8 Ways Digital Marketing Will Help Your Business

Consumers have more choice than ever and have come to expect a unique, personalised experience from the brands and services they use. Companies need to have a savvy Digital Marketing Strategy to get noticed in the sea of messages that consumers are seeing every day. Digital Marketing is more than just setting up a Facebook page for your business – it is a collection of strategies that your business can use to reach a huge audience and convert those you connect with into customers. It might sound daunting, but by employing a few simple, affordable Digital Marketing tactics, you can engage more customers than ever before and boost business immediately.

1.You will understand your customer

Successful Digital Marketing campaigns have one thing in common – knowing the customer. A variety of tools are available to understand customer behaviour and to enhance the customer experience. Social Media Platforms are a great source of information, which many customers use to express satisfaction or disappointment with a service or product. Other tools include: conducting online surveys, carrying out webinars, doing keyword research, encouraging customer reviews and doing website analytics. While this may seem like an arduous process, it is a vital foundation from which to build your Digital Marketing strategy.

2. It builds trust

A huge number of consumer transactions happen online, so the way that you interact with your customer online can have the same effect as a face-to-face interaction. Research shows that people use social media and review sites (e.g. Yelp) to vet companies before they use them. When audiences see that you are active on review sites and social media, this builds trust and encourages engagement. If they feel that your business is accessible and responsive, for example through live chats, they are more likely to become a customer. 

3. Digital Marketing is cost effective

Digital Marketing has a far greater reach than traditional marketing methods. Many of the commonly used Digital Marketing tools such as content marketing, multi-media marketing, search engine optimisation, pay per click advertising and social media marketing may sound expensive, but they do not have to be! These broad approaches, coupled with free tricks such as using hash tags, making videos and reaching out to content-hungry media houses can be done to suit any budget.

4. It levels the playing field

Now big and small businesses can use the same platforms to connect with audiences. People use the Internet to search for products and services and no matter how big or small your company is, you can make it easy for them to find you. Some commentators argue that in fact, small businesses and start ups are in a better position when it comes to Digital Marketing because they are more agile than large businesses and can respond to new trends quickly.

5. It streamlines your business

Digital Marketing is a set of tools – and if you use the right set of tools, you can exploit them to not only develop a winning marketing strategy, but to streamline all aspects of your business in order to meet your primary business goal. There is a vast array of fantastic cost effective tools available to businesses that can be used to conduct research, provide customer service, improve team and network communication and shape your brand. So the Return on Investment on your marketing strategy goes far beyond advertising.

6. You can target the right audience

Your audience is overwhelmed by information about products and services every day. You might be on a level playing field, but you have to take it a step further and make sure that you stand out from the crowd. Instead of casting the net wide and hoping you catch a customer, you need to craft your message and approach so that you are sending the right message to the right person, increasing your chances of making that sale. You can use a number of ways to connect with people. Through your website, social media pages, emails or text messages. By analysing data on customers, you can develop a strategy to efficiently reach the right audience.

7. It is an efficient customer service tool

Websites and social media pages are some of the first places people go to ask questions, complain, or compliment a business. Customers expect businesses to be responsive online. They rate their customer satisfaction on the speed of response, the quality of the solution, and the manner in which the response is provided. Social media sites are backing customers up and challenging businesses by putting metrics such as ‘Average Response Time’ onto Facebook pages. Businesses need to take this seriously and have a system in place so that customers’ questions and complaints are responded to quickly. Businesses also need to look beyond their own websites and pages, checking review sites, setting up Google Alerts and searching Twitter and Facebook for mentions so that you can show proactive customer service.

8. It is easy to measure results

There are hundreds of ways to measure the success of your Digital Marketing campaign. You will be able to know, almost instantly, what is working and what is not. Broadly, what you will be measuring is who, what, where and how. Through easy to access tools you will be able to gather data on: how many visits to websites or social media pages, who is visiting (and who is coming back), how long they are engaging, and whether they are taking actions on your sites (click, register, buy). By gathering and analysing this information, you can adjust your strategy to meet your clients’ needs.