Back to Basics: Digital Marketing

What is digital marketing? Is content really king? Do the analytics mean anything?

Let’s get back to basics, or Digital Marketing 101 — perfect for anyone who just wants a refresh on what’s what to establish a strong foundation for their digital marketing strategy.

We can easily get caught up in what’s coming next, but sometimes it’s worth revisiting the fundamentals too.

Defining digital marketing

First things first.

Digital marketing is essentially the umbrella term for all marketing efforts that use electronic devices or the internet, from social media to websites to Google Ads to SMS to email and everything in between.

While these are obviously all unique, there are some key aspects of digital marketing that all these avenues have in common.

Metrics matter

One of the most powerful things about digital marketing is the ability to measure and derive data from it. Each business might have its specific KPIs to explore, but generally, some crucial figures to look at across your digital marketing efforts are:

  • Click-through rates (CTR): How many people clicked a link in an SMS, in an email, or on your social media post? How can you tweak what you’re doing to get more people to click next time?

  • Engagement: How many people are reading your content and engaging with it? Can this be improved?

  • Cost-per-lead: How much money does it cost to acquire leads for you using digital marketing? Can you reduce that, and if so, how?

  • Traffic sources: Where are people who engage with your business coming from and how can you leverage this further to grow your business?

Regularly monitoring these metrics empowers you to adapt and optimise your approach, so you can continue to strive for improvement and growth across the board. They will also help in building out funnels for future budgeting and planning, when you are looking to allocate budgets for growth.

Yes, content is king

Whether you’re writing an SMS of 160 characters, a social post caption, a blog of 2,000 words, or a 5-page website, compelling and valuable content lies at the heart of every successful digital marketing campaign.

Content is a living, breathing part of your digital strategy that conveys messages that connect with your target market. It attracts attention (for the right reasons hopefully), it showcases your brand’s personality, and it builds trust. And it’s worth investing in.

Target with care

Digital marketing is pretty special in that it allows you to target with more precision based on your customer personas than traditional marketing. With the power of Google Ads, social media ads, and even influencer marketing, you can get straight to the eyeballs of your ideal customer faster.

The targeting aspect also is a reminder that you don’t have to use every single digital marketing tool available to you. The ever-expanding array of digital channels and platforms means choosing the ones most relevant to your business and target audience is worthwhile, especially if budget is front of mind. A spot of market research should set you on the right path, and testing can be super valuable to establish what will work best for you.

Have fun with the fundamentals

While staying ahead of the curve is always fun, fundamentals of digital marketing can be a good time too. This is where you build your solid foundation. Get consistent with the basics and the rest will count for more in the long run.

And we understand. There are so many options, opinions and ‘‘experts’’ out there, the digital marketing space can be overwhelming.

We’ll keep it easy, so in touch today. 

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