Before we get to digital marketing, I think we should go back and look at what is MARKETING. Marketing is the act of driving profitable action.
That means that digital marketing is the act of driving profitable action online.
Social Media Marketing:
The main goals of social media marketing are to build a relationship with your current and prospective clients and to build brand awareness. So that you stay top of mind all the time.
The most popular social media platform is still Facebook where you can create a page for your business with all the information including links to your website. LinkedIn has also seen a big rise in the past year, making it imperative for you to be visible there as well.
Different platforms will work better for different businesses. You don’t have to be on every social media platform. Rather be on a platform that will best enable you to represent you and your business or product and where your audience is the most active.
It’s also important to keep in mind that you’ll need time to post on your platforms, so rather start small if you’re not going to appoint someone to do it for you.
Best idea: Get a professional to help you identify on which platforms your audience is most active and let them help you set up a profile along with content that will convert prospects to clients.
Search Engine Marketing
Don’t be intimidated by the terminology! Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is simply any marketing effort focused on helping prospects find you through search platforms like Google.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and paid platforms like Google Adwords both form part of the greater SEM framework.
When someone searches for something on a search engine like Google, they use keywords. With SEO (that’s free), you’ll design a website that incorporates certain keywords and content, for example, that will help you rank higher in Google. This will help people find you on search engines. And the main goal of your website is (or should be) to get leads.
Best Idea: Get an SEO expert to do an SEO Audit on your website and give you advice on all the different things you can do to improve your ranking and also advise you on ways you can create ads to ensure that you’re always at the top of search results.
Pay-Per-Click Marketing
PPC is paid advertising. You create and ad, bid to have it shown to a certain target audience and pay per result. There are different ways to set it up, but you’ll either pay per click, conversions, actions taken or impressions.
Let’s say, for example, you are a wine brand and you’ve just launched a new wine cultivar. You want to drive awareness but also drive sales on your website. So the goal of your ad would be to get as many conversions as possible to your website/link where people can buy the product. So you’ll be billed per click.
Another example is if you’re a property agent in Cape Town and somebody searches for the term: properties for sale cape town. If you’re bidding for those keywords and those keywords are entered, your ad will be the first search result.
It’s important to know that certain keywords are searched for more than others. This automatically pushes the price per click up as there is a lot of competition for those keywords.
Google AdWords and Bing Ads are the two most common PPC search ad platforms. They allow you to connect to users who are actively looking for your product and are at a high intent of purchasing.
All other ad types are display ads, including Facebook and Instagram Ads, Google AdSense, Promoted Pins and LinkedIn Ads.
Best Idea: Speak to a PPC or Marketing expert that can guide you in creating ads that will reach your target audience and achieve the best results for you.
Email Marketing:
Email Marketing is one of the most underutilised marketing tools available today. Like social media, it’s delivered regularly to remind clients and prospects of your product or service.
There are different types of email campaigns you can set up. A monthly newsletter is a good example. Another one is an auto-responder where prospects receive a confirmation email if they’ve signed up to your newsletter for example. The best thing about email marketing and using a platform like Mailchimp is that you can automate a lot of your email communication.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to Email Marketing is that you need to catch your reader’s attention.
Best Idea: Speak to a copywriter who can help you craft the perfect email and subject line that will get people to not open your email but also take the action you require (like clicking on a ‘Buy Now’ button for example).
Content Marketing:
Content Marketing is just what the name implies: the marketing of your content. The goal here is to draw in leads by offering valuable content that builds trust.
Examples include:
Blog posts
Infographics
Videos
Guest posts for other sites
Lead magnets like eBooks
When you publish any of the above, make sure readers can share the content and spread the word FOR YOU.
Best Idea: Speak to a copywriter to write posts and copy for you.
Online Networking:
This is the easiest, free tool you can use to promote your business or product and establish yourself as the expert authority in your field. This is when you interact with industry related peers or prospects in online groups, forums, and social media channels. The idea is to build relationships and trust so that next time when they’re thinking of a product like yours, you’re the first that comes to mind.
Some of the best places to look for online communities that are relevant to your business include:
Facebook groups
LinkedIn groups (like the one pictured above)
Tag, reply and mention others on social media platforms
Best Idea: Get a social media guru to interact on behalf of you and your business online consistently.
So where do you start? Be sure to read my next blog where I’ll guide you through the steps to get started on your digital marketing journey!
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All the best,
Nellie
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