketing channel. As is clear from its name, this strategy allows the companies to optimise/enhance their brand image on various search engines to increase their customer base. It is indeed one of the proven ways to connect with your target audience and convert them into potential customers.

High rank on SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) increases the brand’s visibility on the web. Resultantly, the company can connect with a larger target audience. A higher rank means higher organic traffic on the site which means more sales. The promoters emphasise a specific set of (trending/high-ranking) topics and keywords through text/video content in this online marketing strategy. The search engine ranks the website whenever a buyer will search for products/services using that keyword according to the keyword usage in the content.

Today, search engines like Google are prominently used by consumers before making a purchase. Therefore, companies must build effective SEO strategies for improving the SEO of their online portal. You can reach a massive number of leads leveraging the power of this online marketing method.

3. Content Marketing

It is another useful tactic used by digital marketing experts to promote the brand online. Content marketing allows businesses to promote their products/services through content created to engage and attract the target audience. The content can be designed to promote the brand, grow website visitors, increase leads, retain buyers, etc. An online marketing campaign will bring no results unless you include content marketing into the picture.

The short form of content marketing can be as simple as thanking the customers for subscribing to email newsletters. Alternatively, brands can also consider distributing free eBooks containing detailed info about the target audience's challenges.

Content marketing helps marketers achieve their goals through social media posts, Case Studies, Videos, Blogging, Ad Content, eBooks, Infographics, White papers, Podcasts, Testimonials, and Images. The secret to building useful content pieces for digital marketing is picking topics that are both appealing and informative.

4. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a no brainer. Almost every brand, right from the new entrants to the established ones, leverages social media's power to popularise its brand online. The technique adds value to online marketing strategies and helps companies drive an increased number of the potential audience to their site.

It involves brand promotion through engaging content on popular social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. The tactic works individually as well as adds power to other e-marketing methods.

5. Email Marketing

It is another crucial element of the online marketing puzzle. Email marketing is one of the cheapest and most effective forms of e-promotion, where marketers use emails for building communication with prospective customers.

With this method, you can enhance a brand's popularity among the audience while establishing market leadership. It is also an ideal way to promote special deals and offers. Using this online marketing for brands can quickly spread a word about their upcoming discounts and sales. The best part is that the message will go straight to the inbox of consumers.

Companies can use it to their advantage for sending periodic newsletters to email subscribers. It is also one of the convenient methods to share updates about your company with the customers. You need to be smart enough when strategising an email marketing campaign. It is wise to add those customers who can lead to the list interested in similar products/services. Your campaign should be based on the browsing patterns and purchase behaviour of buyers.

6. Pay Per Click (PPC)

It is a fantastic mode of digital marketing used by marketers for growing conversion rates and website traffic. The best part about PPC marketing is that marketers need not bear the cost of placing ads or impressions. Instead, the advertiser pays when internet users click on that particular advertisement.

Pay Per Click is one of the best forms of e-marketing that allows marketers to quickly drive a massive amount of website traffic. It is indeed one of the quickest online marketing methods for driving sales and multiplying growth.

Final Takeaway

SEO, Website Marketing, Email Marketing, Pay Per Click Content Marketing, and Social Media Marketing are different online marketing elements. An effective marketing campaign is where all these pieces are strategically integrated so that every aspect gives maximum output.

Online market analysis is the first step to building an efficient online marketing campaign. It allows a brand to determine its position in the market. Plus, they can learn about their popularity rate. You can also know about the potential opportunities that your competitors are taking to popularise their brand’s image online. Moreover, an in-depth analysis creates a roadmap to an effective marketing channel for a business.

Also read:

1) What is Digital Marketing? Scope, Opportunities & more
2) Digitalisation - The next step in the evolution of Digital India
3) How Small Businesses Afford Digital Marketing?
4) Which affordable digital marketing course is best for a startup and small business owners?