Digital marketing using the web involves programs and software that aid marketing strategies. This helps the organization stay competitive, market smarter, and increase efficiency. Below, I will explain the main digital marketing schemes.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important in helping users find your site within a search engine. There are many ways to improve a website’s SEO but I’m going to share the main features. One way is to include keywords within the website. These keywords should be in the theme of the site and link to the words people search for when looking for your specific website. Another way is to track the website’s analytics (Google Analytics) to see how well it performs in search results. Analytics can also showcase the user’s journey on the site. This is great because you can see what pages get the most clicks and which lose the audience. Finally, you can pay your way to the top. Whenever you search for something on Google specifically, you will see sponsored sites first. These websites have paid for advertisements, helping them get noticed more quickly.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing to the consumer, usually done by subscribing to a newsletter or creating an account (sometimes bribed to do so with a discount). The emails can be personalized to the user’s recent activity making them more engaging. These emails can include new products, sales, news, events, etc. This strategy helps create a strong trust and connection to the audience. Constantly reminding them of your company. This results in more traffic to social media platforms’ websites. Email Marketing can also target a user demographic so only a certain audience sees specific emails.
There are downsides to this marketing scheme because of how many emails people receive now due to spam. Load times are another issue if emails include bigger files, people won’t wait for them to load. Competition is another fault. This has caused some organizations to use EZ texting instead, making sure their audience receives their marketing.
Referral Marketing
Referral marketing is where a company encourages their target audience to recommend their product/service to other people. In exchange, the consumer will be rewarded in the form of a discount or something else.
This type of marketing is important because it attracts a new audience and increases overall traffic to the website and social media.
People trust other people, being recorded is something from someone you know is better than searching for a product/service yourself. This is called social proof. Consumers will trust this recommendation and most likely to attract them.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing is the use of social media to drive traffic and increase sales. This is a great way to promote organizations create more engagement for the current audience and reach out to new ones.
These platforms help increase awareness of any company, simply from the massive amount of people on social media. Having a social media presence is vital to reach out to thousands of users that you wouldn’t of otherwise.
Promoting on social networks improves sales, traffic and conversions for an organization. There are a few ways to promote on different platforms:
- Including links to your website and offers
- Including and promoting campaigns
- Selling through social media
Social media marketing allows companies to create a long-lasting relationship with their audience. Being able to interact with consumers by answering questions and asking for their opinions helps organizations know what to focus more on or what to change.
References
Abbey Stephan (2024) 12 Actionable SEO Examples to Inspire Your Strategy [Blog post]. SEO. 9 August. https://www.seo.com/blog/seo-examples/ [29/10/24].
Lindsay Kolowich Cox (2024) 30 Brillant Marketing Email Campaign Examples [+ Template]. [Blog post]. Hub Spot. 23 January. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-examples-list [29/10/24].
Rhys Williams (2023) How refer-a-friend programs can drive revenue and build advocacy. [Blog post]. Mention Me. 10 November. https://www.mention-me.com/blog/examples-of-great-refer-a-friend-programmes [29/10/24].
No Author (Undated) Digital Marketing Technology: Your Guide to Martech. [Blog post]. Web FX. Undated. https://www.webfx.com/digital-marketing/tech/ [29/10/24].
Brian Isaac (2023) Social Media for Charities: the Guide to Getting Started. [Blog post]. Just Giving. 10 January. https://blog.justgiving.com/where-should-i-start-with-charity-social-media/ [29/10/24].