In more recent times, strategies for business development and strategies for branding your business have really changed from how things used to look. Because of the increase in social media, and much more everyday use of the internet, marketing your business and your brand in a digital way is one of the best things that you can do to grow your business. And by the looks of how things are going, it is here to stay. You can measure how well each technique works, and you can be more specific about who you are targeting your ads or social media towards, meaning that people are much more likely to stick with you. Plus, using search engines in the right way can help more and more people to find you online, and find you in the right way. Meaning that they will stay and browse your site, rather than click off as soon as they see that your site isn’t relevant. So if you want to know more about digital marketing, then this is the post for you.
What is Digital Marketing?
For starters, it does help to understand what digital marketing is all about. In short, it is all about the promotion and advertisement of your business using social media, the internet, and other digital media. The latter, digital media, covers things like radio, mobile devices, websites, blogs, and video content, so there are a whole host of things that you can use under the ‘digital marketing’ umbrella.
One of the other things that is a really key aspect of it all, is search engine optimization (or SEO). There are SEO companies like Boutique Digital Media that you could consult to help improve rankings, as well as there being plenty of other things that you can be doing yourself, if you just have some time and a little know-how. Then you can be found online, and as mentioned above, found in the right way. You don’t want people to be searching for ‘wedding planners near me’ online, and then find your site which sells notebooks, planners, and stationery. They will just click off as this isn’t what they were looking for. So using SEO in the right way helps people to find you using keywords that have relevance.
Traditional methods of marketing, like print, person-to-person, and direct marketing are not in the scope of digital marketing at all. But they can be used in combination with digital marketing. Take a billboard or a leaflet with a URL on there for people to look up, or perhaps a poster with a QR code; these allow people to see the ad in a traditional way, but it encourages them to look up a website or scan for more. So that is definitely something to consider if you still do offline advertising as well.
Using Digital Marketing to Build Your Business
It doesn’t matter what size your business is, there are things that all sized businesses can benefit from when it comes to digital marketing. One of the first things to do is to make sure that you have a website to promote your business in the online world. If people hear your brand or business name, the chances are that they will look it up online for more information. If you’re not there, then that is a lost customer. Even for brands that aren’t only based online, having a website is a great port of call. You need to make sure that your website does some of the following:
- Gives a good representation of your brand and your business
- Can help you to communicate effectively with the target audience of your business
- Help you to be found online and at the top of search engines
- Be up to date with information, current trends, and deals, as well as being a site that is easy to navigate
- Showcase your other channels of communication, such as a phone number, email address for contacting, as well as links through to your social media channels
Because having a stellar website really is a must, it could be worth looking into professional web design services, so that they can help to optimize your site and make it look good and respond well. If you have some experience in this area then it may not be something that you need to think about.
Another aspect of your website to think about is having an email subscriber list to help you to connect with your customers. By offering them something exclusive, you can have them sign up to get regular updates to their inbox. As long as they check their emails, it is something that is really personal to them, and can make such a difference with how much they interact with you as a business. It is a great thing to have for times when social media is down, so it does pay to pay attention to building up this list, as well as a follower list. On a similar note, making sure that your social media platforms are all up to date and that they have links back to your website and product pages is another important idea. This means that followers, or potential followers, can fully engage with the business and the products or services that you offer.
Having a blog as part of your website is another great way to help your digital marketing. It can act as a way to share content through your social channels, bringing people back to your site, as well as helping you to become a voice of knowledge in your industry. Having blog posts is something that Google loves; it loves fresh content. And as you can include links to other posts or to products, it can be one way that you can improve your SEO. As mentioned above, using the right kind of keywords and phrases in your blog or on your site help for search rankings, so doing this to help your organic search engine optimization can be really helpful.
