When you own a business, money talks. That’s why many businesses have invested in digital marketing. 81% of consumers do online research before making a purchase. 30% of consumers wouldn’t even consider a business that doesn’t have a website,however, only 56% of businesses have a website giving companies who have an online presence a distinct advantage over those who do not.

You’ve probably heard the saying “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, even if you build a website there is no guarantee that anyone will ‘come’ to visit it especially if they can’t find it through a simple keyword search on Google. Investing time and money into digital marketing can help you take your company to the next level. Before you dive in, you need to understand what digital marketing is and what it takes to be effective.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is also known as “online marketing”, because it involves marketing your products, services, business or organization through online channels. This includes search engine optimization (seo), email marketing, social media marketing, paid advertising and, content marketing.

Digital marketing can be daunting for a beginner and if you’re not a marketing professional you may never fully understand every aspect of it all. If you’re looking to build a digital strategy for your business, you’ll need to identify your goals. your target market and where your target market ‘hang out’. For example, teenagers often enjoy engaging with brands on SnapChat. Conversely, adults in their 30’s are more likely to engage with brands on Facebook.

Once you’ve established your goals for your target market, you’ll be able to better determine which channels will work best for your company.

Key Components of a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

To begin, you’ll need to establish social media accounts, set up a website with a blog, and establish your brand identity to ensure consistent Branding. Keep in mind that content is the most important component in digital marketing. It can be used to attract new customers, keep existing customers engaged and increase loyalty, and when strategically created, it can even close sales. If you don’t have a dedicated marketing person, you may want to consider outsourcing to a reputable company, that can effectively analyze your target market and turn them into customers.

There are a lot of online marketing channels available; so many that we cannot cover them all in one article. Let’s just focus on some of the most important components:

A Kick-ass Website

A website is the MOST important component of digital marketing. Having a website means that your prospects can find you online and learn more about your products or services. However, there are some important factors that must be addressed:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Most customers will search for products and services using search engines. If your website isn’t search engine optimized, you probably won’t show up within the first 3 pages of results. 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results, so you are losing customers every day. Search engine optimization requires keyword targeted content, with the proper title, heading, subheadings, tags, meta descriptions, image descriptions, etc. The process can be time consuming and complex and often, it is more effective to bring on a specialist to help you achieve your goals.

Paid Ads

SEO is very time consuming and requires a bit of patience before you see results. The best way to immediately show up on the first or second page of search results is through paid ads. Google AdWords, for example, allows you to target certain keywords or key phrases and promote to those users.

Social Media

There is no doubt about it, social media is an integral part of marketing. It’s an effective way to build an online presence, engage your prospects and customers, as well as listen to what your customers are saying. It allows you to learn in real-time the hits and misses in your service and product offerings as well as your overall business practices.

Content

High-quality content is essential to an effective marketing strategy. Posting blog posts, videos, or photos through your website and social media can help you increase brand awareness. You can also help bring prospects back to your website where you can close the deal on a landing page. Posting fresh, optimized content regularly can help you increase traffic to your site and can benefit your website’s search engine position.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with customers as well as give them an in-depth description of your products and services. It’s also an excellent way of promoting specials and getting customer feedback. It can turn a prospect into a sale and a sale into a loyal customer.

Blogging

Blogging is an excellent way to build credibility with your customers. You can inform prospects and help build trust, without thrusting your services and goods in their face. Blogging allows search engines to list your content which in turn helps customers find you online. Businesses that have blogs on their websites see significantly more traffic to their website than businesses that don’t. ContentPlus published that blogs give websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links.

Analytics

Analytics is one of the greatest assets in digital marketing. It will allow you to measure your marketing efforts and track its success (or lack-thereof). You can analyze the efficacy of a campaign and make adjustments or changes based on the data. All online marketing channels have analytics that you can utilize to help you to market more effectively.

Other strategies include affiliate marketing, marketing automation, inbound marketing, online PR, webinars and more.

Conclusion

If you already have a website, you’re ahead of some of your competitors. Don’t waste this opportunity to increase your market share. A solid marketing strategy can be the difference between a failing business or a successful one. Old marketing efforts just cannot keep your brand afloat on their own. Digital marketing is worth the time and investment.

We Can Help

3D Studios helps businesses grow their influence and their brands. As a boutique brand management agency, we begin with a thorough analysis of your needs and partner with you to develop and execute a marketing plan that will help you take your business to the next level. To learn more about how 3D Studios can help you, visit us at www.3Dstudios.net or call 914-304-4229.