Congratulations, you’ve just opened your own business. You’ve got the skills, the supplies, and the drive required to succeed. Now, all you need are the customers. But for a business that’s just opened, getting the word out about your services can be tricky, and can take time. Billboard ads are certainly grand, and work to some degree, but as a new business, who has the budget for those?
Thankfully, there’s this little thing called the World Wide Web that businesses such as yourself can utilize to let the world know about what you have to offer. Of course, digital marketing isn’t just suitable for new companies, it’s a tool that is valued by some of the biggest names out there. So, what are digital marketing strategies anyway? Digital marketing uses the internet, or digital devices, as a platform for advertising, and to attract customers.
5 Winning Digital Marketing Strategies
If you’re a moderate user of the internet – who isn’t these days? – then you’ve probably bumped into your fair share of websites and apps that feature, or use, digital marketing tools. Ahead, we’ll break down some of the most common, and effective forms of digital marketing, as well as a few methods you may not be aware of.
- Social Media Marketing: One of the most obvious forms of digital marketing is Social Media Marketing. This method utilizes social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, as an advertising space. For example, when scrolling through Instagram, you see an ad for a certain brand.
- Content Marketing: This is a more subtle form of digital marketing, and can involve creating a company blog to help customers that land on your website understand more about your business, and the services you have to offer. This can also include creating e-books, or free downloadable tools that teach consumers about a specific area of your business. Take this for example: A brand that’s selling a certain diet that wants to teach potential customers about how fat is metabolized in the body, may create a free, short e-book about it. Content marketing helps to steer customers towards your business in a less blatant way than social media marketing does.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO helps your webpage to rank higher on search engine results. The majority of people do not read past the first few pages on search engines, so by optimizing the content on your webpage, you help your website to get more traffic. SEO can be done in a number of ways. Brands can research the most popular keywords pertaining to the topic they will be writing about. For example, say you run a gardening blog. You choose to write a post on flowers to plant for spring. The keywords you would want to include throughout that post would be what the most searched for phrase is on Google, Yahoo, etc is. It would probably be something simple like, “The Best Flowers to Plant For Spring.” For the sake of getting hits, forego a creative title like, “The Wonders of Spring Abound in These Breathtaking Perennials.” Although certainly wonderful to read, that phrase is not what people are typing in their search engine. I think we can all agree on that.
- Pay Per Click: This is commonly used by big brands, and involves paying a publisher every time your ad is clicked on a website. You may see this form of digital marketing on the top of search engines.
- Email Marketing: This is when you create newsletters, follow up emails, or welcome emails that are automatically sent to your customers. Choosing the right amount of emails to send customers in vital in retaining them, and not being an aggravation. For example, while some customers love a weekly newsletter, they may get frustrated at daily emails.
3 Benefits of Digital Marketing
- Wide Reach
The internet is so vast, and for that reason, you can attract more customers than you normally would when using other forms of advertising. In comparison to using a billboard, digital marketing has a wide reach that extends outside of your community. - Cost Efficient
Because you are able to reach a wider audience, you’re paying less than what you would to advertise in multiple towns, or cities. The cost of digital marketing, depending on the type you choose, can be quite low. Or, If you run your own blog – free, in terms of SEO. - Measurable
One of the most important ways that digital marketing can help businesses, is the way the traffic can measured. You will be able to see the number of clicks, views, or shares your ad, or post receives. You’ll also get to see the demographic that is viewing your content. From this, you can tailor your content to a more specific audience, and hone in on your target.
How We Can Help With Your Digital Marketing
When utilizing, or creating any digital marketing method or tool, it’s important that it look professional, and be constructed the right way. You want consumers to actually click, read, or be attracted to your ad, post, or graphic. And you need to ensure it pops up in the right places. For many, this can be a little overwhelming. Designing an ad banner, researching SEO, or configuring newsletters is sometimes better left to the pros. We, at Addictive Design, have extensive experience in finding what works for businesses, and what doesn’t. We’ll be able to help you choose the right form of digital marketing for your business, and design eye-catching graphics, and optimized information that will get your brand noticed.
Using digital marketing is a smart choice for big, and small businesses alike. The internet is a reliable, and consistent source of advertising space, and there is no limit as to the spaces you can advertise on. There are no real negatives associated with using digital marketing as a tool to help get your brand noticed. However, you need to be sure you’re using the correct form for your business, and that the formats you choose to use are effectively designed, and properly placed. For any other information on how we can help get your business noticed, contact us.
