How to Navigate Digital Marketing

There’s no doubt digital marketing is the marketing method of the future. But companies must realize that digital marketing embodies many different methods and there are numerous ways to develop your approach. Digital marketing companies help companies who might not be familiar with the various ins and outs of digital marketing create a complete marketing strategy that accounts for their target audience.

This article discusses the various aspects of navigating digital marketing to ensure your company takes full advantage of the benefits it can provide. Continue reading to learn more about how your company can navigate the ever-expanding world of digital marketing.

The Social Phenomenon of Digital Shopping Continues to Increase

The rapid shift towards eCommerce has not been the only trend that marketers have had to cope with. WIth the emergence of social shopping, the marketing world has had to adapt even more.

Given the rise of eCommerce purchases since late 2019 and the increased time during lockdown, businesses have had to scramble to establish stronger presences on social media. Businesses now need to worry about how their customers speak about them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in addition to the reviews on Google.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing describes any type of marketing tactic used on an electronic device or digital channel. The term might sound broad, but the methods of digital marketing are only increasing, which means your business has more ways to take advantage of an emerging business tool. Within the general subject of digital marketing, there are many mediums. All forms outside of the digital realm are termed traditional marketing.

Traditional sponsorships, networking events, in-person trade shows, billboards, and direct mail are all forms of traditional marketing. This is not to say those forms of marketing are not effective, it is simply to make the distinction between digital and traditional, which might seem a little blurry at first.

While traditional marketing methods can be effective, they are more difficult to control, typically more expensive, and less targeted than digital marketing techniques. If there is one thing the internet is good for, it’s helping businesses reach a wider audience and sell their products and services to more people.

An effective digital marketing strategy will give your business global exposure instead of solely in your general locality. It also simplifies campaign results by connecting ROI with analytics and other software tools. Finally, digital marketing lets you personalize your content so you can target specific audiences. You can’t achieve this level of tailored and segmented marketing in a traditional environment.

Creating a Digital Marketing Plan

One of the challenges that arises from the digital marketing space is coming up with a unique digital marketing strategy. Because digital marketing is so saturated, it can be difficult to set yourself apart from the competition. You need to create a strategy that includes your company’s specific goals, target audience, resources, and current budget.

Objective-Based, Results-Driven

Every company should identify the overall goals they want to achieve from their digital marketing strategy. While most marketers understand the importance of making goals, few clearly identify those goals and implement them into a comprehensive marketing plan. Effective marketing strategies have clear objectives and quantifiable results. They are documented and organized based on the metrics you need to understand your business’s successes.

There’s also no reason why you shouldn’t be able to clearly measure your goals. Nowadays, companies have more technological tools at their disposal than ever. With the advancements of business software and tools such as Google Analytics, SEMRush, and BuzzSumo, companies can have their pick of the litter when it comes to identifying the software that best fits their marketing objectives.

Target Audiences Still Exist

Just because the internet gives you an increased ability to reach more audiences, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t clearly identify who you’re targeting in your marketing campaign. In traditional marketing, you typically reach broader audiences with less metrics to identify whether you’re actually reaching the people who would benefit from your product. Digital marketing forces you to create more specific personas of the people you want to reach.

To promote online, you should build personas for your brand. Personas are in-depth descriptions of the people who are most likely to buy your product. Some businesses have a single target audience, others have multiple. The number of brand personas you have doesn’t matter. What matters is how specific and accurate those personas are.

Personas typically include people’s demographic information, their tendencies, hobbies, and the challenges they face in everyday life. Essentially, your brand depends on how accurate your brand personas are. You need to fully understand your customer if you are going to reach them in  a meaningful way.

Specify the Marketing Channels That Make the Most Sense for You

Digital marketing channels are the mediums in which you can complete your campaigns. There are many digital marketing mediums and it can be overwhelming trying to choose the ones that best represent your brand. Here are some that you can use to determine the best way to carry out your campaign.

Paid Media Channels

Paid media channels describe those that require payment in order to attract and convert target audiences. Display ads, social media ads, and affiliate marketing platforms are the most common. You can also conduct PPC campaigns to try and generate traffic to your website. Paid media is an excellent way to boost your marketing campaign because it guarantees people will see your content. There is really no better way to generate immediate visibility.

However, paid media is paid and you know how money works and that no one enjoys paying to generate business. The goal of your digital marketing campaign should be to generate as much traffic as possible without increasing your overhead. If you spend too much on your paid ad campaign, it can have a negative impact on your ROI. So, companies often outsource their paid media to other companies to ensure it’s monitored.

Owned Media Channels

Owned media channels describe the pages owned by your company, such as your website and social media. This is the best way to generate traffic over time and to keep your marketing campaign cost-effective. Your website’s landing pages, social media content, and email marketing are all great places to try and reach your target audience through a digital medium.

The big difference between paid and owned media campaigns is that paid media forces customers to your website while owned media attracts customers for free. You also have more control over your media when you use paid media. It is often difficult for companies to scale their production and distribution of their owned channels.

Earned Media

Earned media describes any digital marketing you accomplish from others talking about your brand. Your company creates this media when you satisfy your customers and they talk about you online. You can also garner earned media from publicity campaigns and media partnerships, such as reviews from media outlets.