What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is an integrated set of marketing strategies that help you reach more of the right people online. Simply creating a website isn't enough to power your business. There are numerous behind-the-scenes levers that must be adjusted to help your website gain traction and momentum.

Many small business owners waste time focusing on digital marketing tactics that simply won't move the needle, and, that's completely frustrating for a busy entrepreneur. To sharpen your skills you could enroll in a Digital Marketing Program, like one offered by Cornell, Columbia, Northeastern, Duke, or UPenn, but that's expensive and timely.

Instead, let me explain exactly what digital marketing and how valuable it is for your livelihood.

As Internet usage continues to soar, savvy consumers look to the internet to help with buying decisions. In fact, 87% of consumers turn to Google to search for businesses to work with. And since marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place at the right time, it means you need to meet them where they're at: on the internet.

In this blog post, we're going to focus on 3 components of digital marketing including website optimization, social media marketing, and email marketing.

1. Website Optimization

Every business needs a website that not only looks modern and attractive but also brings in new leads. Lead generation is the most valuable marketing strategy to master if you want to generate predictable revenue.

How it works

Picture your website as the hub of your business and your lead sources as the spokes. The goal of your lead sources is to drive high-quality traffic back to your website and convert those leads into either customers or prospects which you now 'own' and can continue to nurture.

Examples of lead sources include your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn business pages, online advertising, webinars, blog posts, podcasts, landing pages, trade shows, and public speaking events to name just a few.

Source: StraightNorth

2. Social Media Marketing

With your website ready to capture high-quality leads through 'opt-in' forms, you are ready to kickstart your social media marketing efforts. With over 1.79 billion daily users, Facebook is a great place to start. Since Facebook purchased Instagram the integration of the two platforms continues to improve making Instagram our next recommended platform to get started with.

How it works

Social media platforms are an excellent way to showcase your products and services, increase your know, like, and trust factor, and engage with your audience. Knowing what type of content to post and when sometimes holds business owners back from getting started or discontinuing regular posts. Like anything else, it's important to post regularly to activate the social media platform algorithms which determine how often and who should see your posts.

One of the biggest benefits of social media marketing is the in-depth audience insights and performance metrics available to you. Understanding what types of content resonates most with your audience makes boosting engagement that much easier.

3. Email Marketing

With over 3.9 billion daily users and a staggering 760% increase in reported revenue, email marketing is far from dead.

Email is the most direct and cost-effective marketing tactic to grow your business. Yet, it's probably the most underutilized strategy as it lacks the perceived value and pizzazz as social media marketing.

How it works

When you shift your mindset to believing in the power of email marketing good things await. Email marketing entails using a reputable Email Service Provider (ESP) such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign to capture, and nurture leads.

Start building a high-quality database of leads with email addresses. Not only will your list become your most coveted business asset if you decide to sell your business, but it will also help you generate the most revenue.

To start, ensure that you have opt-in forms on every page of your website, included in blog articles, podcast show notes as well as social media platforms. Bottom line, whenever you share a new piece of content ensure that there is a way for the viewer to opt-in to your list.

Opt-in's can take many shapes and sizes. For example, an opt-in can be as simple as 'subscribe to my list or newsletter' or can be as sophisticated as opting in to join a 3-part video bootcamp, downloading ebook, or participating in a webinar.

After you've done all the hard work of converting a visitor into an email subscriber, be sure to greet them with an automated welcome campaign. The average open rate for a welcome email is a whopping 82%.

The beauty of an automated email sequence, sometimes referred to as 'drip campaign' is that your new prospect is getting to know you, learn more about what you have to offer 24/7 until you have a chance to contact them directly.

With email analytics tools you will be able to see who is opening and engaging with your email helping you better understand their level of interest in your products or services.

Lastly, with email, you own and control who sees your outgoing communication. With social media, Facebook and Instagram own your followers and determine which followers see your posts.

Brands on Instagram regularly see about 4% engagement from their total followers compared to less than 0.1% on Facebook and Twitter. The average email open rate is 21%.

Conclusion

The power of digital marketing can transform your business. Every day, we help small business owners and brands harness the power of no-cost, low-cost marketing strategies to grow their business. Contact us today to get started.