If (like most small business owners) you’re short on time and resources, it’s tempting to think of marketing as nothing more than a nice-to-have. But how do you expect to grow your business if your target market doesn’t even know it exists?
Advertising is a must, and thanks to the internet and social media, it’s more accessible than ever before. Here’s a quick primer to get you up to speed with the world of digital marketing.
What is Digital Marketing?
Marketing is a broad term encompassing any strategies that organizations or individuals use to promote themselves. Digital marketing simply narrows this down to anything that takes place online.
The most popular tactics include: Social media, Content marketing, Online advertising campaigns, SEO, Email marketing.
SEO is all about building a site that ranks well on search engines, while email marketing involves keeping leads interested through email outreach. As for the other three aspects, we’ll be covering them below.
Content Marketing
What do you do when you want the answer to a burning question? You Google it, of course. By figuring out what questions potential customers are asking search engines before they make a purchase, you can get on their radar at the perfect time.
Content marketing involves publishing blog posts, videos, and other types of content that aim to educate and/or engage consumers — all with the aim of nudging them toward buying from you.
If you’re serious about your content marketing strategy, it’s worth investing in a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush, but you can get some free info about what people are searching for through sites like AnswerThePublic.
Social media is another part of content marketing, which we’ll get to now.
Social Media and Online Advertising
50.64% of the entire world is on social media. Why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that?
The first step is figuring out which platform to use, which depends on your target market — are they startup founders who spend all day on Twitter on Gen Z-ers who can’t get enough of TikTok?
Once you’ve decided on your social media site of choice, it’s all about posting consistently high-quality content.
Another option is to run advertising campaigns on social media. Speaking of which…
Running Advertising Campaigns
Although social media posting and content marketing can be very effective, they’re slow burners (unless you get very lucky).
If you want quick results, running an advertising campaign could be a better option. In a world of short attention spans and a sea of content, advertising guarantees that your message will be seen by the people you want to see it.
You’ll come across Pay-Per-Click (PPC) a lot in the world of social media and online advertising — it’s used by everyone from Google to Instagram. Essentially, this means you’ll only pay when a user clicks on your advert (instead of a fixed cost for running the campaign).
Make Your Digital Marketing Plan
The potential of digital and social media marketing is infinite, but your time isn’t. If you want to get as much out of advertising as possible, bringing in a third party is your best bet.
On MarketLync, we connect small business owners with experts in specific industries and business functions — including (you guessed it) digital marketing and social media advertising. Why not check us out to find out if there’s a specialist who can help you reach your goals?
