Benefits of Digital Marketing and Why Digital Marketing is a Must for Every Small Business
It may come as no surprise that the marketplace has become
increasingly more digital as technology continues to evolve. The benefits of
digital marketing are becoming more prevalent every day. More and more
consumers are researching and buying products online. According to Forbes, 82%
of consumers conduct research online. And, Tech Crunch reports that 79% of
people shop online.
So how do you reach these consumers? Here’s the answer:
digital marketing.
More and more small businesses are implementing digital
marketing tactics to effectively reach and engage their target consumers
online. Digital marketing tactics has proven to be the most cost-effective way
to reach potential customers.
One of the most important benefits of digital marketing is
that it is the most cost-effective ways to market your business. When it comes
to traditional marketing, it’s very difficult for small businesses with limited
budgets to compete with larger businesses for ad space. However, with
affordable digital marketing tactics, small businesses can get more for their
marketing spend.
benefits of digital marketingConsider this – a small
business can expose over 1,000 people to its products and services for less
than $3 using social media. While that same exposure through direct mail costs
about $57 and through television ads costs about $28.
While traditional marketing tactics also often come with
various hidden costs, the only cost to digital marketing is time. SEO, content
marketing, and social media engagement take time to work their magic. However,
there are still digital marketing tactics such as pay-per-click, display, and
social media advertising that can produce quicker results.
How do you know if your marketing is working?
The only way to know for sure is to measure your success
over time. While it can be difficult to track the success of a traditional
marketing campaign like a radio advertisement or mailer, every digital
marketing tactic that you use is measurable. This benefit is every reason why
you need to invest into digital marketing.
Digital marketing analytics takes the guess work out of
determining whether your marketing is actually working. By measuring your
digital marketing campaigns in real-time, you can see which tactics are working
and which are not. Then, you can adjust your campaigns for greater success. You
can also take the insights that you’ve gained from the process to improve
future campaigns.
benefits of digital marketingFor instance, let’s say that
you want to create a social media marketing campaign for a new product. You’ve
decided to publish a series of social media posts over a two-week period. With
social media analytics, you can see which posts were the most popular with your
target audience and which drove the most conversions. You can then use this
insight to try to reproduce this success with future campaigns.
Digital marketing analytics allows you to more effectively
use your resources and allocate your marketing budget. Since you are no longer
guessing about what’s working and what isn’t, you can reduce unnecessary
expenses and focus your efforts on the strategies that are most likely to
improve your ROI.
When you purchase billboard space or place an ad in a
magazine, you’re taking a shot in the dark that this messaging will reach its
intended audience. Though there are certainly ways to increase your chances of
success with traditional marketing tactics, it just doesn’t offer the same
targeting capabilities as digital marketing.
With digital marketing, you can ensure that the right
consumers are viewing your content. SEO allows you to reach those consumers who
are searching the web for content and topics that are relevant to your
business. While pay-per-click, display, and social media advertising enables
you to target those who are most likely to be interested in your products or
services based on demographic information and general characteristics.
benefits of digital marketing By improving targeting, you can
work to get more for your marketing budget and resources. With digital
marketing, you no longer have to worry that you are spending money on ads that
won’t reach those who are likely to be interested in your products. With
sophisticated targeting abilities, digital marketing tactics allow you to take
comfort in knowing that you are focusing your marketing efforts on strategies
that actually work.
Think about how often you turn to Google or another search
engine to find the information you need. Your customers are no different when
they start to research the products or services that can help them solve their
biggest problems.
In fact, according to Vimeo, 93% of online experiences start
with a search engine. Before consumers even know what product or service they
need, they are going to the search engines to look for answers to their
questions and to learn more about their challenges.
This presents a great opportunity for small businesses to
connect with potential customers and educate them during the beginning stages
of the buyer’s journey. By creating relevant and engaging content that’s
optimized for the search engines, you can improve your visibility online and
reach customers when it matters most.
Perhaps the most important on our list of benefits of
digital marketing is this. No matter what industry your business is in, there’s
a good chance that your buyers are spending their time on social media channels
like Facebook or Twitter. According to eMarketer, 2.34 billion people, or about
one-third of the earth’s population, uses social media platforms regularly.
Digital marketing helps you reach these engaged consumers.
Not only are you able to publish and promote unique content on these social
sites, but you’re also able to reach consumers through advertising. Social
media platforms like Facebook offer sophisticated targeting options that help
you reach the consumers who are most likely to be interested in your products
or services.
What’s more is that social media also provides an effective
platform for communicating with and engaging your target audience. Rather than
just posting content and never hearing from your consumers, you can have
one-on-one conversations in real-time that allow you to gain valuable insight
into your brand. That’s something that traditional marketing tactics just don’t
allow for.
SEO is another powerful digital marketing tactic that offers
a variety of benefits. By optimizing your site content for the search engines,
you can work to reach more buyers online. Using relevant keywords that help
describe your product or service offering can help you bring more targeted
traffic to your site, which increases conversions over time.
SEO isn’t just for national businesses. Many consumers are
searching for local companies online, and these searches eventually lead to a
purchase. In fact, according to Google, 28% of searches for something nearby
result in a purchase. Local SEO, or optimizing your website for local search
results, can also be a valuable digital marketing tactic for businesses that
operate in specific geographic locations, such as brick-and-mortar stores,
restaurants, and other service-based business.
