WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING

A lot of people have asked, Muheeb! what exactly is this Digital marketing thing you keep talking about? how does it work? what is its relationship with traditional marketing? besides, how can I use it to grow my business? well, if you are curious like I’m, stick with me till the end of this blog article because I’ll be sharing with you my knowledge of what digital marketing is, its benefits, reasons why you should start using digital marketing today, and seven (7) tips you can start applying and implementing to your business today to win your search traffic, get customers online and be ahead of your competitors.

Before we proceed to define what digital marketing is let us break down the two words DIGITAL and MARKETING,

According to google dictionaries, The word digital refers to something that is expressed as a series of the digits 0 and 1, typically represented by values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarization. Even though the word digital can mean different things to people of different fields, for our purpose, the word digital can be described as data that is electronically generated and displayed. while marketing on the other hand can be referred to as the communication of value, to some selected group of people with the purpose of making them take an action or converting them into customers. Hubspot describes it as all marketing efforts that occur on the internet.

With these, it would be right to say that digital marketing can be described or defined as the communication of value to some selected group of people with the purpose of making them take an action using digital means like websites, socials media, email, SMS, content, video, etc.

Whether you like it or not, every day, and almost every minute, you are being marketed to. from the ads that pop up before you watch a youtube video to the SMS, you receive about an offer from your internet service provider to banners and billboards you see displaying content about a product or services to the IBO man in Yaba market telling “fine boy/girl come check my shop na” to the woman selling pepper by the roadside telling you “my color!!… my pepper fresh oo”. the ultimate goal of all these people and the reason why they are all trying their best to seek your consciousness is to…

1. Grab your attention
2. Share with you how their product or services can benefit you
3. make you a customer

At this stage, digital marketing is essential for your business and brand mindfulness. It seems like each and every other brand has a site. Also in the event that they don’t, they basically have a web-based media presence or digital promotion technique. Digital content and marketing are normal to the point that internet buyers and purchasers currently expect and depend on it as a method for finding out details regarding brands, and making buying decisions. Since digital marketing has such countless choices and methodologies and strategies that can be deployed, you can get creative and explore different aspects across multiple channels of digital marketing strategies even when you are on a tight budget.

Digital marketing is characterized by the utilization of various digital strategies and channels to interact and communicate with clients and customers where they spend quite an enormous part of their time and energy: on the web. The best digital advertisers have a reasonable and precise image of how each digital marketing effort can help achieve their general objectives. Also relying upon the objectives of their marketing system, advertisers can pursue a bigger mission using the free and paid channels available to them.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

According to ourworldindata.com, there are over 7.5 billion people in this world, and over 3.5 billion use the internet. the implication of this is that, as much as your business is solving a problem for some people, you are most likely to find demography on the internet that you solve a problem for. But, the big question now is- what are the different channels that can be explored through the digital means to get the value you offer to people that may be in need of your product or service.

1. SEO – Having a website is like building a shop while search engine optimization can be likened to the address or map or your address on billboards and banners that gives a detailed description to your customers (who are already looking for your product or services or information on your product or service or related item or topics) of how to get to or locate your shop, office or outlet.  what is SEO? Basically,  SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s the practice, principles, or guides that you need to be followed in order to get your website or your webpage get found and get ranked in search engine result pages (SERPS). Click here to read more
2. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, Medium, etc to connect with your audience to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic. This involves publishing great but valuable content on your social media profiles, listening to and engaging your followers, analyzing your results, and running social media advertisements.  In a recent post published by smart insight, 4.62 billion people around the world now use social media, 424 million new users have come online within the last 12 months. The average daily time spent using social media is 2h 27m. This is a great pool of resources that can be tapped into by businesses because more than half of the people in the world already use these platforms with an estimated time of 2h 27m spent by each user. it is only smart to leverage social media to reach out and engage with your customers in the place where they are already spending their time. Though, each social platform has the kind of content and kind of marketing messaging that works best for them. this decision of which platform works best for your business bottles down to your kind of audience, their demography, and the kind of objective you aim to achieve. Read More on how to effectively use social media in 2022 and beyond
3. EMAIL MARKETING – Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations. Email marketing is generally believed to be the type of digital marketing that converts potential customers into paying customers the most. in fact, with the permission-based email marketing strategy, marketers have found that it converts more than 22 percent of potential customers. At one point or the other, we all have entered our email in an opt-in form somewhere on the internet. you do this with the expectation of getting updated or mails on offers or general information that you care about. submitting your email in exchange for this marketing mail is what we in the marketing field call “permission-based marketing”. Click here to read more on how to use permission-based email marketing or how to effectively use email marketing in 2022 and beyond
4. CONTENT MARKETING – The internet is basically created to help people find publish and distribute information. so, it is absolutely true to say say that the internet is full of nothing but content, from articles to pictures to videos, people are only online to search for content and most likely, content that is valuable to them. As a business owner, service provider, or marketer, using content to attract the attention of your customers can increase the trust your customers have in your business and brand, drive and increase leads also, increase conversion. The content they say is king, but this is only true when the content is valuable and it helps to solve a problem or helps the searcher of the content in one way or the other. Content marketing is an important strategy that could help take your business to the next level if deployed in the right way. Click here to learn more about what content marketing is and how to use content marketing to grow your business in 2022 and beyond.
5. PAY-PER-CLICK-ADVERTISEMENT – PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC. (wordsteem). PPC advertising may include search ads, display ads, in-app ads, in-web ads, etc.

Digital Marketing isn’t just about using these platforms to reach out to your customers but creating a strategy while combining different sources to maximize your return on investment. These strategies may include outbound or inbound marketing strategies, creating an effective sales funnel, and a clear but helpful customer journey that builds trust and increases conversion. At the end of the day, digital marketing isn’t absolutely free. if it isn’t costing you money, it will cost energy and time, and what you want as a business owner is to want your money, time, and energy to pay off. That’s the major reason why optimizing for conversion and focusing on the performance metrics and indicators is not just important but sacrosanct to the growth and development of your business.

WHY IS DIGITAL MARKETING IMPORTANT

Digital marketing helps you reach a larger audience than you could with traditional marketing methods ie. radio, tv, newspaper, and billboards, and target the prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service. in addition, it’s often more cost-effective than traditional advertising and enables you to measure success on a daily basis and tailor your strategies based on what works best for your business. in addition Digital marketing is important because it connects a business with its customers when they are online, & is effective in all industries. It connects businesses with ideal customers when they are on Google through SEO & PPC, on social media with social media marketing, & through email with email marketing

1. Affordability –  Digital marketing has proven to be less expensive than other forms of marketing. running a paid television, radio, or billboard ad today requires a huge budget but with digital marketing, with as little as $30 you can successfully run ads on Facebook, Instagram, or even google. tough $30 may be insignificant but no traditional channel will accept payment of $30 to run ad. this makes digital marketing a good fit, most especially for small businesses.
2. mobile access – Survey shows that more than 50% of internet users access the internet using mobile internet. With remarketing ads, email and text marketing, and social media – you can be in front of your audience while they use many different apps on their mobile phones.
3. flexibility – There are different ways, forms, and structures of delivering digital and display ads from banner ads, email marketing, content marketing, and social media posts. Hence by figuring out how to innovatively advertise yourself digitally, you open up a wide scope of opportunities for future exposure systems. With digital marketing, you additionally have the ability  to test and halt inadequately performing campaigns in realtime
4. Expansion – A huge number of online shoppers and buyers do practically all of their shopping on the web. in fact according to statista.com,  In 2020, over two billion people purchased goods or services online, and during the same year, e-retail sales surpassed 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. Digital marketing allows you to engage these individuals and in this way grow the scope of your organization and business. Between Google Shopping Ads and brand awareness campaigns, you can increase your brand recognition, drive traffic and boost sales.
5. Multimedia – potential clients and customers will more often than not connect more with marketing materials that include or combines various kinds of content, like photographs, video clips, and audio. It is far easier and more convenient to put all these types of content kinds into digital marketing than some other marketing channels. in recent times, video has proven to be a more engaging content type that most businesses and marketers tend to turn to. not just because it grabs the attention of the audience better but it makes the message easy to digest which has a direct impact on sales and conversion at large.
6. interactivity – Digital marketing gives you direct access to customers who are exposed to your content, notably through website comments, message boards, product reviews, and social media posts. You can use this feedback to show customers you care about what they have to say and think, making them feel respected and involved in your community. This valuable data allows you to gather insights into your customer’s preferences and reactions.
7. Tracking – Besides talking with clients, digital marketing makes it possible for you to observe and track their activities. You can see which promotions and types of content they have seen at once before they make a purchase. This lets you know which marketing strategies are best, allowing you to refine and improve your campaign program.
8. Authority – In the digital age, you can easily comment on issues and discussions that connect with your product or your industry. Thusly, you can lay down a good foundation for yourself as an expert on such themes, driving readers to believe you, return for more information, and ultimately make a purchase. Digital marketing permits you to put on a show of being the business master that you are and will instill trust in your business.
9. influencer engagement – Many of the most powerful figures in the current culture gain prominence via the Internet or through Web-based media. Digital marketing allows you to get in touch with these powerhouses and gain their support. If you make good decisions, you can inspire them to back you, driving their supporters to become your customers and spread brand awareness.
10. Print Enhancement – Digital marketing campaigns can help you develop print marketing efforts. By composing digital content that clarifies claims made in your print advertisements, you can carefully describe your products and services to consumers, increasing the effectiveness of all types of exposure and incorporating your business goals.

WHY CHOOSE DIGITAL MARKETING

• Lower costs and higher adaptability for your marketing endeavors
• Because people now spend a reasonable amount of their internet time, most especially shopping, on their mobile, you can reach them any time.
• Digital marketing gives you the ability to comment on controversial topics in your industry. doing this establishes to as an authority in your niche and industry generally, hence, positioning you as a trusted one. And when you see and are perceived as an authority, you get people’s trust and they will buy from you.
• Digital Marketing gives you the advantage to engage with influencers, earn their respect and get them to endorse your company. This has the potentiality of giving you good brand awareness and huge sales if done properly.
• You have the opportunity to incorporate different marketing media and channels from pictures to videos, articles, infographics using Search engine optimization, to email marketing, content, social media, pay-per-click, and much more.
• The ability to track customers’ purchase journeys and gather data that be used for retargeting and adjustment of your campaigns is one of the key takeaways and benefits of using digital marketing

Digital marketing is a must-have in the tool kit of every business in 2022, regardless of the size or scale of your business or organization. if you need help creating or implementing a marketing strategy that works for your business today feel free to contact Correct Marketer NG today. Guess what! consultation and tips is absolutely free.

Digital Marketing tips you should start implementing today if you are a small business owner

As a small business owner, if your WhatsApp is the only platform or medium of communication between you and your customer, or it’s the only medium you use in showcasing your product, services, or organization. It’s a good step but it isn’t enough, especially this year. We are in an era where businesses are now realizing the importance of taking their businesses o the internet more than ever. not just because it gives you the opportunity to reach out to more audiences by creating good brand awareness and converting your potential customers but because digital marketing is less expensive compared to traditional marketing and it will enable you to build trust in your industry.

Whether you believe it or not, one of the factors why people don’t buy from you is because they don’t trust you or you, your brand, or your business. it would do your business quite a lot of good if you turn to use digital marketing to connect with your customers in the place where they are already spending their time. here are some important tips to help you get started.

1. create and optimize your social media accounts –  There are more than 3.5 billion people using social handles like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn medium, Pinterest, Quora, etc. taking advantage of these platforms to reach out to your customers is a factor that can’t be overemphasized in 2022. besides your competitors are doing it? why shouldn’t you?
2. Build a website – you may ask but I’m a small business, or I just own a small “mom and pops” kind of store, why do I need a website, or of what benefit is a website is to my business. here is your answer – owning a website helps you step up your game because your customers will view you more as a business that is willing to stay long the game and that you know exactly what you are doing. besides, having a website today gives you the opportunity to have a custom email that is in line with your business or domain name. for example our website is correctmarketer.com and my email is muheeb@correctmarketer.com. whenever clients ask for my email address and I give them muheeb@correctmarketer.com, it makes me and my business look more professional. thanis usually prompt my clients to check if the website is actually active. This has helped me land more clients and this still works till today. irrespective of the kind of business or organization you are running, having a website is a huge plus and a big advantage for you.
3. search engine optimization – Having a website is like building a shop while search engine optimization is like the signpost with the address of how your customers who are already searching for goods you sell or services you provide can find you when they use search engines like google.  However, search engine optimization is the practice of making a website get found and get ranked for keywords that your customers are typing in a search engine to find your business, product, or services that are related to yours in search engines. optimizing your website for search engines gives you the opportunity to place your website in the top position in the search result. hence, you win the traffic from search, get conversion and make sales. don’t forget that this form of traffic acquisition is totally free ie. you don’t have to pay for it unlike paid ads
4. Leverage paid ads –  One of the best ways to get immediate traffic, brand awareness for your business is to leverage paid ads on social platforms or search engines. There are different variations of paid ads that you can leverage from social media ads, to search ads on google, yahoo, bing, Baidu, and other search engines. this helps your website or online product show on top of organic search results whenever people type the words you have bid for in search engine result pages. while social media ads can help you target people based on their interests, demographics, and things they are generally interested in while using their past internet activities and interest to place your goods, product, or services in front of people who have a history of engaging with your product or other similar products in the past.
5. content marketing – it is totally true to say that the primary purpose of the internet is to ease the publishing, distribution, and finding of information. Also, it is generally believed that content is king. creating different kinds of content from articles to pictures, videos, and infographics that provide value in any way makes you and your business appear more as an authority in your field. this helps to create trust. As mentioned earlier one of the reasons why people do not buy from you is not because you don’t have a good offer or your price. It’s because you and your business don’t have enough credibility and trust for people to buy from you. you need to put yourself in the shoes of your customer and ask yourself one simple question. who would you rather buy from? someone who has created helpful information on a product or service they offer to help them convince you to buy or someone who just puts their product or services in your front and tell you to come and buy with enough convincing reason as to why the product or service is good enough or how it useful or helpful to you. using content as a strategy to attract your customer helps build more trust, increase curiosity, and willingness to hear more from and most likely buy whatever you are selling.
6. Email marketing – A general saying goes “the money is in the email list” this is an absolutely true statement. investing in email through permission-based marketing is proven to increase the rate of conversion by over 30 percent (if done the right way). one of the numerous use cases to email marketing is – running paid ads to collect emails and other data of people interested in your product or services. nothing confirms that these people are interested in your product or services more than when they willingly fill in your opt-in form or lead generation ads and submit their details to you because of a value you have offered or promise to offer. these emails and other relevant data can be properly nurtured for high conversion.
7. Google my Business listing – listing your business is an important tool that can help you get found in search engine result pages most especially for local searches. Google is continually giving businesses the opportunity to get found in search whenever people type in keywords that match what the businesses have optimized for. this helps give more details about the kind of product or services you provide. if properly done, your business has the opportunity to win the click and most likely the conversion.

CONCLUSION

Digital Marketing is an unending game and battle for customers’ attention, traffic, sales, and conversion. But it doesn’t necessarily need to be a battle because it all boils down to whoever knows how to make use of the already existing tools to create a strategy that works best for your business. That is why at Correct Marketer NG, we have made the whole process seamless for you and your business. we have made it our responsibility to worry about where your next customers would come from. sign up for a free consultation today to get started and put your marketing game on track. if you find this content helpful in any way, pls share, comment, and like also, turn on the notification bell so you are notified when I publish a new tip to help you build and grow a successful business online.