From traditional advertisement to the modern form of advertising, reaching people to promote a business has drastically changed. This change was brought by the purchasing behavior of many consumers and the aid of technology.
In 2018, about 1.8 billion people shopped online, and it suddenly increased to 1.92 billion people in 2019. By 2021, the number of people who’ll buy online will reach 2.14 billion worldwide. This massive change in how to reach out to buyers has gone a long way.
These changes only show that a different strategy is needed to get more potential customers. To be able to achieve this, digital marketing, a form of marketing strategy, became a popular way to promote a business. But how is digital marketing going to help grow your business?
What is Digital Marketing?
Before diving deeper into how digital marketing can help your business, let us define what digital marketing is. Digital marketing or online marketing is a marketing strategy practiced by businesses, small or big, to reach their specific consumers with the aid of the internet.
Digital marketing uses different channels online to promote a business. These channels vary from free advertisement to the use of paid ads. This online strategy goes along with the modern world, reaching people on their mobile phones, laptops, or any form of gadgets.
Now that we have established what digital marketing is, let us try to know a little more about what are the different forms of digital marketing and how it can help grow your business.
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- PPC or Pay-per-click Advertisement
- Influencer Marketing
This list of digital marketing strategies may look overwhelming at first, but if you get your hands into each of them, you’ll get used to it.
EMAIL MARKETING
This form of marketing may sound old school, but in fact, it is one of the best ways to market your business. Email marketing is simply done by sending emails to potential customers, or you already know audience.
Aside from being easy to get your hands into, Email marketing is affordable.
How can Email Marketing help you grow as a business?
This marketing strategy is meant to retain or established a good relationship with your customers. It is not often used to generate new audiences, although in some ways it can. Staying in touch with your audience gives them an idea of what’s happening on your business and what updates or promotions you’re having.
With email marketing, customer retention is highly successful. When customers keep coming back to you, it is anticipated that your brand will be promoted by them.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
We cannot deny that social media has already been a bigger part of humans’ daily activity. With 3.48 billion users, social media certainly has a great impact on businesses.
There are different forms of social media a business owner can use to promote products or services.
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- Quora
These are just a few social media platforms to spread the word about your business. Using one of these depends on what campaign you are going to implement for your enterprise.
How can Social Media help your business?
Social media promotes brand awareness, increase lead generation and traffic to your website or eCommerce store, and is cost-effective.
Through social media, your business will be able to reach your target audience, making them engage in your post, and turning them into potential and loyal customers.
Also, it is easy to spread the word about your brand with social media, whether you’re using a paid post or not.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
SEO can increase your website’s traffic by making it rank high on search engines. Most users, aside from going through social media, use a search engine to find products they want to buy. They use certain keywords to look for an item, and this is where SEO comes in.
How can SEO help your business?
Investing in making your website visible on Google’s search engine is a big help for your brand. Making your website rank high on the search engine has the possibility of driving organic traffic to your website. This traffic is made of high quality, meaning people who search your website are likely to be potential customers for your products.
CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing is more than a blog and article post. There are also other forms of content that are engaging and helpful for your business.
- EBooks
- Infographics
- Ad Content
- Social Media Caption
- Testimonials
- Videos
- Podcasts
Investing in making great content for your audience or potential customers is a must.
How can good content amplify the existence of your business?
Good content not only makes your business fresh, but it also attracts customers. With engaging content, people will subscribe to your business. Hence, gaining more customers for your services or products. Aside from reaching out to your target audience, content marketing promotes customer retention, organic traffic to your website, and solidify your brand.
PPC OR PAY-PER-CLICK
PPC, or known as pay-per-click, is a form of digital marketing or advertisement in which a business pays a publisher every time their ad has been clicked. This form of advertisement allows businesses to gain more high-quality customers.
How can PPC help promote your business?
Paying to get a brand some exposure is the last thing most business owners want to do. But PPC is one of the forms of paid ad that are effective to promote your business. PPC allows your brand to be on top of the search engine, making it easy for your target customers to find you.
With PPC, businesses are likely to gain new leads and more organic traffic.
INFLUENCER MARKETING
Influencer marketing is a type of digital marketing that uses a person who has a huge impact or knowledge regarding a certain product or service. In today’s digital age, 49% of consumers depend on recommendations coming from these influencers. Reviews coming from influencers are trusted most by consumers because of its authenticity.
This marketing strategy helped many businesses reach their consumers. 90% of marketers who have already invested in influencer marketing experienced a comparable or better Return of Investment or ROI.
How can Influencer Marketing help your business?
Since many people trust influencers, this form of marketing is an effective way to grow your enterprise. Influencer marketing helps reach a larger target audience, increase lead generation, and trust in your brand.
SUMMARY ON HOW DIGITAL MARKETING CAN AMPLIFY YOUR BUSINESS
Digital marketing allows businesses to:
- Gain new customers
- Market their products
- Earn more income
- Retain customers
- Build their brand
- Spend less money while increasing their ROI
Since we know what is digital marketing, the different types, and how each of these forms of marketing strategy can help your business, now it’s time to get into it. Start planning what form of digital marketing best suits your campaign and reach your target audience. Create a meaningful and quality marketing content that can help your customers and your business grow.
John Ocampos is an Opera Singer by profession and a member of the Philippine Tenors. Ever since, Digital Marketing has always been his forte. He is the Founder of SEO-Guru, and the Managing Director of Tech Hacker. John is also the Strategic SEO and Influencer Marketing Manager of Softvire Australia – the leading software eCommerce company in Australia and Softvire New Zealand.