Marketing is the bread and butter of any business that's focused on growth. The essence of it being, "to attract new customers and to keep the existing ones closer". Having the same spirit at its core, Digital Marketing is nothing but marketing that's taken a digital form.
Statista: "There are over 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, which is 59% of the global population."
So, with that kind of potential, isn't it simply inevitable for marketing strategists to reach out to it?
Digital Marketing, also occasionally called internet marketing, covers everything that's a synonym for advertising via digital platforms. Internet and online platforms help promote your brand and its outreach to any potential customer despite the distance, demography, or any other physical limitations. Earlier, these limitations were the biggest hurdles in curtailing the reach of conventional marketing methods. And only larger businesses with huge financial capabilities were able to have access to it.
However, now any business - be it an established venture or a growing startup - can seize this digital marketing benefit. And there are various means to achieving it; emails, social media platforms, websites being some of the most popular mediums. With these at your command, you can get your business/brand introduced to any viable customer.
Digital Marketing: "Improves the visibility of your product, making it more familiar to the target audience."
So, going digital is the quickest way to advertise or promote your business and convince your customers to experience your product/service.
Now, a vital element to help achieve this digital marketing benefit is its "Strategy".
Why do we need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Like how anything that needs to be achieved has to have a plan, so does digital marketing. And, that's where digital marketing strategy comes into play, it makes the most of your marketing opportunity.
“Only 61% of marketers believe their marketing strategy is effective” - HubSpot
You can consider it as a roadmap that will help guide you in achieving your desired digital goals. The plan is to trace out the different online platforms and the level of engagement each platform requires in order to make the most of your marketing measures.
Digital Marketing Strategy: "Gives your marketing team the best and the most direct path for getting your products to the customers' screens."
So, to have these strategies in place, don't we need to have a set of data to work with? And that's where the other essential elements of digital marketing steps into the field, it's the "Analytics".
What is "Digital Marketing Analytics"?
In the simplest form, digital marketing analytics refers to translating customer behavior into achievable business statistics. It's used for identifying newer markets, business opportunities, and for determining the various digital platforms through which your business can successfully connect with your potential buyers.
Digital Marketing Analytics: "Provide the essential insights into your site traffic, conversions, customer engagement, click-through rate (CTR), and the load speed." These metrics are the key to any campaign. They help keep track of all your digital marketing trends showing where you are at with your targeted goals.
“70% of the most organized marketers achieve their goals Most of the Time, while an elite 10% of organized marketers Always achieve them.” - CoSchedule
And to do all this, the data is collected from your websites, applications, social media handles, and such using analytics tools which include Google Analytics. Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected.
How does Analytics make a difference in the strategy?
Now that we know analytics and strategy work hand-in-hand to get your business the online presence it needs let's have a look at how adopting a suitable combination of these elements gives you the desired results.
To observe your consumer behavior and to identify the buyers' persona for your product; having a solid strategy in place is essential. However, at the same time, analyzing your market pattern from time to time is even more necessary. As in today's digital world, the swing in market patterns keep shifting drastically and erratically; our marketing strategists must constantly be on their toes to keep up with these constant changes.
“72% of marketers worldwide said relevant content creation was the most effective SEO tactic.” - responsify
And remember the end aim of digital marketing is to drive sales, so, we must stay focused on it and not get distracted by the tons of information available for processing.
Many businesses operating on a larger scale, usually requiring a great tune of analytics, end up making this mistake of overanalyzing the trends and losing track of their significant market. Tools and analytics can sure give you the depth of information that you need, but you must be smart with handling the information.
As a digital marketing strategist points out, "1 million Facebook likes is fantastic, but when a company sets its focus on the likes rather than the actionable results that come from it, then there's a problem." And continues by stating "…should you then be spending so much time and effort on them?"
Thus, the right combination of digital marketing analytics helps collect, organize, and curate the success behind your marketing strategies.
How digital marketing consumer behavior is driven and how to cope with it?
As the world becomes overwhelmingly digitally driven, businesses trying to reach out to their prospective customers give them the opportunity to have a better understanding of their buying choices. Consumers are better informed and have become much more mature with their buying decisions, as they are able to compare the competing markets better. This change in consumer behavior due to the impact of digital marketing has both a positive and negative effect on one's business.
On the one hand, when you offer a product that outright out-classes the competition, you are sure to gain instant traction. Your uniqueness can be exhibited at paramount levels and you are set to go. But, on the other hand, when your business is part of a market that has a large number of equally competitive products, then the fight is rigorous. The latter is the case with most businesses today, and they are the ones trying their hands at digital marketing trends.
Of course, as discussed, analytics and marketing strategies can help you develop a better understanding of consumer behavior, but your competitors are doing that as well. So, implementing strategic modification "actively" rather than "reactively" is the key to sustaining against your competition.
“Marketers who proactively plan projects are 356% more likely to report success” - CoSchedule
Also, it is not just about reaching out to the customers but also about maintaining the right client-customer relationship.
Your customers will be from various facades of life, with some from different geographic locations, and ethnicity, and others from different employment status and income levels. Understanding the choice pattern of such diversity might seem outright impossible at first; however, with the help of these analytical tools, you can devise the right strategy.
Understanding customer behavior might sometimes be a tricky job, but with steadfast analytics and clever marketing strategies, running the perfect digital marketing campaign is not only attainable but sustainable as well.