Are you the owner of a business who is wondering whether or not to implement a digital marketing strategy? Are you confused about where to begin with your marketing efforts? In this article, we will discuss the many reasons why digital marketing is an important factor when it comes to online businesses.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing encompasses all marketing that happens online. Businesses use different digital channels like search engines, email, and social media sites like youtube, Facebook, and Instagram to interact with potential customers.Â
There are different types of digital marketing strategies like search engine marketing, social media marketing, digital advertising, digital PR, digital partnerships, digital messaging, pay-per-click, paid social, programmatic display, and online advertising.Â
Some Eye-Opening Digital Marketing Statistics
- In 2020, the market for digital advertising and marketing was valued at $350 billion, and by 2026, it is expected to grow to $786.2 billion.
- For every $1 spent, email marketing returns $36.
- Currently, digital marketing accounts for 55 percent of all marketing.
- People spend 50% more with businesses that consistently respond to reviews.
- 93% of people base their purchase decisions on online reviewsÂ
- Digital advertisements can enhance brand awareness by 80%.
- A user’s search activity rises by 155% after seeing a display ad.
- Facebook ads and Google Ads are the paid ad channels with the highest reported Return Of Investment rate.
- Despite the fact that 50% of advertising was done online, digital advertising accounted for only 4% of total advertising expenditures in 2021.
Why is it important?
1. Cost-effective
One of the key advantages that digital marketing has over the traditional form of advertising is that it is cheaper. You have YouTube in place of TV, emails instead of flyers, Google ads instead of your regular print advertisements, and so on. Most of them are free or cost way less than a print or television ad.
2. Increase In Internet Penetration And Mobile Access
The Internet has a great impact on the purchase decisions of people. Statistics show that 85.4 percent of internet users search for information online at least once a month, with mobile devices accounting for more than 60 percent of these searches. Digital marketing can be customized for mobile phones to reach clients wherever they may be. As more consumers rely on mobile phones, having a digital presence and local search optimization are critical.
3. Dynamic And Flexible
Unlike traditional techniques, marketing strategies are dynamic and flexible. There are a wide variety of techniques when it comes to digital marketing, like SEM, SMM, digital advertising, digital PR, digital partnerships, digital messaging, pay-per-click, paid social, programmatic display, online advertising, and so on.
A business can choose the type of marketing it needs based on its target audience. For example, if you are a new crypto company, you could go for digital PR with the aid of a crypto pr firm.
4. Interactive
Digital marketing is often a two-way process. The user’s access to website comments, messages, reviews, and social media posts makes them feel valued and a part of the entire process. With the right strategies, you could let them know that you care about your opinion.Â
5. Reach
There is a rapid increase in the number of online shoppers. It is estimated that one out of four people goes shopping online. And clearly, their purchase decisions are affected by the reviews and ads that they see online. Digital marketing can ensure that you reach this customer and thereby expand your customer base. In addition to this, digital marketing can use various channels to boost your reach.Â
6. Use Of Multimedia
Any customer would like to see an ad that makes use of multiple media like video, text, animation, and sound. Unlike traditional marketing, internet marketing allows you to combine these formats into a single digital ad.
7. Keeping A Step Ahead Of The Competition
In 2021, 63 percent of businesses increased their internet marketing budgets. When your competitors are quickly transforming and making a presence in the digital arena, you might lose out on a major customer base.Â
Apart from this, the data points of digital marketing can help you track your competitors, and this aids you in planning a better strategy.Â
8. Monitoring
The best thing about digital marketing is that it helps you monitor user feedback and negative comments. This is crucial to brand reputation. A business can engage with an unsatisfied user almost immediately and offer them resolutions or perks. Bad PR can thus be effectively handled.
9. Tracking Your Progress
Digital marketing is data-driven and it eases the process of analysis. The effect of each marketing effort is tangible, so you can clearly figure out what works and what doesn’t. You could see how many people who have engaged with your ad have made a purchasing decision. You can see user engagement, and the number of comments, and can even calculate the customer retention rate. The feedback is fast and tangible.
10. Target Audience
In traditional marketing efforts, it is difficult to focus on your target audience. However, digital marketing enables you to discover and engage with a very precise audience. It also aids you to provide them with customized and effective marketing communications.
For example, one could use the targeting options of Facebook or Instagram, to display social media advertisements to a specific audience based on numerous factors like age, gender, location, interests, networks, or habits. In addition to this, businesses can make use of PPC or SEO techniques, to serve advertisements to customers who have expressed interest in your product or service or who have looked up specific keywords related to your sector.
Conclusion
Gone are the days when advertising or marketing meant airing it on TV or printing it in a newspaper. Businesses are shifting to a digital marketplace, now more than ever. Any contemporary brand that wishes to succeed in the present business environment must incorporate marketing strategies into its overall business plan. This doesn’t mean you have to stop using traditional print advertisements, especially if your company is already getting excellent results from them. However, by combining your present traditional marketing with digital marketing strategies, you can soar high.