Statistics indicate that there are 5.44 billion people on the internet today. Additionally, an American spends an average of seven hours on the internet daily. With this knowledge, businesses are now using digital marketing to reach and communicate with their target audience. If you only use traditional methods to advertise your business, you are missing a lot. 

However, it can be hard to understand the right digital marketing approach with so many channels, methods, and tools. This article will guide you on how digital marketing can affect a business. We will also provide actionable tips to help you take your digital marketing game to the next level.

What’s the Role of Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing enables businesses to garner traffic and generate leads, sales, and traffic by using online means to reach people interested in their products and services. Also known as online marketing, it aims to show your business to prospective leads and high-value customers. Of the 5.4 billion people online, 2 billion are online shoppers. That means excellent opportunities exist to reach people interested in your products and services.

Impact of Digital Marketing on Businesses

Digital marketing has an enormous impact on business growth. Here are several ways in which it does that.

It Provides a Level Playing Field

The business landscape is laden with competition. Whether you are a small, medium, or large business, you will face competition. That’s unless you offer a revolutionary product such as Elon Musk taking people to space. Some of your competitors will even be larger than you.

For instance, if you sell physical products like dog food, you will face competition from bigger corporations such as Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Competing with these large companies can feel like a fool’s errand because they have huge marketing budgets and many professionals to drive their marketing campaigns.

Outrank Competitors on SERPs

Unlike large corporations, you may not have the budget to advertise on TV and radio. Fortunately, digital marketing is the savior here, offering a level playing field for small and medium-sized enterprises. Even with your modest budget, you can compete with competitors of all sizes. For instance, if you optimize your site well, you can rank higher than these large corporations on the search engines, providing your brand with better visibility.

Remember that search engines like Google do not consider a business's reputation in ranking. Instead, they aim to provide the searcher with the most relevant result for their search query. Therefore, if you focus on answering the search query, you will rank higher on the search engine, providing you with better visibility.

Outrank Them on PPC

The same applies to PPC campaigns, where ads are ranked depending on their relevancy score and bid amount. Therefore, when running PPC ads, you can easily outrank large corporations if your ads have a high relevancy score and a low bid for a particular search query. This means that large corporations cannot buy these positions. Even if they outrank you on one keyword, you can always find a related search query with a high search volume for which you can bid. 

However, you need to make your ad appear in the first three results because statistics indicate that 41% of all clicks go to the top three results. You can do that by making your ads resonate with your target audience.

Reach People on Their Preferred Platform

If you use traditional advertising methods, such as TV and radio, you have little control over who sees your ad and who doesn't. This is because you have little control over their listenership or viewership. Similarly, if you use a traditional advertising method like a billboard, you will show your ad to any prospect who uses that route. Even if you want to see results in your marketing campaign, you must target people likely to show interest in your products and services. 

On the other hand, when running a PPC campaign, you advertise for keywords in your niche. That means your keyword will be shown to people interested in your products or services. All you need to do is to create a target audience of people you think are interested in your brand. That way, you can advertise to your target audience.

Additionally, digital marketing enables you to choose your target audience. Many digital advertising platforms, such as Google and Metrics, will provide you with metrics to show you people who click on your ad. The data is well organized and provides insights into their age, location, gender, and more. 

Targeting will help you save money and time. You focus only on the people interested in your business, which translates to better results and ROI.

An Impressive ROI

Another benefit of digital marketing is that it will help you reach a higher ROI. Traditional advertising methods, such as TV and radio, are usually costly. On the other hand, if you are doing digital marketing, the only investment you need to make is your time rather than money.

For instance, if you are running a social media marketing campaign, you only need to allocate time to post content regularly. You will not pay anything to post on these social media platforms. This is despite the fact that when done right, some social media marketing methods, such as TikTok marketing, can go viral and reach millions of people.

However, you should remember that running a content or social media marketing campaign requires time to create, launch, manage, and track results effectively. Even when running a PPC or social media advertising campaign, you can set a budget that will work well for your business. Remember that the results you get will also depend on your budget. Therefore, you should create a budget appropriate to your industry and company. All in all, digital marketing methods will provide a great return on investment for your business.

For instance, you can get an ROI of $4 for every dollar spent on email marketing. That means you cannot ignore digital marketing's contribution to your bottom line. Not only will it provide you with a well-optimized marketing budget, but you will also get a bigger ROI.

Enables Better Tracking

When using traditional advertising, you can hardly tell how many people your ad has reached or if it brings the desired results. This is because there are no metrics to show your campaign's effectiveness. To get feedback, you will probably need to run surveys asking people who visit your store how they heard about you. That can be tiring and time-consuming.

Conversely, digital marketing will provide metrics to show if your campaign bears fruit. You can monitor your campaigns in real time by tracking metrics such as impressions, clicks, traffic, conversions, and dwell time. These metrics can give you valuable insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns.

In addition to the tools offered by Google and social media platforms, many third-party tools can track critical metrics and compile all your information in one place. Therefore, digital marketing lets you determine if your campaigns bring results. If not, you can tweak your strategy to improve performance.

When starting a digital marketing campaign, the most important thing is to determine the metrics you want to track. Once you understand your objective, you can create a campaign to drive the desired results. For instance, if your goal is to drive sales, you can quickly tell how well your ad is doing by tracking converting viewers. 

Better Connection with Your Customers

As noted in our previous point, digital marketing provides customers with many metrics. These metrics help them better understand their customers. The more you know your customers, the more you can position your brand to tailor messages better for them.

That means you can use the data obtained from digital media to improve your campaigns. You can understand how the channel brings the best results, the type of content that resonates with your audience, and how to improve your return on investment.

Again, traditional media offers only one way of communicating with your customers. You only have the opportunity to tell them about your products or services, but with no feedback. On the other hand, digital media, such as social media, allows brands to get customer feedback, answer their queries, and respond to their concerns. This results in a better customer connection, often increasing customer loyalty.

Here are ways in which you can use social media marketing to connect better with your customers:

• Converse with customers. Regularly conversing with customers on social media will make them feel part of your brand.
• Prey on the competition. Social media is a great place to see what your competitors are doing and what they are saying. You can even check how customers are responding to their messages to determine if this is something you can copy or adapt to your messaging.
• Social listening. You can use social media to listen to what people say about your brands, even when they don't tag you in their comments.

Control Your Brand Messaging

One of the benefits of digital media is that it offers complete control of your brand messaging. You can have a critique of your brand posted online, which you will have little control over. However, you can still post your rebuttal, where you can give your side of the story. That way, you'll be in control of the situation and the messaging.

A good example is Google reviews, where customers can post their thoughts concerning your brand. You will not have much control over what they post. However, you can respond to their reviews, allowing you to give your side of the story. Here are ways in which digital marketing can help control your brand messaging:

• Personalize emails and ads with the customer’s details and other details if possible.
• Use the buyer and customer’s persona to determine the kind of content you are creating. Ensure that this resonates with your target audience. You can leverage metrics obtained from your campaigns to make future decisions.

Provide Value to Customers

Content marketing is a vital part of digital marketing. When creating content, you should focus more on having some words on a page. You should have different content, such as videos, blog posts, web copy, social blurbs, and photos. When you have a content strategy incorporating these other forms of content, you can be assured that you provide value to your customers.

For example, if you are a home makeover company, you can share videos of how you tackle a project. You can also share tips for prospective customers to make minor home improvements. By doing that, you will be providing value to your respective customers.

Statistics indicate that consumers are more likely to buy from a brand after they view or read educational content on their websites. A good content marketing strategy can generate three times more leads than paid ads. That’s despite content marketing being 62% more cost-effective than paid ads. Most businesses report seeing better-quality leads after implementing a good content strategy.

Top Digital Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

One of the good things about digital marketing is that it consists of different methods and formats. You can use various platforms, from search engines to apps, to reach your target audience. No matter the method you choose, here are several tips to ensure success with your strategy:

Use Google Business Profile

This tip is especially important if you are targeting local marketing. Google My Business enables you to create a profile for your business with details such as name, address, and phone number. Your business and its details will be displayed in the search results when someone searches for a keyword in your niche using the near me phrase.

Understand Your Target Audience

If you do not understand your target audience, creating digital marketing messages that resonate with them will be impossible. Understand the different groups of your target audience and customize your marketing strategy to reach them. This could involve social media platforms, email lists, SEO, etc.

You can speak to your customers through surveys, interviews, and customer feedback to understand their personalities, needs, pain points, and more. Even when you know who they are, dive deeper into their opinions and behaviors to help you build a lasting opinion. 

Have a Fast-opening Site

Studies indicate that 83% of search engine users expect a site to open in less than three seconds. Users will hit the back button if your page loads longer than this. To prevent that from happening, you need to optimize your site speed through different strategies such as:

• Caching your web pages.
• Minifying codes.
• Reducing the number of redirects.
• Compressing images.

With fast-loading pages, you can retain your traffic and increase conversions.

Use Video Content

While different kinds of content serve various purposes, videos are great for catching your audience’s attention and increasing engagement. Besides, videos don't have to be limited to social media. You can add them to your website pages or create a YouTube channel. As for the type of video content to make, you can use videos for employee introductions, tutorials, and outright advertisements.

Optimize Your Site for Mobile

Today, most customers use their mobile devices to search for products and make online purchases. Nobody wants to strain their eyes when reading the words on a site. You should optimize your website for mobile devices to capture the market using their mobile devices.  When creating a website, look at and test how it will look on mobile devices.

Brand Yourself

At the core of any digital marketing strategy is branding. No matter the campaign you are running, you should aim to showcase your company’s unique brand style. Some elements that contribute to your branding include voice, color schemes, choice of words, and more. These elements will create an impression of your brand in the customer’s minds.

Whether you want to create a personable and laidback image, silly and humorous, elegant and elite, you should ensure that your marketing conveys this message. Proper branding makes it easier for people to remember your brand.

Research Your Competitor

To stand out from the competition, research what they offer, how they communicate with their customers, and their preferred marketing channels. When you research your competitor, you can see what they are doing right and the areas of your marketing campaign that you can improve. Check out their website, social media pages, and customer reviews.

Research the Right Social Media Channel

With so many social media channels, you can easily get confused about which to join and which to ignore. Remember that if you join too many of them, you might not be productive in most of them, reducing their effectiveness. That’s unless you have a large and dedicated social media team.  

A common mistake brands make is thinking that the most popular platforms are the best for reaching their social media goals. This is not necessarily the case. The best social media site is where your audience is. While TikTok marketing is among the latest social media marketing trends, it might not be suitable for a brand selling health insurance for seniors. That’s because the target audience isn't on the platform. Determining where your target audience hangs out and reaching them on that platform is essential.

Use an Email List

Many brands associate digital marketing with PPC, SEO, and social media marketing. While we agree that these are great channels, the old email list still has its charm. Regardless of age, everyone still uses email, which offers an excellent opportunity to expand your reach to people of diverse backgrounds and demographics.

Emails also enable you to customize and personalize your message to enable your audience to connect with your brand. However, when creating an email list, you must target the right people interested in your business. A good way of talking to your audience through emails is by sending monthly promotions, newsletters, competitions, and news.

Focus on Creating Exciting Content

Whether it's blog posts, videos, or email lists, content is still king. That means the quality of your content is one of the most essential tools you should leverage in your digital marketing strategy. Creating outstanding and engaging content will expand your reach and help you get noticed.

Great content will enable you to connect deeply with your audience and promote your business more effectively. It is also more likely to rank on Google, providing even better visibility.

Conclusion

Digital marketing has undoubtedly impacted how businesses reach their target audience. If your company has no digital footprint, you will lose a lot. Not only will your reach be limited, but it will also hamper your communication with your customers. 

Our guide has deeply explained how digital marketing can help take your business to the next level. We have also provided actionable tips that you can use to improve your digital marketing. By implementing these tips, you can better impact your bottom line, especially if you combine them with this Instagram marketing strategy.