Are You Ignoring Digital Marketing’s Impact On Your Business?

A recent study by Forbes finds that 82% of consumers conduct research online.

Tech Crunch reveals in their reports that over 79% of people shop online.

As technology evolves, marketplaces have become much more digital. It is only natural that marketing for them also happen online. In order to reach these consumers, there is one very integral part of the marketing mix for brands - digital marketing.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing, as the name suggests, refers to marketing with the help of online tools or digital channels such as websites, social media platforms, blogs, email, apps, etc. It helps in connecting with the audience at large, generate effective leads and therefore generate revenue. Besides, it is extremely cost effective.

Digital marketing is a very lucrative mode of marketing for people who want to grow their business, small or big, drastically and efficiently.

In the modern marketing scenario, digital marketing has become quite a buzz word. And for good reason.

Here are the top 10 reasons why every business, new or well-established, needs to make the most of digital marketing:

It is Powerful

The basic principle of marketing is to be where your consumers are. If they are spending most of their time online, your brand has to engage with them there. Digital marketing brings to you the potential to completely revolutionise the way that you reach and engage with your customers. By forming the right strategies and effectively implementing them, small businesses can increase their reach and conversions in just a matter of months.

It is Cost Effective

Traditional media is expensive. A small business may find it hard to shell out thousands of rupees to buy ad space in a newspaper or airtime on TV or radio. But digital marketing, on the other hand, can be done at a minimal cost.

There are two kinds of content on social media - organic and sponsored. Organic content means stuff you publish for free and your fans find it because they follow you. Sponsored content, on the other hand, requires you to pay the social media platform to show your content to the relevant audiences. A good digital marketing strategy has a mix of both.

While organic content comes with no price tag at all, even sponsored costs only a small fraction of what you’d traditionally pay.

It is Measurable

How will you be able to tell if your marketing is working?

With traditional media, the only way to know for sure is to measure your success over time. It can be very difficult to track the success of a traditional marketing campaign like a radio advertisement or mailer. However, with digital marketing, the game changes completely. Every digital marketing tactic that you use is extremely measurable. This benefit is a very strong reason why you need to invest in digital marketing.

Digital marketing provides in-depth analytics. This takes the guesswork out of determining whether your marketing is actually working or not. You can measure your digital marketing campaigns in real-time in order to see which tactics are working and which are not.

This allows you to know exactly what your audience likes and responds best to. You can find the most popular posts among your target audience - what they liked, what they shared, what generated conversations among them and most importantly, what created the most conversions. Then, you can take insights from what you have learned and adjust your future campaigns accordingly for greater success. You can also take the insights that you’ve gained from the process to improve future campaigns.

Digital marketing analytics allows you to use your resources in the most effective manner possible. Since you are no longer guessing about what’s working and what isn’t, you can reduce unnecessary expenses and focus your efforts on the strategies that will give you most returns on your investment.

It is Targeted

You may spend a lot on buying a hoarding on the highway. But the people seeing it may not necessarily be your target audience. When you purchase newspaper space or place an ad in a magazine or on TV, you’re basically taking a shot in the dark that it will reach its intended audience. Knowing your target audience well can help you reach them better even with traditional marketing but it just doesn’t offer the same targeting capabilities as digital marketing.

In digital marketing, you can narrow the audience down based on several criteria such as age, gender, region, languages spoken and interests. It ensures that the right consumers are viewing your content. It enables you to target those who are most likely to be interested in your products or services based on demographic information and general characteristics.

Better targeting means you get back more for your marketing budget and resources. You no longer have to worry that you are spending money on ads that won’t reach those who are likely to be interested in your products. You can focus your marketing efforts on strategies that actually work.

Buyer Journeys Now Start Online

Think about the last time you wanted to buy something new. How did you begin to decide what product was best suited to you? Googled it?

Well, your customer is doing the same too. Buyers’ journey begins by seeking information online for products or services that can help them solve their problems.

According to Vimeo, 93% of online experiences start with a search engine. Before consumers even know what product or service they need, they are going to the search engines to look for answers to their questions and to learn more about their challenges.

This is an excellent business opportunity. You get to connect with potential customers and educate them during the beginning stages of the buyer’s journey. You can improve your visibility online and reach customers when it matters the most. If you were with them from the beginning, chances are, they won’t forget you while finally making the purchase.

Your Customers Are Always On Social Media

A study by eMarketer finds that 2.34 billion people, or about one-third of the earth’s population, uses social media platforms regularly.

No matter what industry your business is in, it is a fair assumption to make that your buyers are spending their time on social media channels like Facebook or Twitter. This is what makes digital marketing so important.

Digital marketing helps you reach and engage with your consumers on social media. You can publish and promote unique content on these social sites as well as reach consumers through advertising.

Besides, social media is where your consumers start to form a relationship with your brand. Unlike traditional media, you don’t talk at your consumers. You talk to them. It is possible to have a two-way conversation. This allows you to gain valuable insight into your brand. That’s something that traditional marketing tactics just don’t allow for.

You Build Your Brand

Every organisation, big or small, can create steady and reliable branding with digital marketing. every. A unique logo with the name of the organisation, a tagline or a slogan along with professional looking graphics is all a company needs to portray them as a strong and consistent brand. This bridges the gap between small and large enterprises. Besides, it helps in attracting people to take an interest in the brand and connect with it further.

You Can Connect With Your Customers On Mobile

You don't even need your customer to be on a computer to connect with him or her. Over half of all online users are accessing the web from a mobile device. A great benefit of digital marketing is that it allows you to connect with consumers who are browsing and consuming content on their mobile devices. Digital marketing can help you reach people browsing on all devices - be it mobile, tablets or desktop computers.

It is Easily Adaptable

With traditional marketing tactics like television or newspaper ads, you have to wait until after the campaign has been completed to see the results. You can learn and adjust only later. This may take weeks or even months. Nothing can really be done “in-the-moment” to adapt your strategies for best results.

With digital marketing, you can view the real-time results of your campaigns and adapt your tactics to improve results as you go. If something isn't working, you can simply change it.

Analytics on your website gives you an insight into the number of visitors that come to your site, which pages they visit, and see how much time they spend on each page. You can also see on what day and time is your audience most active.

On blogs, you can find which topics get the most engagement and conversion. You can know whether you should focus on a certain topic or do something different. Tracking success in real-time allows you to determine what is the best use of your resources and get the most out of your campaign tactics.

It Levels The Playing Field

Small businesses can barely compete with their larger counterparts due to a limited budget and resources. But thanks to digital marketing, there is a level playing field which allows smaller brands to remain competitive online.

Traditional marketing is expensive and requires big business budgets. Digital marketing, on the other hand, is much more affordable, allowing businesses of all sizes to gain exposure online.

With digital marketing, geographical boundaries are removed. Small businesses can also market their products and services nationally or even internationally. It allows small businesses to find new audiences for their products and services.

This is also true for the presentation. Small businesses may not be able to afford plush stores like huge brands but they can easily create a clean, attractive website that enhances the customer experience.

So you see how digital marketing has become indispensable for small business in this age. It is the best way to reach your customers where they are during the moments when they are most likely to be searching for brands just like yours.

Lastly, you wouldn't want to miss out on these 13 Business Ideas In India with Low Investment & High Profit 2019

Have you ever tried digital marketing for your business? What has your experience been like? Tell us in the comments below.