If you are asking yourself, “Does digital marketing really work?” this guide can help. Here is how your business can benefit from a digital marketing strategy.
More than 5 billion people worldwide use the internet.
Having a strong online presence is essential for any business, and while this begins with a website, there’s a lot more to it. If you want your business to stand out and succeed, there are certain things you’ll need to do.
Many people don’t fully understand what digital marketing does and find themselves asking whether it really works. Well, the answer is YES!
Effective digital marketing can make a huge difference for your brand. Keep reading to find out how.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing (a.k.a. online marketing) is any marketing effort that your business makes using the internet. This can include various channels such as social media platforms, search engines, email, etc.
Digital marketing helps build brand awareness, and because almost all businesses market themselves online, any that don’t will be left behind. An effective digital marketing strategy will help you get the most out of your efforts, but the results will change with time.
Why Digital Marketing Is Important
Digital marketing has become one of the most effective ways to reach a wider audience and grow your brand in today’s world. It offers a range of benefits that you typically won’t find with other types of marketing.
Focusing Efforts on the Right Prospects
Most traditional advertisements can’t be targeted very precisely. Ads on billboards, in magazines, or on TV can be seen by a wide range of people and many of these might not be your target audience.
With digital marketing, you can target specific demographics to ensure that your content is seen by the right people. For example, you can aim ads at certain age groups, genders, locations, and more. By targeting the right groups, only those who are likely to take an interest in your brand will see your ads, making them more efficient overall.
Cost-Effective Marketing
Even if you don’t have a huge digital marketing budget, you can still engage in effective marketing. Social media marketing, for example, is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business, as it costs nothing to set up pages and post content.
You can use various digital marketing tools to track a range of metrics for your digital marketing campaign. They’ll allow you to see how well different channels are performing. You can then understand which areas are the strongest and make changes to improve areas of weakness.
With a tight budget, it’s good to keep things as cost-effective as possible. Some of the best ways to do this are through SEO (search engine optimization), blogging, and social media.
Competing With the Competition
In most industries, there are businesses of all sizes. If your company is newer and smaller, it can be difficult to compete with larger organizations.
Marketing businesses online is one of the best ways for a small brand to compete with larger ones. You can develop and implement a strong digital marketing campaign without spending millions of dollars.
Ranking higher on search engines is one of the best ways to do this—28.5% of users click the first result when performing a Google search. You can improve your search engine ranking through SEO. Things like keyword research, improving website load speed, and providing quality content will all help.
It’s Measurable
When you decide to develop a digital marketing strategy, you should start by setting specific goals. These might relate to things like increasing traffic or getting more conversions, for example.
Over time, you can track metrics to see if things are progressing in line with your goals. You can see the results in real time, which isn’t the case with other types of marketing. By monitoring different factors, you can make better-informed decisions in order to improve your strategy.
Easy to Change and Adapt
Any marketing strategy can take a long time to develop. One advantage of a digital marketing strategy is that you can make changes to it at any point.
There may be elements of your strategy that seemed like a good choice at the start, but after some time, things might not have played out as you originally expected. But because you can make changes at any point, you won’t need to start over.
Improves Conversion Rates
More conversions are beneficial for any business. A higher conversion rate means increased profits and further growth, so this is something you should always aim for.
As you monitor and adapt your strategy, it will become more effective. You’ll be able to target your marketing more effectively, increasing the number of people who interact with your brand. By observing what tactics work best, and getting a better idea of what your audience responds to, you’ll be able to optimize your digital marketing strategy, making it as efficient as possible.
This will also lead to more quality leads. The people who see your digital marketing will tend to have more of an interest in your brand, so it will be easier to convert them and build a relationship.
Makes It Easier to Engage With Your Audience
Building connections between your audience and your brand can be essential to your business. With a solid digital marketing strategy, you can interact with customers at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Doing so will make it easier to guide them through the customer funnel.
This will reduce the chances of customers leaving part way through the journey. You can establish leads, build a connection, and convert them to paying customers far more effectively.
Does Digital Marketing Really Work?
To answer the question, “Does digital marketing really work?”, the answer is a resounding yes. Not only does it work, but it’s often one of the most effective forms of marketing a business has at its disposal.
Ballantine is a leading direct mail & digital marketing agency. We can work with you to create an effective digital marketing strategy, helping your brand to reach its goals. To find out more about our digital marketing services, click here today.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
