With almost 4.57 billion active internet users around the world, it is becoming increasingly more important to make digital marketing part of your business’ marketing strategy. In 2018, around 1.8 billion of these users shopped online, with the number increasing every year. 

As consumer rates for online shopping were already increasing, this number was further inflated due to the effects of COVID-19. To leverage these statistics for your business, you must have a digital marketing strategy.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing uses digital and online softwares to promote products and servicea and analyze consumer engagement with the content. It encompasses social media, mobile applications, email newsletters, search engines, websites, video marketing, online ads, and so on. 

Channels for digital marketing include:

• Social media
• Mobile applications
• Email marketing
• Search engine rankings
• Websites
• Video marketing
• Blogs

Digital marketers look at key performance indicators (KPIs) to figure out how to improve your business’ performance on the internet. These KPIs can vary depending on which digital marketing domain is being targeted. 

Some KPIs include:

• Organic traffic
• Time on webpage
• Engagement on social media (follows, impressions, shares, likes, comments)
• Email open rate
• Conversion rates

Why should I use digital marketing?

Digital marketing has many benefits. Not only does it make it easier for your business to increase brand awareness and engagement, it does so at a lower cost. With a good digital marketing strategy, you can get a high return on investment (ROI).

It is also easier to measure the results of digital marketing. You can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics to track your KPIs and see if you met your goals.

Another difference between digital marketing and traditional print marketing is that you can personalize your content depending on your audience’s behaviour. You can create personalized mailing lists and present special offers targeted for a specific audience.

What types of digital marketing are there?

With the many different types of online activities, there are many ways to promote your business. The types of digital marketing include:

• Social media
• Mobile applications
• Email marketing
• Search engine rankings
• Websites
• Video marketing
• Blogs
• Sponsored content

Social media

Marketing on social media includes scheduling and publishing content on social platforms such as:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• TikTok

The content you curate for each social media account can differ depending on your target audience. If you are business-to-business (B2B), LinkedIn and Twitter are better suited for the intended audience. B2B companies actually use LinkedIn 94% of the time and Twitter 87% of the time. On the other hand, if you are business-to-consumer (B2C), Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are better suited for the target audience.

For more information, check out our tips for social media management here.

Mobile applications

60% of internet users are using mobile applications, meaning that it is crucial to optimize for mobile devices. This means that not only should your ads be optimized for mobile, but your website should be too. If your website isn’t user-friendly, your company risks losing traffic and potential conversion.

Learn more about responsive website design for mobile users here.

Email marketing

Email marketing has been shown to be one of the best digital marketing tools as it returns higher ROI and increased audience engagement and retention. Not only do email newsletters allow personalized mailing lists, it also easily tracks KPIs such as open rates and click-through rates. Another benefit of email marketing? You can easily automate your emails, saving lots of time and money.

Benefits of email marketing, summarized:

• High ROI
• Increased audience engagement and retention
• Personalized mailing lists
• Easily track KPIs
• Email automation
• Helps promote website and products, increasing traffic
• Effective way to gain new customers
• Low cost of email newsletter software

Optimize your email marketing strategy with our tips here.

Search engine rankings

Good search engine optimization (SEO) can help direct organic traffic to your website. It does this so by using key words and phrases to rank higher on search engines. You can incorporate SEO into your website’s copy or do hashtag research for social media posts. 

For tips on how to write a good copy for your website, check out our guide on it.

Interested in optimizing your digital marketing strategy? Let us do it for you.

Websites

While social media marketing takes care of your company’s social media accounts, it is not a replacement for a good website. A good, well-designed website is essential for a growing company, providing more opportunities for increased conversion rates, higher audience engagement, and more.

Google Analytics can also help with improving your website. This tool can help you answer questions like:

• What types of visitors are failing to convert?
• Is our content what our target audience wants?
• Which pages are our most popular?

Not sure where to start? Check out our website design best practices here. 

For Google Analytics help, check out our guide here.

Video marketing

Video marketing includes anything from a video ad, a promotion video, a how-to video, or an informational video about your product. These videos can help you increase brand awareness and attract new clients.

By including videos in your marketing strategy, you can also improve SEO. According to Insivia, a website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video.

To get started with video marketing, check out our guide here.

Blogs

Having a blog is one aspect of content development that can increase your conversion rates. Having a high quality blog post can increase organic traffic as well; better content drives traffic by up to 2,000%.

To read more about how to leverage your content, check out our content development guide or copywriting tips. 

Sponsored content

Sponsored content is content about your business that you pay another entity to promote. 

One of the best ways to use sponsored content is to use influencer marketing. 

Influencer content outperforms brand-related content, especially when 40% of laptops have some form of adblock, which influencers can bypass. A more personalized post by an influencer can improve brand awareness, increase sales, and help you stand out from your competition. 

Learn more about how to use influencer relations in digital marketing here.

Which digital marketing strategies should I use?

Similar to content development, you’ll want to start your digital marketing strategizing with gathering information. Information such as target audience, marketing goals, and website data can inform your choices.

An easy way to direct your digital marketing and content development strategies is to look at the sales funnel. What stage is your audience at? You can target these stages specifically, increasing chances of your goals being met.

Awareness stage

If most of your audience members are at the awareness stage, you’ll want to focus on:

• Blog posts, which increase organic traffic and bring new users to your website
• Infographics, which are easily shareable and also drives organic traffic
• Short videos, which are sharable and have higher engagement

For tips on designing infographics, check out our graphic design post here.

If you want to use video marketing, take a look at our advice before you start.

Consideration stage

If your target audience needs more details to sway them, consider using:

• Short ebooks or guides, which are more comprehensive for interested audiences
• Webinars, which can encourage email signups and audience engagement
• Email newsletters, which encourage audiences to leave their contact information to learn more

Your ebooks and guides should not only act as a valuable resource for interested audiences, it should also have great copywriting to keep readers hooked. Learn more about copywriting here.

Email newsletters are a great way to connect with your audience — see what we have to say about it here.

Decision stage

If your audience has reached the decision stage, here’s how you can close the deal:

• Testimonials, which establishes trust in your brand
• Reviews, which leverages social proof and increases likelihood of purchase
• Social media giveaways and contests, which can encourage consumer loyalty

To learn more about how to leverage social proof to close a sale, check out our copywriting tips here.

Interested in learning how copywriting can build your brand’s reputation?

Got more questions? Let us help

In addition to advising best practices for digital marketing, Imagine Better Solutions also helps with e-Commerce, content development, and search engine optimization (SEO). As a company that strives to be a one-one-stop shop for ease of management, we have all of your web needs covered. 

Contact us for more information at https://www.imaginebettersolutions.com/.