9 Reasons Your Business Needs a Digital Marketing Strategy in 2021

Digital marketing forms a core part of the modern marketing strategy. Without a thorough, well-thought-out plan in place, you could be missing opportunities to reach your audience, find your niche and get to know your competition. Perhaps most pertinent is the positive impact digital marketing can have on your brand visibility and awareness. Digital marketing boosts your product and/or service into the public eye, right into the lap of your target audience.

Whether you’re a small vegan bakery just starting out or a multinational chain of clothing retail stores, every business should be investing in a bespoke digital marketing strategy. Digital marketing strategies are particularly important for new start-ups who don’t have the same levels of brand visibility or brand awareness as a large, well-established company.

And the good news is you can promote your business online even if you are not a professional digital marketer. Marketing automation tools like local marketing software by Adplorer will help you create and manage marketing campaigns by saving your time and resources.

While implementing an online advertising strategy can seem daunting, the benefits far outweigh the hassle. You can also check for best local SEO as a digital marketing strategy.

Affordability

When compared to traditional forms of marketing, advertising online is very affordable. The affordability of digital marketing makes it particularly enticing to new businesses. Although different platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, offer different pricing for their targeted advertisements you will spend less overall than on other methods. As a result, advertising online can yield a greater return on your investment than traditional forms of marketing such as newspaper adverts or billboards.

Find your target audience

Digital marketing has a larger reach than traditional methods of advertising. With the right content, you could be reaching hundreds if not thousands of people. As a result, online strategies increase the likelihood of reaching and drawing in your target audience organically. You can also pay for advertisements on social media that specifically target certain demographics meaning you’ll be able to reach your target audience with the click of a button.

Easily optimised for mobile

In this day and age, the modern smartphone is about as common as sliced bread in a supermarket. The majority of young adults are spending their lives staring at that tiny, enticing little screen so when it comes to digital marketing it makes sense for your content to be mobile optimised. Without mobile optimisation, you could be unintentionally increasing your bounce rate and driving visitors away.

The good news is digital marketing is easily optimised for mobile use. Social media marketing in particular is very easily optimised for viewing on a smartphone or tablet.

Track your campaign

Did you know if you post a video to Facebook you can see retention statistics? Facebook will track how long your followers are watching your content and present the data to you in an easily accessible format – unusual right? Not so much these days.

Digital marketing makes it easier to track your campaign and see how it’s being received. Tracking doesn’t just apply to social media marketing, but also PPC campaigns and even website analytics. Using innovative digital tools, businesses and organisations can now actively track and monitor their campaigns. Visitors to your website can also be tracked as they click through your website – so if your bounce rate is high, you can see what content is keeping or deterring them from your website.

Multi-media options

While you could stick with traditional forms of marketing, research shows that visual marketing which employs the use of imagery and video is a lot more powerful than text.

Text still has its place in advertising. However, with it easier than ever to incorporate both text and visual elements into your marketing, it’s important to keep your customers engaged with a mix of audio, imagery and video. These days it’s easier than ever to incorporate all elements in your marketing using modern digital tools such as Canva.

Goals and direction

Without a strategic plan in place, you and your team will not have a clear goal of what you want to achieve with your marketing. Even if your business or organisation is online, the lack of direction will be obvious to your target audience through an absence of brand consistency. If you want to gain new followers, foster a community and build a deeper relationship with your existing customers then having a clear, concise digital marketing strategy in place is absolutely vital. A digital marketing strategy tailored to the needs of you, your team and your business or organisation can give you direction through common goals.

Awareness and visibility

Brand awareness is an overarching concept that essentially measures how memorable and recognisable your branding is to your target audience. Effective digital marketing can increase the awareness of your brand. Awareness is inherently tied to brand visibility, which means your business is being seen.

For example, if you’re just starting out on social media your status updates, posts and stories will be seen by those already following you. The best way to increase your brand awareness and visibility on social media is by investing in paid advertising on your chosen platforms. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow businesses and organisations to ‘boost’ their content and target a specific demographic. You’ll be able to target your audience, foster a community and grow your following more efficiently.

Get to know your competition

Marketing online is a great opportunity to get to know your competition and find your niche. If your business or organisation is relatively new and you’re still yet to map out your brand guidelines, social media is a great way to research the local market, see what’s working and what isn’t in terms of engagement and find your niche.

For example, if your two top competitors both use sleek, modern branding with a monochrome colour palette to sell their product, then you might want to think about employing bright, funky colours. It also comes down to your target audience – what kind of content are they engaging with? Try to see your product and/or service from your customer’s perspective and implement a customer-centric approach.

Flexibility

Perhaps most pertinent, digital marketing gives you and your team strategic flexibility. You can track your campaigns, create an open dialogue with your target audience and tailor your marketing accordingly. Gone are the days where you set out your brand guidelines, picked a logo and that was it – these days digital marketing allows businesses and organisations to fully implement customer-centric marketing strategies that can be tailored to the needs and wants of your target audience.

How do I plan a digital marketing strategy?

A digital marketing strategy should always start with a set of clear goals outlining what you hope to achieve. If your business is only just starting out, you may want to also note down your brand guidelines. Brand guidelines outline every aspect of your branding, from the tone of voice and overall message of your marketing to visual aesthetics such as your logo and colour palette.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you could also get in touch with a professional digital marketing agency. A digital marketing agency can assess your business or organisation, including the product and/or service you’re offering, and create a bespoke, practical strategy that will actually work.

To find an agency near you, it’s always best to start with your favourite search engine. Using keywords you can find just about any service online these days, from dog grooming, web design and mobile hairdressers to IT support, organic skincare and your local fish and chip shop.

Digital marketing in 2021

Functional, practical digital marketing is transformative. Implementing a bespoke digital marketing strategy that is tailored to the needs of you and your business will see a higher conversion rate, more repeat customers and a greater return on investment from your marketing.

In these uncertain times, you might be considering slashing your digital marketing budget or cutting your strategies completely. In reality, not investing time and effort into your digital marketing strategy could do more harm than good. Digital marketing is vital in ensuring your business or organisation is visible, not to mention crucial in building brand awareness. We live in a world driven by digital, and ensuring you have a presence online has never been so important.