why digital marketing is important

WHY DIGITAL MARKETING IS IMPORTANT?

Digital marketing helps brands reach their target audience and promote their product or service. While that’s the goal of a traditional marketing campaign too, digital marketing allows brands to target a more specific or niche audience. Connecting with customers digitally helps build a wider audience that trusts your brand. It’s particularly useful for small businesses, which can easily leverage digital marketing tactics without the help of a marketing department or agency.

Content marketing. Ryan can create written content—such as blogs and guides—about his product. He could also launch a YouTube channel featuring product demos. These kinds of content allow people to better understand the value of his product.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Ryan has all this content now, but it’s lost in the abyss of online searches. He looks at what his target customers are looking up online when searching for communication tools like his. So he uses these search terms as keywords to optimize his website, in the hopes of his content ranking higher.
Email marketing. Ryan then identifies a sizable list of prospective customers interested in buying his product. He creates an email list so that he can send information and resources related to his product.
Advertisements. Ryan has been relying on creating and repurposing content to build his pool of customers. He now wants to dip his toes in advertising, so he pays for ads to drive traffic to his website. This will require a budget to buy ad space for text, video, and image ads on websites or social media.
Social media marketing. Ryan has researched his audience and identified that they hang out on only one social channel, Instagram. So he creates an Instagram business profile to talk about his product without coming across as too “sales-y,” which helps him connect with his audience more intimately.

Digital marketing will allow Ryan to target only those likely to buy his communication tools, i.e., his ideal customers. By posting high-quality content and studying who is visiting his website or engaging with his posts, he will get an insight into his target audience and tailor his ads towards them. Does he need to show his ads and posts to older people who prefer using the phone as the primary method of communication only? No. So he doesn’t need to include the older demographic in his marketing strategy.

Digital marketing involves using online channels to sell or promote a product or service. These channels can come in many forms, from social media and content marketing to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
In terms of your business, digital marketing allows you to connect with prospective and existing customers, which is vital for business and brand awareness.
Digital marketing is important because it allows you to get creative and stand out from your competitors in congested markets. Not only is it essential for businesses, but customers also now heavily rely on it as a way of finding out about companies.
A digital marketing strategy’s ultimate aim is to deliver campaigns that support the company’s wider goals and ambitions, using the numerous digital tactics and channels you have at your disposal.

What are the different types of digital marketing?

Before we get into why digital marketing is important for business, you need to know about the different types of digital marketing you can use.

1. SEO

In simple terms, Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is all about using keywords on a website in order to improve its ranking on search engines and increase traffic. The higher placed your website is on Google’s search results, the better your brand’s chances of being recognised.

As well as keywords, good SEO practice relies on internal linking, authoritative content, good website navigation, and other important factors.

2. Content

Content marketing focuses on providing additional value to customers through expert-driven articles, blogs, videos, and other resources like whitepapers.

The aim of content marketing is to create and promote content that generates brand awareness, lead generation, and traffic growth. Ultimately, you must create engaging, informative content that hooks the customer and attracts them to your brand.

3. Social media

Fast becoming one of the most important digital marketing tools for a business, social media is a great way of promoting your brand and expanding your reach. It allows you to communicate with customers in an engaging way and helps to make them feel part of the brand.

Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube, you need to consider which platform works the best for your business and which channel is used the most by your target audience.

Social media helps you reach your customers organically but also gives you the option to boost posts and promote content through paid advertising.

This allows your content to reach a much wider audience, increases the level of engagement on your posts and gives you the opportunity to specifically target individual interests and demographics.

4. PPC

PPC helps to drive traffic to your website by paying a publisher every time your advert gets clicked. Types of PPC include Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, and sponsored LinkedIn content.

While it may not be as organic as other types of digital marketing, it’s still a key component of any successful digital marketing strategy.

5. Email

While it may be seen by many marketers as a bit old school, email marketing is still an essential digital marketing tool. It allows you to send personalised emails to your customers and helps you to reach all age demographics within your target audience.

Email marketing can be used to promote content, discounts, events, news, and competitions. Plus, it’s a great way of redirecting customers to your website.

6. Influencer

Influencer marketing is a proven way of promoting your brand using an engaging and modern approach. It allows businesses to collaborate with individuals who have a big online presence, which will ultimately help a brand’s exposure.

Influencer marketing comes in many different forms, but usually, an influencer will be asked to publish social media content that promotes the brand. It goes without saying, but it’s essential that the influencer is well-known among your target audience and a good face for your business.