One 2019 Forbes article showcased 100 different stats about going digital. In it, 56% of CEOs said going digital directly resulted in revenue growth. So, there is no denying the impact going digital has on a business.
Digital transformation is taking over the world. Enterprises are leveraging the power of technology and the Internet to grow their business everywhere you look. Right now, the best form of advertising is digital marketing.
As a digital marketing consultant, I know what it can do for a brand. Hi, I am Shovon Joarder. With my team, I run a digital marketing agency that provides affordable, top-notch digital solutions to anyone who needs them.
My experience gives me a unique perspective on the importance of digital marketing and what it means to go digital in 2024. In the following paragraphs, I will tell you all about it.
You will find everything from the best types of digital marketing to what a digital marketer's job is and how digital transformation drives growth.
Before we talk about what it means to go digital, let's first discuss a digital marketer's job and why digital marketing is essential for a business. So, without any further delay, let's check them out!
What Is The Importance Of Digital Marketing?
The main pain point of a business is knowing how to reach your targeted audience effectively. Many companies with fantastic products and efficient logistic support struggle and even fail. The main reason for this is not finding the right avenue to get your message across to people interested in your industry.
That's where digital marketing steps in. Ever since the Internet became public, digital marketing has quickly replaced traditional media as businesses' go-to.
You are already familiar with traditional marketing efforts like commercials, billboards, and magazine ads. But digital marketing is different. It's more than just pop-ups or banner ads on websites.
Digital marketing has several different aspects, from building a social media presence to optimizing your site for search engines to creating online advertising. You may already know the basics of digital marketing but might not be convinced about its importance.
So, in the following passages, you will find the primary reasons why digital marketing is the best form of advertising right now. Without any further delay, let's check them out!
It's More Cost-Effective Than Traditional Marketing
While digital marketing ads aren't free, they are much more affordable than the worst billboard spot you can find in your city. However, the great thing about digital marketing is that there is no minimum entry point.
Almost anyone with any budget can broadcast and market their business in the digital space. However, suppose you have more money.
In that case, you can better drive engagement and sales through platforms like Google and Facebook. You can start your marketing budget with zero to ten dollars, and no one will stop you.
The best part is that platforms offer ad spend credits to new advertisers, so you can get more value out of your campaigns when you start out.
It's Easier To Reach Your Target Audience
Reaching the right target audience with traditional marketing is difficult. Whether it's ads on TV or radio, they reach the viewers of those platforms, not necessarily the people who are interested in your niche. While traditional marketing has audience segmentation, it isn't as diverse or intricate as digital marketing.
With digital marketing, you can segment your audience to the smallest demographic to create ads that cater to their specific needs.
Digital marketing platforms also offer analytics and data to help you determine the "who, what, when, and where" of your marketing efforts.
It's Easier To Raise Brand Awareness
It's much easier to stand out on digital platforms than on traditional ones. With traditional brand awareness campaigns, you either employ billboards or ads and hope that the prospective customer takes the right turn on the freeway or tunes in at that specific time your ad will air.
However, with digital marketing, you don't have to worry about it. Most people are always connected to the internet in some way or another.
So, you will always have the opportunity to market your brand whenever your target audience checks their phone or opens their computer.
But it can also backfire if you don't carefully create your ads, so make sure you know what you're doing before focusing on brand awareness.
It is Easier To Generate Leads
Generating leads through traditional marketing is a hellish experience. Media buyers will only tell you how many people saw your ad.
Still, there is no way to determine how many converted into sales from the ad. All digital ads will let you attach contact information, and you will be able to see how many people engaged with your ad.
In addition, it will allow you to add people to your mailing and calling list. That means you have direct qualified leads from your advertising on digital platforms that you can work on turning into sales.
It Offers Better Customer Engagement & Retention
Modern-day business transactions are mainly based on personal relationships, which is very hard to do with traditional media.
However, with digital marketing, you can easily leverage technology, keep your customers engaged, and retain their business, even if they are thousands of miles away. You can easily keep your customers engaged through review management, social media posts, or email newsletters.
You can reply to your customers' negative feedback and tend to their grievances in a public forum. There are so many avenues for engagement on digital platforms that you can focus on to build your business!
So now that you know about the importance of digital marketing compared to traditional marketing, you can guess that it levels the playing field almost between small businesses and large brands. I have worked with many large corporations and small businesses as a digital marketer.
However, I've found that small business owners often are confused about the best form of advertising for their brand. So, in the following, we will discuss the best form of digital advertising for small businesses!
What Are The Best Form Of Marketing For Small Businesses?
Small businesses can find it challenging to establish their brands, especially if they are just starting out. Only one out of every startup succeeds, which means there's a 90% failure rate. This can be primarily due to mismanagement and the inability to advertise and reach their target audience.
Well, here are the best forms of advertising platforms and mediums for small businesses and startups that you should know about:
Social Media Advertising: Social media is a massive part of everyone's life. According to Statista, around 82% of the US population used social media in 2021. So, regardless of your target demographic, you are bound to find your target audience on at least one social media platform. Generally, I tell my clients to focus on growing their influence and reach on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): PPC is the most popular form of online advertising out there. Its versatility ensures that everyone can leverage its ability to reach new audiences. PPC works by allowing marketers to create specific ads that pop up to only a particular set of people, and the marketers only pay when someone clicks on those ads. You can set your limits to how much you want to spend on each keyword bid and how much you want to spend a day or month on the campaign. If you do it right, you can even get a thousand percent ROI, so make sure you leverage PPC into working for your business!
Mobile Ads: There were around 298 million smartphone users in 2021, and the number is expected to grow to 307 million this year. So, it should be a no-brainer that mobile ads are an easy way to generate buzz and sales for small businesses. There are several options for mobile ads. Here are some you can utilize:
Mobile display ads.
Mobile search ads.
Mobile videos.
Mobile app ads.
And social media ads that are only for mobile devices.
Email Marketing: Email is here to stay, and the number of email users is still growing daily. That's why email marketing is still relevant and, to this day, one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. It's the perfect tool for entering new markets, expanding your customer base, and building strong long-term relationships. So, one of the best ways for a small business to succeed is to create a good email list and leverage the platform.
So, those are the best forms of digital marketing and advertising for small businesses. As a digital marketer and a small business owner, I know how hard it can be to balance the budget.
As mentioned earlier, advertising methods and marketing efforts will help you do just that and get a foothold in your niche!
What's The Job Of A Digital Marketer?
As a digital marketer, I have a wide range of responsibilities. My main goal is to develop and execute strategies that generate buzz for a product or service and help establish brands as leading voices. I also continuously monitor ongoing trends, develop pricing strategies, and create captivating campaigns.
To increase brand awareness, most of my efforts go towards analyzing demographic data to ensure the campaigns we create are targeted appropriately. Here in the following is a list of some of the jobs I do as a digital marketer:
SEO optimization for websites.
Making engaging sales copies.
Generating leads.
Building email campaigns.
Creating customer personas.
Tracking and analyzing site ROI.
Running and managing Ads campaigns.
What Does It Mean To Go Digital?
Now that you know the backstory, the importance of digital marketing, and what a digital marketer does, we can dive into what going digital means in 2024. Going digital simply means integrating technology to digitize every aspect of a business.
The digitization process ensures the streamlining of the business by digitizing content, communication, and the business process, as well as customer acquisition, sales, customer service, and other elements of a company.
It makes everything efficient and very easy to manage. Now you know what it means to go digital. Let me take you back to its origin to help you understand the phenomenon better!
What's The Origin Of Digital Transformation?
The start of digital transformation can be traced back to the late 1970s. Then, in the 1980s and 90s, companies started digitizing enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management.
With the internet taking over the world in the 2000s and social media taking over, digital transformation was fast-tracked. By the end of the 2010s, around 70% of all companies had a digitization strategy.
Digitization is more than just a trend. It is now inevitable for any business looking to establish itself as a mainstay in its desired niche. Now that you know the origins of digital transformation, let's start by looking at the digitization process!
How To Go Digital?
Nowadays, all businesses think about a digital strategy before registering a company. Going digital in 2024 consists of four main parts, they are:
The Process: Ensuring your business process is efficient saves time and resources while ensuring higher returns on investment. Digitizing everything from the tools used and the channels created to everything that provides a secure, organized, and accessible content flow is the only way to ensure maximum optimization.
The Model: Since most of the population on earth is on the internet and depends on it regularly, the need to digitize the business model is a given nowadays rather than an option.
The Domain: Domain transformation is an essential step in an increasingly digital world. The best example of domain transformation is Amazon, once the world's most prominent book collector and now the biggest marketplace on earth.
The Organizational Effort: This step may seem unimportant, but it's the easiest to falter at, and it can lead to catastrophic results. Digitization isn't just about the tools. It's about understanding the new cultural shift and organizing around it. Technology can either make or break a company, so knowing how to navigate this ever-evolving digitized world is a significant part of the digital transformation.
So that's how to go digital in 2024. As you can see, going digital is an overarching part that covers every aspect of a business. However, if you follow the abovementioned guidelines, going digital will be a cakewalk!
The Takeaway
So there you go; that's what it means to go digital in 2024. As you can see, the digital marketer's job is here to stay, and its importance in this highly digitized world cannot be questioned.
If you are still unconvinced about going digital or want to know more about the digitization process, contact me, and I can help you out.
If you have any other questions or feel I have missed something you wanted to know about going digital, please post them in the comments below or reach out to me on social media. I will answer them all.
That being said, that's all I have for you today. I will come back with something new about the delightful digital marketing world soon. Until then, see ya!
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