Digital marketing has become a buzzword in recent years as consumer purchases move online. Digital marketing can be as confusing, complicated, and overwhelming as you allow it to be. But once you’ve developed a strong understanding of best practices, it also can be used as a tool – in conjunction with a sales strategy – that transforms your business.
But how can you use digital marketing as a strategy and not just an item on your to-do list?
Your entire strategy should work toward a common goal: Connecting with your ideal client in the right place and in the right way.
Ideal Client – Essentially, what does your ideal client ‘look’ like?
Right place – Where can you best interact with your clients and where are they making purchasing decisions?
Right way – What do you want to ask them to do, or need to ask them in order to make them a client?
Once you identify who your clients are, where they purchase, and how to compel them, it’s time to start executing.
Think of digital marketing as a pyramid. Your good, solid base starts with a compelling website that uses Search Engine Optimization (SEO), contains regularly updated content, and converts customers. The next layer adds engaging social media on platforms that best fit your audience. Next comes building an email list of fans and clients with email campaigns that keep them connected to your brand. Finally, the cherry on top is using paid media ads to supplement all of those efforts.
If you’re on the ground floor, great! A strong digital presence wasn’t built in a day. Many entrepreneurs we work with either 1) see the value of digital marketing but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of doing it themselves, or 2) don’t see the true value of a digital strategy. The true value is using digital marketing as an automated part of your sales strategy.
Many aspects of digital marketing are one-and-done or can be automated. If done well and automated, those efforts are continuously creating value for your business by driving customers to you in perpetuity.
So, begin to work toward the top of that pyramid while continuing to connect with your ideal client in the right place and in the right way.
