Marketing has evolved. Digital marketing is now one of the most affordable ways for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. The most successful digital marketers understand the importance of capturing the right people’s attention at the right time and converting them into customers.

Digital marketing is a very popular concept especially as new online forms of entrepreneurship have become mainstream.

So, what exactly is it?

According to Lucy Alexander of HubSpot,

digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses leverage digital channels such as Google search, social media, email, and their websites to connect with their current and prospective customers.

Why is digital marketing important?

Digital marketing allows you to build your brand. If you’re not constantly and consistently building your brand, you will certainly find your business in a state of stagnation. Digital marketing enables you to control your brand’s narrative and, as a result, shape your customers’ perception of your business.

Digital marketing also gives entrepreneurs an ideal means of growing their business. Marketing your business online allows you to attract new customers and build long-lasting relationships with them. By focusing your efforts on relationship-building, you also have the opportunity to retain customers. An effective strategy allows entrepreneurs to speak directly to customers and deliver value even before a sale is made. Digital marketing also levels the playing field between SMEs and their larger counterparts. It is also much more cost-effective than traditional offline marketing channels.

This infographic from Digital Marketing Philippines explains how digital marketing can help a business to grow.

 

5 Keys to Effective Digital Marketing

As with everything else in business, you need to have a strategy to benefit from digital marketing. Sporadic posts on social media will not help you to achieve your goals nor will it enable you to grow your business. However, an awareness of these five keys will help you to maximise your digital marketing efforts.

1. Go where your ideal customers are.

Digital marketing begins with research into your target market. You need to know to whom you are marketing, where they are located, and how they consume information. Zeroing-in on your target will influence the success of your marketing efforts. Modern digital marketing techniques focus on the creation of buyer personas or ideal client avatars. This is a detailed representation of your ideal customers. It is done by collecting demographic information such as location, age, income, and employment status and detailing psychographic characteristics such as hobbies, interests, goals, and challenges.

2. Social media marketing is not as easy as you think.

Social media marketing is not about randomly posting to every single platform hoping that someone will eventually buy your product or service. Nor is it about setting up a Facebook page and boosting every single post hoping that it resonates with everyone. Social media marketing is a delicate balance of research, strategy, planning, creativity, content, design, and execution. This can, in fact, make or break your business. Brands need to be very strategic when using social media as a digital marketing tool.

3. Content marketing is king.

Mikal E. Belicove crowned content marketing king in 2011. This has not changed.

Content marketing refers to

the creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos — for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.

He quoted HiveFire’s B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report that revealed that content marketing has become the tactic of choice for 82 percent of B2B marketers. Content marketing also has its place in the B2C digital world. Businesses that choose to employ a content marketing strategy should aim to provide value throughout the ideal customers’ buyer journey. Content marketing ensures that you focus less on visibility and more on conversions. This then enables you to increase sales.

4. Your web presence matters.

If your business is not on the internet then your business will be out of business.- Bill Gates

Entrepreneurs need to understand the importance of an effective website to a successful digital marketing campaign. You should never rely on social media as your sole digital marketing tool. In today’s digital world, customers search the internet for information about businesses and products. Your website should be the foundation of your digital marketing efforts. It should consider these four aspects to anchor a successful marketing strategy.

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)– SEO is the process of growing visibility on organic search engine results. It involves technical and creative solutions to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines. Simply put, you need a website if you want your business to dominate search engines.
• Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)– CRO is the process of optimising your site to increase the chance that visitors will complete a specific action. At the end of the day, your main goal should be to convert website visitors into customers.
• User Experience (UX)– Website design plays a major role in your visitors’ user experience and this, in turn, impacts on the success of your digital marketing efforts. Your website should have a quick load speed and uncomplicated navigation. The main goal of UX is to satisfy your user. Peter Morville’s User Experience Honeycomb explains the facets of good UX.

  

  User Experience Honeycomb

• Brand Identity– Your website should speak volumes about your business. It is important to ensure that your website is a representation of your brand’s values and messages. Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression with your website.

5. Capitalise on email marketing.

Email marketing is alive and well. Your email list can be one of your most important digital marketing assets. Email marketing allows you to engage with your target market as they embark on their buyer journey. According to digitalmarketer.com, email marketing plays a few different roles in growing your business.

The goal of email is to assist and expedite a customer’s movement from one stage of the value journey to the next.

Conclusion

Advances in technology have changed the way in which marketing exists in the entrepreneurial landscape. Entrepreneurs can no longer view marketing as secondary to product development. Digital marketing creates enhanced customer experiences. Entrepreneurs now have the opportunity to provide value to customers before the purchase phase of their journey and continuously reinforce their brand in customers’ minds.