What is Digital Marketing?
The internet, smartphones, and social media have all changed the way we buy and seek information. Increased online shopping, online product and customer reviews, price comparison between products, to branding messages on social media have created additional avenues for marketers to pursue different marketing strategies. Digital marketing incorporates marketing methods through digital channels like social media and email to connect with customers online. If you are a retail owner, you might be thinking of ways to reach a larger audience and acquire more customers to your store. In this ultimate guide to digital marketing, we’ll explore the benefits and the types of methods you can use.
Benefits of Digital Marketing
Approximately 80% of shoppers research a product online before going to a physical store to make the purchase? This omnichannel approach enables your company to become more visible to the customer during the search process. Digital marketing transforms the way you attract and engage customers online. Implementing the techniques in this ultimate digital marketing guide can result improved online visibility, greater customer conversion rates, cost effectiveness, and the best part—an accurate measurement of your ROI (return on investment).
Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing: The Methods
Digital marketing often uses inbound marketing, meaning that its purpose is to attract and engage an audience online. Some of these popular methods include:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is a form of search engine marketing that focuses on organic growth for your retail store. It increases the number of visitors to your website by using high-rank placement in search results through engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Keep in mind that while SEO is an amazing marketing tactic, it is actually more about great content and earning links. Without great content, a website will not earn any links. Without links, your website won’t break the first page in the search results.
The takeaway: Earlier I mentioned that shoppers do research online before actually going in store to buy the product. Well, search engines serve as the primary navigator for these users and a pathway to your website. SEO enables these visitors to see your website when searching, and ultimately increases the chances of them making a purchase.
Content
Content marketing can be a creative option to achieve brand awareness, growth, and conversions. You can create interesting content through blogs, podcasts, and videos to name a few. The point is to be able to tell a story, and/or share information. Content marketing improves your SEO rank through new search terms from continuous web content. It also creates an engaging space for your customers and allows you to be seen as a credible source due to the information you have provided.
Email: Email marketing is typically used to promote discounts, upcoming events, new products and launches, campaigns, and any important information regarding to the business. It can also be used as a way to be in constant communication with your customers. Email marketing can drive direct business to your store or online website through effective email marketing campaigns. Effective emails often include:
- Clear and concise attention-grabbing subject lines
- Personalized content
- Branding elements (colors, fonts, logos)
- A focused “call-to-action”
- Statements of benefits
- Relevant images
- An “unsubscribe” button
Social Media
One of our favorite forms of digital advertising at FiD is social media. Businesses use different social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to market to their customers. In today’s digital age consumers want to be engaged differently than with traditional marketing methods. Social media allows consumers to connect with businesses in a different way than any traditional form of advertising can. The evolution of social media has created a new space for social selling, influencer strategies, and marketing campaigns that drive follows and user engagement. Additionally, with proper art direction, you can also brand yourself on social media in a fun and creative way.
Analytics
One of the biggest advantages (and biggest takeaways in this ultimate guide to digital marketing) is that you can easily track and measure everything! You can learn what works and what does not with the help of real data. Discover what type of content brought your business the highest engagement, the most clicks, impressions, or new customers. You can simply use Google Analytics for this step. Then, after collecting this data, you will be able to put a better strategy in place for the future. This strategy can lead to better results and higher conversion rates.
Well, now that you know the basics, you can get started and watch how digital marketing can transform your online retail store. Still need some assistance in the SEO department? It’s what FiD does best! Apply for your free 15-minute strategy call with us today.