DIGITAL MARKETING AND WHAT IT MEANS
Digital marketing means different things to different individuals. Some see digital marketing as sending emails, posting stuff on social media, and hosting webinars. For others, digital marketing is about analytics, Search Engine Optimization, and what platforms you are using. Digital marketing is a broad term.
Over the last two years, many organizations have come to realize digital is the future of marketing. In fact, not only marketing but the future of business. Digital Business!
THINK BIG!
I’ve always liked to visualize an end goal when starting something new. It helps us see the big picture. But seeing the big picture can also be overwhelming, which is why I always like to THINK BIG – START SMALL – GROW FAST. Your destination postcard may show a perfect website generating lots of high-quality leads and conversions. But how do you get there? And just as important, what are the right digital marketing initiatives for your company?
GETTING STARTED
If you want to drive visitors to your site and start getting noticed, blogging is an excellent place to start. Your company will likely be an expert in your industry or area, and you, or your colleagues, will have vast knowledge about your products and services and how to successfully work with them. If you spend one or two days every month writing 4-5 blog posts, you don’t have to worry about it for another 5 weeks. You can schedule the posts for publishing every week.
If you are new to digital marketing or don’t feel you have the time to work on this, hire a small agency to help you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This will make a big difference in your ranking on Google, as SEO is what gets you found on search engines.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Once you have your website up and running, you want people to find it. And not just your friends and family. You want people with a genuine interest in your product or service to find you. To help people find your site, you must work on your Search Engine Optimization. This is what helps you get found on Google, Bing and other search engines.
CREATING PREMIUM CONTENT
At the beginning of this post, we discussed blogging as a great way to improve your search engine optimization and provide valuable content to your visitors. I’m a fan of sharing most of your expertise for free – but I’m also a marketer and want to build my email lists to engage with potential prospects. That’s why premium content such as eBooks, whitepapers, and case studies are great ways to ask your visitors for their contact information. I usually only ask for a name and an email address to access my premium content.
EMAIL MARKETING
It’s critical to build your email lists early on. Email allows you to reach a large, targeted audience at a low price. You can efficiently distribute education, entertainment, product updates, and promotions. There are many ways to build email flows based on how your users and contacts interact with you. Both for prospects and customers. Click here to read our ’10 email marketing tips’.
CONVERTING YOUR VISITORS
What good is it to have 10,000 visitors on your site but no conversions? You must place CTAs (Call-to-actions) in strategic places on your site. The CTA could be booking a meeting with you, downloading an e-book, or purchasing directly on your site. Want to talk more about conversions?
WEBINARS
Nothing beats meeting F2F, whether it’s an internal or external meeting. But we don’t always need to meet F2F. Webinars and online meetings are great complements to 1-1 meetings, conferences, and other activities. But meeting online is different than meeting in real life. You need to adapt your style and use the digital tools available to you in the right way to succeed. For some, it comes naturally; others need practice and training. And that’s ok. We’re breaking new ground and changing our behavior.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
To sell your products or services, you want to spend your money wisely and target individuals meeting the criteria for buying your product. Social media has become one of the best places to target. Technology lets you target particular groups of people with specific demographics. Tracking your visitor’s behavior and return on investment is also a significant factor here. You can easily see if you are getting the results you expected.
PAID ADVERTISING
There are several ways to pay for digital advertising. Google Ads, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are among the most popular channels for paid digital advertising. You can reach a highly defined audience and tailor your message to the attributes of that segment. It’s vital that organic and paid advertising complements each other.
VIDEO
Many brands are focusing heavily on video production as the consumption of video is increasing by the day. It’s a great way to demonstrate your product, new features, and functionalities and make a deeper connection with your followers.
WHAT NOW?
I started this post by referring to my favorite approach – Think Big – Start Small – Grow Fast! Prioritize your activities and focus on few things at a time to focus on them. Identify which activities will get you the most critical results in the short term and start from there. Start doing something you’re comfortable with and get really good at it. Then expand your activities into other areas. The most important thing is you get started.
