Alright, now that you’ve gotten your website up to date and it’s representing your company in the way you want, it’s time to start utilizing it! Sure, your friends and family will love to see your new site, but that’s not who you’re hoping comes here most often. You want your potential customers to find your site, learn about you, and ultimately choose your product or service. How do you make that happen, you ask? Digital Marketing!
Digital marketing is an invaluable way to help businesses expand their reach and boost their brand recognition utilizing a variety of online advertising methods. A digital marketing strategy utilizes extensive research and many different marketing methods and models to achieve the specific goals a business has.
To help provide further insight into the digital marketing landscape and show you what questions others in the industry are asking, we have selected four questions we frequently get from our clients, answered by the digital marketing specialists in various departments of Element212.
Q: What demographic information can be used on advertising platforms in targeted advertising?
A: The answer to this question is ever-changing. For example, Facebook recently prohibited targeting based on estimated household income, while that was previously allowed. YouTube added an “in market” audience to attempt to target ads to customers who are actively shopping for products or services in a particular industry category. Advertising platforms are constantly changing how they target for these reasons:
- Needing to compete with other ad platforms
- New capabilities due to fresh data technology
- Keeping up with ethical or legal privacy standards
For this reason, our digital team spends time regularly in professional development and in communication with representatives of advertising platforms.
Q: How quickly can a business begin seeing traffic from launching online ads and SEO?
A: Typically, a business can begin experiencing increased traffic to the website anywhere between one week to one month from the point online ads launched. SEO is a long-term strategy and tends to take longer to see its effects. It could take four to six months before a business can begin to see real increases in traffic numbers.
Q: How do I know what platforms my customers are using to find my products and services?
A: More than likely, your business is trying to attract more than one customer demographic. This means you must communicate with your target audience on more than one type of platform in order to generate leads to your website.
To find out what digital platforms will be most effective for reaching and engaging your target audience, we recommend going straight to your source and asking your customers through an online survey. Uncover what social platforms they use most, and learn about how your service or product is helping them meet their needs or solve their problems.
Then, use that feedback to develop your digital advertising strategy and messaging. Utilizing that same messaging within your website helps to better connect with your audience as they arrive on your website through your digital ads. Many companies develop website landing pages to help bridge the gap between online ads and to help better convert their digital traffic.
Q: What does it take to have my website rank highly on Google?
A: Getting your website to rank highly in Google Search results can be done a couple of different ways. Two of the most popular methods are Google Adwords and SEO.
Google Adwords, is a paid search method that allows you to choose “keywords” your potential customers may be searching for and bid to have an Ad for your website appear at the top of their search results. The cost for appearing in the top results varies depending on the industry you’re in, the geographical location, what your competitors are willing to pay, and other variables.
On the other hand, SEO, or search engine optimization, is a long-term marketing strategy that takes much more time and effort. It’s about increasing visibility in organic (non-paid) search results, and the SEO strategy will be different for everyone. It may involve optimizing your website to be search engine-friendly, building powerful links, creating relevant content, and much more!
There are many elements to digital marketing and it might seem complicated at first. When implemented correctly, however, it will present you new opportunities that previous advertising methods could not and benefit your business in several key areas. By utilizing the capabilities of social media and search advertising, SEO (search engine optimization), email marketing, and more, digital marketing can serve as a sales agent 24/7, help manage your brand reputation, and drive digital traffic, all while providing accurate ROI metrics.
Now, are you ready to bring your business’ digital marketing efforts to the next level?
