The list of benefits is long and in this article, I have presented the highlights of digital marketing, why it is taking over the game, and why every business has something to gain from it.
The likes are going up by the minute, people are saying that they love the post, and the notification count bubbles are going crazy. It feels almost unreal when your digital marketing campaign goes viral for the first time.
When this happened for the first time on one of my paid promotions, I didn’t stop hitting the refresh button for 2 days. It felt like there is something magical going on.
Back then I did not have much experience, but this was exactly the push that I needed to feel confident about my marketing abilities. It made me want to learn more, and I knew I have to make it happen again.
A lot of experimenting goes on behind the scenes of a digital marketing strategy, and the results can vary, but there is one thing for sure – a little bit of digital magic, can go a long way.
So why do brands need digital marketing?
The way that we consume information has shifted towards choosing the digital option, more often than not. People read the news online, shop for everything they need, watch their favorite movies, connect with their friends and much more.
In a report about Internet Trends done by Klein Perkins, it was revealed that adults now spend an average of 5.9 hours on digital media daily, compared to 2.7 hours, in the year 2009. The report also shows that the average consumer uses more than one device to access digital media.
This indicates that there is a lot of potential for brands to find a place and a cause to market online. People are looking for all kinds of information on digital platforms:
An endless pool of information and easy access, have made it possible for us to do about anything in the digital world.
I have divided the benefits of digital marketing into 5 categories: Information Consumption, Selective Targeting, Campaign Control, Data Analysis and Budget Control.
1. Digital Platforms Provide Social Proof
Social proof is a common bias when it comes to someone using a service or buying a product for the first time. When there is evidence of a product working for someone, potential customers are more likely to buy the product themselves.
Reviews, comments, testimonials, photos, and videos— all have a major impact on the perceived value of a product or a brand.
Users do their research online and look for all the available information they can before they make a purchase.
Physical stores often use samples to attract customers to buy their products, this is the same thing, except now they can see how others reacted and compare opinions.
2. It showcases your brand’s reputation
When your brand has a good reputation online, people are more likely to join, try your product, read your blog, watch your videos and so on.
A good reputation can regularly drive in new customers, even without paid advertisements. The word of mouth can spread fast on the internet, and devoted followers will promote your brand without you even asking them.
A lot of brands choose to hire brand ambassadors to amp up their reputation. This is where influencers that have a large following come in play. A brand representative can do more for a brand than a traditional ad will.
3. Your content is always available
Another upside to the way digital information works is the fact that it stays online forever, or at least as long as you choose to leave it there.
When companies advertise on TV or in printed media, the ads will be displayed only for a limited amount of time. This is true for paid promotions online as well, but the content itself actually stays on the website, the social profile, or any other platform you were using after the paid period is over. This means that a certain number of people will find it even after the campaign is over.
Selective targeting is one of the greatest benefits of digital marketing. The large user base can be used to place ads in front of custom target audiences that fit your specific needs.
The “Internet Trends Report” mentioned above, also shows that a remarkable 50% of the world is now digitally connected, and the numbers keep growing. That means that there are all kinds of people connected, and with digital marketing, you can pick and choose who you promote your ads to.
4. You can choose the target audience for your digital promotions
An Informatics student who’s single doesn’t need baby wipes, and a baby doesn’t need a coding book. And all of this is OK because if you’re selling a coding book, you can precisely tailor your audience and show your ad to those students. And if you’re selling baby products, of course, you’d go for the mom.
With digital advertisements, you can choose the demographic properties of your audience, which has many advantages.
5. Search engine optimization can bring in new customers
When you’re not actively displaying advertisements in front of people, there is another tool that you can use for attracting the right audience in the long-run, and that is Search Engine Optimization.
This means optimizing the content you produce for Search Engines like Google, so when people are doing a direct search for something they need, the chances of your content showing up are higher. Many companies hire experts to do this part for them.
Wait, how did you find this article?
6. You can make your content available at multiple platforms
Different people use different digital platforms, so if you know where your audience hangs out, you can use it to your advantage.
You can also be present on multiple platforms so people who are using one or the other, can find you on their preferred channel. Since a product can appeal to more than a single group of people, companies usually choose to make their content available on more than one platform.
Different platforms can also be used in different ways. Brands are getting more and more creative with the way they advertise online.
7. You can collect customer data with the use of cookies
Browser cookies, the Facebook pixel, and other tracking software are tools used by digital advertising platforms to collect data from the users. They can help digital advertisers to learn even more about the target audience.
Cookies utilize user data from all their online activities to help advertisers find the right match for their ads.
It is currently a controversial topic, as the data collected from the users become more exploitable. In Europe, there are new regulations as of last year, that grant the user more control over their personal data.
Check out our affiliate partner SendInBlue if you need help with e-mail marketing.
The third powerful thing on the list is the option to re-visit and improve on campaigns if the results are not as expected. Digital ads can be paused, edited or cut off before the planned date if needed.
The same goes for duplicating and re-using parts of a campaign. If the audience properties worked great for an ad-set, you can always clone the details and try to use them with another promotion.
Of course, each advertisement method has different rules, but the general idea applies to all of the social platforms.
8. You can experiment with different versions of your content
The option to test different versions of the content, or different versions of an ad, to find out which one works better, is called A/B testing.
The method is being used more and more each day with companies testing different versions of a text, colors, options and so on.
Digital marketing specialists can go into specifics here, and sometimes they even test tiny details. Do more people click the button if it says “Download” or “Download Now”? Does a green colored button get more clicks, or does a blue one?
When enough information is gathered, and there is a winner, the version that got more engagement will be used moving forward.
A/B test can work with tasting the same ad on different audience demographics, as well. It is a great feedback tool that all advertisers should be using in 2019.
9. Digital marketing gives you more room to optimize your content
Digital advertising gives the person in charge, more control and a more transparent picture overall.
Facebook for Business offers a powerful dashboard with a lot of data, optimization and Instagram integration. Google Ads has by far the most options when it comes to advertising across the web in general.
These are the biggest go-to platforms used by millions of brands and marketers.
Imagine placing a billboard on a street in your city. There will be no way for you to know if the right people are passing by, how much impressions has the billboard achieved, and how did people react after seeing it.
With the power of performance analytics, you can get an in-depth picture of the reach, and the results of your campaign. There is always a lot to learn from the promotions that you run.
10. Analytics give you insights about your audience
Analytics present data about the reach of your campaign, the exact engagement it got down to the click, the type of users it reached and more. With a good understanding of the data that analytics offer, there is a lot of potential benefits.
Detailed analytics is a powerful upside when using digital media for marketing. We’re able to look into the interaction of our audience deeper than ever before. This allows for extensive statistics that can help with the overall marketing strategy of a brand.
11. You can collect direct feedback
Digital audiences provide large amounts of feedback for brands. Comments, reviews, e-mails and other types of feedback are sent daily by the users themselves.
Having the perk of hearing the audience’s thoughts can also be beneficial for your brand. That ties in with the social proof and the brand reputation part mentioned above.
Of course, there will always be mixed feedback, but as long as you run a legit business that helps people in some way, the good ones will always prevail by far.
12. It can help your research
From a business standpoint, all these things can also tell you a lot about the market that you’re in, and about the competition.
When you’re doing research, you will be able to find data about the demand in the target market, about the existing market situation and much more. Research is crucial for businesses, and a healthy comparison is a good thing that can help you grow your business.
Advertising cost is inevitable, whether your business is offline or online. With a large number of independent business, all competing for the attention of new customers, it’s almost a necessity to cash out on ads.
In the “IAB Internet Advertising HalfYear Revenue Report” for the first part of last year, it was revealed that digital advertising has the top spot in the US, with $49.5 billion spent on digital ads. Digital advertising showed a growth of 23%, compared to the previous half-year period.
At the same time, only $3.6 billion were spent on Newspaper ads, and $5.7 billion on Magazine ads, both with a negative % change from the last period.
Of course, the cost-effectiveness depends on the specific campaign itself, but the digital options tip the scale in their favor.
13. You have superior budget control
You can set the exact budget of your campaigns and there are usually no hidden costs that might appear on the way. Advertising platforms offer a wide range of options when it comes to controlling your budget.
If you’re running multiple ad sets, you can choose to spend your budget differently on each set. When you learn more about the results, and you see the success of each of the ad-sets, you can choose to cut off the budget of some ads or increase the budget on those ads that work.
14. You can easily track your budget
Details about how your money is being spent are also available to brands when they’re running a paid promotion. You can track the way your budget is being spent on things like cost per click, cost per impression, the conversion rate and more.
Cost statistics are much more transparent with the tools available online. This can help brands stay cost-efficient.
Digital Marketing Benefits (List)
- Social Proof
- Brand Transparency
- Content Availability
- Selective Targeting
- Search Engine Optimization
- Multi-platform presence
- Cookies Activity Tracking
- A/B Tests
- More control over the content
- Analytics and Insights
- Collecting Direct Feedback
- Better Research
- Cost-effective promotions
- Budget Tracking
If you haven’t had your first successful campaign, don’t worry! What we’re doing is a process and not a destination.