Keeping up with shifts in the digital marketing landscape is a daunting task. The ever-changing trends and developments that have become synonymous with this industry mean that, to have any chance of survival, a digital marketing specialist must be versatile enough to stay up-to-date with the times.
Many businesses and agencies have attempted to find their success through the singular use of established methods, such as basic website SEO, PPC or Social. However, while all of these options can be hugely-effective marketing tools in their own right, each has their own strengths and weaknesses depending on what your campaign goals are.
So, to help you better target and tailor your strategies, we have put together a guide to choosing the ideal marketing channel for your next campaign.
Identifying Your Campaign Goals
A campaign is by design an exciting thing, made to draw in public interest and support all the while bolstering an idea or individual up to importance. Campaigns can’t afford to be uninteresting or samey, and this is best shown by the most successful advertising campaigns. Apple’s “Think Different” ad campaign is still referenced now as a benchmark for advertising excellence, as is Crumpler’s decision to use a street-art based approach to marketing their brand before even launching their company.
Digital marketing is slightly different, but the impact your campaign can make should not be downplayed by this difference, rather amplified by it. Identifying your campaign goals before deciding on your ideal digital marketing channel is key, as it means your whole team is on the same page and you can get a clear view of the finished product before you even begin to market.
Decide on The Best Channel
Digital marketing channels can be tricky, but when summed up they tend to make a bit more sense. For instance, initialisms like SEO and PPC and SMM can be intimidating, but really they refer to three key channels in digital marketing- Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click and Social Media Marketing.
- SEO allows the business doing the advertising to link their web page with specific search terms in a search engine’s filter, meaning they are more likely to sit higher as a result on any given search term featuring those words. The higher up you are, the more clicks you’ll get.
- PPC refers to ads featured on websites that charge you based on how many clicks the ad gets, so the more exposure you get the more it can cost you. This is better for targeted advertising, as you’re more likely to get sales from people interested in your product, and end up with a smaller bill for the advertising.
- SMM is a very common and very powerful tool these days, and refers to using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to advertise for your business. This largely operates via sharing and hashtags to advertise to large groups of people, sometimes in the tens of millions, based on a handful of relevant search terms on these specific apps.
Market Away!
Once you’ve selected your digital marketing channel, all that’s left to do is jump in and start advertising. A well-planned digital marketing campaign can bring in millions upon millions of views over a period of a few months, and bring thousands of consumers on board with your campaign goal, all the while costing less than a series of television adverts would to reach the same sized audiences.
Digital marketing is the way of the future, and as time goes by, it only becomes a more powerful tool in nearly every field and industry. Learning the ins and outs now allows a more deft hand in the future, so jump on board while the going is good!