After COVID, the world has changed drastically, especially with the business world. Not only have the transactions and meetings gone digital, but even the marketing & sales heavily rely on digital mode. Digital marketing, which used to be one of the marketing channels, has become the core of marketing mediums.
Even the smallest of business now needs digital marketing to set their footprint in the trade.
And so, the openings for Digital Marketers around the world is in huge demand.
But what exactly is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing uses online mediums such as emails, websites, social networks, search engines advertisements to market the business. In short, using any electronic medium on the internet for marketing is called digital marketing.
The marketing concepts remain the same as that of traditional marketing but with a change in medium.
Digital marketing is essential to your business because now our customers are online. Today everyone accesses the information online. From waking up every morning to going back to bed at night, smartphones have become an integral part of everyone’s life.
With digital marketing, you connect with your audience where they spend their time – on their computers, smartphones, and tablets as they search the web for products and services.
In short, digital marketing is essential because now, all our audience is online.
What are the primary digital marketing mediums?
Website:
Paid search. Paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is done in search engines to help and show your website.
Search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO is the organic way of getting the website in google’s top search ranking by optimising content with keywords, optimising the technical aspect of the website such as speed, performance, user interface etc.
Content:
Content marketing: Pen is mightier than the sword, and words always speak. Content marketing is educating the customers with helpful information and letting them make informed decisions to buy our product. Content marketing is essential for branding, and it showcases us as a reliable and trustworthy company.
Social media:
Social media marketing: Social media marketing has a beneficial impact over any other digital medium because we can directly have one-on-one conversations with the customers. Posting content consistently is the key here. But that doesn’t just end there; commenting and connecting with customers help improve the other marketing efforts.
Emails:
Email marketing. Emails are still a vital part of marketing, and Email marketing funnels has a higher percentage of conversions. You can personalise messages for every customer or send a standard brand message right to their inbox.
Mobile:
Mobile marketing. Mobile phones have become our shadow and one thing that we carry all day long. There are numerous ways to reach the customers with mobile marketing like Sms, MMS, WhatsApp marketing or even in-app notifications.
Buyer's Journey:
Digital mediums have forever changed the way we shop.
Let’s consider an example. You want to buy a mobile phone, and the first step nowadays is to check the reviews and features online. Next, let’s assume you are not buying it online, even though statistics say post covid digital shopping, aka online shopping, has taken over the world. You go to the mobile shop to get a look and feel of the phone, check for the price. Now the next thing you do is check online if someone else is giving a better deal for it – online or offline.
Taking the above example, if you are dealing with mobile phones, then there is a massive possibility that having a digital marketing footprint would have helped you close the deal.
Every buyer’s journey happens in three stages – Awareness, Consideration and Decision. In every step of the buyer’s journey, or we can say sales funnel, there is an opportunity to market digitally and get the customer’s loyalty.
In the awareness stage, we attract the customers, in the consideration stage, we engage with the customers, and in the decision stage, we delight the customers.
Awareness stage
The awareness stage is the first stage, where the customer realises their need for purchase—in our example, buying a smartphone.
So the customer looks up online for options. Here our scope is to attract the customers to our website by giving valuable information about the product they are looking for, a smartphone. Here we shouldn’t push the customers to buy our product or buy the product from us directly. Instead, we educate them, equip them with the necessary information and help them make an informed choice.
Think of the customers perspective and formulate your strategy
- What do the customers want?
- What is the information they are looking for to research?
- What is the digital medium customers will use for their research?
Here are some options that work well in the awareness stage to attract customers:
- Whitepaper
- Product guide
- Free e-book
- Educational videos
- In-depth articles from experts
Consideration stage
The second stage of the buyer’s journey is the consideration stage.
The customer has to choose from the options they have shortlisted and decide on the purchase. We have to tell them how we are a unique and better choice than our competitors.
Knowing these will help to engage with customers effectively in the consideration stage.
- What offers customers need?
- How do customers research about pros and cons of their choices?
- How do customers make the purchase decision?
Here is some strategy that works well in the consideration stage:
- Free webinars
- Case studies
- Sample products
- Catalogues
- Reviews
Decision stage
The final stage in the sales funnel, the buyer’s journey, is the decision stage, where the actual purchase conversion happens.
We have to help them make a decision in our favour and make them our clients.
Try finding answers to these questions to decide on the strategy:
- What is the offer/discount customers want?
- What are their fears about their purchase decision
- Who are involved in the decision-making process?
- What influences their final decision?
What can we do to make their purchase decision easier?
- Free trial
- Demos
- Expert opinion
- Estimates and quotes
- Coupons and discount codes
It doesn’t end here, and the digital marketing journey goes beyond the purchase of the product. Every digital marketing medium has a different strategy and ways of closing the deal. Want to know what are all the job prospects you have if you choose digital marketing? Stay tuned for the next part of this blog to learn about the job opportunities.
If you are looking at digital marketing training, we have a course that covers every nook and corner of the nuances of digital marketing. Contact us to enrol.