Remember the last time you started searching for a product offline? By talking to people you know or in local shops or service providers. That happened a long time ago. With the influence of ‘Google it’ and smartphones, we tend to search for everything on the Internet first. According to RetailDrive, 87% of Customers now begin product searches online, compared to 71% a year back. Yes, Eighty-seven percent of the world’s shoppers. So if you are not into digital marketing, its high time you start doing it. Digital Marketing can have a huge impact on your business. The above statistics itself should be enough for any business, small or big to invest in digital marketing. In this article, we list 7 ways Digital Marketing can transform your business.
Bigger Audience and Increases customer base
Let us get deep into this using an example. Ever noted people including families from long-distance visiting a particular restaurant? How did they manage to get those customers from? Yes, as you have guessed ‘Good food and service’ is one of the major reasons. But does everyone providing these get such a customer base? The marketing strategy they implemented played a huge role in developing these customers.
Digital marketing helps in reaching a wide range of audiences. A post or story put up by any of your previous customers about your business reaches everyone on their friend’s list. Imagine the effect such an update will have if it’s added in a wider audience, like a ‘Group’ in social media.
Compete against bigger companies
You can’t ignore the fact that huge investment in advertisements, services, etc. gives bigger businesses more competence in the market. Bigger companies usually target a wider audience category and expect sales from a wider category. With Digital Marketing, smaller business establishments can fight against these giants and actually WIN.
Digital Marketing enables businesses to specifically target a group or set of customers based on age, gender, demography, interest, etc.
Smaller businesses can strategically follow this, target a specific audience and channel all there ads to them. Thus creating more reach among this specified set than that of a big competitor. Such a planned strategy can help in gaining more customers among this sample set and outnumbering other big competitors.
Digital marketing is less costly
Tv or Radio, both used as a prominent medium of advertisement are said to be too much costly. You will have huge amounts per second to get a proper screening time in these. With digital marketing, the cost of marketing has drastically come down.
If you are running a small business, interested in learning some basic ‘editing’ and can write well. You can even run a marketing campaign with nearly zero extra input. Your smartphone or computer with a good internet connection is all you need.
The major difference between digital marketing and other methods of marketing is the scope of targeted specific audiences, which significantly reduces the cost of marketing.
There are many other factors of digital marketing that helps in overall cost reduction of marketing. Cost reduction in marketing content creation, multi-channel marketing facility are few such examples
Availability of different channels
There are different digital marketing platforms, which is used for different purposes by different category of people. Which allows you different options in choosing your platform of marketing. Similarly, there are different modes like email marketing, social media marketing, pay per click ads, all that can be used for marketing. Unlike offline marketing, digital marketing allows targeting customers using these different methods.
Build lasting customer relationships
Retaining and re-engaging customers is not as difficult as finding new customers. But it isn’t an easy thing to do. With so many different competitors in the field and so many companies opening every month. To lose a customer is easy. With digital marketing, you can maintain a continuous relationship with your customers. Targeting them with emails for thanking for the purchase, information about new products, etc. can be used to bring them back to you. The most important thing to note in this method is to not annoy the customer by overdoing things.
Analyze your marketing strategies
Unlike print media, TV ads or other ad methods, digital marketing helps you in proper analysis of your marketing. With the help of different analytic tools (eg: Google Analytics), you can find the methods working or not working. This also helps in trying out and going all in. A small business firm can invest a small amount in a section of marketing, analyze the result and then invest more money by making strategical changes
Build brand recognition
Marketing isn’t always a plan to create direct customers for the company. Marketing is used to create an impression of the company. Brand recognition plays a huge role in people recommending your products or services even when they are not our customers. The name of your company should be known to people and you will have to keep on reminding them.
Digital marketing helps you in doing it at a very low budget.
People vouching for the credibility of your product is a very good marketing strategy. Tagging and sharing stories of your customers about how happy they are about your products, hashtagging them in campaigns, etc. helps in developing brand recognition and brand value.
Running a business firm, both small or big is never easy. Marketing plays a very crucial role in business generated by your company. Companies invest a big amount in generating Innovative and low budget marketing strategies. Digital marketing has had a huge effect on reducing the cost of marketing for many companies. In 2020, if you are still not into digital marketing, its high time you start investing.