No matter the size of your business, the likelihood is that you are using digital marketing as a way to grow your audience and reach more prospective customers.
We live in a digital era, where very few purchases are made without at least some research taking place online first and more commonly, every aspect of a transaction is now being completed online.
This means businesses have had to up their game when it comes to digital marketing strategies. For many businesses, they have had to embrace digital marketing for the first time.
Know where to start with digital marketing remains one of the biggest challenges for a lot of businesses. There are so many channels to consider and knowing which ones are going to work the best for your business can be a bit of a lottery unless you take a strategic approach.
Understand your audience
In order to maximise your return on investment from any digital marketing strategy, it’s important to understand your audience. This would usually require some fairly in-depth research to understand more about the demographics of your audience - how old they are, where they are from, are they male or female etc. Using this information, you can then look at the various digital platforms and understand a little more about where your audience is most active.
One thing we are not short of in the digital marketing world is data. Whilst you will need to do your own research to understand your own audience, there is a lot of data out there to help you to understand who is using which platform, from Facebook to TikTok, email marketing to organic search.
Targeting the right platforms
Once you have a good understanding of the platforms your audience is using, it’s time to take a strategic approach to target those that will work best for you.
There are, of course, some digital platforms that should underpin everything you do.
Your website, for example, is your primary resource and your best salesperson when it comes to reaching out to your audience.
You are in complete control of the information you provide on your website and the way that is presented to your customers - make the most of it.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search engine optimisation is the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search. It is a mix of technical and content optimisation and is something that should underpin everything you do on your website.
SEO allows you to compete with major brands for the keywords that you are targeting - the ones that your customers are searching for to discover products and services like the ones your offer.
SEO is a long term strategy but is something that you need to get right from the start. Whilst the results of your efforts can take 6-12 months to bear fruit, the long term benefit of achieving high rankings for the keywords you are targeting means that once you have achieved those strong rankings, you will keep driving more and more visitors to your website with minimal effort to maintain the quality of the content on your site and ensure there are no technical issues.
Search engine optimisation is fairly complicated, however, it can be learned through online resources to help to keep your costs to a minimum. Working with a specialist SEO agency is always recommended, especially at the beginning, as they will help to ensure you are taking advantage of every possible opportunity from the outset, as well as ensuring you are targeting the most relevant keywords for your business.
Social Media
Another of your owned media platforms are your social media accounts. Again, you have complete control over the content that is published across these platforms and as we mentioned above, you should carry out thorough research to determine which platforms will be the best for your business.
Too many businesses make the mistake of trying to be everywhere all the time and to do that well requires a huge team and a lot of resources. Instead, identify the platforms that are most relevant to your business. If you don’t have a lot of visual content, you don’t have to be on Instagram. If your target audience is over 40, TikTok is not likely to be the best platform to reach them.
Whichever platform(s) you choose, make sure you dedicate the time to managing them properly - respond to every comment and direct message, post regularly and post content that you think will really appeal to your audience and add value.
Most importantly, be yourself. Represent your brand voice through your social media platforms and you will create a much better connection with your customers.
Learn from big brands
When it comes to your digital marketing strategy, take guidance from how the biggest brands work. Whilst you may not have their budgets, you can certainly take inspiration from the activities they carry out online and replicate them to fit within your own budget.
Some of the most popular businesses right here in Australia are leading the way when it comes to digital marketing activities.
KFC Australia
In an attempt to target male teens who love gaming and KFC chicken, KFC partnered with DT (Now AKQA) where game winners were rewarded with snacks. This campaign saw an increase in sales for KFC chicken as more players got loyal. It also promoted game downloads as most teens wanted to experience the reward system.
NRMA - Sleeper 2020
Ahead of the holiday season last year, NRMA Insurance released a timely and impactful ad to promote road safety during the Christmas holidays. The video portrays a family taking a night road trip to visit their grandmother for the holidays. However, during the drive, the family, including the driver, falls asleep. The twist here is that the story is set in a city with self-driving cars. The family car safely navigates through the roads and highways before arriving at the home of their grandmother.
Betway Casino
Betway uses a combination of search engine optimisation, content marketing and social media in order to gain an edge in a competitive marketplace. Instead of simply providing odds on a variety of sporting events, Betway is on a mission to “provide quality betting insights” with “the most informed betting tips of any online media outlet”. This commitment to content and social media promotion has seen them grow rapidly since they were formed in 2006.
Digitalisation is changing the landscape for businesses throughout the world and it’s crucial that all businesses should adopt a digital-first approach to their marketing activity.