Digital marketing is a broad umbrella of techniques marketers use to advertise their brand online and drive visibility on search engines, social media platforms and other websites. As the Texas Hill Country community continues to grow rapidly, Marsh and Mihaly Marketing Group has noticed an uptick in its online presence as well. This creates even more opportunities for small businesses to reach their target audiences. There are many different ways to implement digital marketing into your promotional efforts, so let’s start with the basics in this beginner’s guide to digital marketing.
A Beginner’s Guide to Digital MarketinG – First Rule: Content is king
Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends. That’s why as a beginner, all you need to focus on is producing good content. While doing so, it’s crucial that you understand your customer base and what they want to see. Content that is original, localized when possible, well-researched, and well-executed will always sell no matter what stage your business is in.
Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing: Setting up your digital marketing plan
Search engine optimization (SEO) or search marketing
Also known as one of the pillars of online marketing, SEO is an unavoidable part of digital marketing. It is the only sustainable way to ensure that your customers keep coming back to you. SEO is a long-term, ongoing process and usually requires a minimum of 3 months to generate results. The process takes time, but once you start seeing the results, they’re permanent. The Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing can’t stress enough how important SEO is to your online marketing efforts.
Think of it like a garden that you plant flowers or vegetables in as seedlings. With help from the sun and rain, the plants will grow. With plant food, extra watering and pesticides, they will grow stronger and faster. Your quality content is like fertilizer for your business’ garden, and it grows organically through Mother Nature and your supplements.
Social media marketing
Your social media accounts are the extension of your digital presence. Your customers will look you up on all the platforms where they are active. That’s why it is essential for you to be where they are to better connect and interact with them. Demographic information such as the age, interests, and location of your audience will guide your platform and content creation decisions.
Paid advertising
For businesses looking to increase their visibility, paid advertising is the best tool to grab eyeballs and generate buzz around your business. Some of the benefits of paid advertising include instant visibility, niche targeting, good ROI (if done correctly), and fast customer acquisition. It’s important to know where and how your audience consumes its advertising in order to position yours successfully.
That being said, while most businesses rely on ads for staying relevant, you should note that it isn’t sustainable and that you must focus on search marketing along with your ad campaigns for better results.
Email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to reach your users, build trust and drive sales. When done right, email can be an effective marketing tool for any business as it has the highest ROI of any channel ($38 against every $1 spent).
You can use emails to drive traffic to websites, build email lists, and promote products and services. And since it is the most targeted, you can use it for in-depth customer segmentation for better content personalization.
Talking to your customers is often different than talking to prospective customers and email marketing gives you the ability to do this with ease.
Video marketing
Video marketing can boost your organic traffic by up to 157%, making it an effective way to increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and convert leads. It is also a great way to engage your current and potential customers in a conversation that matters to them. Videos highlighting more local, personal aspects of your small business that your audience can relate to will set you apart from more generic advertisements. Since videos have the highest engagement rate of all content formats, it is highly recommended as part of your digital marketing plan.
Pro-Tip: Be authentic in your videos and use real customers when possible. Your target audience wants to see someone who they can identify with.
Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing: Key metrics to track
Throughout this Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing, we’ve stressed many things, but know that digital marketing metrics are important for companies who want to gauge the effectiveness of their online marketing efforts. There are a number of metrics that can be tracked in order to evaluate the success of a digital marketing campaign, including website traffic, engagement rate among site visitors, website analytics, and conversion rate among site visitors who make a purchase. These metrics can and should be tracked across both paid and organic channels in order to gain a more complete picture of the campaign’s performance.
It can be tricky to create and manage an effective digital marketing plan while juggling all the other needs of your small business. At Marsh and Mihaly Marketing, a digital marketing creative shop, we give small businesses a big voice. Our strategic marketing solutions not only extend the reach of your message. They magnify it. To connect with us, email us at connect@marshandmihalymarketing.com.