Sometimes it appears as if the traditional high street is dying out. This is sadly partly true as the pandemic of 2020 forced many retailers and businesses to close. But, as that happened, many online businesses grew.
Companies that provided services that were needed or wanted during lockdowns grew, such as Netflix, Amazon, and UberEats. Even without the changes that the pandemic brought about, the Internet is growing larger. That means more competitiveness.
To be able to compete online your website needs to be in front. You want to be found by potential buyers before they see your competitors and for that, you need a digital marketing strategy.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing refers to any form of marketing that is delivered digitally or online. You will see some of the forms this takes below but you will have already witnessed this type of marketing yourself. When you visit websites do you sometimes see advertising for hotels or flights or other services? This is digital marketing. Banner ads and those short videos you see on your mobile apps? Those are also digital marketing.
How can it help your business?
Digital marketing works because it is an instantaneous way to bring people into your business. It’s like having a teleporter bringing people into a shop. No one has to walk or drive, they just press a mouse button or touch the screen and there they are, browsing your products and putting things in their baskets.
It would be perfect if it was that straightforward, wouldn’t it? To make digital marketing work you need an agency like Digitrio to build an effective strategy, custom-made for your business. It requires more than just placing a few adverts on the net.
What forms does this type of marketing take?
It can be from a variety of online advertising and other content. Digital marketing is not limited to websites. Indeed, one very common way is to target mobile devices. Here are some ways you will see digital marketing in action.
Facebook advertising
This is a very popular and useful way to interact with an audience of potential buyers. Facebook advertising can target specific demographics that you set. You can choose areas, age ranges, and gender to sell to. For example, you can specify that your adverts won’t be shown to Europe if you don’t ship outside the US.
Social media
You can also use your social media accounts to drive traffic and sales. Youtube, Instagram, FB, and more can all be used very effectively to engage with your audience. This helps to build brand loyalty. Interacting with your buyers makes them feel a connection with your product. Also, if there are any complaints or issues you can answer them swiftly. You can post links and calls to action on your pages and post new videos on Youtube.
Mobile advertising
Millions of people download free and paid games from the two main app stores. Those free apps and games normally include advertising, which is shown between rounds or intermittently throughout gameplay. If you have an app yourself then this is a good way to push traffic to the Play Store or App Store to download yours.
Email marketing
One of the older ways to market digitally is to use email lists and send out monthly or weekly updates. These can include graphics and links to your website. Typically they would include information of stock for the new season, sales information and offers, and possibly discount vouchers. While they can still work it depends on the market, as many younger people don’t use email in the same way businesses and older generations do.
Messenger
You may have noticed that your inbox occasionally seems to have messages that aren’t from your friends. This is another way to advertise directly to people who may not use Facebook but regularly open their inboxes to chat or message friends and associates.
Website advertising
You can place adverts on relevant websites to grow your business. This can be done privately or through Google Ads. For instance, if there was a blog on winter sports holidays and you sold ski wear, then you might want to advertise on that site. The beauty of this is that every one of the visitors that goes to that blog has some interest in winter holidays that involve sports – an ideal market for you.
Using geolocation in advertising
One other way to make your advertising more effective is to use geolocation. This is where the geolocation by IP address of a user is checked and the adverts only go to people in regions that are appropriate. Perhaps you want to make an offer to new people that sign up but you want to restrict it to a certain region. Using geolocation can make sure only your defined market receives the advert, making it more effective and saving money on your budget.
You can make this more effective by using data collected from searches. When people search for information or show interest in something this data can be stored. Combined with geolocation it can be a valuable way to target an already interested person in the right location with your advertising.
Blogging and guest posts
Putting content on other relevant websites is a way to drive traffic to your site. Also, putting a blog on your own website helps to increase the content and this, in turn, improves your SEO.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization improves your site and is another area you need to look at to push your business. This is an important part of your digital marketing strategy. Good SEO increases the speed of your website and helps to list you as a leader in Google searches. This means more visitors and that means more exposure. In turn, your brand awareness grows and helps to complement your ongoing marketing strategy.
Summary
Keeping on top of the rankings is a job of continuous improvement with SEO, and a good digital marketing strategy can help your business to grow. Using an agency that can help with SEO and develop a marketing strategy for you is essential for a successful online business in these competitive times.
