These days, 81% of shoppers take time to research purchases online. Because of this, it’s essential that you have a digital marketing plan in place.
Whether you own a brick-and-mortar business or you do all of your business on the web, you should use the tools that are available to you. Digital marketing can allow you to do more with marketing while efficiently attracting new customers to your business.
Below we’ll take a closer look at the elements that every digital marketing plan needs.
A Professional Website
One of the key elements of any digital marketing plan is a professional website.
A professional website serves as a centralized location for your business on the web. Unlike social media pages, you can control your website completely, so it’s a must-have as part of your digital marketing plan.
Your website should clearly outline any goods and services that you provide. It should also have contact information and more details about your company as well.
Content
In addition to hosting key information about your business, you should also make sure that your website has engaging and informative content on it as well.
It’s essential to have a blog or to provide other types of content to engage, entertain, and educate customers and website visitors. Content allows you to take an inbound approach to marketing and provide value to your target audience first, before seeking to get something from them.
With content marketing, you can pull customers into your world and win them over in a natural and authentic way.
SEO
Building a professional website and creating content will be much more effective if you also have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in place as well. SEO is cost-effective and allows you to keep getting results in the long term.
With SEO techniques, you’ll optimize your site to help Google understand it. This will help make it more likely that Google will send visitors to your site.
SEO consists of many different techniques and tactics. You’ll need to verify that the technical side of your site functions well and that your site is mobile-friendly and fast. You should also choose keywords to target and get more backlinks for your website as well.
If you need help with your SEO strategy, be sure to learn more about Hawk Media.
Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is another powerful digital marketing tool that you can add to your digital marketing plan.
Email gives you a direct line of communication with your target audience. You’ll be able to send them promotional messages and build a consistent relationship with them.
You can also automate much of an email marketing campaign with email automation tools and platforms. This can make email a powerful and efficient way to stay in touch.
Social Media
Although it’s important to have your own website, you shouldn’t neglect social media, either. Social media is a free marketing tool and a large number of people are on it.
You should aim to build a consistent presence on your social media platforms of choice. You should post regularly to ensure that you’re drawing new people into your business. This can also help you stay on the radar of past customers and clients as well.
Consistently posting engaging content on social media can do a lot to build your business. It can help you become more effective in the online space.
Online Ads
Although SEO is one of the best types of marketing strategies for getting long-term results, it can take time for it to be effective. On the other hand, online advertising can get your business results immediately. It’s a great tool to use as part of your digital marketing plan.
When advertising on search platforms such as Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, you’ll be able to reach people who enter certain search queries and are looking for something specific online.
Social media ads can be useful as well. With social media ads, you can use extensive interest and demographic targeting features. This can help you reach your ideal customers easily.
Videos
Although this also falls under the category of content, make sure that you’re also using video as part of your digital marketing plan as well.
Video is the most engaging type of content online and can be used in many ways to attract attention and build relationships with customers. Video can help capture attention but can also be used to educate customers.
You may want to post long-form videos to platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo or create snappy, short-form videos on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Either way, you’ll be sure to see results when you use video as part of your digital marketing strategy.
Data and Analytics
It’s important to realize that when using nearly any tool or strategy online, you’ll be gathering a lot of data.
Make sure that you’re analyzing the data that you gather with online advertising tools, your email marketing platform, social media, and your website. Check the data and look for trends to figure out what is and isn’t working for your business online.
Consistently reviewing the data and tweaking your campaigns accordingly will help you to craft a digital marketing plan that works. Data and analytics can help you understand the exact tactics that you should be focusing on when marketing your business online.
Creating a Successful Digital Marketing Plan
If you’re trying to create a winning digital marketing plan, be sure that you include all of the most important elements. A professional website, social media, SEO, online ads, and email marketing should all be used together as part of your digital marketing strategy.
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