Digital Marketing - Strategy, methods and channels

The importance of creating and using a digital marketing plan to support digital transformation and company growth

Where do you start if you want to develop a digital marketing strategy?
It's still a common challenge since many businesses know how vital digital and mobile channels are today for acquiring and retaining customers. Yet they don't have an integrated plan to grow and engage their audiences effectively. If your business doesn't have a plan you will suffer from the problems highlighted in this article and you will lose out to competitors who are more digitally savvy.

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, including the internet, mobile phones, e-books and display advertising. Whilst digital marketing is the most common term it may also be referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web marketing' Digital platforms are increasingly used in marketing plans with digital marketing campaigns becoming more popular as people use digital devices for shopping instead of physically visiting the shops in their local high streets.

Digital marketing methods:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page. The higher ranked on the search results page or more frequently a website appears in the search results list, then the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users; these visitors can then become customers.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages through paid advertising.

Content Marketing is focused on creating and distributing free content for a targeted audience online particularly to meet customer needs rather than creating demand for new. It is used by businesses to attract attention and generate leads, expand customer bases, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness and loyalty, create trust and a relationship with an online community of users.

Influencer Marketing focuses on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals who have influence over potential customers and creates marketing activities around these influencers.

Content Automation improves and streamlines content processes by making it more efficient in delivering to a diverse array of media channels.

Campaign Marketing is the main method for communicating within a market to both strengthen a business position whilst attracting customers.

Data-Driven Marketing is a process by which marketeers gain valuable information and behavioral trends based on in-depth analysis informed by numbers from customer reviews and customer support conversations. Approaching a known audience with a targeted campaign increases the chances of sales.

E-Commerce Marketing is the practice of using promotional tactics to drive traffic to an online store, converting the traffic into paying customers, and retaining those customers post-purchases. This builds brand awareness, customer loyalty, and increases online sales.

Social Media Marketing is one of the most versatile and cost-effective ways that small businesses can use to reach their target audience and increase sales involving the use of social networks. Networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide advertisers with information about the likes and dislikes of their consumers.

Social Media Optimisation SMO is to increase traffic to a website. Compared with Search Engine Optimisation SEO, a process that is used to improve the ranking of a website in a search engine.

E-Mail Direct Marketing is a format for email-based campaigns in which standalone advertisements are sent to a targeted list of recipients. The messages, which may also be by text, look like web-based ads rather than typical email and text messages.

Display Advertising is on websites or apps or social media through banners or other advertising formats made of text, images, flash, video, and audio. The main purpose of this advertising is to deliver general advertisements and brand messages to site visitors. 

Source: https://www.gov.uk/employment-agencies-and-businesses

Why not join Wenta's free webinar 'Online Presence For Growing Your Small Business' to help get you started with digital, from websites to social media: