6 Digital Marketing Strategies That Will Take Your Business To The Next Level

Whatever kind of business you are running, you will need to market and promote your company. Ever since the very first businesses were formed, people used a variety of tactics to try and promote their work and make more sales. As times have changed, so have the methods of marketing.

Now, digital marketing is rapidly becoming the most important of all the advertising strategies in the world. The Covid-19 pandemic has given digital marketing an even bigger boost. While more people were stuck at home, digital marketing boomed, with an estimated market value of $322.5 million. It’s a huge market and very important to businesses.

If you are running a business, you’ve likely considered some form of digital marketing. If you haven’t, you should. Let’s take a deeper look at digital marketing, why it works, and what strategies you should employ to help take your business to the next level.

 

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is exactly what the name sounds like. It is marketing that uses only digital methods to promote a business. Anything that can be accessed on the internet, mobile devices, or computers should fall under the category of digital marketing. Digital marketing covers direct advertising, data analysis, social media, search engines, and more. It is a huge world and one that requires plenty of thought and attention.

Digital marketing campaigns employ a variety of tactics to reach the right people. The best campaigns are targeted to the right websites and apps, promoting your business in the right place and at the right time. Marketing software helps to gather information about which marketing tactics are working best, as well as helping you understand the profile of consumers that are most interested in and attracted to your brand or business. All of this combined makes digital marketing an amazing tool and an incredible opportunity to boost your company profile or increase sales.

Working With Professional Marketing Teams

As there are so many different parts involved in a digital marketing campaign, it is often recommended to outsource your marketing strategy to a specialist team. A writer with e-innovate.co.uk explains how “nearly half of all businesses are now outsourcing some aspect of their marketing strategy, with digital marketing the least likely area to be managed by in-house teams.” The reasons for this are great. Some of the best marketing tactics - which will be explained in more detail below - require a great deal of time and attention, making it hard for small businesses to keep up or compete with their strategy.

Plus, building a digital marketing strategy from scratch is a mammoth task, especially for a small business or inexperienced owner. Expert outsourced teams can draw from their wealth of experience in the field, creating a bespoke strategy based upon their experience and knowledge. Many tactics will be similar no matter what industry you are in, but, the experience of a team like this can help target individual marketing strategies for different kinds of businesses.

So, if you’re just starting, look for a local marketing agency near you and reach out to them. See what they can offer you and for how much. They will almost certainly show how their services will improve sales and increase your customer base, offsetting any cost that you have to spend on digital marketing.

Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

Digital marketing is fast outgrowing non-digital marketing. With over 65% of the world’s population having access to the internet - of which 83% use mobile devices - it’s easy to see why. Nowadays, you can’t pass a restaurant, bar, bus stop, or coffee shop without seeing someone looking at their phone screen. So much data is shared, absorbed, and used via the internet, that digital marketing is still growing.

Traditional advertising methods such as print and radio are slowly being left behind. For a long time, TV advertising was seen as the pinnacle, but, in 2016, the digital marketing market overtook TV advertising for the first time. Digital marketing is certainly bigger than these more traditional methods, however, a good marketing strategy will include a portion of in-person or traditional advertising techniques.

Local and National Marketing

At a local level, traditional marketing methods still have their place, especially for small, local businesses. In these situations, the power of getting involved in your local community can be just as strong as digital marketing, if not stronger. For example, running local charity events, attending conferences, or striking up deals with other local businesses can all be super beneficial on a local level.

As your business grows and hits multiple towns, sites, or locations, you will have to rethink your strategy. You can still have an element of local marketing in each town, of course, but, at some point, digital marketing techniques will begin massively outperforming local work. Let’s take a look at 6 of the most important social marketing strategies that you’ll need to hit.

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is, without a doubt, one of the best - and potentially easiest - ways to promote your business. One of the first things you should do when forming a business is getting all the different social media accounts registered. Try and give every account a matching handle, as this makes your business easier to find and identify.

A great marketing campaign can be underpinned by an excellent social media presence. Take Instagram, for example. It is suggested that posting regularly on your feed and stories will boost you higher up on followers’ algorithm, meaning they will see your content more often. Any responses or engagement you get should be replied to - again, higher engagement brings higher views. To boost your profile on a platform like this, you can run competitions. Simple contests where you ask people to like and share your post drives more people to your page, boosting your following rapidly.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice employed by many companies to help boost their position on search engines. There is a multitude of tactics involved in SEO, most of which can be managed by a marketing team on your behalf. The most common practice is called backlinking.

Backlinks are how Google and other search engines “rate” websites. The more quality pages that link to your page, the higher Google rate you. Backlinking involves a strategy where posts are created on various high-quality websites that include backlinks to your page. An SEO team will write the content and ensure it’s posted in the right place. Repeating this process regularly will make you appear higher on Google’s results pages and help drive more traffic to your site.

3. Email Marketing

Believe it or not, the classic mailing list is still a powerful tool. In fact, some marketing experts say it helps generate more repeat customers than any other marketing method. People check their emails constantly, especially on mobile devices. Collecting email information from customers and sending high-quality mailing lists including thoughts, stories, and special offers is a great way to keep people interested in your brand. Marketing companies will help create the content and use quality CRM software to track the performance and interaction of the email.

4. Content Marketing

Much like SEO, where articles or posts linking to your brand boost exposure, writing the content yourself for other blogs and sites can help do the same. Start your own blog on your site and write quality articles in your field of expertise. After you have built your blog, you can start content marketing.

First, reach out to other popular blog sites and ask to guest post on their blog. This is a great way to share your brand and connect with new customers. In return, ask quality bloggers to write posts you can share on your site, thus, building your network of content and helping new people find your business.

5. Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing

PPC marketing is one of the most common and more traditional digital marketing methods. These are simple, paid advertisements on search engines, social media sites, or other relevant websites. You will pay a fee for each click through to your site, so, the hope is that every few clicks leads to a new customer or a new sale. These adverts need to be strategically placed on the right websites to attract the right kind of customer.

6. Webinars and eBooks

Finally, there is a huge market online for webinars and eBooks. People love using the internet to learn, so if you have something to offer, this can be an amazing way to both share your brand and make a little extra income. The content, of course, needs to be of high quality, offering good value to those who buy it. There are many platforms to help you make and manage online courses, present webinars, or sell eBooks for minimal expense, so it’s definitely worth a try.

Add these 6 activities into your marketing strategy with the help of an expert agency. These methods are tried and tested. You will quickly find that any money spent on marketing will be returned with sales and new customers.