If you’re reading this, I assume you’re either an entrepreneur or a marketer who’s wondered about the ever-changing world of digital marketing…
What is online marketing? Is it just a buzzword used to sound cool while selling products online?
Or does it represent a legitimate approach to gaining customers and increasing revenue?
In today’s digital marketing world, it’s highly unlikely that your website can effectively operate without a digital marketing strategy.
What is digital marketing?
Put simply, it’s the use of digital tools and platforms to promote products and brands.
If you sell ice cream, you might use social media to advertise the availability of summer camps for kids. You might share articles about parenting or how to deal with teenagers. You could also try out various affiliate marketing strategies to earn yourself some extra revenue.
All of these things are forms of digital marketing, and they’re all totally legitimate. They just use software and online tools to achieve business goals.
Why should you do any of this?
Well, for starters, according to HubSpot Blogs research, 72% of consumers have bought something after seeing an informative video about the product. So, using videos to market your products really does seem to be the trend.
Videos also allow you to create a more vivid and lasting impression than a simple webpage can provide. If you want to engage with your viewers, you might consider using interactive tools such as quizzes or surveys to get them to engage back.
However, implementing a digital marketing strategy isn’t always easy. You need to keep your eyes open for new and innovative ways to market your product, and you need to be prepared to change things up when nothing seems to be working. In the end, you can’t predict what will work and what won’t. You just need to try stuff out and see what clicks.
Online vs Offline Marketing
As you’ve surely guessed, there’s more than one way to market a product. Even within the world of digital marketing, there are sometimes distinctions to be made between different styles and methods.
For instance, did you know that you can use SEO to market your products online, or do you prefer to use PPC to attract potential customers to your site?
When you’re first getting started, it’s a good idea to do some research into what works best for your industry. Once you’ve determined what methods work best, you can begin to incorporate these practices into your online marketing strategy.
To further complicate matters, not all forms of marketing are created equal. Sometimes you’ll need to resort to more traditional tactics to get the results you want. In those instances, you should not feel bad. You’re not doing anything wrong. But try to stick to the methods that are proven to work. Otherwise, you’ll keep ending up with bad results.
What Is Digital E-Marketing?
If you’re wondering about this term, it’s referring to marketing a product or service online with the use of digital tools and platforms. This includes things like SEO, PPC, and social media. So, while SEO is a part of search engine marketing which helps your website show up in search results when potential customers search for products you sell, PPC is the act of paying to display your ads on social media sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. And, of course, there’s social media marketing, which we’ll get into a little more in a moment.
What Is Search Engine Marketing?
If SEO seems like a bit much, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a way to get traffic to your website without having to worry about all the technicalities of SEO. Essentially, you can buy a package of SEM services from some company, and they’ll take care of getting traffic to your site organically through the use of various keywords and phrases.
So, long story short, with SEO, you’re trying to get visitors to your site who are actually interested in your products. With SEM, you’re trying to get visitors to your site who are already interested in your products. In both cases, you’re using search engines to drive traffic to your site.
Why is this a difference?
SEO is focused on the long-tail keywords and phrases that customers are using to find solutions to their problems. Because of its structured nature, it’s a lot more data-driven and requires a lot more work. For example, if you sell shoes, you might rank for the keyword “shoes store near me” or “buy shoes online.”
However, if you sell party supplies, you might rank for the keyword “birthday party” or “birthday celebration.”
By contrast, SEM is a little bit shorter-tail. It’s focused on the keywords and phrases that potential customers are typing into the search bar to find your product or service. As a result, the keywords you choose for your SEM campaign should reflect the type of people you’re trying to reach.
Why Should You Embrace The Change?
If you’re like almost everyone else who’s reading this, you’re probably wondering what the heck is going on with the world of digital marketing. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 72% of consumers have bought something after watching an informative video about the product. So, using videos to market your products really does seem to be the trend.
And it’d be a shame to not get on board the video train. Videos allow you to create a more vivid and lasting impression than a simple webpage can provide. If you want to engage with your viewers, you might consider using interactive tools such as quizzes or surveys to get them to engage back.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned research also revealed that only 19% of consumers have bought something after reading an informative blog post about a product. So, while videos and interactive tools are effective, it’d be a shame to not use other types of content when there’s so much available.
Change is inevitable, and it’s something you should embrace. Just because a certain approach worked well for someone else doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. At some point, you’ll need to decide whether or not to change your strategy and what to replace it with. But until then, you’re probably wondering how to effectively use social media to market your product.
How To Use Social Media To Market Your Product
Now, you might be wondering how to use social media to market your product. Do you just post about your product and wait for the followers to come? Does retweeting and liking other people’s content help?
While those things might work, it’d be more effective to establish a presence on social media channels by sharing content that’s relevant to your product. For example, if you sell organic food, you could start a blog to share tips on how to cook healthy meals while avoiding processed foods. Or, if you sell luxury goods, you might choose to create a YouTube channel to share tips on how to purchase inexpensive but high-quality items.
The idea is to find content that’s relevant to your product and distribute it to as many people as possible. Not only will this help get the word out about your product, but it’ll also encourage people to come back for more. As a general rule of thumb, the more you put out there, the more you’ll get back. Essentially, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. It might feel a little awkward at first, but as long as you keep things relevant to your product, you won’t have any problems.
Final Takeaway
If you’re wondering about the ever-changing world of digital marketing, you’re in the right place. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 72% of consumers have bought something after watching an informative video about the product. So, using videos to market your products really does seem to be the trend.
While videos allow you to create a more vivid and lasting impression than a simple website, it’d be a shame to not use other kinds of content when there’s so much available. Change is inevitable, and it’s something you should embrace. Just because a certain approach worked well for someone else doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. At some point, you’ll need to decide whether or not to change your strategy and what to replace it with.