Digital marketing is what you get when you cross business with creativity. You acquire the professional rigor of a customer-focused organization and the innovative mindset of a modern-day Picasso.
Interestingly, even though we live in the digital era, many businesses are still uncertain what good can come from collaborating with a digital agency. Sometimes, even large corporations fail at creating a proper digital marketing strategy since they are unsure how to approach this task.
Today’s article will go over the top 3 reasons digital marketing is so sought after and a couple of challenges that lie ahead once you step into this industry.
Why is digital marketing so desirable?
- Expanding your audience
Per a Statista survey, we now know that there are almost 4.7 billion active Internet users worldwide – 59.5% of the global population. Out of these, 92.6% access the Internet daily via mobile.
Now, anyone who has ever used a smartphone to surf the web will know that you do so at lightning speed. So, what does that entail for marketers? Well, now, you not only have to ensure that you provide users with interesting, relatable, and engaging marketing strategies, you also have to optimize them for both PC and mobile.
However, let’s take a step back and remind ourselves of the fact that nearly 60% of the planet is online. We are slowly reaching three-quarters of the population enjoying an Internet connection. With such an exorbitant amount of people, now – more than ever is the time to step up your marketing efforts to the next level.
By investing correctly into smart digital strategies, you have the unprecedented opportunity of reaching not millions but billions!
All those individuals, just casually surfing the web, looking for information and knowledge – you can reach all of them by knowing the right words, the right approach, and the right techniques.
- Stop reaching in the dark!
Speaking of using the right tools & techniques to reach the right people, digital marketing allows you to achieve this objective easier than ever!
The first difference to traditional methods (telemarketing, newspapers) is that modern strategies maximize the fact that many people use the Internet to prepare relevant, targeted messages and content.
Tools such as Google Trends, Analytics, SEMrush, Sprinklr, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, HubSpot, Clicky, Mixpanel, and many others enable digital marketing agencies to pinpoint particular and segmented audiences. This ensures your efforts always reach the right people and you never overshoot.
The second difference lies in the actual mediums used to convey your content. Unlike the olden days, agencies have a wide array of options available to them: social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Youtube, Snapchat, etc.), e-mails (Mailchimp, Sendinblue, EmailOctopus, EngageBay, GetResponse, etc.), search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, etc.), and websites (regular multi-page websites, microsites, or simple landing pages).
- Going head-to-head with your competitors
Since any organization can contract the services of a digital marketing agency, you probably won’t be alone in this endeavour. Chances are your competitors are already signing contracts as you’re reading this article.
Whether you’re an SME or a larger business that wants to rebrand itself to keep up with today’s changing times, it is now easier than ever to do so. There are a plethora of digital agencies out there, and all you have to do is find the one with whom you vibe the best.
Working with a digital marketing team is no different from working with your staff members. You have to communicate clearly, establish priorities right off the bat, and forge a strategy that considers both the team’s capabilities and your vision.
Be mindful of your current position in the digital world, prepare a presentation or brief for the agency you choose, and begin working on the most glaring issues right away. These could be something isolated, such as needing quality content on a blog, putting together a weekly/monthly social media calendar, or straightening out your current content’s SEO status.
However, sometimes, simply going skin-deep won’t cut it. You might require a more holistic approach – a new logo, new designs, a new website, new ads, maybe introduce your audience to videos and animation. While this may sound like a lot of work (and in fairness, it is) and quite daunting, rest assured that you can definitely find the right digital marketing agency for your needs.
What difficulties can we encounter once we set on this journey?
A. Maintaining an optimized website (and content)
One of the easiest things to forget is optimization. Everyone rushes to create the most beautiful website and the lengthiest, most informative articles known to man. Even so, after investing all of that effort, you are still unable to reap the rewards of your hard work. Why is that?
Optimization, optimization, optimization!
We obviously mean search engine optimization or SEO, as this can bring significant long-term benefits when done correctly. SEO is a tricky beast to handle because you don’t get to stop doing it. While it is not a 24/7 job, it’s not very far from that either.
You see, Google changes its algorithm on a whim. Today’s value-laden suggestion is tomorrow’s hearsay. Therefore, you have to be prepared to adapt on the fly. Whether you manage a blog or a website, the content you showcase always has to be fresh, relevant, engaging, and SEO-friendly.
Traditionally, content should also be plentiful; however, that is best decided on a case-by-case basis. Suppose your organization’s profile is not the most suitable for producing a constant stream of marketing materials. In that case, it is best to establish a strategy that maximizes the content you do decide to push through.
B. Generating high-quality leads
Speaking of strategy, taking care of optimization is not the only part of it. Your approach has to consider which social media (SM) platforms give you the biggest bang for your buck. Once you’ve decided on one or several platforms, you must maintain an active presence there, producing engaging content and interacting with your followers as possible.
Nowadays, people want to see the human face of business, which has to be reflected in your SM posts. This also means that you have to tailor your content to your audience’s demographics. Start by doing a little bit of research and try your best to find out indicators such as age, location, profession, gender, or income.
Once you’ve gathered all the necessary intel, you can target specific groups of followers with distinct posts or ads. While there is the assumption that most people dislike ads – and it is true to a degree, the actual reality is that people dislike random ads that have no connection whatsoever to their interests.
The same stands true for any social media text that is a simple hard sell post. People expect emotional investment or mental stimulation from your posts. Dishing out dry SM announcements like a glorified corner shop only results in mental fatigue. It is an easy way to ensure your followers start ignoring whatever you’re trying to tell them.
Furthermore, be mindful not to over-publish if your profile does not fit that of a content creator. If you’re a business, spamming your audience with several social media posts each day will not show them how engaging you can be – it will simply be tiresome. Sometimes less is more. In the SM world, it’s better to have one genuinely heart-warming or mentally stimulating post a day than 2-3 soulless husks of a post.
Final thoughts
As we can see, it’s not an easy task to keep up with today’s digital requirements. Agencies employ talented individuals who spend their time ensuring their clients’ trust and investment are proven right. It is demanding but ultimately incredibly satisfying work. In all honesty, there are few things more fulfilling than knowing you are the reason why a specific organization just exploded overnight or over the span of a few weeks/a couple of months.
Digital marketing is by far one of the most worthwhile elements to integrate into your business strategies since it is the easiest way to reach the people whose interest you want to amp up.
All that’s left is to find that agency whose vision and mission match yours, and from that point on, the journey is on!
