A company’s brand should always be on the radar. And one of the most effective ways to achieve this is to use digital marketing. In this article, I will tell you how it works, what channels and tools it offers, and why a business needs it.
What is digital marketing
Digital marketing is the process of using digital channels to promote products and services. It can refer to all marketing campaigns that are displayed on electronic devices: computer, smartphone, etc.
This way of promoting products and services opens up access to a huge audience. In July 2023, there were 5.19 billion internet users in the world, which is 64.6% of the world’s population. Of these, 4.88 billion (59.9% of the population) are social media users.
Digital marketing is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.6% from 2021 to 2026. And also that the digital marketing industry will reach $807 billion by 2026.
Advantages of digital marketing
Online advertising has a number of advantages when compared to classic advertising tools like billboards, flyers, radio and television.
- Smaller budgets. Newcomers usually cannot afford expensive offline events, so they promote themselves online. For example, stores in Instagram, which do not have full-fledged websites, but successfully function with the help of advertising in the social network.
- Detailed analytics. Advertisers can analyze campaign results to create better content and ads. Analytics helps optimize campaigns to spend less, offer audiences relevant content, and drive sales and conversions.
- Customer reviews. BrightLocal’s 2023 survey found that 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family members. Customers who see a large number of positive reviews for a product are inclined to purchase it.
- Precision targeting. Targeting helps to direct campaigns to people who are interested or potentially interested in products or services. The more precisely the target audience is defined, the more conversions the RC will get. Targeted advertising allows you to deliver more relevant and personalized messages.
5.A/B testing. Advertisers can test different ads on their audience in real time to see which ones work best. A/B testing can increase user engagement, reduce bounce rates and increase conversion rates.
Main digital marketing channels
There are a number of channels that can be used to promote goods and services online. I will tell you about the most popular of them.
SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a set of actions that aim to increase the position of a website’s pages in the search engine in response to user queries.
According to BrightEdge research, 68% of users start using the Internet with a search engine.
SEO-promotion is divided into internal and external optimization.
Internal optimization of websites involves several stages.
- Niche Analysis. Study of competitors, which will allow you to understand which pages are worth optimizing, how to work with link mass and how to provide complete information on user queries in the niche.
- Semantic Kernel Gathering. At this stage, keywords are defined for which the site will be optimized
- Working with the structure. Expanding or deleting pages, menu items and categories. Creating URLs for pages.
- Optimization of tags and meta tags. “Markers” for search engine robots are added to the pages of the site.
Email marketing
Bulk emails, SMS messages and web-push campaigns keep communication with new and loyal customers. Some advertisers are skeptical of this channel, associating it with intrusive messages or boring emails that constantly get spammed.
But Campaign Monitor research shows that for every dollar invested in email advertising, businesses return $38. The global email marketing market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $17.9 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.3% over that period.
The main rule of effective email marketing is not to send out messages to purchased databases. It is best if customers subscribe to the newsletter themselves, in return for a discount or useful information. For this purpose, it is worth placing forms and pop-ups on the site.
Mailings are divided into manual and automated.
- Manual ones should be sent out after analyzing the needs and preferences of the audience so as not to bore them.
- Automatic emails (triggers) can be configured so that they come to the user in response to his/her actions. For example, “Site registration confirmation”, “Order confirmation”, “Abandoned cart”, etc.
- Checking the navigation. Whether buttons, forms and the like are working.
- Indexation check. Some pages of the site like shopping cart and search should not be indexed.
External website optimization is the work done to:
- .placing links to the site on other websites
- .Supporting a good brand reputation online
- .Establishing communication with customers through testimonials.
The set of links that lead to the site from other resources is called the link mass. It is desirable that it is built up naturally through quality content and collaborations with other sites.
Owners of new sites should optimize them for the requirements of search engines at the development stage.
Targeted advertising in social networks
Advertising on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter allows you to clearly target potential customers based on their age, gender, geolocation, education, behavior, interests and the like.
Users leave this information voluntarily when registering in social networks, so advertising systems have detailed portraits of customers. And even if the user has not told anything about himself, the systems are sufficiently trained to analyze his behavior, identify his phone model and geolocation, and conclude whether it is worth showing him ads.
The Retail TouchPoints study found that 76% of users have purchased a product or service they saw on social media at least once.
There are a few basic parameters for targeting, common to all social networks, that advertisers use most often. They target ads to:
- .users of a certain age, gender, profession, etc;
- .residents of a particular city, street, or specific geolocation radius;
- .users who made purchases on certain sites, or clicked on certain links;
- .subscribers and commenters of the right interest groups.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing useful content to existing and potential customers. It can be articles, videos, infographics, statistics, e-books, podcasts, webinars, case studies, etc.
According to a CMI survey, 72% of marketers believe that content marketing helps educate audiences, and 63% believe it increases customer loyalty. In addition, it helps to:
- familiarize customers with the brand;
- promote the site in search engines, because they rank sites with useful content better;
- improve customer experience.
Affiliate Marketing
As social media becomes more popular, the influence of opinion leaders who are active on it increases. According to research by Morning Consult, 50% of millennials trust product recommendations from influencers on social media. This figure even exceeds their trust in their favorite celebrities, which is 38%
To make collaborations with opinion leaders in a niche effective, follow a few rules.
- Study the audience. You need to know what platforms potential customers use, what they are interested in, whether there are psychological triggers that push customers to conversions, etc.
- Determine the amount of affiliate compensation. You need to calculate how much the company can offer affiliates. Most Influencers already have a set rate structure that depends on the type of advertising they will do. Also, the amount of compensation depends on the popularity of the blogger.
- Find Influencers that the company can afford. They should be reputable individuals with a high number of views and subscribed to by the company’s target audience. Ideally, the Influencer should have successful cases of participation in affiliate marketing programs.
- Use affiliate UTM links. They help to track customers who came from a particular affiliate and show what actions on the site these users performed. Clicking on the UTM link will take the customer to a page that saves a cookie in their browser. This file will help ensure that every affiliate conversion is accounted for, even if the customer pauses while making a purchase and comes back a short time later to purchase the product.
- Track results. By analyzing data, you can understand which affiliate channels are performing better. By comparing the effectiveness of affiliates to other marketing activities, you can determine how to better allocate marketing spend in the future.
Digital marketing tools
There are many computer programs that help to sell goods more effectively and analyze the results of RC. I will list the most popular ones.
- Competitor Analysis. It allows you to find out what products and services your competitors offer, as well as how they promote and sell them. This data will help you choose best practices, capitalize on competitors’ weaknesses, and attract more customers. Useful tools: Serpstat, SimilarWeb, SpyFu.
- Monitoring of brand mentions. Allows you to find out what customers think about the company, get honest feedback and respond in time. Useful tools: Brand24, Mention, Mentiolytics.
- Analyzing the search results. It will help you find out what competitors are at the top of the search results and what you need to do to catch up and overtake them. Useful tools: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Internet Marketing Ninjas.
- Keyword research. Keys help you understand what users are looking for and what content you need to create to meet their needs. The keywords you choose help determine content strategy and topics worth covering on the site. Useful tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner.
- Graphic design. This is an important part of marketing, because with the help of visual elements, the company better attracts the attention of the target audience and delivers the right messages. Useful tools: Canva, Photoshop, Visme.
- Email marketing. To avoid having to layout each email manually and send hundreds of messages yourself, you should use ready-made templates and set up newsletter automation. Useful tools: Mailchimp, eSputnik, SendPulse.
- Organizing the work of organizing the work of organizing the work. Working on digital marketing implies close interaction of many specialists. You need to set tasks and monitor their implementation, organize online meetings and have a convenient channel for working correspondence. Useful tools: Slack, Notion, Zoom.
Advertising formats in digital
There are several advertising formats that are worth using depending on the goals of the RC.
Banner ads
This is an image advertisement that is placed on various websites and aims to attract as much attention as possible. It can be static or dynamic, for example, in the form of pop-up windows.
Video advertising
One of the most effective forms of advertising, because it helps to interest a potential customer, show him all the advantages of the product and create the right atmosphere.
Audio advertising
It is often used on music listening platforms such as Youtube Music or Spotify. Users who do not buy a subscription to these services listen to advertisements between tracks.
How to create a digital marketing strategy
Online marketing strategy encompasses:
- Positioning the brand in the market and determining the type of content with which to communicate the value of products or services to the audience;
- selection of marketing channels and media planning for each of them;
- creating a detailed strategy for a specific promotion channel.
Tasks of digital strategy
- Analyze the market to determine the current state of the company compared to competitors.
- Identify promotional channels to test new approaches and optimize marketing costs.
- Provide a detailed media plan with specific metrics to achieve the company’s marketing goals.
What do digital marketing agencies do
Online marketing involves a huge range of work, and to do it well, you need to know a lot of details. Business owners often take the promotion on themselves, spend a lot of time on it, and do not get enough results, because one person cannot know everything.
Online promotion can be delegated to a marketing agency with specialists responsible for different services. They help to optimize processes and avoid common mistakes.
Netpeak is a marketing agency that businesses turn to for a variety of inquiries.
- Digital intelligence. Web analytics, analytics for mobile applications, end-to-end analytics and data visualization, and Google Analytics 4 setup.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Optimization of websites according to the requirements of search engines.
- Outreach & Link Building. Increasing the link mass of the site and setting up its external SEO-optimization.
- SERM. Online search engine reputation management.
- SMM (Social Media Management). Brand promotion in social networks.
- Email & Direct Marketing. Use of mass and automated mailings.
- Paid media. Contextual advertising in search engines, targeted advertising in social networks, Google Shopping and Programmatic & Video – creating video ads.
- Mobile app marketing. ASO (app optimization), CRO (conversion rate optimization) and ASA (mobile store advertising).
- Consulting. Internet marketing consulting and HR & Recruiting for marketing campaigns.
Goals of digital strategy
- Choosing a target market. Is it worth entering the market? What is its potential? What marketing activities are competitors using? What are the consumers’ pains and motivations?
- Choice of digital promotion channels. What are the best promotion channels to use? What should be the budget and media plan to achieve marketing goals?
- Search for growth points in the current market. What can be done better compared to competitors? What are the growth points for the company’s sales?
- Search for new niches and products. Which market should you choose first? What are the barriers to entering the market? What are the market trends and what can be done to make the product successful in the new market?
Conclusions
- Digital marketing is the use of digital channels to promote products and services.
- Its advantages: smaller budgets, detailed analytics, there is feedback from customers, accurate targeting and A/B testing.
- The main channels are SEO, PPC (contextual and targeted advertising), email marketing, content marketing, video marketing and affiliate marketing.
- Digital marketing agencies help to optimize processes and avoid common mistakes. They also offer a wide range of services.
- Online marketing strategy covers brand positioning in the market, determining the type of content, selecting marketing channels, media planning and creating a detailed strategy for a specific promotional channel.