In a digital age, where most users have computers and mobile devices, accessing websites, social networks, and other online media, has become part of day-to-day living. Thus, many companies have adopted digital marketing strategies to continue to promote their products and services to these users via these channels.
According to global stadistics (by the World Bank), more than 2 million people have Internet access today, out of which 70 percent uses it daily. It is for this reason that companies are investing an average of 12 percent to 20 percent of their annual income on digital marketing. Below are the five most common digital marketing strategies:
1. Social Media
Social networks are an efficient and low cost tool to promote new products and services, increase brand awareness, maintain loyalty from customers, increase website traffic, and improve customer experience. Therefore, social media has become an efficient channel to create new customers as well as driving brand loyalty. Many tools are available to marketers to create and maintain an online presence, as well as creating and maintaining demand.
The largest social networks are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. To manage large scale social networks, tools like: Hootsuite, Podium, and Buffer, are commonly used by digital marketers. These also facilitate reporting, traffic analysis, web and/or mobile segmentation, among other functions.
2. Images, videos, and blogs
According to statistics by Zabisco, a digital design company, 40 percent of online users respond better to visual information rather than textual content. There are several reasons why visual content should be part of a marketing strategy. For example, the brain processes visual information faster than text content information; articles with videos attract three times more viewers than articles without videos. Today more than 85 percent of users in the United States watch videos online.
3. Email
According to ExactTarget, one of the most popular tools for e-mail marketing automation, e-mail is an easy way for brands to reach their customers; 77 percent of consumers who give their email address would be open to receive more information via email.
There are other companies like Salesforce and Constant Contact, who are also engaged in developing e-mail marketing automation tools. They allow you to design campaigns and e-mail templates using HTML and CSS, as well as automating the sending of such emails, and analyzing results such as: number of people who opened the email, whether they clicked on the product or promotion, among other measures.
4. Smartphones, Tablets, and others gadgets
According to infographic by Aden Hepburn, founder and director of VML (WPP - Y & R Brands) in Australia, 56 percent of the population has a smartphone; 50 percent of users use their phone as their primary source of online search, and 72 percent of tablet owners shop from their tablets each week. Today, people use their cellphones more than any other electronic device. The mobile platform is constantly developing, and is one of the most important, when it comes to promoting products and services. This is why brands spend much of their marketing budget on this digital channel.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
The largest online search engines, by number of users, are: Google with 182 million users, Yahoo with 173 million, Bing with 162 million, and Ask with 69 million users.
Google, for example, uses natural positioning techniques (SEO), referred to by its acronym: Search Engine Optimization. This consists of generating free traffic from natural, organic, search results. Thus, the goal of SEO is to increase the visibility of web pages in search engines, without resorting to payments ads. A second strategy is search engine marketing (SEM), which consists of paid advertisements in search engines. For example, Google offers Adwords, which operates under a pay-per-click pricing model for ads.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is on a continuous growth path thanks to the ever growing number of always-online users - mostly due to the explosive growth in the mobile space. It is important for marketers to evaluate different strategies in seeking out where to invest their marketing budget to get the best results and increase conversions.
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