Grow your business with digital marketing understanding
So much is said and written about digital marketing. A quick look at Amazon’s list of books about digital marketing is enough to leave you baffled. Add to this the multitude of voices of digital marketing gurus, experts and specialists that contribute to the myriad of online blogs. If a genuinely concerned businessman or investor is looking into harnessing the full advantage of digital marketing, there is genuine risk being overwhelmed.
The following are 6 rules to follow if you want to take digital marketing in your stride whilst avoiding the pitfalls:
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Understand what is digital marketing
Digital Marketing knows its roots in traditional marketing. The customer is still the customer and the fact that the customer is king still holds. Essentially digital marketing is nothing more than the usage of a different channel, tool or mechanism to reach the customer in a digital way. The company’s website is the headquarters but other presences on social media are very relevant. So are the pointers and rankings on search engines and directories. The social media platforms, the search engines, the directories may change over time and new phenomena will replace old ones. This is part of the evolution of the digital marketing ecosystem. In fact, one essential thing to keep in mind in digital marketing is speed – the speed to understand what is happening, the speed to appreciate if and how new technology can help your business and the speed with which you to implement the ‘relevant’ technology.
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Continuously educate yourself
Not all technology is created equal and not every platform is of the same importance. In order to make wise choices, one needs to continuously educate him or herself. Education can take various forms. One can follow respected experts, read books, attend seminars, follow international best practices and look at case studies even in other industries. Once again the question of speed is of the matter. Caution is also a very important asset. Some technology is only hype and it never becomes popular and this is a risk that business people need to be aware of.
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Consult the right experts
The word is full of specialists and there is no doubt that not all are of the same caliber. In digital marketing, there is only one measure. If an expert can back up his or her claim that he has helped previous clients reach goals, objectives and KPIs then there is more scope for trust. Business people need to keep in mind the kind of expertise they need. Are they looking for someone who is a Social Media Expert, an Instagram Expert or are they looking for someone who is an expert in a specific industry, segment or sector?
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Make wise choices
In digital marketing, even the best of breed digital marketing managers sometimes confess that some of their decisions are based on guesswork. Whilst the area of digital marketing is backed up solidly by figures and data banks of statistics sometimes, after wading through these entire figures one might be more confused. For example, how can one ascertain attribution in online purchases? It is always important to keep the figures in plain sight but if sifting through the data costs more than the actual gains that can be made, one needs to be practical. Wise business choices are also dependent upon knowledge of one’s own company, market and segment.
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Implement and Test
Once you’ve decided that you’re implementing some kind of facet that involves digital marketing, make sure you (your team or your agency) are using the best way to implement it. As in many other things, you want to have the most effective and efficient digital marketing solution at hand. Naturally, testing cannot be overlooked. Tweaks and rapid improvements are essential along the path of digital marketing solutions that delight customers and result in returns on investment.
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Review your work at least once every 6 months
By its own nature, digital marketing is constantly evolving. Make it a habit that you review your own website, your presences and everything else that is digitally enabled every 6 months. Call it the digital marketing audit and make sure that you critically identify and assess what are the things that are not working, the things that can be improved and the things which are already a success. Learn from your own business as this is a valid experience that cannot be achieved elsewhere!
