I think it is safe to make the assumption that we now live in a digital world. When things like AR and VR are becoming more and more common in the real world, it’s hard not to notice. The way people shop has changed substantially over the past few years, with many purchases being made online. For business owners however, this springs the question; “If everyone is living online, how do I reach my customers?” The simple answer? Digital Marketing. You’re guaranteed to have heard of it, maybe even dabbled in it for a bit? But then maybe you thought, “I don’t understand this”. It’s true that within Digital Marketing there is a lot going on, but it doesn’t have to be confusing, in any way shape or form. In fact when utilised correctly digital marketing can and will be your best friend, allowing you to target customers you never thought you could, in ways you never thought you could. Within this article, we are going to look at some of the most important elements of digital marketing and what you need to be looking at to get started

Digital Marketing

• SEO
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• PPC (Pay-Per-Click) 
• Email Marketing 
• Benefits of Digital Marketing

SEO

SEO is one of the biggest aspects of Digital Marketing, but first off what exactly is it? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is exactly what it sounds like; you are optimising your website for a search engine (this can be as many as you like). With it, you want your website to rank higher on that search engines web pages of results, so for example, if you start at the bottom of page 5 on Google, your aim should be to get to the first page and ideally become the number one search result. What this will do for your website and ultimately your business, is increase the amount of organic traffic that you receive, as usually, people don’t tend to go past the 1st or second web search page when they are looking for something. There are a few different platforms that will benefit from this such as your own website, blogs and the use of infographics. 

One element of SEO that is vital for it to work is that of keywords. Again, keywords are exactly what they sound like; the keywords that you want your web page or blog website to rank for. Keywords act as the link to what people are searching for, to the content that you are providing. The great thing about them, however, is that you can use short term keywords or long tail keywords, which are more small phrases than just words. These help your business to rank for more specific terms, which could be related specifically to the area or location that you are in. You must be careful with keywords however, as being too vague might lead to unwanted traffic and give you data – such as how many people have visited your website – which isn’t a true reflection. 

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the creation of your content to help with brand awareness, growing your website traffic or generating new leads and new customers. In most cases, content marketing usually falls under having a blog section on your website, like this one. Writing content that people want to read is only going to have benefits for your website, as they will come for that but find something else that they like the look of. Before you know it, you have gained a handful of new customers, who aren’t just visiting your site to view what’s on there, but buying products and using services if you happen to have them. Some of the best content, especially when you have products to sell, is that which will give the customers tips on how to use what you are selling. Therefore, they have two in one, both the product and handy content on how best they can put it to use. 

However, content doesn’t have to just be written, as podcasts are also a great source. Podcasts often allow you to tackle bigger subjects and talk about them for longer, as people are more likely to listen to something for longer than they will read something. What’s great about these, however, is that you can start by publishing on media sites, where consumers will find your content and then this will help drive them to your website. The only downside with podcasts is that they sometimes don’t allow for keywords to be included, which blogs do, so in turn, blogs might be better for driving the traffic of your website up. 

Social Media Marketing

We now live in a world that isn’t only digital, but a world where social media rules. What is one of the first things that we do when we find ourselves alone, perhaps waiting for a friend, or even just bored at night? We whip out our phones or tablets and get straight onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. So as businesses, why not utilise this for your own success? Target the platforms where the customers are, not where they were. 

Social Media marketing is great for increasing brand awareness and driving traffic, especially if you are a smaller company who has just started out. The ease of access that people have to it means talking to your customers is a breeze, instead of emailing back and forth. As well as this, however, all of the major social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn) allow you to boost or sponsor the content that you put on there, meaning you can pay to increase the reach that it has. Within this, you can also target specific groups of people, industries, careers, even hobbies, meaning your keyword research for your SEO will come in handy here too. 

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

PPC or Pay-Per-Click is a way of generating traffic to your website by paying for it, instead of organically the way the previous forms of digital marketing have shown. Basically what you are doing is paying a publisher each time someone clicks on your ad, for example from the top of a Google search page. This is called search engine advertising and is one of the most popular forms of PPC, as when it is done correctly the amount of traffic that you get from this will greatly outweigh the amount of money you are spending to pay the publisher. 

With PPC, keyword research also comes in very handy as they can be put to use when creating the campaigns and advertisements that you wish to put out. However, again they need to be specific in some cases, especially if your business isn’t selling to a niche market.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is one of, if not the most popular form of marketing in the current landscape and there are many benefits that come from it. For one, it allows you to see real-time results and data. For example, if you put an ad in a newspaper you don’t have any way of telling how many people have actually viewed your website. However, when you put out an ad digitally the analytical software that is available allows you to track everything about who is coming to visit your website, such as their gender, their age, where they are from and what page they have clicked on. This date, therefore, allows you to manage and change campaigns as you go, targeting more or different groups based on the data that you have collected. 

Digital Marketing is a fantastic way to market for any business, especially as I have mentioned due to the digital world that we are living in. It is something that we are very focused on here at Kaizen Brand Evolution and we hope that from this article you have a better sense of what is involved and how it can help you.