Top 6 digital marketing techniques: The complete guide

What is digital marketing? What are the benefits? What types of digital marketing strategies are there?

Digital marketing allows you to reach a wide audience in a way which is both cost-effective and measurable. Brands will be able to save money and reach way more potential consumers when compared to traditional marketing.

Previously, AGS took a look at blockchain in digital marketing but what is digital marketing? What different types of digital marketing methods are there? These questions and many more will be answered within this article as all things digital marketing will be explained.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is similar to traditional marketing but it is done online. Brands will communicate with their customer base and promote their product and services through the internet. However, this does not only mean that brands will utilise social media, emails and web advertising but they will also use text and multimedia messages to communicate with their audience.

Therefore, in simple terms – if your marketing campaign involves any digital format or communication then it will fall under digital marketing.

1. Why is digital marketing important?

The fast answer is that we are in a digital age. If companies do not adopt a digital strategy then it is set up for failure. Additionally, digital marketing is important because:

Convenience

We are surrounded by technology. You can easily come up with a digital marketing campaign and communicate with thousands of customers from the comfort of your own home or office. This has become more evident due to smartphones as brands are able to catch the attention of the consumer at any time in the day.

Content

Content must be a main feature in your digital marketing campaign/strategy. Without content you will not be able to communicate with your audience in an effective manner. The content you provide will represent your brand, your goals and your values. It is what keeps your customers engaged with your website and therefore it is a big part of digital marketing.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Digital marketing and content go hand-in-hand and with this comes SEO. If your SEO is at a high level then be ready for a high return on investments as your website and content will be appearing on everyone’s job search. SEO plays a big part in digital marketing as it makes sure that your company is gaining the attention it desires and needs to become successful.

Fair and equal opportunities

The best feature about a good and detailed digital marketing campaign is that by combining good content and SEO, even startups and small companies will be able to get that brand awareness they crave and need. Smaller companies could utilise digital marketing to compete against the more established names and create a name for themselves in a cost-effective manner.

2. Benefits of digital marketing

In this section we take a look at the benefits of utilising digital marketing in your marketing strategies.

Firstly, the main advantage in digital marketing is that your targeted audience can be reached in a measurable and very cost-effective way while brand loyalty and sales may also increase while utilising this type of strategy.

Other notable benefits for a digital marketing strategy are:

Reach

To have good marketing strategies online, a brand will obviously need a website and social media channels. By having a well developed website and social media profiles that are constantly being updated with new content, then there is a higher possibility that your brand would reach a global audience. A website will allow your brand to develop new business relationships and trade globally for a small fee.

Low cost

If you use the right marketing techniques and plan out your strategy well, then your digital marketing campaign will definitely reach the audience you are targeting at a much lower cost than traditional marketing techniques.

Tracking

Although digital marketing is quite a cost-effective technique, companies will still want to measure and track how they’re campaign is going. It is important for a business to know whether the digital marketing strategy is helping them grow or if there needs to be any changes that may effect the results.

Digital marketing campaigns are much easier to track than traditional marketing strategies. Digital marketing has many tools that can track customer engagement such as Google Analytics and Facebook Analytics. Your campaign can be measured and tracked by viewing the impressions, clicks, shares, conversions and comments. This will give you a complete 360 view on whether your audience are engaging with your brand.

Personalised offers

Your customer database should be linked to your website. Therefore, whenever a customer visits your website, you can target them with specific offers which are tailored made just for them. The more a customer buys from your website, the more you will be able to personalise their experience and target them with products that would entice them to buy.

Change as you go

One of the best benefits that come with digital marketing over traditional marketing is that you are able to change as you go. Once billboards or brochures are sent out, that’s it. There is no going back. However, when you utilise digital marketing campaigns, you are given the freedom to make any changes if things are not working out as planned. Companies will be able to modify their social media ads, optimise SEO campaigns and update your content at any time you wish. Therefore, marketers are blessed with the possibility to change the brand’s campaign whenever they feel it is necessary.

Shareability

Another benefit that comes with your digital marketing campaign is that since you’ll have social media channels, your page will be easily shareable. By providing engaging social media campaigns, content with videos & photos and articles, there is a chance that users will share your posts which will increase your reach. Social currency is very important and this is exactly what digital marketing can provide for you – it gives your brand the chance to become viral.

Conversion rates

At the end of the day, digital marketing may improve your brand’s shareability online and create a global audience but companies will want to see these benefits translate into conversion rates. Digital marketing allows you to target specific leads, rather than a huge audience were your campaign may fall on deaf ears. By targeting consumers who are more likely to be interested in your product, the chance of earning a conversion increases.

3. Understanding the digital marketing environment

You know what digital marketing is, together with its importance and benefits. Now its time to understand the digital marketing environment and factors that may effect your campaign. There are two major elements that can effect a digital marketing environment – The Macro environment and the Micro environment. Let’s take a closer look at them:

Micro Environment

This is environmental factors that will directly effect the performance of the company. The Micro environment could be known as the internal environmental factors as these stakeholders have a direct effect on the company’s operations. The company does have certain control on these factors and can minimise the risk that they could pose. Examples of these stakeholders are:

A. Customers

B. Suppliers

C. Competitors

D. Employees

E. Intermidiaries

Macro Environment

On the other hand, the macro environment consists of external factors that the organisation will have little to no control over and could influence their digital marketing strategy. These factors that can effect a company’s digital marketing strategy are:

A. Political influences

B. Legal changes

C. Economic factors

D. Technological advancements

E. Social norms

4. B2B digital marketing

Business to business (B2B) digital marketing is a method were companies are aiming to sell to other companies. There are a number of digital marketing strategies that organisations must follow to really grow their client base. The following our B2B digital marketing strategies best practices:

Define target audience

Determine your buyer persona and target audience. This is a common feature in anything marketing. Before even starting out one must always know the type of people they are targeting. This may need more thought than B2C as identifying a target audience in B2B may be more demanding. Once your audience is identified, then every other marketing activity should be based around your findings here.

Website creation

This is quite an obvious step. Without a website then your B2B digital marketing strategy will be irrelevant. The majority of buyers first visit your website before even considering to make a purchase. Furthermore, a B2B buying process is much longer than a B2C buying process as it involves many key players such as the gatekeeper and decision makers. Therefore, websites pose as a straightforward and easy way for influencers within the industry to share your product and service – eliminating several players in the buying process.

Utilise search engine optimisation

One of the most important factors in B2B digital marketing is to make sure that people can discover your website organically. Put emphasis on SEO as this will push your website up on Google’s ranking and you could see your website up there with the big players. You can do this by including on-page SEO which are – meta descriptions, alt-text images and ensuring that your site speed is of a good quality. There are also other tactics such as Off-page SEO tactics which include social sharing and external linking.

Run Pay-per-click advertising

Now that you have utilised SEO both on-page and off-page, go ahead and run pay-per-click ads. These ads will ensure that your brand is being boosted and viewed by new audiences via search engines and other platforms used for advertising. However, do not just advertise your product here but advertise your brand as a whole which includes yours blog and social media pages.

5. B2C digital marketing

Throughout the article I discussed what is digital marketing as well as the benefits and importance of it all which is all applicable to B2C digital marketing. Therefore, we’ll just jump right into what you need to do for a successful B2C digital marketing strategy. You’ll need to identify – Customer needs, speed and target size.

Firstly, one must identify what your target audience is looking for. Make sure your brand is being exposed to the relevant customer base. Also make sure to link your brand image to a feeling. For example, Coca Cola back in 2010 released a campaign associating their product with happiness.

Moreover, make sure to explain why your customer needs this product in a short time. This will ensure that the customer will not be given the chance to decide whether they need the product or not as the answer would be given to them instantly. Finally, when developing and implementing a B2C digital marketing strategy, the company must ensure that they will be able to meet the demands of the target size audience. If this is not done then customers will look elsewhere as you were not able to satisfy their needs immediately.

6. Digital marketing techniques

Social Media Marketing

This techniques involves using all your social media channels. It is a form of internet marketing that involves content creation and then sharing that content across all social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Social media is the perfect way to communicate with your audience and help towards achieving your brand goals.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is a way to generate organic traffic to your website through search engines like Google. You must implement a clear SEO strategy to notice any improvements in your search engine ranking as this will help you catch the eye of a potential customer when they will need you most – during their buying process. You can improve your SEO by using keywords, titles, meta descriptions, links and utilising visual optimisation.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a form of direct digital marketing as you will be targeting customers within your own database. Through email, marketers will be able to promote a business’s product or service while making customers aware of your latest offer or new items.

Content Marketing

This digital marketing strategy involves creating relevant, trendy and up-to-date content surrounding your brand to consistently attract consumers to your page. The aims of content marketing are to create:

• Brand awareness
• Lead generation
• Sales
• Lead nurturing
• Customer loyalty
• Customer Engagement

Video Marketing

This digital technique is similar to content marketing but marketers will use videos to market their products. Consumers seem to be more receptive to videos rather than text so it poses as the best opportunity to educate your consumers on your brand while also giving the company the opportunity to reach a wider and new audience.

Web Advertising

This marketing technique is a form of advertising via the internet in order to deliver promotional messages to consumers. This technique includes several other methods previously discussed, namely: email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing and mobile advertising. Marketers could use web banner advertising such as pop-ups and frame ads for this type of technique.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when a company or individual, usually an influencer, earns commission by promoting other people’s products or services. With so many platforms readily available at a touch of a button, affiliate marketing has become a multimillion dollar industry. Affiliates are using social media platforms, websites and any other online means to sell other company’s products/services and earn that commission they crave.

Personalisation

Through personalisation, marketers are able to tailor make messages for a specific individual. This will increase the overall customer experience as you will be providing content that appeals to them. The more an individual visits your site the more you can personalise their experience through monitoring their purchasing and browsing history.

App creation

Apps can play a big part in customer retention and make the customers’ buying decision much easier. Statistics provided by Yahoo show that more than 90% of people’s mobile usage comes from apps while Google’s statistics have determined that 91% of smartphone users use their mobiles in the middle of a task for ideas while 82% consult their mobile before purchasing anything in a store.

Many experts think that app creation has become a massive part of digital marketing strategies since you have:

Initial access to customers

Simple buy process

Shareability of discounts and promotions

Ability to mine customer data

App creation is the perfect way to kickstart your business growth and cement your place within your specific industry.

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