In the 21st century, the modern era, where you find people more on their social media than their homes. Everything reaches your door step in just a couple of minutes and you don’t have to go to the market to buy anything at the last moment. To save ourselves from these last minute hustle we order through many apps or websites such as blinkit, instamart, amazon, zepto etc. But wait, how do you know about these apps? Did you see any hoarding and then you got to know about these apps or did they come to your door step and tell you about their apps? How do you order from them? Did you receive any pamphlets and dial the number mentioned on them? Surely not, a few years ago, to grow and expand any business, before entering to the market, people showcase their business, how and why they are different from others present in the market via circulating pamphlets, door to door campaigns, billboards, commercial TV ads. The strategies used to showcase themselves to people or customers in a way that they are different from others are called marketing.
Whenever we are travelling somewhere or just roaming around we see many hoardings, posters, ads in newspapers and people distributing pamphlets in a crowded area like in the market, near school, or colleges. But do we really pay attention to such hoardings, pamphlets, posters or newspaper ads? No, we don’t, while marketing our business in the market in offline mode costs us a lot of money and there is no surety about who, and how many people look at those hoardings, banners, posters, or even at pamphlets. We are not sure if our targeted customers saw our ads.
Suppose you are the owner of a baby products business but those pamphlets that you distribute, the hoardings, banners and posters are only seen by new parents or going to be parents? Do you have any surety? Do you have any data about the sales that you generated via such offline marketing or any data about the reach of your products to the targeted customers? No, that is exactly where digital marketing steps in. Digital marketing is also showcasing your products, and telling people how and why you are different from other such businesses in the market but via digital means such as google, facebook, instagram etc.
Why does digital marketing matter?
People do a lot of product research online before they buy.They follow brands on social media and engage with them completely.
- Before purchasing anything, customers search about that product online.They compare the same product of different brands. They compare price, reviews instantly before making any purchase.
- Customers engage with brands through their social media & if the brand is not active much on social media or is not engaging with their customers/followers properly, the trust and faith of customers is reduced for the brand. If any business is not on social media or in any digital space, it risks losing their potential customers to their competitor.
How does digital marketing work?
If you want to take any business on digital platforms, you should understand how it actually works. Each and every business is unique in its own way and has its own strategy but here are some common pointers which every business should keep in mind before taking their business digital:-
- Understand your audience, who they are? Their age group, interests, where do they spend their time more?What attracts them the most?What type of content they prefer to watch, popular social media influencers among them etc.
- Set your goals, why do you want to go digital, do you want to increase sales, want more traffic on your website, or you want to create brand awareness etc. Your goal should be clear and you should not divert your attention from your goal.
- Choose the right channels, as per your business which channel suits you the most to promote it, like social media, email, paid ads etc. Choosing the right channels helps you to reach more potential customers.
- Create valuable content, from your content your audience should gain something new every time about your brand or business.
- Analyse & improve, launch and promote your brand strategically, analyse your results and improve accordingly for better results.
Benefits of digital marketing
- You can reach people anywhere in the world and it will help you to promote your brand globally.
- It is more pocket friendly than traditional marketing.
- It helps you to reach out to a more targeted audience and to the people who are interested, globally or in specific locations as well.
- It gives you results which you can measure and help you to analyse your performance. This will give you an idea about the areas you lack in and help you to improve your strategies for better results.
- It provides better engagement with your audience and can be more interactive.
Digital marketing is not just a single thing but it is a collection of strategies and tools that are working together. Here are some building blocks of digital marketing that you should know:-
Search Engine Optimisation(SEO)
SEO helps you to rank your website higher on google or on any other search engine. Ranking your website higher means when one will search any business similar to yours, then your website will appear on the top. SEO includes
- Using the right keywords(suppose you are a cafe owner and you want to rank your website on google so you will use the right keywords such as cafe in your area, best coffee place near you, affordable cafe near me, cozy cafe etc.)
- Building valuable, relevant and content
- Improve website speed and mobile friendliness
Content Marketing
It is creating and sharing more engaging and valuable content with your audience. This can include
- Blogs
- Articles
- Videos
- Infographics
It will enable you to interact with your audience more, and provide value which in turn builds credibility.
Social Media Marketing(SMM)
To interact with people, social media apps like facebook, instagram, telegram, threads, whatsapp etc. are the best platforms where you interact with your audience directly. Your social media should be the digital representation of that-acting as a foundation and expression point for building relationships with your consumers to turn them into brand loyalists. There are two types of social media marketing, one is paid and the other is organic. In organic SMM brand posts regularly and engage with their followers whereas in paid SMM brands pay a specific group like influencers to promote or run ads for specific groups.
Email & Affiliate Marketing
- Email marketing remains one the most effective digital marketing tools. From newsletters, to offers, email helps maintain a direct line of engagement with the customers that already trust your brands.
Affiliate marketing involves partnering with individuals and businesses(affiliates) who promote your products in exchange of commission based on the sales they generated.
Conclusion
Always Remember: Digital Marketing Is Not Selling Instead It Is Relationship Building. But mobilizing them means you can engage, offer value, and leave a lasting impression with people where they are. The thing is, as long as you understand the basics, stay curious and flexible, digital marketing isn’t just an effective business tool — it’s also a way to genuinely connect with other human beings. So, this is a great time to jump on the bandwagon whether you are a small business owner or freelancer or as an individual just curious about the online world. The truth of the matter is your audience exists, now just go meet them wherever they are.