Digital marketing is basically the marketing of products or services electronically. It mainly involves the use of the internet, however, it also includes the use of the mediums offline like billboards.
Many businesses are adopting digital marketing to support their digital transformation and boost company growth. Consumers nowadays spend most of their time using electronic devices like TV, phones, laptops etc and digital is the best opportunity to attract prospects.
In this simple guide you will learn everything you need to know to get started with digital marketing.
Inbound and Outbound marketing
Inbound marketing is sometimes referred to as permission-based marketing as it involves drawing or attracting customers to you, through relevant and helpful content.
Digital marketing assets employed in inbound marketing include;
- website
- blog
- email marketing
- retargeted ads
- ebooks
Outbound marketing is sometimes referred to as interruption based marketing as it involves interrupting someone to gain their attention. It involves promoting a product or service through advertising, promotions, public relations and sales.
Digital marketing assets usually employed in outbound marketing include;
- cold calling
- email spam
- TV commercials
- radio ads
Why digital marketing
Digital marketing enables your business to reach an enormous audience cost-effectively and the results are easily measurable. It also gives small businesses a big voice as they can perform marketing processes that were previously available only to large corporations.
Digital marketing allows you to interact with your prospects and learn more about their needs. You can then craft your products and services in ways that creates value they can gladly pay for.
It is also a great way of building your brand. You can turn your paying customers into loyal brand followers and brand ambassadors. People usually buy from brands they know, trust and like, which you can achieve easily by taking your marketing digital.
Marketing digitally allows you to attract the right audience, at the right time, leading to high conversion rates and ROI. Your resources will not be wasted on just getting traffic but will be invested in proven strategies and techniques that attract highly targeted traffic that delivers results. See also 7 steps to creating a comprehensive digital marketing strategy
Marketing Funnel
This is your customer’s journey from the time they get to know about your business up to the time they buy and beyond.
The marketing funnel describes the steps that users or leads take moving from being a prospect to being a customer.
By analysing the market funnel, your business will be able to create marketing strategies and techniques that best relate to consumers at their relevant stages.
Awareness
Prospects or leads are attracted to your business at this stage through marketing campaigns and consumer research . Marketing strategies and techniques at this stage include; blog posts, infographics, social media campaigns, advertising etc.
Leads are collected and pulled into the nurturing system further down the funnel.
Discovery
Leads generated from the previous stage lean more about the business, its products, services and any helpful information. Email marketing works best at this stage , sharing content , sending newsletters etc to prospects.
The business starts building relationships with its prospects.
Consideration
At this stage the business’s prospects will be ready to buy. They demonstrate that they are considering buying your product or service but still weighing their options, whether to buy or not and from who.
The business can send to its prospects case studies, offers, free trials, more information about products and services.
Conversion
The prospects makes the decision to buy at this stage and turns into a customer. The business is supposed to offer a simple purchasing process to the customer to reduce the risk of buying.
Retention and Advocacy
Build solid relationships with your customers to encourage repeat purchases and to turn your customers into advocates of your brand.
Referrals from customers will fuel the top of the marketing funnel and the process begins again.
Digital marketing assets
Owned
Owned digital marketing assets are the ones you create and manage. They include;
- blogs
- websites
- social media
- email marketing
- whitepapers
- ebooks
Paid
These are the ones you pay for , inorder to utilize them. These assets include;
- banner and display ads
- social media ads
- sponsored content
Earned
It is the attention or publicity you earn through customer and industry interactions. It is driven by words of mouth and public relations. These assets include;
- reviews and ratings
- testimonials
- media coverage
- guest blogs
- shared social media posts
Final Thoughts
Many businesses are adopting digital marketing nowadays, especially inbound marketing. This is because it is very effective in reaching large and targeted audiences. Businesses that have digital marketing strategies that incorporate the marketing funnel, utilizing the right marketing assets are more likely to increase their sales than businesses that do not.
Boost your business, partner with a Digital Marketing agency that focuses on growing the businesses of its clients.
Contact us today, take your business to the next level.
