Digital marketing is the process that leads to the development of a brand, an organisation, or a company, by way of digital platforms and mediums, such as computers, tablets, smartphones, games consoles, and the internet.
Digital marketers use media such as these to reach customers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. It is now easier than ever to reach a wide variety of potential customers – providing you understand the five stages of basic digital marketing.
The first stage is having high quality content, whether traditionally written copy or by producing video content. Producing well written copy relies on working hard on the details. Small things, such as adjective choice, phrasing of sentences, and using effective imagery to make the reader emphasise or agree with your point can produce starling results. Similarly, optimising videos for SEO can let companies actively interact with their potential customer base.
The second stage is using social media. Social media is another means of interacting and relating with customers on a wide scale and potentially have a positive relationship that will promote your business. It is an area where you need to be consistent with your information and tactics, so you need to have a firm grasp of the basics and for which strategies to use for each individual site, such as Facebook, Google+, and Linked In. If you are considering using the potential of Youtube and creating videos to market your product, then research the best means and guides to help produce scripts and videos to their highest possible potential.
Access to content and to social media is crucial to the third stage. The rise of smartphone technology means that it is now easier than ever to reach customers – your company is travelling around in people’s pockets. Sites for smartphones require different technical implementation than URLs on computers, so make sure that you use responsive designs and dynamic content, and that you understand mobile audience behaviour.
The fourth stage is understanding the role of search in digital marketing. Search can be split into three sections; local, organic, and paid. Local SEO primers can help to increase your rankings in Google place search. This is no quick fix however, and requires investment in resources and must be considered as a serious professional channel.
Organic search comes from content rich pages that communicate what your website and services are about, quickly and efficiently, and demonstrates how it adds value to the potential customer. Your sites and content ought to use link building to provide successful results. With paid search, you can gain traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. This can generate good results, but be cautious in your use of them.
The final stage in unpacking the basics of digital marketing is by using email marketing to expand and increase your potential customer base. This is another direct means of interacting with customers, and provides effective results. It can be a more powerful tool than social media if it used correctly.
To better understand the aspects that make up digital marketing as a whole, Flexioffices have created this unpacking digital marketing info-graphic for you to refer to – whether you’re a small business owner, a sole trader or just interested in digital marketing in general. Feel free to share it with others interested as well!