If you still rely only on traditional advertising methods like billboards or newspapers, read on to discover the many benefits of utilizing digital marketing. Marketing online and via text and email offers improved targeting, reach, and conversions. More than 90 per cent of the US alone use their cell phone as their main Internet browsing source. Consumers research purchases and buy online. Without targeting digital marketing channels, you miss the majority of users on their preferred communications means. That translates to missed customers and lost revenue while digital marketing brings you more of both.

Digital Marketing Defined

Digital marketing refers to the practice of advertising and promoting products or services via electronic media, such as the Internet and SMS. Its full list of channels includes the following:

• digital television
• electronic billboards
• mobile apps
• mobile instant messaging
• podcasts
• radio channels
• text messaging

Digital marketing offers real-time metrics and analytics. With it, publicists can immediately access data on items like:

• campaigns viewed
• frequency of views
• length of views
• sales conversions
• clickthrough rate

How Digital Marketing Helps

The Internet affords people the ability to research and exchange information at any time. Consumers can research purchases in advance and determine if an item is worth the investment. People choose brands they can trust and companies who get to know them. The chosen brands offer personalized relevant communications. They provide offers and sales customized to the consumer’s needs and likes.

The advantage of digital marketing is simple: it works just as effectively for the brand to gather information, too. It can easily analyze big data to get to know customers and craft likeable personas that help them communicate and see items that actually interest them and that they’ll actually purchase. 

Although one of the best-known personas, Betty Crocker, began many years before big data, she undergoes regular updates. It once took massive hours of research to create an advanced persona such as Betty Crocker, but now the constant stream of big data, data cleaning and instant analysis assembles a report like this in mere minutes. This is a great tool because businesses must know their consumers better than their competitors do. Know your consumer better than anyone. By providing them with what they want and providing a satisfying experience for them, you’ll create a loyal customer for life. 

Another key component to having a consumer return to your business time and time again is creating a strong online presence. Through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., you can create a marketing campaign that is on-brand for your business. Start offering incentives for consumers to choose you over your competitors. Hold competitions with prizes for your customers, give away free items, thank them for their loyalty by giving them discounts. By doing so, you give them a reason to turn to your business over others.

It’s also important to maintain a strong media presence by regularly posting on your business sites. This creates a positive reputation that your business is aware of the needs of its consumers and will actively listen and assist them. This is especially crucial in the world of online product reviews. Consumers can rate your product and leave positive or negative reviews for others to see. Make sure you are continually striving to make your consumers happy, provide refunds if they’re not satisfied, and respond respectfully to negative feedback with a “how can I make this better” attitude. 

In addition to your social media platforms, make sure your company website is up-to-date and provides a positive, easy-to-navigate experience for your consumers. Make sure your website is easy to use, not just on laptops, but on mobile devices as well. As stated earlier, many consumers will do online shopping on their phone. This means it’s critical that your website is user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing to your target audience. An easy way to figure out if your website is up to standards is to have focus groups that come in and use your website for five minutes. They can report back on what they thought of your company website. 

Ten Digital Marketing Keys

Beyond its overall benefit of consumer development and relationship, marketing digitally also offers ten main benefits.

1. Cost-effective advertising. It costs less than traditional methods of advertising. This levels the playing field for small businesses.
2. Constant customer connections. Strengthen your connection directly through online communications and in-store electronics like robotic coupon dispensers. Your brand’s app can alert users to stores carrying their product when they near it too. 
3. Engages the latest technology. Digital methods let you engage mobile devices. In the US, that’s the device 91 percent of adults keep within reach at all times. Those are also the devices they use to browse online on a daily basis.
4. Increases ROI and Revenue. Customers use and respond to digital marketing. Big data extracted from marketing campaigns lets you further customize ads to further increase reach.
5. Analytics and Metrics. Small businesses benefit the most because most analytics programs are free. Your real-time data lets you build personas to further enhance reach.
6. Increase conversion rates. Convert website visitors or ad clicks into leads, sales or subscribers.
7. Target social media audiences. Use age, country and interests to hone audience and reach.
8. Increased engagement. The more likes your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts draw, the more you increase brand trust and reach since each social media shows your likes to your followers.
9. Word of Mouth. Digital word of mouth travels even faster than in real life. People trust services and brands trusted by their friends and colleagues.
10. Monitor competition. Use Google Alerts to study competition and learn their marketing strategies.

The Main Takeaway

Moving to digital marketing lets your brand reach new target audiences with perfectly honed messages crafted to increase engagements and conversions. Digital marketing offers real-time metrics tracking and automated analytics that generate reports with the click of a button. Since it costs less than traditional advertising methods, there’s really no reason your company shouldn’t market on digital channels. Make the change today and see the benefits it will provide in no time.