What is digital marketing all about?

What is digital marketing?

Digital Marketing is the promotion and selling of products or services online in simple terms.

It is a very broad term that encompasses all the marketing efforts done via the internet through electronic devices such as your laptops and mobile phones. It is simple to understand what digital marketing is, but the true clarification most people seek is – Do they really need to do digital marketing? And if so, how much do they have to invest in digital marketing?

Why digital marketing is important?

There over 5 billion internet users as of April 2022 as the internet is becoming more accessible due to the advancement in technology. Therefore, the online space has become an essential customer touch point(s) for many brands and businesses.

COVID-19 has demonstrated how businesses can utilize the online space to continue their operations in adverse times. Especially so for the brick-and-mortar businesses that suffered from the lack of footfall.

Following the previous point, it is all the more important for companies that are selling software as a product to utilize digital marketing. Because a physical store is not necessary and the transaction is done online.

How digital marketing helps in business growth

Businesses can automate their marketing efforts to spend less and reach more of their target audience to grow their business.

It is possible to run a business today without a physical store with digital marketing. This means that you can save on the cost incurred from a physical store, such as the rental and electricity bills.

It is easier to communicate with customers and prospects online. There are plenty of platforms such as Social Media and Email, that enables business to constantly push engaging content and interact with their audience.

While there are many advantages to digital marketing such as increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty, the main advantage of digital marketing is to reach your target audience with ease at a low cost.

Should I invest in digital marketing for my business?

Yes. But like any other investments, make sure to do your due diligence and not invest blindly in digital marketing.

If you think that digital marketing is some simple magic that can generate results overnight, I would advise you to hit the casino instead as your odds of getting returns is higher there.

Other digital marketers may disagree with me – but digital marketing is all about experimenting, there is no one-size-fits-all kind of strategy for every business.

So what are the “due diligence” that needs to be performed?

Understand the basics

Take ownership of your business. Put in the effort to gain a basic understand on digital marketing.

Quickly identify unrealistic promises from digital marketing agencies and communicate with your marketing team efficiently amongst many other benefits.

Establish clear marketing objectives

Ensure that you are measuring the right metrics at your current stage in the marketing funnel. For example – if you are not getting enough web traffic, you should be trying to increase your web traffic first instead of asking for more leads.

Maintain Focus

Once you are clear on your marketing objectives, make sure that all your marketing efforts is purposed to meet your marketing objectives in the shortest time possible.

Ability to accept failed experiments

Every campaign is an experiment, you hit the marketing KPI for some while you miss the marketing KPI for others. It is important to learn from the failures and achieve success eventually.

Do not fix what is not broken

If you managed to achieve success from a campaign, even if it is not ideal, continue milking your success.

Using Wang Lei’s story as an example, who would have thought his comical reaction and vulgar language would achieve a total sale of 3,000 fishes from his first Facebook Live?

We don’t know what we don’t know. It is better to forgo the ideal reputation and humble ourselves to work on what is effective.

Know when to pull out

Investment in marketing is a lot like stocks. You will get your returns eventually, but how long can your business last before succumbing to the snowballing marketing cost?

This is the reason why most bigger companies invest in digital marketing, as they have enough budget to achieve success eventually and produce profits above their cost from those success.

What are digital marketing channels?

Digital marketing channels are the various online platforms that businesses can utilize to reach their potential customers to promote the brand, product or service.

Content Marketing

Creating and publishing of web content including blogs, articles, videos, and other forms of media. The objective is to produce content that value-add to your users, such as answering a question. This helps to stimulate interest and establish your brand as a thought leader in the market.

Email Marketing

Mass broadcasting of personalized emails to a target audience group. The purpose of the email can be to promote a piece of content, sales offer, etc. and drive the user to take an action like signing up for newsletter or making a purchase.

Social Media Marketing

Posting of content and updates to Social Media platforms regularly. The main purpose is to show that the company is active and interact with the users.

Search Engine Optimization

Ranking on search engine result page for specific keywords. The goal is to appear for the first result, as more users will see your business when they search for specific keywords or query.

Learn More

Google Ads

The official online advertising platform from Google. Bid against other advertisers to put your ads in front of your target audience as they browse through Google apps such as Chrome Browser and Google Play.

Affiliate Marketing

Work with third-party companies to receive traffic or leads directly from their marketing effort for a compensation in return.

Influencer Marketing

Work with well known influencers with followers from your target audience profile and market to their followers who may convert into your customers.

I will not dive into the details of every platform here, but it is important to know all the options when considering to invest in digital marketing.

Spiralytics have already written a very comprehensive page that can help you to understand the digital marketing channels in details.

How much does digital marketing cost?

While most agencies are able to put a price tag to their services, the cost ultimately boils down to the business goals and objectives. As mentioned above, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Once again, I do not wish to reinvent amazing information that already exists. Check out Novatise’s piece on cost of digital marketing and you will realize that the cost behind digital marketing is not straightforward.

Understanding digital marketing before jumping to hiring services will save you a lot of money. With a fundamental understand and clear planning, you will be able to achieve more with less.

Have more questions on Digital Marketing?

Reach out to me to share your queries and thoughts!