More than 80% of American consumers shop online, and you can also assume similar numbers for other countries. Not only do consumers shop online, but they also first conduct research digitally before going to brick-and-mortar shops.
This makes it vital for businesses to have an online presence, whether they have online or offline services. So if you have yet to invest in digital marketing, then it’s about time! You might think it’s a waste of money or you don’t have to invest in it now. But that’d be a mistake.
Read on to find out why digital marketing is essential and its benefits.
It Expands Your Reach
If you focus only on offline marketing, you can only reach the local community.
Even with radio spots and TV ads, you need more reach. To be a truly international business, you’ll need digital marketing. Your efforts will reach those on the other side of the globe, which would be impossible without the power of the internet.
This means you can be successful with expansion and dominate competitive industries.
It’s Cost-Effective
Many businesses need help to allocate enough money toward marketing. But marketing is necessary to attract new customers.
The good news is that digital marketing is a cost-effective way to get in front of consumers. It gives you better control over spending than traditional marketing, so you won’t have to worry about putting your company in the red.
For example, with pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, you determine how much you want to spend on these ads. Once enough users have clicked on them, you won’t be charged a penny more.
It Helps With Brand Recognition
It takes people five to seven impressions to remember a brand. Getting your brand in front of people in real life can be challenging, so digital marketing can boost awareness.
For example, consumers can be served an ad while watching a YouTube video. Or they might see an ad banner while scrolling through an article.
When you’re everywhere they are, you can increase impressions and ensure consumers know exactly who you are when they see your logo. That way, when they need your services or products, they’ll know whom to contact.
It Complements Offline Marketing
Many people mistakenly think you must choose online or offline marketing and ignore the other. However, the best strategy is to use both.
As we’ve stated before, it takes quite a few impressions for consumers to remember a brand. So by combining both types of marketing, you can cast a wider net to catch your target audience’s attention.
Also, you can use one to drive action toward the other. For example, you can use an online ad to get consumers to visit your store. Or you can hand out flyers to get people to sign up for your app.
It Increases Interactivity With Consumers
Consumers are bombarded with so many ads that they’ll quickly filter out most of them. For example, how often have you seen someone put a catalogue into the trash immediately after receiving it?
There are types of online marketing that allow you to interact with consumers and get them to engage with your brand. For instance, social media marketing encourages users to react and comment on posts. This allows you to respond and converse.
More interactivity means consumers will learn more about your brand. It’ll build trust and loyalty, reducing churn and increasing profits.
It Positions You as a Thought Leader
Speaking of trust and loyalty, digital marketing can also position you as a thought leader. Blog posts are popular because they let a brand show off its knowledge and experience, which can persuade a user to pick you over a competitor.
What’s fantastic about content marketing is that it’s cost-effective compared to other types of marketing. While you’ll need to practice good search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure your blogs rank highly, it’s easy to come up with the topics.
And if you write them to be evergreen, consumers can keep finding these helpful posts through search engines. They may wait to convert, but they eventually will if they keep seeing relevant content.
You Can Measure Metrics Better
Measuring return on investment (ROI) for marketing measures is often challenging. But the beauty of digital marketing is that it generates massive amounts of data.
Talented digital marketers will make sense of that data and identify strong and weak points in their strategy. They can show how many people have visited a particular page, how long they stayed, and how many people clicked off. In addition, you can keep track of what customers are buying and tweak your marketing to personalize suggestions, offers, and discounts. This will encourage them to be loyal and repeat customers.
With better metrics, it will feel like your marketing strategy is achievable. As a result, you’ll have better direction and will save money.
Digital Marketing Is Important
As you can see, digital marketing is vital for keeping your business alive and thriving. Chances are, your competitors have already heavily invested in digital marketing, so don’t let them steal your prospects and customers. With good digital marketers on your side, you’ll be able to see massive business growth. Invest, and you’ll see it pay off in no time.
If you’d like assistance with hiring remote digital marketers, then get in touch with us today. We can help source talent that fits your company.