In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about marketing your business online. Especially since the world has changed and consumers now have an endless supply of choice when it comes to shopping online. However, your marketing strategies may need to change to stay relevant.
Why Online Marketing?
If you’ve been following the digital marketing world for any length of time, you’ll know that online marketing has transformed the way we do business. Research company, Forrester, states that online marketing will account for 76.2% of total digital marketing activity in 2020.
Shopping online has never been more popular and convenient. With the click of a button, you can browse a variety of stores and find what you want, when you want it. If you’re looking for an appliance that can be used in your home or are planning on buying a laptop, you can do a lot of your research online. There are numerous review sites that can be helpful in making your decision more informed.
E-commerce has enabled consumers to research and find a product or service that appeals to them, and it has made it easier for businesses to connect with prospective customers. With online marketing, you can target audiences based on their location, interests, hobbies, age, and more.
Setting Up A Digital Marketing Plan
Just because your business operates online, it does not mean that you should consider online marketing as simply a way to attract customers to your site. The growth of businesses supported entirely by digital marketing is evidence that online marketing is more than just a channel for your product or service – it’s a form of marketing itself. Setting up a digital marketing plan is an important step in ensuring that you use all available platforms to grow your business.
What Should Your Plan Include?
Creating a digital marketing plan that covers all of your digital marketing activities should include the following aspects:
- Your objectives – Why are you establishing this marketing plan? What do you hope to gain from it?
- The business – What is your marketing strategy? Which markets do you want to target?
- The product(s) – What are you going to offer to your target audience?
- The website(s) – What are you going to use as your digital platform?
- The social media profiles – Which social media platforms do you use? How do you plan on using them to reach your target audiences?
- The email marketing – How will you reach your audience? Through emails?
- The SEO – What are your goals and objectives for SEO?
- The paid media – If you’re running ads, how will you measure their effectiveness?
How To Measure The Success Of Your Digital Marketing Plan
Just because you’ve launched a digital marketing campaign does not mean that you can immediately start measuring its success. Like any new marketing initiative, you’ll need to set up metrics to determine your campaign’s performance. Once you’ve done this, you can decide whether or not to continue with the campaign. Use these benchmarks to measure the success of your campaign:
- Website traffic – Did the campaign generate more traffic to your website?
- Social media engagement – Did the campaign raise your social media’s reach?
- Brand awareness – Did the campaign raise your target audiences’ awareness of your brand?
- Conversion – Did the campaign boost the number of leads or sales that you get in return for each marketing dollar spent?
- Return on investment – For each marketing dollar you spend, what are you getting in return?
What Next?
Once you’ve set up your digital marketing plan, it’s time to move on to the next phase. Just make sure that you continue to monitor its progress and tweak things as needed. You can also use the metrics that you’ve gathered to track its effectiveness and determine whether or not to continue the campaign. Be sure to stay up-to-date with the latest marketing trends and be consistent in your approach. If you want to find success in marketing your business, you have to be consistent in your approach – don’t expect results overnight.