Digital marketing can easily be one of the more confusing business activities we’ve had access to. We’ve heard the success stories and then when we delve a little deeper into the offering, it seems quite overwhelming. With the knowledge and expertise spread out amongst the internet, it’s difficult to see what digital marketing can do specifically for your organisation given the environment it exists in.
Sometimes, digital marketing efforts start with the best of intentions, only to end up as isolated projects within your organisation.
This is where some agencies fall short when working with clients. There’s a consultation around your requirements which they can provide a solution to. However, sometimes the solutions transform into individual projects and not integrating into the wider strategy of your organisation. An example is setting up a social media channel and just posting photos of your products or services…and that’s it! As opposed to something more constructive like setting up a social media channel and posting photos of products or services and linking them to a company website (which provides you with an opportunity to make a sale). So with this slightly different approach - what is digital marketing?
What is digital marketing?
Put simply, digital marketing is your traditional marketing done via digital platforms. It’s a concept that’s easy to get lost in translation. Below are some examples to help clarify what we mean:
- Instead of a picture of a product/service on a billboard, it’s on a social platform (like LinkedIn or Instagram).
- Instead of advertising in the paper, you run your advertising through an ad platform like Google Adwords.
- Instead of refurbishing your store, you redo your website so it’s easier for customers to reach you.
Put simply, digital marketing is your traditional marketing done via digital platforms.
The most empowering thing about digital marketing is that you’ve run a set of activities and run campaigns for a long time - just in a different way. Meaning that digital marketing is an extension of your existing understanding of your marketing efforts in your industry.
But what’s the point if everything I’m doing now is working fine?
Two words: the internet. The internet is the connecting thing between all these different digital platforms. In response to that connection, we’ve evolved from the humble desktop at home to smartphones, tablets and most recently virtual and augmented reality. We have so many devices that people are hyper-connected. This is reflected in the Gulf with Bahrain showing a staggering 98% internet penetration. So it’s easy to look at the value of placing some of your marketing efforts in the digital space.
So let’s take it a step further
It’s great we can see the value of digital marketing. However when you’re googling information about how you can involve digital marketing into your business - it’s not unusual to come across lots of statistics, case studies and testimonies of how awesome digital marketing is. But it still avoids an important question - what’s the point of digital marketing? If there’s anything you take away from this post - it’s that digital marketing is all about adding another sales channel.
If there’s anything you take away from this post - it’s that digital marketing is all about adding another sales channel.
So if digital marketing contributes to another sales channel - where are you supposed to start? What should you do first? To make it more confusing, if you attempt to google digital marketing - you end up in that information loop previously mentioned: statistics, case studies and testimonials. This makes it a minefield to try and wade through. So we thought it’d be important to share these activities with you.
So what are some digital marketing activities?
Broadly speaking, there are about six digital marketing activities that your organisation will come across.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is working with your existing website and using techniques and tools to ensure that it features in the search results. With 6.5 billion searches conducted daily, there’s every opportunity for your business to appear within a search result related to your business which can contribute to sales. Search engines search for things that are relevant to what people are looking for.
For example, when you search ‘apple’, you don’t get the fruit, you get the company. Check it out!
SEO contributes to your organic traffic and is broken into two more categories. On-page and Off-page SEO.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO is optimisation of your website. So when search engines index your website, they can relate it to search terms people use. This involves understanding your existing website and finding the appropriate keywords that you can add to these pages. MarketingBH provides complimentary SEO reports for companies. You can more information by getting in touch.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO (or backlinks) are merely other weblinks that are floating around your website behind the scenes of your website. This is a more technical side or SEO which looks at things like the way your website is structured, other websites linking to yours. Find out more about off-page SEO, we have a checklist which we can provide you [here] (marketingbh.com/contact)
Pay Per Click Advertising
Paid online advertising - more commonly known as pay per click (or PPC) directs traffic from platforms (such as Google, Facebook and Linkedin) to your a webpage of your choice. Similar to SEO, the main difference is that you pay for it. Specifically, you bid for keywords which vary in price depending on the competition and demand of these key words. The English language has many synonyms but for certain industries, it can get really expensive quickly. This is where having a strategy around paid advertising is more important.
Social Media Marketing
We have an opportunity to promote products and services to a wider audience that use social platforms. To add a more professional aspect to this, it’s about ensuring the content that you post on these social channels align with the overall marketing goals and is appropriate to the audience and the platform that you’re using.
Content Marketing
Building content is a key part of building credibility online. If your website looks the part and you create content that shows your expertise, people are more likely to interact and transact with you. Here’s an in-depth read in how you can unleash the power of content within your web presence to attract more potential customers and convert them.
Email Marketing
Email addresses are still a valuable point of contact for customers and prospects. Emails in the digital realm still have much more weight when it comes to marketing and communicating with a captive audience. Here’s an excellent resource to start understanding how you can leverage email marketing within your existing efforts.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is an incredibly powerful tool that is omnichannel for your organisation. It’s another form of content marketing specifically aimed at building visuals.
Our approach at MarketingBH
Our approach at MarketingBH is more consultative starting with what we believe is the most important part of digital marketing - your goals. This helps us pave the way to understanding your customers (and your potential customers) in order to create more sales opportunities that contribute to the bottom line. We also respect and are passionate about how we can use digital marketing as a tool to create measurable marketing and sales goals. This, in turn, helps us to articulate the return on your investment. We’re more than happy to work with you to at least get you on your way, so feel free to contact us and share with you where we can help.