In the last few years, the world has shifted to digital marketing. Thanks to the likes of platforms like Facebook and Google, traditional marketing has gone through a massive change. People are now more likely to discover your products or services online rather than through traditional marketing channels such as radio campaigns or billboards. So if you’re looking to grow your business, it’s important to assess how effective these two types of marketing are in terms of delivering quality leads and boosting your sales.

Why Online Marketing?

To put it simply, the world has shifted to digital marketing because it’s easy to do. You don’t need a massive advertising budget to have a measurable impact on your sales. You simply need a laptop, a microphone and a good internet connection to get started. With most of the heavy lifting done for you, online marketing is a great way to avoid wasting your time and money.

But while it’s easy to do, it’s not always easy to be effective in digital marketing. There’s a lot of competition and you need to prove yourself to be a worthwhile investment for your business. That’s why it’s important to establish the strengths of your digital marketing plan before you put too much investment into it. If you’re looking to grow your business through online marketing, assess whether or not your efforts are producing the desired results.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Simply put, digital marketing is the use of marketing strategies and tools through digital channels to promote a product or service. It includes all types of internet-based marketing such as SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click), social media marketing, content marketing and email marketing. With the evolution of the internet, content is one of the most important factors in order to gain traction on social media channels. For this reason, many businesses establish themselves as content creators and curators in order to gain credibility with potential customers.

While it can be relatively easy to establish your expertise in a particular area, proving your worth as an expert in digital marketing can be harder. Just because you’re an expert in your field doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be able to provide valuable content that will engage users and make them want to learn more about your company or brand.

What Are The Main Differences Between Online & Traditional Marketing?

There are several differences between online and traditional marketing, but the most important one has to do with the target audience. While you might be able to reach a broader audience with a traditional marketing campaign, you’ll have much more success with an online marketing strategy. Thanks to the internet, it is now possible to target individuals based on their age, gender, interests, location, behavior and many other distinguishing factors.

So while you might reach a larger audience with a traditional model, you’ll have a much greater chance of drawing in the right people with an online campaign. This is important because you’ll want prospective customers to be as engaged with your content as possible so that when the time comes for them to make a purchase, you’ll be the one they came back to for help.

Another significant difference between online and traditional marketing has to do with the cost. While it’s not always easy to accurately assess the cost of an online marketing plan without getting a specific proposal, you can usually get an idea by adding up the costs of the different tools and services you’ll need to get started. Most industries’ budgets are tight, especially in an economic climate where businesses are struggling to turn a profit. That’s why many prefer to save up money for digital marketing campaigns rather than spend it on traditional advertising methods. Even then, the cost of a stellar digital marketing campaign can be close to what you’d spend on a mediocre billboard campaign.

One of the biggest differences between the two has to do with the speed at which results are typically achieved. As previously mentioned, it’s relatively easy to set up a digital marketing campaign and start seeing results almost immediately. However, it can take weeks, months and in some cases even years to see the full effect of a traditional marketing campaign. The key word here is typically. It depends on a lot of factors, including how experienced the marketer is, how large the budget is and how much time you’re willing to commit to the campaign.

With all that being said, don’t get discouraged if your results don’t come quickly. As time goes by, your marketing strategy will start to show results in increased traffic and conversions.

How Do I Know If My Online Marketing Strategy Is Working?

Thanks to Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track the success of your online marketing strategy with ease. This is an internet analytics tool that’s available free of charge and can be implemented directly into your website. Once you’ve got an account set up, you’ll be able to track the performance of your different marketing campaigns and figure out which strategies are bringing in the most clicks and converts.

Google Analytics lets you track the performance of your website across different platforms including mobile phones and tablets. So if you’re marketing your business online, you’ll want to make sure that all of your effort is being funneled through to the right platforms. For example, if you’re using Google Ads, make sure that you’re optimizing your campaigns for mobile phones and tablets.

Getting started with Google Analytics is easy and only takes a few minutes. Once you’ve set it up, you can track any performance metric you desire. So if you’re looking to see the return on your investment in a marketing campaign, just go to Google Analytics and review your different marketing channels to find the source of your leads.