Your Guide to Understanding Digital Marketing: The Basics

Have you always been afraid of spending money on marketing because you never know who is actually hearing your radio or TV ad? You don’t want to spend tons of money if the right people aren’t even listening. Sometimes, the efforts can seem underwhelming at best.

Well, fear not, because this is where digital marketing at UNANIMOUS comes in!

Studies show that 93 percent of all buying decisions start with an online search. That means you need to meet your customers where they already are on the internet. Digital marketing is the best way to reach your customers when they are searching for you. There are many different approaches to digital marketing, and UNANIMOUS is here to break down the basics and teach you everything you need to know. This is the first article of our six-part series to give you a brief overview of digital marketing.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a fancy term for saying any advertising that exists online. Although this seems simple, there are many different types of digital marketing tactics and strategies used to achieve powerful results. We’ll briefly cover five topics today and each in detail in the weeks to come.

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click, most commonly known as PPC, is a form of digital marketing where you only pay for an ad when people click on it. PPC is used primarily as a method to drive traffic to your website or landing page, one example being Google Ads. You’ve probably seen this before when searching for something online and seeing a business with an ad that appears at the top of your Google search. It must be magic, right?

Not quite, just an incredibly effective tactic for advertising! Now, why do we love pay-per-click advertising so much? To put it simply, it captures people who are looking for your exact products and services precisely at the time they are searching for them. This means no more wasted dollars on people who could care less about what you do. With this approach, you can tailor your campaigns to your specific location, demographics, and more to make sure your ads only show when people are searching for what you offer. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization, SEO, is the process of optimizing your website with specific keywords to rank higher in an organic Google search. This increases traffic to your website or landing page without paying for advertisements.

Let’s face it. When you Google something and get to the bottom of the first page and still can’t find what you’re looking for, you might feel as though there’s no answer. Research shows that 75 percent of people never scroll past the first page of Google search. By Leveraging SEO, you’re making a maximum effort to ensure your website or landing page shows up on the first page of Google so people can easily find your brand. By using this approach, you don’t need to worry about being buried in the millions of pages of Google. With an effective SEO strategy, over time, you’ll move closer up the rankings and make it easy for your customers to find you and make a purchase.  

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising lets you advertise on just about any social media platform. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are some of the most common platforms. You’re able to specifically target your audience based on many different factors.

Social media advertising grabs the attention of users who already have an interest in brands similar to yours. There’s no need to worry about spending money hoping that the right people notice since this approach has so many ways to find your target audience. You can focus on location, interests, brands they already follow, demographics, and so much more. You're putting your advertisements out there on platforms your prospects already engage in, so now potential customers can easily find you, rather than you always trying to find them.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a method of creating and distributing useful and relevant pieces of content to your customers consistently. These pieces of content include blog posts, email campaigns, ebooks, white papers, and the list goes on.

A successful content marketing strategy will give your readers compelling stories and useful information. Captivate your audience with stories of how you achieved a goal or solved a problem and encourage them to take action. Your content shouldn’t only tell a story but should also be educational to your customers. Consider providing a detailed checklist, teaching them a skill with step-by-step instructions, or creating an informative video. You shouldn’t have to force your audience to see the value in your content, but build your content around the takeaway for your customers. Effective content marketing can result in high share activity, increase website traffic, and grow lead generation. Having the right content on the page will convert your visitors into customers.     

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another effective tactic in the digital marketing space. It’s often used to share valuable content, promote discounts and events, onboard new customers, send out newsletters, and more.

While there are many types of email marketing techniques (and we’ll discuss those in the coming weeks), the most common form is automated campaigns. By using marketing automation software, you can find your audience, engage your customers, and increase sales. There are many ways to use automated campaigns, such as sending a welcome email when people join your mailing list, following up after purchases to leave a review,  a lead nurturing series after submitting a form on your website, and much more. You can easily set up automated emails based on events, activities, or dates. Automated email marketing is a great way to engage your audience without having to take the time and make one-off campaigns every time you want to talk to your customers.

Measurement

And the best part about all these digital marketing tactics? It offers the greatest opportunity to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Instead of television and radio ads where you don’t know who’s watching or listening, all the digital marketing techniques we discussed have trackable software. Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics, and email marketing software will provide you with a wide range of data on how your campaign is performing. Using this data, you can tweak your campaigns as needed to ensure they’re as effective as possible so you can get the results based on your goals.

When each of these services works together in a consistent digital strategy, it creates a robust approach that will grow your business and help you reach your goals. In today's world, we consume more digital data than any kind, and digital marketing is the best way to reach your customers.  

Are you ready to dive in and learn about the specifics of each? Stay tuned for the next article in the series, all about PPC advertising. From search ads to remarketing and shopping ads, there are so many ways PPC can help grow your customer base. If you’re ready to start the conversation now, contact Matt at Matt@beUNANIMOUS.com to schedule a consultation on how you can benefit from digital marketing.