While the number of small businesses implementing digital marketing strategies is fast growing, there are still companies reluctant to move away from only traditional marketing for a few reasons. Some see the need to switch but simply do not know where to begin. Others find keeping up with the ever-changing digital marketing tools and strategies too daunting a task. Some are nervous to move away from what they have been doing for years and apprehensive about the cost that might be involved with the change.
But we would like to put those worries to rest and tell you why now is the time to add digital marketing to your strategy!
The conversion from traditional marketing to digital marketing began in the early 1990s, thanks to the unprecedented benefits digital marketing provided. Marketers began to see the problems of traditional marketing and its one-way communication style toward customers. Traditional marketing focused on trying to sell rather than engaging with customers in a meaningful way. It was also difficult for businesses to get customers’ feedback, which made it difficult to improve their products or services to meet the customers’ specific needs.
The world doesn’t remain the same over time, and neither do the people living in it. Generation Z is a perfect example of this, and why change is necessary. Gen Z refers to those born after 1996, and this age group accounts for over 60 million people in the U.S. This is a big chunk of our society, and they have never known a world without digital technologies. We must constantly be adapting and changing strategies as the world, and the people in it, are evolving and developing new habits.
Today, marketing is more than trying to get in front of customers. Our goal is to find out what consumers are looking for and help get that product or service in front of them. Here are some of the advantages that Digital Marketing brings to the table:
Benefits of Digital Marketing
- Cost Effective. In the past, businesses would spend a lot of money each year in marketing and advertising to reach their local and possibly national audience. Today, we are able to reach a global audience and bring in more leads with a far smaller budget.
- Better Targeting and Reach. Digital advertising is the most effective way to reach the target market you’ve identified as your potential customer. Gone are the days of blasting your message out for anyone and everyone to see hoping to see success. With digital advertising, you have more precise capabilities to effectively target your desired and relevant demographic.
- Accurate Metrics. One of the biggest benefits of digital advertising is we have much more freedom and resources to work with both historical and real-time data. Such accurate metrics can be used to effectively implement your marketing strategy and more precisely target your audience. Metrics also provide valuable feedback to help you better understand how effective and efficient your marketing campaigns are, by providing more accurate ROI numbers and giving you the ability to adjust campaigns accordingly. With the growth of AI, this process is only going to get better.
- Customer Engagement. In today’s world of readily available information, marketing is about communicating and building relationships with our customers. With digital marketing, we get more opportunities to connect with our audience wherever they are. Social media, chatbots, UX design, email automation, and live videos are all great examples of an effective way to engage with our customers.
With traditional marketing alone, it is highly likely that your business will experience roadblocks due to the limitations of reach, tracking, metrics, and high production costs. Utilizing digital marketing methods, you can expand your reach, educate and interact with potential customers, automate your sales process, and reduce cost.
You can now break free from traditional and cumbersome marketing models, and empower your business to successfully compete in today’s incredibly saturated market. Unsure of how to make that happen? Get started by learning more about digital marketing here.
