As the world moves into the digital age, old style advertising is becoming ineffective. 89% of consumers are now using Google as part of their purchasing decision. This means that having a digital marketing platform is critical for your long term success.
However, there are numerous digital marketing platforms that businesses can use and some of these aren’t applicable to everyone. So what are the options and which are best for your business?
Website
This is almost a ‘must have’ in this day and age. Most customers will expect you to have a website; it doesn’t have to be a big website, an online shop or be full of functionality. It could simply be a single page that describes your business and provides your contact details.
A website is the main platform for being found online as long as you employ good SEO. This often requires activity in a lot of others areas (like social media, blogging, etc). You’ll also have to have it designed and pay for its maintenance and hosting – but a good website can pay for itself easily.
Advantages:
- A good platform to be found online.
- Customers expect it.
- Can contain vital information for customers to contact you.
Disadvantages:
- Can be expensive to establish and maintain.
- Needs support marketing to be noticed online.
Blogging
As an extension of a website, the blog is the perfect way to get noticed online. Google likes websites to be regularly updated and blogs are great for this. Blogs should contain useful, relevant information that the target audience can implement. For instance, dog walkers talking about how to train a dog to sit, etc.
Research has found that 81% of consumers trust a blog and 61% will make a purchasing decision based on blog content.
Blogging can also be used to generate email marketing lists by including strong call to actions and pop-ups that sign up visitors. But blogging is time consuming and you need to be consistent. Without consistency, your audience will abandon your brand.
Advantages:
- Supports SEO and email contact list building.
- Builds trust between you and your target customers.
Disadvantages:
- Can be time consuming.
Email Marketing
This is one of the most effective online marketing paths you can employ. According to research, at least 13% of all online purchases can be contributed to email marketing. This makes it the top online marketing platform after direct visits and organic searching.
There are numerous email marketing laws which you have to follow, but generally speaking, these are all common sense and using an email client like MailChimp will help you.
Email marketing isn’t time consuming either, but you need to build a list, which is daunting at first. However, there’s a lot of helpful support out there for you.
Advantages:
- Highly effective selling.
- Free to begin with.
Disadvantages:
- Requires some technical knowledge.
- Need to build a list.
Social Media
Social media is often thought of as a great sales tool. However, this is far from the truth. Social media is one of the worst sales platforms, but it is a great tool for introductions to customers. The best practice is therefore to promote your website’s content, such as blog content, rather than actually selling anything.
The main purpose for social media is to converse with your audience and build trust, and subsequently generate leads through blogging and email marketing.
Advantages:
- Builds trust with customers.
- Free.
Disadvantages:
- Not a great sales tool.
- Can be time consuming.
Conclusion
These are the basic platforms for selling your business across the internet. Consider using them for your business and watch how your website traffic will grow and leads multiply.
What do you use in your online marketing mix? Which do you think is most effective?
Let us know below.
Office Loro Blog 