Did you know that there are an estimated 1.1 billion websites accessible on the internet? It’s official – we are in the digital age and we have been for a while. Because of this, businesses have had to adapt their marketing approach and turn increasingly to digital marketing.
But how do you make your digital marketing effective in such a competitive online landscape? Using our knowledge and expertise, we can help. Below, we’ve outlined six key principles for digital marketing that you can apply to your business – regardless of the industry you operate in.
1. Understanding your target customer is key
Traditional and digital marketing starts with understanding your target customer. Most businesses have a target demographic – an ideal customer who is most likely to buy their products or use their services.
Your digital marketing strategies must be tailored to suit that ideal customer to get the best results. For example, perhaps you are an online casino offering live roulette in the UK. The typical demographic for people playing at online casinos and engaging in roulette and blackjack is males aged between 18 and 35.
As a result, you should create an online casino marketing strategy to reflect that fact, including the words, images and style of marketing. If your marketing strategies don’t have a tone or content that appeals to your target customer, the results will be poor.
2. SEO should be at the heart of your marketing strategy
Search engine optimization has proved to be one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. You are aiming to make your web content more appealing to Google so that your pages rank higher when people search with keywords relating to your business.
The first step of SEO is a complete SEO audit, including technical and on-page SEO. You can then look to make improvements to make sure your website is accessible by search engine crawlers, and that aspects such as keywords are used appropriately.
Some simple things like adding META title and description tags, and inserting keywords can be done in-house, but it could pay to hire an SEO agency to fully optimize your web content.
3. Social media marketing is situational
Social media marketing is incredibly powerful but isn’t appropriate for every business and industry. You also have to consider your type of business and whether you are a B2C or B2B company.
For example, smaller businesses and solo entrepreneurs who largely sell directly to customers could benefit more from platforms like Instagram and Facebook, as these cater largely to B2C.
However, if you mainly sell to other businesses instead of the end customer, LinkedIn offers far more opportunities for effective social media marketing.
Avoid spreading yourself too thin. We often see businesses attempting to run three or four social media platforms at once, and the quality of content on each one is ultimately diluted. Instead, start by concentrating your efforts on one or two platforms and build a strong foundation before diversifying to other sites.
4. Marketing strategies must be continually monitored and adjusted
You can’t expect your digital marketing to be indefinitely effective without adjustments and adaptation. The digital marketing landscape is continually changing – SEO practices change, social media platforms change their policies, and different strategies phase in and out of popularity.
As a result, you must be proactive and create a cycle of continual monitoring and reviewing. You can do this by setting up a bi-weekly or monthly digital marketing review meeting. During this meeting, data is dissected and the results of your marketing campaigns are reviewed. You can then look to make changes and improvements where necessary to strive for continual improvement.
5. Don’t be afraid to try new strategies
New digital marketing strategies are continually emerging – don’t be afraid to try them. For example, we are currently seeing a surge in influencer marketing on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. This can be incredibly cost-effective and lucrative, and in most instances, the influencer does most of the advertising on your behalf.
6. Balance local and nationwide/global marketing
Local marketing and local SEO can be just as important as national and global marketing. This is especially true if your business predominantly markets to your local area – for example, smaller businesses like garages, hair salons and florists.
If you cater only to a local demographic, your marketing efforts should reflect this. You shouldn’t waste time and effort trying to compete globally, but instead create refined, targeted local marketing that allows you to become the market leader in your immediate area.
Use these core principles to create a robust digital marketing strategy
If you want your business to thrive, you must build a robust, diverse and adaptable digital marketing strategy. This starts with in-depth customer research and identifying your target demographic. Once you know exactly what your customers want and how they search for your products, you can adapt your strategies accordingly.
We advise starting with SEO. Search engine optimization – whether organic or paid – is vital for any business with an online presence. By building a watertight SEO strategy, you can capitalize on the huge potential customer base that search engines such as Google provide.
From there, you can look at other digital marketing outlets like social media, influencers and PPC. Adapt your marketing, strive for continual improvement and make sure you account for both local and global markets, as applicable.
