Digital marketing
In simplistic terms, digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing in that it involves the use of channels and methods that enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t – typically in real time.
Digital marketers monitor things like what is being viewed, how often and for how long, sales conversions, what content works and doesn’t work, etc. While the Internet is, perhaps, the channel most closely associated with digital marketing, others include wireless text messaging, mobile instant messaging, mobile apps, podcasts, electronic billboards, digital television and radio channels, etc.
Digital marketing is the process of integrating platforms and customers’ experience through a digital channel. Digital marketing offers the prospect of increasing and improving the interactions and relationships with current and prospective customers through, for instance, social networking sites, instant messaging systems and mobile applications (apps).
Why Digital Marketing is so important and gives you so many benefits?
It is because via electronic channels and by posting positive comments, feedbacks about your company/product you (and your happy customers) can attract new customers and build long-lasting relationship. But, be careful! It works both ways! Happy customers can help you, but unhappy customer can harm your business very seriously.
Digital media is so pervasive that consumers have access to information any time and any place they want it. Gone are the days when the messages people got about your products or services came from you and consisted of only what you wanted them to know. Digital media is an ever-growing source of entertainment, news, shopping and social interaction, and consumers are now exposed not just to what your company says about your brand, but what the media, friends, relatives, peers, etc., are saying as well. And they are more likely to believe them than you. People want brands they can trust, companies that know them, communications that are personalized and relevant, and offers tailored to their needs and preferences.
Business reputation
Business reputation first. Good reputation of any business is essential. Without the trust and confidence of the customer, a company will not survive. Especially in the past years, the importance of reputation has become increasingly noticeable. If a business has a good reputation, customers may choose that particular company from many in the market. The positive reputation enables marketers to differentiate their products/services in a highly competitive market and successfully compete with big players.
How to build a good reputation?
Make sure that you communicate with your customers and everyone who interacts with your company through website, e-mail, Social Media. Answer any doubts, offer help and make sure you build a long-lasting relationship with your customers.
As a small business in the market, you cannot compete with them but there is something you can do. You can use Google Alerts tool to monitor your competitors. This tool will allow you to track your competitors’ products and marketing strategies so that you can learn something from them and improve your own business strategy. Go beyond the boundaries. It’s important to understand that digital marketing doesn’t only apply to your website! However most of the marketers create a website or an eCommerce and invest in SEO and/or AdWords. But to make your business stand out from the crowd, you need a real strategy that puts potential customers first and use all the available tools to acquire them.
Digital media is fast becoming a favorite with marketers. By 2017, digital advertising is estimated to be worth $171 Billion, accounting for more than a quarter of global advertising spend. This represents a 70% increase from current levels. In the US, ad spend on the Internet overtook all media except broadcast television in 2011.
Digital marketing is becoming a priority for businesses around the world because more people are using the internet. Therefore we need to explain the concept of digital marketing and its relevance to business. We will look at the following issues:
- Differences between digital and physical marketing
- Content and customer experience
- Digital marketing and consumer platforms
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) technique
Digital versus physical marketing
Marketing involves understanding of prospects’ needs and the development of products and services which would be attractive to buyers. It also includes activities such as promotion and the selling of products and services, market research and advertising.Over the years the physical form of marketing was predominately used to reach out to customers. However, the evolution and popularity of information technology has increased the importance of digital marketing activities. Digital marketing uses marketing methods that are primarily dependent on the use of the technologies such as social networks whilst physical marketing depends on the ability of customers to touch or interact with the products and services in order to experience these products in reality. For instance, physical marketing could include individual consultations, physical display board or signs.The main advantages of digital marketing over physical marketing are…
- It helps businesses to develop a wider customer base as it does not rely on physical presence or interaction
- It encourages customers to interact directly with businesses
- It is not limited by conventional opening times – customers can interact at a time and place convenient for them
Digital marketing and consumer
Digital marketing encourages the use of new channels of communication that close the loop between consumer and brand. User comments and ratings build a transparent trust relationship between the consumer and business. The value of consumer comments is the way in which they offer proof of the quality and strength of a brand that extends beyond solely being a good image.
Digital marketing and consumer platforms
There are generally many kinds of platforms available to digital marketing. There are some basic platforms that most marketers can use, for instance, Google AdWords. Google AdWords is a tool offered to help businesses market their products or services on the Google search engine and associated sites. By identifying relevant keywords Google is able to show how often users search for that keyword. This tool helps organisations identify useful keywords that could be integrated into content on websites and social media profiles which as a result can increase an organisation’s ranking on search engine results page.
Digital marketing – Search Engine Optimisation techniques
It is very important that businesses optimize their online properties effectively in order to reach the top of all the major search engine result page. Optimisation helps to rank content higher than that of competitors.
- On-page Optimisation
- Off-page Optimisation
Challenges Facing Digital Marketers
Proliferation of digital channels: Consumers use multiple digital channels and a variety of devices that use different protocols, specifications and interfaces – and they interact with those devices in different ways and for different purposes.
Intensifying competition: Digital channels are relatively cheap, compared with traditional media, making them within reach of practically every business of every size. As a result, it’s becoming a lot harder to capture consumers’ attention.
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