First of all, congratulations! You are probably here because you have finally found the courage or the luck (or both) to launch your new start-up or local family business; and have realised, that to grow in this ever-changing modern and technological world, modern advertising tools and online strategies have to be finally utilised.
What is Online Marketing all about?
Online Marketing or Digital Marketing started in the 1990s because of the adoption of internet use spreading like wildfire in our society’s everyday lives. And as our society grew alongside technology, new wants, challenges, and opportunities emerged!
Online marketing has been one of the ever-evolving methods applied to promote a company’s branding with the use of social media, websites, apps, search engines, and other digital means–especially mobile devices–to increase product sales and services.
Whenever you use your mobile phone, iPad, or other device and see a photo or video advertisement on your social media like YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram promoting a product or service; a banner ad, or a display ad on a website or search engine like Google and Bing–those materials are what you call digital marketing–and almost always refers to an online marketing campaign algorithmically directed at you as the known user.
There is no need to panic or feel overwhelmed with the concepts and tools of advertising on the internet! We will help you break down the how-to’s of online marketing–also known as: “internet marketing”, “online advertising”, and “digital marketing”.
But before you learn the “Why” and “How” of using the internet to your advertising advantages, you must first learn the “What”.
Digital marketing still uses techniques from traditional marketing (magazine ads, billboards, television, and direct mail) and is best used as additional support to connect with your target audience and to know your clients better.
Online marketing campaigns have become extensive, for example, by employing combinations of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, campaign marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and display advertising.
Because most of people’s lives are already spent online, advertisers and companies had to transfer their traditional techniques into digital tactics and approaches as society’s definition of “window shopping” changed.
As with everything, the challenges of online marketing exist, but overall, with the efficient and effective use of internet marketing, your company will reach higher goals as it is able to reach more targeted and larger–more global audiences!
Why is Online Marketing important?
To be completely honest, online marketing or digital marketing is so beneficial in today’s world because it is simply, cheaper or rather, more cost-effective.
Before the internet, TV commercials and campaigns cost millions and were often difficult to gather data from because they had to hire focus groups and do surveys just to try and find out how much brand awareness their general markets had.
Today, anyone with a business can participate in online marketing and build customer acquisition campaigns at little to no cost.
Because digital channels have become so globally accessible, there are many ways to use digital marketing tactics in order to reach and connect with your target audience.
Not only could you reach a larger audience compared to using traditional methods, but you are also able to specifically target the prospects who are already most likely to buy your product or service.
Significantly, you have daily access to analyse the data in real time so when you discover that something is not working with your online advertising campaign, you can pivot as you see fit!
May it be through email subscriptions and newsletters, mobile text messaging, and social media posts, one the most important things for your company is for the public to get to know and recognize your brand; and eventually, sustain that brand awareness.
Since society is living inside their mobile phones more often, brand awareness is the basic dimension of brand equity. Cultivating brand recognition is highly important for businesses and digital marketers because it is the driving force behind a consumer’s decision-making.
A customer’s buying behaviour is directly linked with the quality of digital interaction and lifestyle relevance they have with your brand–it should be top-of-mind and “hashtag: relatable!”
How Online Marketing Works?
There’s really no two ways about it because there are multiple ways to go in creating your online marketing campaigns or tactics and that is the beauty (and challenge) of our technological era!
But like in any other type of relationship, the first thing you have to do before you dip your toes in the sea of shoppers is to “know thyself” because knowing your company’s mission and vision (and even weaknesses) will serve as a roadmap towards a concrete marketing-related goal (or goals) via an achievable and measurable way.
Your marketing goals should always be tied back to the fundamental goals of your business, and that depends on the type of your business–whether you’re B2B or B2C, or whether you sell a high-cost or low-cost product. When you position yourself and identify your goals, you can then choose the online marketing tools you’ll need to succeed!
To help you have an initial idea, here is a list of actionable steps you can take to start building your online marketing campaign strategies:
Create your buyer personas
Know who you’re marketing to–the more detailed buyer personas, the better! Make your marketing stronger by organising your audience by segments.
These personas represent your “ideal customers” and can be discovered by using real data whenever possible through proper research, surveying, and interviewing your target market. All these can still be done cost-effectively by using modern ways like online survey applications and e-mail scraping. Then, you can focus your efforts on only the prospects most likely to purchase your product or service.
Audit and plan your media campaigns
A website today must be fast-loading…
Like they say in the real world, first impressions last, and this holds true even online! Notice the way you feel and think when you open a website and it doesn’t load immediately in the next three seconds–you tend to close the browser completely, don’t you? For companies, that’s worse than just swiping left!
It must be mobile-ready…
A rule of thumb in website design in recent years is to design your website as mobile-friendly first. Maybe not everyone has a laptop but most everybody has a smartphone and tends to do everything handheld and on the go. So, design your website that is easy to navigate (even if people are just using one hand!) and make sure the pages fit perfectly when transitioning to either a smaller or bigger screen.
Your company’s website serves as the centerpiece of your digital marketing activities, while your social media and other ad campaigns are adjacent (but no less important) gears that support your entire advertising campaign! The most effective websites represent the brand and its products and services in a clear, dependable, and memorable way.
After you have evaluated your company and its existing digital channels and assets (website, social media, etc.), you can then audit and plan your media campaigns with these examples of online marketing content tools:
Important notes
Content is King…forever and always!
Everything your browser light touches belongs to timeless, engaging, and the most creative Content.
If there is one thing you take away from this entire article is that: nothing beats great, well-planned content!
Yes, having a big marketing budget makes a dent, but it won’t matter how much money you throw into sponsored ads, the most popular social media influencer, and pay-per-click methods if what you offer and how you’re saying it to your target audience is bland, half-baked, and doesn’t solve their perceived problems.
Online Marketing doesn’t have to be blood and budget-draining when you learn how to create engaging online content.
Native Advertising
You’re regularly exposed to native advertising on social media though you may not even realise it!
The non-intrusive ad format is based on integrating advertising content into the natural flow of a website or platform. You might miss these chameleon-like ads if it were not for the required indicators or “footnotes” that they are ads.
Native advertising may appear on news sites, sponsored blog articles, or even on your music streaming platforms and podcasts!
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
People usually mistake SEM as SEO’s twin but actually, SEM is SEO’s wealthy cousin!
Though they are in the same family tree and have similar goals, like improving your company website’s visibility on search engines, driving relevant amounts of quality traffic to your site, and both need to use quality keywords; advertisers pay every time a potential customer clicks on an ad (CPC/cost-per-click or for CPM/cost-per-thousand impressions).
Yet, advertisers are not charged when a user clicks on a listing that is highly ranked due to popular SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Because your ultimate goal is to rank on the first page of a search engine’s results page, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a marketing tool that is both a science and an art!
When creating content, your target market’s needs, demographics, and psychology should be top-of-mind to ensure that when they are searching for a specific query related to your brand, Google or any search engine can easily and organically sift through the online traffic.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising enables marketers to reach audiences through paid ads. These are segmented campaigns that base their users on: demographics and characteristics (such as age or gender), or their particular interests or location.
Email Marketing
Though people associate Email Marketing with SPAM mail, it is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels, because it allows companies to collect names for their email lists which can potentially lead to them being customers.
It’s all just a matter of sending them to relevant markets.
Social Media Marketing
This may be the most popular and accessible form of online advertising–especially with the advancements of commercial or business accounts from the likes of Instagram and Facebook.
Because the main goal of social media marketing is to create brand awareness and establish a trusting relationship with your audience, it is essential to create marketable content with a combination of paid advertising and native advertising.
Affiliate Marketing
This might very well be the oldest form of marketing since it hinges on the idea of a “give-and-take” relationship among companies, and the internet gave it new life with social media influencers or individual marketers gaining commission every time a sale is made or a fresh lead is added to a company’s list.
Video Marketing
With the ever-shortening attention span of internet users, a lot of brands turn to Video Marketing as another arm of support for their online campaigns.
Would you rather read about the adventure of a dog and its owner in search of the most effective puppy pad or would you rather watch a thirty-second video of it and be probably peeing in your pants with delight?
Remember: advertising is all about capturing your audience’s attention for longer. The longer the exposure, the higher the chance of them clicking through another one of your content.
Text Messaging
This goes hand-in-hand with CRM (Customer Relationship Management), as companies also use automated text messages to send information about their latest products and promotions.
This will be a small but very significant part of your overall outbound marketing campaigns, and it’s vital to have the proper automation technology and personalised support when using this marketing tool.
How we can help
If you’re a start-up company or a small business that is unsure of how to create and customise your online strategies or digital tactics, at Krystal Designs Marketing, we can help you in unlocking your company and brand’s potential by bringing your digital marketing campaigns together, and interweaving them into your customers’ everyday lives, book your FREE discovery call!
