Six Benefits of Digital Marketing

by Lucid Advertising
person on ipad

Digital marketing is any marketing strategy that uses electronic devices or digital tools to promote a product or service and measure the effectiveness of the strategy. Marketing campaigns are usually launched using a computer, cell phone, tablet or another device. They can take many forms, including online videos, display ads or social media posts.

Marketing experts often compare digital marketing to traditional forms of marketing such as magazine ads, billboards and direct mail. While both traditional and digital marketing are highly effective, digital marketing is unique in that it can offer a higher ROI and greater market reach with fewer resources and less effort. Below, we discuss common types of digital marketing and how they can benefit your business right now.

What Are the Benefits of Digital Marketing?

1. Cost-Effective and Measurable Results 

Digital marketing gives you access to numerous tools that can track and analyze your campaign’s performance. When you have hard data that you can pull up in real-time, you can allocate your market dollars accordingly. You can also adjust your marketing strategy as you go instead of scrapping it and starting over or finding out that your strategy didn’t work after the fact. This approach can save you thousands of dollars, giving you a higher ROI in the long run.

2. Unlimited Customer/Client Targeting Options

What if your product is in the beta phase and you are performing market testing? What is the fastest way to get results on how people respond to your brand or your latest campaign? Digital marketing gives you unlimited options for targeting the right clients at the right time. You can develop and refine strategies such as retargeting, audience lists, surveys, reviews, backlinks, landing pages, Google analytics and others to determine if you are hitting the mark and how well your campaign is performing.

3. Customer Reach Anywhere in the Purchasing Journey

If digital marketing didn’t give birth to customer journey mapping, it made it more tangible and definable. You can now identify your brand touchpoints, choose your customer persona, understand your customers’ goals, map out your interactions and update your customer journey map instantly as needed.

4. Endless Customization on the Spot

One of the main benefits of customization is that it reduces the number of errors you make on the front end of your marketing campaign. If you have more options, you are likely to make more informed decisions on launching your strategy. Digital marketing gives you endless customization through every stage of your campaign from start to finish—and afterward.

5. More Interaction with Your Customers

Think about all the ways that digital marketing can put you in touch with your customers: email, instant messaging, website content, videos, images, social media posts, SMS, widgets and banners. Digital tools give you more opportunities to interact with your crowd and build customer loyalty. It also helps you to reach different people in different segments of your market. While some people still only check their email, others use the latest apps to see ads or banners.

6. Greater Brand Credibility

With digital marketing, your company can establish brand credibility across a larger market. You can deliver valuable advice through blogs or opinion columns, lean on influencers to promote your brand, trade guest posts with other companies, create case studies and convert consumer engagement into content. Best of all, you can make your mark without spending too much time, energy, money or resources.

Common Types of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing strategies can be categorized by the platform used, whether searches are paid or organic, content type, media type or approach. Common types of digital marketing include:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

It’s nearly impossible to discuss digital marketing without bringing up SEO. SEO is the process of increasing traffic to your website by using keywords to boost your site’s search engine rankings. The higher up you are in the search rankings, the greater your chances are of being visible to your target consumers. Marketing experts spend countless hours and endless resources developing SEO strategies so that a website gets to the top of a Google search.

Paid Search

Also known as PPC (pay-per-click) or Google Ads, paid search is ultimately designed to catapult your website to the top of a search by paying the search engine for ad placements on SERPs. Since the ads work on a pay-per-click basis, you only pay when your ad is clicked. Paid ads give you the ability to outperform your competition regardless of the size of your business.

Display Advertising

Display advertising combines text, images and a URL that links to a website where a customer can learn more about and buy your products or services. There are many ad formats under the umbrella of display advertising. Most display ads contain text, an image, animation or a video. Display ads can perform a variety of functions that range from product promotion to audience education.

Social Media Marketing

One of the most effective ways to interact with your audience is by creating a presence on social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube can help you build your brand while cultivating a digital culture that grows organically. Social media marketing includes posting on your pages as well as paying for ads that show up in the newsfeed or margins. Social media platforms are also powerful marketing channels that drive traffic back to your website.

Content Marketing

Web developers and marketing teams use content marketing to create and distribute a valuable, relevant and consistent message that attracts and retains a target audience. Its primary purpose is to call site visitors to action, which means buying your product or service. Written content is still the most important element in driving your message home.

Email Marketing

You can use email to promote your products and services as well as build customer loyalty. Email can make your customers aware of new products, discounts and other services. It can also be a way to educate your audience on your brand or keep them engaged even when they’re not purchasing your product.

Influencer Marketing

In marketing, an influencer is someone who has an established dedicated social following and is viewed as an expert in their field. Influencer marketing uses endorsements and product ‘nods’ from influencers to give a company greater credibility and market reach. Influencer marketing works because of the high level of trust that social influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.

Get Results with Lucid Advertising

Digital marketing gives you all the tools you need to execute, manage and measure your marketing strategy. Lucid can help you execute your plan. To learn more about our digital marketing solutions, contact us today at 850.760.0478 or fill out the form below.