DOES MY BUSINESS NEED DIGITAL MARKETING?

‘Does my business need digital marketing?’ This is one of the most frequently asked questions around digital marketing that is searched on Google. The very quick answer is YES! ‘Why?’ we hear you ask. In this digital era, utilising digital outlets has never been more important. The recent COVID pandemic has emphasised this, with many businesses being forced to pivot and move their business offerings online.   Here we look at the different elements of digital marketing, and the part they play in moving your business forward.

WEBSITE

Now, more than ever, your website is the most important aspect of your business. It has become your shop window as such, and ensuring you have a well-designed, easy to use website has never been more important. It is imperative to your business that your website has the following:

• Is responsive and mobile friendly – If your website looks fantastic on a desktop, but looks terrible on a mobile, you are immediately alienating a large number of potential customers.
• Details your company values upfront – explaining to your customer why your company is the one for them through your website content will give the end-user a feel for who you are and what the business stands for, enticing them in.
• Use relevant and up-to-date content- keeping your content fresh and current shows you are a dynamic business that is communicating with its customers, offering reassurance to potential new customers. There is nothing more off-putting than seeing content that is out of date and no longer relevant, creating a poor perception of your business.
• Have product-specific landing pages that can generate leads – If you offer several services, there is every chance that not all customers require all your services, so split your products/services into separate pages on your website for ease of navigation for the user to find what they are looking for.
• Integrate with customer relationship management and marketing automation tools – use a chatbot offering an easy and simple way for clients to contact you. These are constantly evolving and with the use of AI, a chatbot can now automatically answer many of your customer’s questions.

EMAIL MARKETING

Email is one of the most effective ways to offer engaging information regarding your products and services to existing and potentially new clients, and it’s never been more simple.  With effective online offerings to manage your subscription lists and email campaigns, you can confidently provide your subscription list with eye-catching and informative emails.

A productive and successful email campaign will:

• Drive traffic to specific products/services on your website
• Educate and inform prospective buyers
• Help keep your brand at the top of people’s minds
• Build trustworthiness in your brand

CONTENT

Without engaging and relevant content, there is no reason for customers to visit your website, read your social media, or open your emails. Engaging content will secure the attention of a potential customer and will ensure that they want to know more, but if the right content isn’t provided to them on your website this is where the journey will end without converting them to a paying customer. Times have changed and potential customers want to be provided with the information they need almost instantaneously to make a decision without any effort on their part. Your content is one of the biggest players in your business development team! 

A good content strategy involves the following:

• Meaningful and informative content – educate your potential customers through your content.
• Share your content – use social media channels to ensure your company information hits a wider audience.
• Be original and offer variety – using the same style of content as your competitors will only help you blend in and not stand out. Be different. Add value to your content. Give potential customers something that no one else is. 
• Offer case studies / your portfolio – this type of content demonstrates your company’s integrity and impact on previous clients and their businesses. This might just be your most powerful tool to show a potential client what you can do for them.
• Use the right content for your target audience – if your target audience is corporate, then a professional tone will fit. If your business offering is something a little different, aimed at a younger audience, use a language which speaks to them.

This is just scratching the surface of all the aspects of digital marketing, but as you can see already, digital marketing is imperative to your business and its performance. We will continue to look at further features in our next blog.

In the meantime, if you want to discuss your digital presence with a team of creative experts, please get in touch!

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash