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How to Win Your Business with Digital
Marketing
Introduction
Digital marketing
has become one of the major topics in marketing various business activities.
Internet usage has become popular among consumers due to the increased usage of
social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. Therefore,
digital marketing has taken up the role of marketing dramatically to overcome
difficult situations of any business organization such as inflation, energy
shortages, economic recessions, war, etc.
Digital
marketing involves selling products and services using the internet. Here, the
power of E-Commerce is used in selling the products and services by the
business organizations. E-commerce supports selling, buying, or trading
products or services via the internet, and digital marketing (Internet
Marketing) comes as a subset of E-commerce. It is reported that internet marketing
first began at the beginning of 1990 with the outburst of internet usage
globally and this started as text-based websites that offered product-related
information. Websites such as Alibaba.com, Google.com, Amazon.com, and
YouTube.com have made revolutions in internet marketing not only by providing
product information but also by providing advertising spaces and creating
virtual markets.
Internet marketing has become increasingly important as many consumers are attached to mobile phones, laptops, iPad, etc. and they are used to staying away from traditional media such as television, newspaper, and magazines. Chaffy et al in 2009 stressed that internet marketing is one of the main methods to achieve the marketing objectives of any business organization. Further, Chaffy in 2013 discussed that internet marketing helps business organizations to improve customer knowledge by matching their needs with the marketing objectives of the organization. Kiani in 1998 has also come up with the same idea that businesses are benefitted by using new technologies in marketing their businesses due to the increase in business opportunities and by achieving their business goals. Song in 2001 identified that online advertising supports the product’s brand building and also generates traffic for the business websites helping in achieving the business goals with the support of online advertising. Teo, 2005 also recognized the importance of digital marketing as a tool that supported the firms in Singapore to become successful in their business journeys by achieving the expected results. Likewise, most businesses are benefited from digital marketing due to the technical support given to the business to educate and interact with the customers.
Models of Digital Marketing
There are
several models practiced by business organizations in digital marketing
campaigns. They are briefly described as follows under this bog and the models
will be discussed in detail in a future blog. Business organizations need to
understand the most suitable model or models for marketing to optimize business
opportunities and minimize the risk of threats generated in the external
business environment via the implementation of the preferred model of internet
marketing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
SEO supports the
company website to come up in the search engine naturally in the search
results. This is the most cost-effective marketing tool for a business
organization that generates organic traffic for the business. This differs from
the Search Engine Marketing strategy (SEM) which generates traffic for the
business by paid efforts such as pay-per-click (PPC), cost per click (CPC), and
cost per thousand impressions (CPM).
Mobile Marketing:
The number of
mobile users is increasing day by day. Hence, mobile marketing can make a
revolutionary change in marketing by building the relationship between company
and customer via mobile devices by directing the right messages at the right
time.
Social Media Marketing:
Social media
marketing involves driving traffic for the websites by publishing the data on
social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
Creative, interesting good content shared via social media is always liked,
shared, and commented. Hence, businesses must learn how to plan their marketing
strategy to make the best use of social media usage.
Digital Display Advertising:
Digital Display
Marketing comes under SEM and is relatively a costly method. Therefore,
businesses always have to recognize the ROI of the marketing investment and
implement such a marketing strategy. A variety of display marketing methods can
be used under this marketing strategy such as video ads, images, banners, etc.
Email Marketing:
Email marketing
strategy is implemented by sending emails with a commercial message to
potential customers. This can be carried out using email marketing software by
maintaining customer information and sending them personalized emails which
increases the selling opportunities for the business and also maintains good customer
relationships.
Viral Marketing:
Viral marketing
is a great way to generate traffic for the business. Creative and interesting
facts about the business are spread and it becomes viral generating traffic for
the websites or blogs. Viral marketing replaces the traditional word-of-mouth
method and supports businesses to increase their business opportunities.
Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate
marketing is also widely used in the current business world which can be
categorized as a performance-based marketing tool where the publishers of the
business link or products are paid by the businesses. The publishers provide
the advertising space for the businesses and provide the opportunity t interact
with the consumers. An affiliate network with a large base of publishers can
support the growth of businesses and also for start-up businesses to be
successful. Affiliate Marketing supports the business to achieve success as
well as a win-win solution for both parties by generating traffic for the
business and passing the payments to the publishers by the business.
Web Analytics:
This is one of
the main aspects of digital marketing which supports collecting, understanding,
and planning the web activities of the business which reflects the customer
behaviors as responses to the business operations. Therefore, such a marketing
tool supports the business to understand the future steps in product promotion
and the required changes to be carried out in major business operations. Google
Analytics, Woopra, and Chartbeat are the major web analytics popular in the
business industries.
Future of Digital Marketing
Companies should
identify the most suitable marketing strategy for their business and they have
to invest in the latest technologies to come up with the latest marketing
strategies in order to achieve their business goals. The Internet of Things,
Big Data Analytics, and cloud computing are the most interesting and
challenging technologies for today’s businesses. The power of digitalization
has created global markets for the world’s biggest bank, Bitcoins with no
actual cash, taxi companies like UBER which owns no vehicles, and the world’s
most valuable retailer, ALI Baba with no inventory. Researchers have proven
that emails and websites are the most effective marketing tactics for the
current business world. Therefore, businesses have to identify the correct
method to uplift their business and thereby achieve their business goals.
Traditional Marketing Vs Digital
Marketing
There are many
ways that traditional marketing differs from digital marketing.
|
Traditional Marketing |
Digital Marketing |
|
Have to wait for a stipulated time to find out the customer’s response |
Real-time customer response |
|
Not flexible enough to identify customer feedback and make necessary
changes to campaigns |
Easily identify the effectiveness of marketing campaigns |
|
Small businesses cannot afford this due to the high cost |
Can reach target customers with better service assurance |
|
Use costly advertising methods such as radio & television coverage,
print media, magazines |
Digital marketing strategy can be implemented with very little cost |
|
Limited reach and coverage |
Greater reach and coverage |
|
Limited chance |
Can stimulate the target customers with the appropriate action |
Digital
marketing helps customers to stay up to date with products and services and
also to have greater engagement with the company’s business activities.
Consumers can interact with businesses by giving their feedback on products and
services offered by the business. Further, consumers are able to obtain clear
and correct information about the products there are interested in and make
their purchasing decision. And also, they are able to compare one product with
similar products based on the product features given on the websites. Consumers
get the chance of a 24/7 shopping experience in online marketing and also to
share the content with their loved ones via digital media. Finally, digital
marketing helps customers to make a purchase decision based on balanced stock
and instant purchasing.
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