With the ever-evolving online platforms and a plethora of old and new businesses shifting their focus to the online world, it’s no secret that digital marketing [Digital Marketing] is among the hottest topics for companies. Investing in online marketing has become inevitable for growth and profitability, even for companies solely selling their products or services through brick & mortar stores.
Although the primary difference between traditional and digital marketing entails the medium through which the target audiences receive the message, the latter is relatively more complex and involves a lot more elements and strategic planning. Traditional marketing uses mediums such as newspapers and magazines to produce and share a mass message, which online marketing focuses on reaching the masses through websites and social media.
Now that we know the key difference between digital and traditional marketing, let’s take a look at a few reasons why the former has become crucial for a business’s existence:
- It is more cost-effective than traditional marketing.
- Digital marketing is more direct.
- You can connect with the target audiences on a global scale.
- It makes it easier for businesses to scale up or down.
- Digital marketing offers mobile access to company information and data.
- Presents real-time data and offers flexibility in marketing strategies.
- Digital marketers can create several forms of content online.
- It gives companies direct access to customer data and its tracking.
- Digital marketing also increases the chances of a brand gaining authority.
- Marketers can utilize influencer engagement to boost brand awareness.
What Is Digital Marketing
Any marketing professional who uses an electronic device to generate and publish a mass message for the company’s target audience and to track its effectiveness and efficiency in real-time through the customer journey is working in the field of digital marketing. Suffice to say, any marketing campaign that appears on tablets, computers, mobile phones, or gadgets is a digital marketing campaign.
There are several different forms of content through which the marketers can reach their audiences online, such as video, blogs, infographics, eBooks, and so on. However, every digital marketing campaign is further divided into several categories, including:
- Content marketing
- SEO marketing
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Pay-per-click marketing
- Mobile marketing
- Influencer marketing
Given that you’re looking for ways to bolster sales and increase traffic through digital marketing, you may already be aware of or even working on one of the Digital Marketing categories mentioned above. Let’s take a look at some known digital marketing strategies known to increase online traffic and, as a consequence, increase sales, either online or through in-bound channels.
14 Digital Marketing Tips to Help Increase Profits & Traffic
Now that we know what digital marketing is, what it includes, and how it is different from inbound marketing, it’s time to evaluate some current Digital Marketing tips that will help you in the long run. Without further ado, let’s get right into it:
1. Focus on Search Engine Optimization
Although SEO only started as a part of digital marketing, it has evolved since its inception and has become one of the essential sub-categories of online marketing. It plays a vital role in where the companies rank on the search engine results page [SERP] on some major search engines, such as Google and Yahoo.
Your primary focus should be on determining where your company stands in terms of its SEO strategies. There are many free and paid website analyzers that can help you assess your website’s SEO score. You can also evaluate your top competitors’ websites to understand what’s working in their favor.
There are several ways for Google to evaluate a website’s SEO and rank them accordingly on its SERPs. Some of the deciding factors include keyword placements, internal links usage, external link usage, and the number of backlinks associated with the particular web page.
2. Prioritize Keyword Research
Keyword research is another great way to increase your online traffic and boost sales through digital marketing. Keyword research is not only essential for SEO marketing, but it also helps accelerate the success of other marketing campaigns. It’s integral for companies to know which specific terms their target audiences are using to view information regarding the products or services they’re offering.
Keyword research is a digital marketing strategy that helps companies and marketers rank higher against their competitors and reach their target audiences more effectively. By producing content around search terms that are trending, companies receive a higher chance of attracting new customers to their business.
3. Invest in Several Forms of Content
Content marketing, which is also a part of online marketing, comes in various forms. This gives companies a chance to reach different audiences for the same products or services that they’re marketing. Although blogs are considered the most effective content type by many, they are not the only form of content that you should focus on.
Other forms of content, such as videos, infographics, audio, and books, are also crucial for a business to increase traffic and attract more sales. Since different audience types react differently to the various forms of content, it’s best to invest in more than one form of content. Additionally, you will also have the advantage of refurbishing a particular piece of content to create different content types surrounding the same topics and themes.
4. Create or Join Online Groups
Social media groups, specifically those on Facebook, create a safe space and a community for online viewers. People on such platforms possess shared interests, habits, and perceptions. Online groups are great for companies looking to reach a specific target audience in the quickest way possible. It’s also an excellent way to gain insights directly from the customers instead of investing large sums of money to gather customer data through third parties.
5. Communicate with the Audience through Forums
Customers often leave their queries, concerns, or reviews on online forums, such as Quora. These forums are great if you want to establish a thought leadership position in the industry and create a strong brand image and perception for your target audience. You can utilize such forums to answer customer queries, address their concerns, and reply to their reviews or feedback on your products or services. Doing so will give them the impression that the company has their best interest in mind at all times.
6. Give Your Audience a Live Chat Option
With the internet making it easier for online consumers to view and gather information quickly, the demand for prompt responses from companies is also increasing. By giving your audience the option to chat live with a customer representative or a chatbot, you make it easier for them to get answers to their queries in a timely fashion.
Consumers these days don’t want to waste their time dialing a number or waiting for a representative to come online to answer their queries. Response times are becoming crucial for sales, and the live chat option is one of the most efficient ways of ensuring your competition is not reaching your target audience before you.
7. Respond to All Customer Comments (Even the Negative Ones!)
With most of the company data online and with the help of social media, several customers, even those belonging to a different group of the target audience, can communicate with each other to share their experience with the brand. Responding to customer comments, reviews, and feedback online is another crucial digital marketing tactic used for increased online traffic and sales.
It is also important to note that most companies often make the mistake of ignoring or, worse, deleting the negative comments that they receive from customers. Most online audiences instantly question a brand’s integrity if they only see positive reviews on its page. By responding to negative comments, you can show the target audience that your company has nothing to hide and cares about each customer’s experience.
8. Build an Email List
Although email marketing has been around for quite some time, it is still one of the most important elements of digital marketing. By creating an email list, you can make the job of sending promotional information, news, and customized messages to a specific target audience relatively easier. A great way to create an email list is by adding a subscription option on the website, where the target audience can enter their emails and agree to receive emails from the company.
9. Don’t Shy Away from Live Streaming
Live streaming has been on the rise recently. In addition to video streaming, online viewers are also responding positively to live audio. It has become integral for companies to take part in such social media trends. You can make use of video streaming through Instagram Live or Facebook Live and even communicate with the audience through audio streaming, such as that on ClubHouse.
10. Utilize the Guest Blogging Option
In addition to posting content online, marketers these days are also taking the initiative and posting on other blogger websites to promote their products and services or to create a thought leadership image in their industry simply. With a plethora of bloggers creating their own set of target audiences and generating content to keep them engaged, it has become relatively more straightforward for companies to invest in guest blogging.
You can find a blogger website that posts content surrounding the same themes or topics as your business and caters to a similar target audience and ask them the procedure to post a guest blog on their platform. By doing so, you will also get a chance to attract new sets of target audiences.
11. Consider Influencer Marketing
Similar to guest blogging, digital marketing has also opened the gates to several social media influencers who have created a strong level of trust and understanding with their audiences. Since customers are likely to believe these influencers over a company selling its own products or services, influencer marketing has become worth the investment for many companies.
Word of mouth marketing has proven to create more positive results for companies than many other forms of paid marketing. Since influencer marketing is a part of WoM marketing, many companies are now investing in this particular form of marketing.
12. Incorporate Automation
Remember we said quick response times are one of the crucial ways to increase sales? Another method of providing quick responses to customers, in addition to the live chat option, is automation. If you’re looking for ways to increase traffic and generate more sales, automate as much as possible. From automated messages and emails to SMS, there are several areas where you can integrate automation to increase the company’s response times and convert target audiences into paying customers.
13. Create an Affiliates Program
Affiliate programs are great if you’re looking for motivated and hardworking individuals with similar target audiences to promote your products or services. Unlike influencer marketing, where the partner is paid a fixed amount to promote a particular brand or its products and services, in affiliate marketing, they earn a commission on each sale that’s generated through their unique affiliate link.
Although this might prove a little on the premium side in terms of its cost, since the affiliates are paid every time a sale is made through them, the quality of the work they provide is also much higher. While both influencer and affiliate programs are beneficial, affiliate programs may prove to be more advantageous depending on the nature of your business.
14. Optimize Everything for Mobile
It’s no secret that most online viewers are shifting to mobile devices to view information and even make online purchases. With the increasing use of mobile devices, it has become crucial for marketers and companies to optimize their content for this device type. All your digital marketing campaigns must be tested for all device types, specifically mobile phones, to ensure they’re reaching the target audiences effectively.
Concluding Thoughts
Did you find our digital marketing tips useful? Let Nora Kramer Designs help you reach your goals effectively and increase your online traffic and profits. Schedule a call now and let our team of marketing experts guide you on what’s best for your business!
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