When you think about marketing, what’s the first thing that comes into your mind? When it comes to marketing, many people still picture the classic billboard advertisements, full-page ads on the cover of magazines or newspapers, and commercials we see or hear every day on the TV or radio. Many things are part of this broad field of study.
Perhaps you think of marketing plans and strategies as the use of social media, search engines, gaming sites, and other similar platforms. Yes, digital marketing has already penetrated our public consciousness in ways we can and cannot imagine.
A primer to digital marketing
Digital marketing is different from traditional forms of marketing in many ways. For starters, digital marketing is very targeted in its methods of marketing to potential clients and customers. You can tailor your strategy to focus on certain key aspects of your target market, such as gender, age, interests, and more. But at the same time, digital marketing is very broad, allowing you to reach a diverse group of people. This is purely the nature of the internet and digital technologies; we might all use them, but we certainly don’t quite use them in the same way.
Digital marketing services have forever changed the way we look at marketing. This is because traditional forms of marketing like word of mouth or news and print ads are more limited in scope. There are only so many people that can see printed or posted advertisements, and not all of them will be the market you want to target.
There is also little way of knowing who is viewing them, how often they are viewing them, or whether they are interested in the advertisement in the first place. In short, marketing, in general, is very inexact and sometimes inefficient, especially if you don’t play your cards right.
While before it was more challenging to know information about our target market, digital technologies have made it much easier to get the information we need to tailor our marketing strategies. Targeted ads, apps, data sharing, and other unique features of digital marketing have made it much easier for marketing professionals to analyse and check their data.
That’s why you shouldn’t underestimate the power of digital marketing. Its influence has been rising steadily over the past decades and it will only continue to do so as more and more of us connect to the internet. It’s a reason why there are now dozens of digital marketing agencies that have branched into many different sub-areas to focus on. For people who want to be digital marketers, there are several options and paths for them to take. This means that they can specialise in many different areas and choose their given course according to their strengths and weaknesses.
What happens when I want to hire a digital marketing agency for their services?
You may have an in-house marketing team, but if you’re the owner of a small to medium-sized business, you might want to hire a third-party company that is more experienced with handling online marketing strategies as you will experience more success with professionals.
If it’s a big digital marketing company, they probably have several departments or teams tasked to handle different areas of interest. If you’re new to the world of digital marketing, you’ll find out that there is an overwhelming number of platforms and ways to market your brand online.
It’s important for you to establish which avenues you want to explore first before embarking on any marketing strategy. While digital marketing can be cheaper than many forms of traditional marketing, launching any sort of campaign is still a huge investment of time and resources. It’s unideal to come in unprepared.
What forms of digital marketing can I explore for my business?
Digital marketing is a fairly new arrival in the marketing sphere and it constantly evolves. What top digital marketing agencies have done successfully a season prior might not be what works today. Add to that the fact that the platform itself is also evolving, and this means that your marketing strategy might turn out not to be what you were planning.
That’s why you shouldn’t just go into it blind, you should be more acquainted with the different subcategories of digital marketing so you can figure out what is the best fit for your business. Here are a few avenues that you can explore.
1. Web design and web development
Don’t think there’s any relation between creating a website and marketing? Think again. People’s first impression of your brand is usually what they see on screen when they search up your company. If you have a badly designed website, people will doubt your professionalism.
2. SEO and SEM
s are involved with utilising search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to promote the company. Google offers a diverse selection of advertising opportunities for companies. You’ll often see many digital agencies offering this.
3. Social media marketing
Who hasn’t yet used youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other similar platforms after first connecting to the internet? Social media sites frequently gather millions of users every single day, making them an untapped market for many opportunities.
4. Content marketing
Ever wonder who writes the material you read on blogs, edits videos online, or makes graphics to be placed on the site? Yup, they’re called content marketers, and they’re frequently the backbone of any digital marketing team.
Stay ahead of the competition with a digital marketing plan that’s sure to blow away your competitors. Contact OOm, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in Singapore, for more assistance regarding your marketing strategies.