In 2022 alone, the digital marketing industry is anticipated to be worth around £12.9billion.
The internet and social media have changed the game, allowing marketers to target their messages and offers to specific audiences based on their demographics, engagement with content, etc.
With the right approach and tools, digital marketing is a relatively simple process that anyone can get involved in, even if they’re relatively inexperienced or new to the industry.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll teach you how to carry out digital marketing activities and strategies effectively. From setting up your online shop to attracting leads, setting up automated email campaigns, and converting them into paying customers; we’ll cover it all.
Set Up Your Shop
The first step to getting started with digital marketing is to set up your online shop. This is where you’ll sell your products, services, and content to potential customers. It might seem obvious, but a lot of online stores are still lacking crucial details, like a memorable name, uncluttered design, and functional, user-friendly features. Make sure you have these before you begin to actively market your site.
If you want to attract more customers to your site, one option is to offer them a unique selling point (USP). This could be a combination of things, such as low prices, free delivery, or a focus on offering a specific type or brand of product. Consider what makes your site unique and memorable, and incorporate this into your USP. For example, if your site is about lifestyle, you could use the fact that you offer affordable products that aren’t luxurious as a way to set yourself apart from the competition.
Get Social
Getting social is a great way to promote your online store. The key is to ensure that your social media platforms work for you, and don’t simply exist in order to gain more followers. Consider creating content that resonates with your target audience, and uses platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram to successfully engage with customers.
These platforms make it easy for consumers to engage with content, which could lead to them engaging with your brand or store. To optimize your social media platforms, consider the services available to track the performance of your content, target consumers according to their interests, and determine which platforms they’re using.
Optimize Your Website
Having a functional and user-friendly website is essential if you want people to actually purchase your products through it. Before you begin to optimize your website, make sure that you’ve set it up correctly. Test your website by navigating it using different devices and browsers, to make sure that everything displays the way you intend it to. If you’ve followed the above guidelines, your website should look similar on all devices.
You should also consider the usability of your site’s content. Are your products and services easy to find? Are the articles, how-to guides, and blogs easily accessible and engaging? Remember that users will only visit your site if they have a specific interest in what you have to offer, so ensure that the content is interesting, well-written, and easy to understand. You can use a tool like Google’s free webmaster tool to easily find any errors on your site and fix them.
Pick Your Battles
In some situations, it might be better to choose your battles with potential customers. If you have a coupon or discount code available, use it to attract customers to your store. However, make sure that this is something that will be valuable to your target audience. Offering a free service with your product is another way to gain some momentum — but ensure that you’re not putting yourself in a situation where you’re forced to give something away for free. Instead, find a way to include this offer within the framework of something bigger, like a loyalty program or annual club membership.
Use An E-commerce Platform
If you want to sell your products online, you have the option of using a traditional e-commerce platform, like Shopify, or a bespoke one, built specifically for online stores. The main difference between the two is that with a traditional e-commerce platform, you have a limited number of stores and products that you can manage yourself. In contrast, with a bespoke platform, you have full control over the layout, look, and feel of your store, as well as the ability to integrate various third-party services, like shopping carts, social media, and more.
If you decide that a bespoke e-commerce platform is the right choice for you, take some time to learn how to use it effectively. Setting up automated products, shipping, payments, and customers are some of the things that you’ll need to learn.
Pro-Tip
As we mentioned above, setting up your online shop is the first step to getting started with digital marketing. But once you have a basic website, you should take time to update it with more content. While it’s important to have a functional and user-friendly website, you should also consider adding more elements, like blogs, videos, etc. to keep your site fresh and interesting.
This will help encourage visitors to come back, and entice them to participate in your various activities, like subscribing to your newsletter, liking your social media posts, and more.
Keep adding value to your site, and when you do, you’ll find that Google, and other search engines, will start to notice you.