Although terms like SEO, organic traffic, and page ranking can feel like a lot of smoke and mirrors on an otherwise solid marketing plan, digital marketing is today’s advertising challenge. Accept that challenge, and your business will thrive. Disregard it, and you are left in the dust behind your competition. Today, it is virtually impossible for consumers to find your business without a solid digital marketing strategy. Learn more about marketing and other careers at the sisd inline school.
Simply put, digital marketing is any form of marketing that exists online. Businesses leverage the internet to drive brand awareness, generate leads, and thereby increase sales or the use of your services.
In the past, advertisers used the newest medium, whether it was newspaper, radio, or TV, to lure customers to their business. Today’s savvy customers are searching for you and your products instead. They know everything is at their fingertips, and you need to be there.
Your Website: The Cornerstone
The cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy is your website. The question is no longer, “Should I have a website?” but instead “How soon can I get one up and running?” Your online presence begins there and continues with social media, e-mail, and mobile marketing, to name a few strategies. Your website should promote your business, build your brand, sell your products, and keep working long after closing the doors for the night.
Invest In Solid Search Engine Optimization
You need to search engine optimize (SEO) your website to make it as effective as possible. Those three letters alone can strike fear in the hearts of hard-working business managers just trying to make a sale. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of attracting organic traffic to your website based on how well your site ranks against your competition. SEO is the foundation for rising above the constant digital chatter.
Optimization involves everything from the design of your site to the keywords that draw potential customers. Consider the speed of your website’s loading time, how easily visitors can navigate between pages, and how convenient it is to view on a mobile phone.
The beauty of a well-optimized site is the ability to track the number of visitors, pages they view, and even what device they used. It is like magic! Now more than ever, you can truly measure your return on investment (ROI).
Content Is King
Another form of digital marketing that is foundational to your strategy is content creation. Regularly producing new and fresh content gives visitors a reason to come back for more. Having a blog, videos, and engaging social media posts add to your online presence. Also, content is essential for generating and maintaining qualified leads. By asking visitors to sign up to receive your latest blog post or video, you gain not only prospects but also valuable information about those prospects.
Build Your Brand
Digital marketing is not selling products and services only but telling a story, your story. It is more than your name and logo. From the colors on your website to the way your salespeople dress, you are building your brand. It is who you are in the eyes of consumers. Your digital marketing must be cohesive. Everything you produce digitally must look the same and sound the same.
Get to Know Your Customers … And Competition!
The success of your digital marketing depends on knowing your customers and your competition. Studying both is essential. Learn the demographics of your ideal customer. What is their gender, age, income, and education? Not every age group uses the same social media platforms. Men are more likely to buy online than women. Knowing your customer is key to formulating your digital marketing strategy.
Just as important as your customer, your competition impacts your strategy. Have you looked carefully at their branding? Search their website. What keywords are they using for optimization? Competitor analysis is another foundation of a solid digital marketing plan.
Create Your Digital Marketing Plan Today!
Although it seems like smoke and mirrors, a good magician knows how to keep the audience riveted. An excellent digital marketer knows how to keep an online visitor engaged. If you are wondering if you have the know-how to create a solid digital marketing strategy, you are not alone.
At Caledon Virtual, we serve a wide variety of clients who know their business but do not know how to reach their customers effectively. If that is you, give us a call. We are ready to put together a digital marketing strategy that will take your business to the next level.
