A Dummies Guide to Digital Marketing
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has innumerable implications for the modern-day business, including the forcing of many brands into an almost exclusively online marketplace. While some businesses were savvy enough to establish well-rounded online profiles with robust digital marketing strategies before coronavirus, most small businesses are now scrambling to stay ahead of the curve.
What, then, is a business owner to do? Here is a dummies guide to digital marketing, and the fundamental steps for taking a business online.
The Heart of Digital Marketing
The modern marketplace is a marketplace of ubiquitous technology: internet use is skyrocketing, and everyday activities are being conducted online more than ever. At the same time, the way in which businesses interact and engage with their customers relies on digital tools more than ever: from email communication to online payment systems, few — if any — firms are finding success by staying off the grid.
Understanding Customers
Any business planning to make a shift to the online world must be doing something right: after all, if there were no customers, there would be no business. A great place to start any digital transition, then, is a review of what keeps customers coming back.
Whether it’s the quality or price point of a product, the location of a store, or even the charisma of a business owner, every brand attracts customers for a particular reason. Understanding who these customers are, and what they want out of a business, is essential to building an accurate profile of a “target customer.”
Create Good Content
Once a business has a good idea of their target customer, they need to focus on content marketing. Content marketing is an excellent, and inexpensive, place to launch a digital marketing strategy.
Helpful and informative content can deliver great returns over and over again, and a brand with a comprehensive blog is more likely to improve their visibility in search engine results through the use of search engine optimization (SEO). At the same time, images, videos and other entertaining content is a great way to capture a customer’s initial interest.
Content that is informative and/or aesthetically pleasing is a great place to start for any brand looking to launch a digital marketing strategy.
Get a Boost From Paid Advertising
Even household brand names still need to invest in paid advertising, so it makes sense that any business starting out in the online marketplace should similarly consider putting money behind their digital marketing efforts.
One of the most common forms of paid advertising is Google Ads, which are ads that appear at the top of relevant Google searches and are paid for by the businesses themselves. The Google platform operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) structure, whereby businesses are only charged once an individual clicks on the ad link. For businesses keen to experiment with paid advertising, Google Ads is an effective and user-friendly platform to start with.
A robust digital marketing strategy is a vital component of any successful business in the modern marketplace. The impact of coronavirus has only accelerated the inevitable: brands cannot expect to grow without investing in digital marketing.
Ronn Torossian is the CEO and Founder of 5W Public Relations. 5W PR is a leading digital pr and influencer marketing agency.
