You hear it all the time. If you’re in business – any type of business – you need to have an online presence and use digital marketing. But digital marketing is such a broad, almost vague phrase. Adding to the confusion are the constant changes in social media platforms, new platforms coming out, the use habits people have, search engine algorithm changes, and even current events. How do you know what to do, and when do you do it? What do all those names like SEO and PPC mean?
We’re here to help you break down those pieces and see what works best for your business. Much like the olden days of ink and airtime, different Digital Marketing methods work best at different times and when you understand where your audience is looking for information.
Let’s start by looking at you and your business. Understanding your customers is always important for a solid marketing plan. Are you selling products or services to other businesses, or to general consumers? The SBA Learning Platform has some great courses and worksheets to help you build a strong understanding of your customers.
To further build your online marketing plans, you’ll need to determine what you want to do for your company, what is the purpose of your digital marketing plans? Do you want to generate leads, develop and increase direct sales, building your company’s name recognition, build a mailing list, promote your events, something else, or a combination of these? Your purpose may change on occasion (you have a special event to promote or you want to build your email list), but the overall purpose remains fairly steady. Your plan should be adaptable to grow as your business changes and grows.
You probably have digital marketing assets that you don’t even realize. Anything that is a marketing asset in digital form fits that category. Think about all of these, and make a list that can be updated and adapted as your business changes. Keep them in an encrypted or safe folder for easy access by those who need to use them – but not necessarily everyone. Any marketing tool you have that goes online can be considered. Here are just some of the examples:
Now that you know who you are trying to reach, and the assets at hand to reach them, let’s looks at the different types of Digital Marketing available to you. You may find that some are less stressful to navigate on your own, but others may require a helping hand. PamTen is here to help you.
Customers for both B2B and B2C want personalization, relevance, convenience, simplicity, and proximity in the content they read online. For your business to achieve greater visibility and accomplish your digital marketing goals, your message (whether it’s email, social posts, or your website) needs to be accessible and clearly visible through multiple devices, optimized for search engines, and effectively engage customers. An integrated digital marketing strategy creates a synergy across marketing efforts and channels across the various media available.
It’s challenging, but it’s important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of these channels of communication to use them effectively.
These are some of the various types of Digital Marketing:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Online Reputation Marketing (ORM)
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Content Development Services
Email Marketing
Web and Creative Services
Affiliate Marketing
In our next blog, we’ll break each one down further to give you a better understanding of what exactly these are and how they can help your company succeed. Continue to Next Blog
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