The Benefits of Digital Marketing for
Businesses
Marketing campaigns are rapidly
shifting to the digital space whether you want to create product awareness,
brand recognition, or/and crucially gain customers then you must be willing to
spend a huge chunk of your marketing budget to run your campaign on digital
platforms as this is where customers are converging now – it is simple and no
brainer. It is very important for businesses to not only have a digital
presence such as websites or social media but also, a system that exposes their
business to reach an exponential number of new users and customers like
affiliate marketing.
Another reason Digital marketing is
a more effective, efficient, and sustainable way to run a marketing campaign
and acquire customers is that you can easily measure your campaign outcome. As
in-house marketing managers or advertising agencies, you should start
considering digital networks as it provides access to high traffic publishers
who will significantly increase your brand awareness and customer acquisition
with high conversion and retention rate as well as easy access to data on the
performance of your campaign.
It may come as
no surprise that the marketplace has become increasingly more digital as
technology continues to evolve. The benefits of digital marketing are becoming
more prevalent every day. More and more consumers are researching and buying
products online.
According
to Forbes, 82% of consumers conduct research online. And, Tech Crunch
reports that 79% of people shop online. So how do you reach these consumers?
Here’s the answer: digital marketing. More and more small businesses are
implementing a digital marketing strategy to effectively reach and
engage their target consumers online.
Digital
marketing tactics have proven to be the most cost-effective way to reach
potential customers.
Reasons
your business needs to take advantage of the benefits of digital marketing:
1. Using digital marketing tactics is the most cost-effective way to
market your business.
One of the most
important benefits of digital marketing is that it is the most cost-effective
way to market your business. When it comes to digital marketing vs. traditional
marketing, the latter makes it very difficult for small businesses to compete
with larger businesses. And that is because they have limited budgets for ad
space.
However, with
affordable digital marketing tactics, small businesses can get more for their
marketing spend. Consider this – a small business can expose over 1,000 people
to its products and services for less than $3 using social media.
While that same
exposure through direct mail costs about $57 and through television ads costs
about $28. While traditional marketing tactics also often come with various
hidden costs, the only cost to digital marketing is time. SEO, content
marketing, and social media engagement take time to work their magic.
However, there
are still digital marketing tactics such as pay-per-click, display, and social
media advertising that can produce quicker results.
2 . Digital marketing is the most measurable form of
marketing.
How do you know
if your marketing is working?
The only way to
know for sure is to measure your success over time. While it can be difficult
to track the success of a traditional marketing campaign like a radio
advertisement or mailer. Every digital marketing tactic that you use is
measurable. This benefit is every reason why you need to invest in digital
marketing.
Digital
marketing analytics takes the guesswork out of determining whether your
marketing is actually working. By measuring your digital marketing campaigns in
real-time, you can see which tactics are working and which are not.
Then, you can
adjust your campaigns for greater success. You can also take the insights that
you’ve gained from the process to improve future campaigns.
For instance,
let’s say that you want to create a social media marketing campaign for a new
product. You’ve decided to publish a series of social media posts over a
two-week period. With social media analytics, you can see which posts were the
most popular with your target audience and which drove the most conversions. You
can then use this insight to try to reproduce this success with future
campaigns.
Digital
marketing analytics allows you to more effectively use your resources and
allocate your marketing budget. Since you are no longer guessing about what’s
working and what isn’t, you can reduce unnecessary expenses. And then, focus
your efforts on the strategies that are most likely to improve your ROI.
3. One of the greatest benefits of digital marketing is
that it allows you to target your ideal buyers.
When you
purchase billboard space or place an ad in a magazine, you’re taking a shot in
the dark that this messaging will reach its intended audience.
Though there
are certainly ways to increase your chances of success with traditional
marketing tactics, it just doesn’t offer the same targeting capabilities as
digital marketing. With digital marketing, you can ensure that the right
consumers are viewing your content. SEO allows you to reach those consumers who
are searching the web for content and topics that are relevant to your
business.
On the other
hand, PPC, display and social media ads enable you to target those who are most
likely to be interested in your products or services. And that is based on
demographic information and general characteristics. By improving targeting,
you can work to get more for your marketing budget and resources. With digital
marketing, you no longer have to be stressed. No more worries that you are
spending money on ads that won’t reach those who are likely to be interested in
your products.
Their targeting
abilities allow you to take comfort in knowing that you are focusing your
marketing efforts on strategies that actually work.
4. Most people are starting their buyer’s
journey online.
Think about how
often you turn to Google or another search engine to find the information you
need. Your customers are no different when they start to research the products
or services that can help them solve their biggest problems.
In fact, according
to Vimeo, 93% of online experiences start with a search engine. Before
consumers even know what product or service they need, they are going to the
search engines to look for answers to their questions. And also, to learn more
about their challenges. It was actually shown in a recent study that 59% of
consumers prefer to check several channels first before they decide on getting
in touch with a business.
These channels
include the business’s social media profiles, email and online ads which are
all digital.
This presents a great opportunity for small businesses to connect with
potential customers. Also, to educate them during the beginning stages of the
buyer’s journey. By creating relevant and engaging content that’s optimized for
the search engines, you can improve your visibility online. Thus, allow you to
reach customers when it matters most.
5. Your customers are on social media, and digital
marketing helps you reach them.
Perhaps the
most important on our list of benefits of digital marketing is this. In using
the traditional techniques in marketing, you will definitely experience a limit
in scope and size. Print ads are limited to a certain location, market, and
time. And if you wish to broaden its scope, then prepare your budget for it.
But in digital marketing, your reach will be farther but more targeted. The
only limitation is your creativity and strategy. No matter what industry your
business is in, there’s a good chance that your buyers are spending their time
on social media channels.
According to
eMarketer, 2.34 billion people, or about one-third of the earth’s population,
uses social media platforms regularly. Not only are you able to publish and
promote unique content on the social sites, but you’re also able to reach
consumers through advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook offer
sophisticated targeting options. And this helps you reach the consumers who are
most likely to be interested in your products or services.
What’s more, is
that social media also provides an effective platform for communicating with
and engaging your target audience. Rather than just posting content and never
hearing from your consumers…
…you can have
one-on-one conversations in real-time that allow you to gain valuable insight
into your brand. That’s something that traditional marketing tactics just don’t
allow for.
6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and local
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) help you reach more qualified buyers online.
SEO is another
powerful digital marketing tactic that offers a variety of benefits. By
optimizing your site content for the search engines, you can work to reach more
buyers online. Using relevant keywords that help describe your product or
service offering can help you bring more targeted traffic to your site. And
this increases conversions over time. SEO isn’t just for national businesses. Many
consumers are searching for local companies online, and these searches
eventually lead to a purchase. In fact, according to Google, 28% of searches
for something nearby result in a purchase.
Local SEO can
also be a valuable digital marketing tactic for businesses that operate in
specific geographic locations such as:
·
brick-and-mortar stores,
·
restaurants, and
·
other service-based businesses
7. Digital marketing helps you connect
with mobile customers.
Yet another one
of the many benefits of digital marketing is that it allows you to connect with
consumers.
The people who
are browsing and consuming content on their mobile devices. Over half of all
online users are accessing the web from a mobile device. Digital marketing can
help you reach people on mobile devices, tablets, and desktop computers.
8. You can easily and quickly adapt your strategy and
tactics for best results.
With
traditional marketing tactics like television or newspaper ads, you have to
wait until after the campaign is complete to see the results. And although you
can use what you learn to adjust later campaign tactic. there isn’t much you
can do “in-the-moment” to adapt your strategies for the best results.
Traditional
marketing tactics may require you to wait weeks or even months to determine
which strategies are working. While digital marketing allows you to view the
real-time results of your campaigns and adapt your tactics to improve results
as you go.
With website
analytics, you can view:
·
the number of visitors that come to
your site,
·
look at which pages they visit, and
·
see how long they are spending on
each page
You can also
see when peak site traffic days and times are as well as track conversion rates
across the site. All this information offers important insights that can help
you improve your campaigns over time.
For instance,
let’s say that you have written a series of blog posts as part of your content
marketing strategy. You want to determine if you should continue to write blogs
in this series or focus on other topics.
You can quickly
and easily look at the blog analytics to see how many people are reading the
blog content. And, how many people are taking the desired action or converting.
Tracking success on this content marketing campaign in real-time allows you to
determine what the best use of your resources is. And, get the most out of your
campaign tactics.
9. Digital marketing levels the playing field,
allowing your business to be more competitive.
It’s often
difficult for small businesses to compete with their larger counterparts due to
a limited budget and resources. However, digital marketing helps to level the
playing field by allowing smaller brands to remain competitive online.
Traditional
marketing tactics like print advertising are expensive and require big business
budgets for effective placement. However, digital marketing tactics are more affordable,
allowing businesses of all sizes to gain exposure online.
With digital
marketing, small businesses can also market their products and services
nationally or even internationally. If your business is not limited to a
specific location, you can use digital marketing to reach your target audience
across the globe.
This allows
small businesses to find new audiences for their products and services. Digital
marketing also levels the playing field when it comes to presentation. Smaller
retailers may not be able to afford the same expensive fixtures, graphics, and
other presentation materials for their store. But, they can easily create a
clean, attractive website that enhances the customer experience.
Summary
As you can see,
there are many benefits of digital marketing that will transform the way that
your business can reach and engage your target market. Digital marketing is the
best way to reach your customers…
…where they are
during the moments when they are most likely to be searching for brands just
like yours. But you may be wondering, how do I get started? It’s important to
have a sound digital marketing strategy before you jump into creating and
distributing content or launching digital ad campaigns.
Consider what
your overall business goals are and create digital marketing goals that align
with these objectives. Then, you’ll want to create customer avatars, determine
which digital marketing strategies you will use. And to finally develop a plan
for implementation and measurement.
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