You could spend an eternity learning everything you need to know about digital marketing. But no one has time for that.
In our recent webinar, we skipped all the brain-scrambling details and shared only the stuff you really need (and want) to know. You can watch it on our Vimeo page: Digital Marketing Bootcamp: Everything You Want to Know Without the Headache. Or just keep reading – we’ve summarized everything below.
Why is digital marketing so complicated?
- The rules, technology and algorithms change frequently.
- There’s a lot of jargon.
- Each program is fairly complex with a wide range of capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.
With that last bullet in mind, here’s a breakdown of the top five digital marketing tools.
Search Engine Advertising
With search engine advertising, you’re paying to appear at the top of Google’s search results as a sponsored post. Bidding is based on cost-per-click, so you only pay when someone clicks on your sponsored result. Typically, this approach goes one step further with retargeting display ads that show up in the website advertising of anyone who used your search words.
Strengths
- Get hot leads
- Appear at the top of search results
- Promote your brand, services or products
- Reach new audiences
- Budget-smart advertising
- Supports sales efforts
- See faster results
- Quick to launch
Weaknesses
- Limited to people already searching for what you’re offering
- Each promotion needs its own campaign
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It’s getting increasingly difficult to compete online, so having a website that ranks high naturally in search results is worth its weight in gold. The tricky part is that there are a lot of pieces that play into SEO, like having lots of web pages that contain the keywords people are searching for, regularly updating your site with fresh content and several other factors.
Strengths
- Drive organic traffic
- Foster long-term growth
- Build online authority
- Educate your audience
Weaknesses
- You’re playing the long game
- Requires ongoing maintenance
- Can be time-consuming
Social Media Posting
If you’re doing social media the right way, it should feel pretty different from all your other marketing efforts. It’s okay to post promotions every once in a while, but those don’t usually perform well, which will make it harder and harder to reach your audience. People want to be entertained, so don’t be afraid to jump on whatever's trending and put your own twist on it. Psst…we have a whole section on our blog about social media.
Strengths
- Amplify your brand’s mission and vision
- Showcase your brand’s personality
- Engage and educate your audience
- Foster long-term growth
- Positions you as a trusted source
Weaknesses
- Algorithms constantly change
- Posts only show up once in people’s feeds
- It’s helpful to stay on top of trends
- Growth is slow
Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is geared toward capturing new prospects. It allows you to cast a net well beyond your followers, and we like using it for limited-time promotions, events and brand visibility.
Strengths
- Use to market limited-time promotions and events
- Boosts brand visibility
- Supports sales goals
- Reaches new audiences
- Achieves results faster
Weaknesses
- Saturated market
- Short attention spans
IP Targeting
IP targeting allows us to send digital ads to your ideal audience, and there are a couple ways we can do that. The first is by uploading a list of people you’d like to target, and then we match their home address with an IP address. Anytime a smartphone or computer connects to that IP address, your digital ad will show up in their website advertising as they’re searching and scrolling online. The second way we send digital ads to an audience is by GeoFraming™ around a business or event location.
Strengths
- Saturated market
- Saturated market
- There’s a lot of jargon.
- There’s a lot of jargon.
- Proactively promote your brand, services or products
- There’s a lot of jargon.
- There’s a lot of jargon.
- Reach new and current audiences
- Repetition works in your favor
- Advanced geo-targeting options
- Budget-smart targeted advertising
- Supports sales goals
- Achieve faster results
- Receive ROI data
Weaknesses
- Short attention spans
- Saturated market
How do you integrate these into your pre-existing marketing plan?
The great thing about all of these tools is that they’ll support and enhance your current efforts, because they pair well with other digital marketing tools as well as more traditional methods, like direct mail, billboards, email, etc.
We can help you figure out which mediums would best support your goals and draft up a plan that works for your timeline and budget.
What should you look for in a transparent marketing partner?
- Your partner should run a diagnostic analysis of what you’re already doing and how it compares to your competitors. image.works does this with a free Digital Marketing Assessment.
- They should make time for your questions.
- They should be able to provide clear analytics data and explain what went well (and why) and how you can pivot your strategy.
You’ve got this!
Just remember, you don’t have to do this alone. We’re here to help! We want you to feel comfortable and be well-informed, so we’ll walk you through the entire process.
If you haven’t done a Digital Marketing Assessment recently, this can be a great first step. Like we mentioned before, we’ll look at your website to determine which SEO improvements could be made. We’ll give you a peek behind the curtain of your competitors’ digital ads. And we’ll share which tools could help you grow.