Main Areas Of Digital Marketing And How They Can Help Your Business
Digital marketing is an umbrella term that defines several different areas of activity, the common point of all these activities being that they concern the online environment. Among the most popular digital marketing channels there are SEO, SEM, email marketing, and social media promotion. This article with Paul McCarthy takes a closer look at each of these areas to provide you with a better understanding of how they can help your business.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a set of measures and activities that aim to increase the visibility in search of a website by helping it acquire top positions in the SERPs for industry specific and relevant keywords. SEO can be extremely lucrative, as it is able to secure a steady flow of targeted leads, even in the absence of any expenditure. Nevertheless, in order to achieve this level of success, you must invest in SEO right off the bat, without expecting immediate return on your investment. Getting to the top of search for a bunch of lucrative terms may take months if not years. This is why SEO alone may be difficult to sustain, particularly in case of new businesses that lack proper funding.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is arguably the fastest method to acquire leads and sales to a business. You advertise on search engines by bidding on keywords people who need your products or services may be searching for. If your ad promises to offer them what they need, they may click it to land on your website, where they could make a purchase. The biggest advantage of SEM is that it provides immediate results. You set up your campaign, you launch it, and your phone may start ringing the very next minute. Another great advantage of SEM is that it allows you to gather consumer behaviour data which you can then use to your advantage to target the best keywords with your SEO strategy.
This is why, for best results, you should consider both SEO and SEM when you develop your digital marketing plan. By identifying the most lucrative keywords to target, your SEO efforts will pay off sooner rather than later, and will bring you more benefits than keyword research alone according to Paul McCarthy.
Social media promotion is one of the most powerful tools you can use to create awareness for your brand and to position yourself as an authority in your niche or industry. However, since different social media channels have different demographic profile of their core users, you should identify the ones that match the profile of your ideal customer. You can spend a fortune on Facebook and yet fail to achieve your goals, if your best customers are on TikTok or Twitter. If you do your homework and you pick the right networks, social media will provide you with a huge pool of loyal fans and followers. They will recommend your business and your products to their peers, simply because they trust you.
Last but not least, email marketing is the best method to keep your current customers close and your prospects even closer. This is your own audience that doesn’t depend on Google or Facebook. You can send these people messages whenever you like. They are your subscribers because they’ve chosen to receive communication from you. This means that they expect and welcome your messages, hence the excellent conversion rate of email marketing lists. Even if you pause your other campaigns and you disappear from Google, you’ll still be able to reach the people on your email list with news about your special offers. Nevertheless, ensure you provide these people with useful information. Otherwise, they’d unsubscribe in droves.