Digital marketing is an integral part of the New Normal, and today, one and all are touting and promoting it.
Mentioned under various names, Social media marketing, Search engine marketing, PPC and so on, the jargon keeps changing and evolving.
All said and done, if Digital Marketing is not yet part of your marketing plan, then it needs to be. In fact, it needs to be part of your business strategy.
As the dependency on the internet for finding information, answers to all questions, and entertainment deepens, so does the time spent on this media—hence, one cannot ignore it.
Furthermore, this media offers a unique value proposition.
One it is measurable; you know what you are spending on and what you are getting for that spend- something that was never feasible with the traditional media.
Secondly, it allows you to communicate with your target audience, follow them along their purchase journey, and constantly learn about them, from them.
Finally, it allows you to tweak your strategy in real-time, fine-tune it, or amend it to deliver the desired ROI.
It all starts with having a web presence, a place that allows your customers, both existing and potential, to get to know you and what you offer.
Next comes getting visibility online. Today, it is the busiest media. With a lot of people vying for your customer’s attention, how do you get the eyeballs?
This is where it gets interesting. In the online space, for your customer’s attention, you compete not only with companies in your segment but also with companies across industries.
So, here are a few foundations to put in place as you plan your DM strategy:
- An intuitive, optimized website
- A website or web presence needs to be simple and designed to clearly articulate the company’s offerings and values.
- Products, service availability and pricing (if applicable). It should have a simple, intuitive user interface designed to walk your customer for the best presentation of your company & offerings.
- Make sure you get people to the core message in minimal clicks
- Have a section upfront that showcases the updates.
- Optimize the site content and design to be search engine friendly (SEO optimized).
- Define your mission
- what do you wish to achieve with your Digital Marketing initiative?
- What do you wish to do to create awareness about- your offerings, generate interest around them, generate fresh sales, focus on repeat purchases, achieve customer sustenance, or simply wish to do the Brand building?
- Define your target audience.
- There may be different target audiences you may want to reach out to define their demographic and psychographic profiles.
- Ensure the communication designed addresses the audience you are targeting
- Research the buying journey of your audience, identify their influencing gears
- Knowing your customers tells you when & how they search for your offerings
- It tells you whom they consult or reach out to before deciding on the purchase.’
- Their interests & hobbies.
This helps identify the best way to reach and engage them.
- Define your keywords –
- Keywords are words people use to seek out your products or services &words that define your services.
- Make sure that the content you create online – across communication channels – integrates these keywords
- Design your social media strategy.
- Today’s world is about telling stories, people want to know your brand story, your values and the guiding principles that make you.
- Social media handles are a must if you want to get your story out and connect on a more personal level.
- Just having social media handles is not enough, they need to be active and have a consistent flow of stories that may be about the company, the customer, or how your offerings are making a difference.
- Social listening – Listen to what is being said about your company & offerings
- It is important to know how you are perceived
- What do people who have engaged with your company or products feel about it?
- Especially keeping an ear to the customer grievance/ employee grievance sites is a must.
- This goes a long way in impacting your reputation and the results of your DM initiatives.
.Now that you have the foundation set, it is time to take the leap.
As you proceed to take the leap, a word of caution, remember that the web is a very unforgiving place, whatever you do, it remembers. Hence plan, review and carefully think it through before you executing.
