Since the dawn of civilization, marketing has always been about connecting with customers at the right time and place. Today, in the age of digital technology, that place is on the internet.
There are now 5.3 billion internet users all over the world. It is a massive opportunity to harness the powers of digital marketing to spread the word about your brand. There are many ways to leverage digital channels to nurture your current followers and connect with potential customers. These methods include multichannel, social media, content, influencer, and interactive marketing, among others.
Before you promote your business on the web, first, create a digital marketing plan using the following steps:
How do you Craft a Digital Marketing Plan that Works?
Outline your Marketing Objectives
When Benjamin Franklin said that “success is the residue of planning,” it was as if he was talking about the importance of charting your marketing objectives. A study reveals that marketers who set goals are 376% more likely to succeed than those who skipped this step. It would be best to begin your digital marketing journey by knowing where you’re headed.
The following questions can help you map out your plans. Do you want to:
- build trust and authority with your online consumers?
- grow your social media fanbase?
- boost sales?
- become an industry leader?
- generate and nurture high-quality leads?
- increase website traffic?
- establish brand recognition?
Remember that the goals you set will allow you to choose the best digital marketing channel for your company.
Understand Everything about your Target Market
Knowing what makes your audience tick can also help you decide which channels deserve the top spot in your plan. Research about what type of topics catches their fancy and how they consume content. Check also where they usually spend their time online and who they are closely following on their socials.
You can gather this information from your direct competitors using tools that uncover such data.
Establish your Marketing Budget
Your choice of digital marketing channels depends on how much you are willing to spend. Some methods are more expensive to implement than others. For example, you need to shell out more money for Google Ads, while posting on social media is virtually free.
It will also help if you support your budget plan with a return-on-investment analysis. A Facebook post may garner some engagement during its first week but may soon be buried in oblivion over time.
A blog post may take some time to gain some traction, but it can consistently expand its reach once it does. Producing a high-quality blog may take more time and money, but it can give you more ROI than other channels.
Study What Your Competitors Are Up To
Your competitors are a rich source of data that can help you improve your plan. Find their most effective marketing strategies and see what channels they used to implement them. Then, see how you can do better.
Another way is to do the opposite. Look for channels that they’re not using and figure out if they have potential. Maybe you can find success in filling these gaps and providing your audience with fresh content.
What are the Best Digital Marketing Channels/Types?
After you have gathered data from the steps mentioned above, you can start choosing the most effective digital marketing channels for your company. It would be a great idea to understand what each channel can bring to the table. It can also help to know their purpose and how they work.
We have rounded up five digital marketing channels and included the benefits, types, goals, and examples. Understanding these online advertising methods can help you make the best decision for your business.
Multichannel Marketing
What is multichannel marketing?
In today’s advertising landscape, marketers can harness a vast array of promotional channels—emails, websites, direct mail, social media, mobile, and retail stores, to name a few
Multichannel marketing combines the unique strength of each medium to efficiently convey a product or service’s value to a specific audience. It also allows customers to choose the channels that are convenient or interesting for them.
What makes multichannel marketing stand out?
- Customers have the power to choose
Giving customers the freedom to choose any channel they want encourages them to interact with your brand more often. These interactions increase the likelihood of completed conversions.
- More marketing touchpoints
Having access to more touchpoints across various channels allows you to gather more data. As your customer navigates your marketing funnel, you can understand and measure which strategies work best.
Multichannel marketing can be great for:
- Expanding Your Reach
- Getting More Attention
- Increasing Engagement
How can I do it right?
- Ensure that you get a deeper understanding of your target audience’s needs and behaviors through extensive market research.
- Be consistent with the message you want to convey across all channels.
- Use marketing tools to track your campaign’s performance on each channel and keep your team in the loop.
What multichannel media can I use?
- PPC and other online advertising
- Email marketing
- Direct mail
- Mobile – SMS marketing
- Mail-order catalogs
- Retail storefronts
Social Media Marketing
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing is connecting with your target audience using social media platforms to drive website traffic, build brand awareness, and increase sales. It usually involves engaging your followers, publishing relatable content on your social media profiles, and running social media ads.
What makes social media marketing stand out?
- Stronger relationships with your followers
Social media allows businesses to have a dynamic and sometimes instantaneous interaction with their customers. When you provide an immediate response to their queries or create relatable content, you show your audience you care for their needs. It then builds trust and forges a stronger relationship between you and your followers
- Easy on the pocket
Social media is perhaps the most cost-effective and readily-available marketing channel. Creating a profile does not cost anything, and almost anyone can do it wherever they are in the world. Running paid campaigns is also easier on the budget than other promotional methods.
Social media marketing can be great for:
Generating Sales and Lead
- Increasing Brand Loyalty
- Driving Traffic to Your Site
How can I do it right?
- Research your audience and use collected data to craft campaigns that resonate with them.
- Focus on KPIs and social media metrics that directly align with your goals.
- Use a different approach for each platform. Personalize your message based on the platform’s users.
What social media channels can I use?
Related Topic: 06 Social Media Marketing Tools for Small Business
Content Marketing
What is Content Marketing?
When relevant storytelling meets consistent delivery, content marketing comes to life. This digital channel strategy focuses on creating valuable and exceptional content to inspire a specific audience base into making profitable responses.
What makes content marketing stand out?
- Increased conversions
The content that you put out can significantly influence conversions. A survey shows that 80% of users have purchased an app or software after watching the brand’s videos.
- Sustained attention from consumers
High-quality content is your ticket to ensuring your audience stays for the long haul. Keep in mind that a consumer who enjoys the entertaining videos or the informative blogs you provide will come back for more.
Content marketing is great for:
- Educating the Audience
- Fostering Customer Loyalty
- Generating Long term Leads
How can I do it right?
- Focus on the overall content experience, not just the content itself.
- Familiarize yourself with current trends and issues that affect your audience to create content that speaks to their hearts and mind.
- Build communities around content creation and sharing to expand your reach further.
What content marketing channels can I use?
- Blogs
- Videos
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Ebooks
- Whitepapers
- Visual content
- Webinars
- Live videos
- Slide decks
- Social media posts
You can find more information on content marketing here.
Influencer Marketing
What is Influencer Marketing?
What happens when you merge old and new marketing concepts? You create a hybrid digital promotional medium called influencer marketing. It takes the concept of traditional celebrity endorsement and positions it into a more modern content marketing campaign.
What makes influencer marketing stand out?
- Brand awareness
Influencers, especially those with a cult following on social media, can tremendously impact brand awareness. Since influencers have millions of followers, they can generate massive engagement with a single post.
- Filling the gaps
If you’ve run out of creative materials for the web, you can always share influencers’ content, and voila, you have fresh content! You can fill the gaps in your content schedule while still being consistent with your message.
Influencer marketing is great for:
- Establishing Reputation
- Building Trust
- Converting Leads
How can I do it right?
- Product reviews and shoutouts are nice to have, but it’s best to focus on strategies that result in conversions, such as affiliate marketing and discount codes.
- Please don’t get an influencer based on their number of followers alone. Make sure that they are suitable for your brand and that your values are aligned.
- Maintain a strong bond with your influencers and ensure that they trust your brand.
What influencer marketing channels can I use?
- Competitions and giveaways
- Sponsored content
- Reviews
- Long-term ambassadors
- Platform takeovers
- Product and content collaborations
Interactive Marketing
What is Interactive Marketing?
Interactive marketing is a fun and exciting approach to promoting a brand. It entails user participation and active content consumption. This channel requires the user to interact with the material to get the information they need. In turn, the brand receives feedback without asking for it directly from its consumers.
What makes interactive marketing stand out?
- Higher engagement
When people enjoy the content they consume, they are more likely to interact and participate.
- Personalized campaigns
Interactive materials allow marketers to capture relevant data which they can use to create more personalized marketing campaigns.
Interactive marketing is great for:
- Improving Brand Loyalty
- Collecting Relevant Data
- Increasing Engagement
How can I do it right?
- Make sure your interactive content has responsive web and mobile layouts.
- Position your content on the appropriate stages of the funnel.
- Use content you already have to create interactive materials.
What interactive marketing can I use?
- Surveys and polls
- Interactive infographics
- Calculators
- Personalized quizzes and assessments
- Interactive infographics
It’s Your Time to Shine in the Digital Marketing Arena
This year may have brought challenges to businesses, but it has also harnessed a lot of creativity. As a result, many of these marketing strategies have been given a new spin and have revitalized the industry.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to promoting your brand online. Many factors come into play—your budget, goals, and target market. The key to an unforgettable campaign is to always think about your audience and what will make them happy.
