To the uninitiated, digital marketing can feel as impenetrable and perplexing as a Bob Dylan lyric — without any accompanying music to ease the pain of bewilderment.
And like gentlemen’s sock suspenders, it’s a game-changer whose greatness is only appreciated once you experience its effect at first hand.
But while tricky phenomena like Google algorithms and alt text tags take a while to understand, practically anyone has the savvy to get started on the basics.
So without further ado, if you need digital marketing demystified, here are five steps to success.
1. Google My Business
If you’re completely starting from scratch, getting a Google My Business account is a fine first move.
It’s free, and your profile includes a photo, basic business description, customer ratings and contact details — all of which pop up in front of customers on Google Search or Google Maps when they’re looking for your business (or something similar).
2. Social media
Social media might offer some of the most accessible ways for businesses to connect with customers.
But be careful which platform you choose — younger people have been defecting from Facebook to sites like Instagram, and LinkedIn is probably the best for B2B businesses.
There’s no point wasting efforts on a platform which isn’t used by your target demographics, so do your research before launching any campaign.#
3. Website
A well-designed website which offers customers an excellent user experience is still worth investing in.
It feels professional, is the engine of your web presence and, if optimised for ecommerce and mobile, can drive conversions and sales.
Contacting web developers like Attercopia is wise — they’ll objectively advise which design best meets your needs.
4. SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the science which ensures your website is suitably populated with the relevant keywords and phrases customers search for — and prepares your website architecture for easy navigation when they land onsite.
Once your site’s built, you’ll need to optimise it for SEO to make sure it grabs a good position on powerful search engines like Google.
SEO is often best left to an expert, but you can pick up tips by reading publications like Search Engine Journal regularly.
5. Content
Read enough material on digital marketing and you’ll come across the cliché that ‘content is king’ — but this is one hackneyed saying which contains more than a grain of truth.
Without quality onsite content, blogs, social media posts, video and graphics, all optimised for SEO and produced in the appropriate style and tone, you won’t get far online.
A good grounding in content development takes a while to cement and you may need professional help initially — but reading this content guide from Forbes will at least familiarise you with the vocabulary.
These five steps to digital marketing success should make the whole process more straightforward and prep you for unleashing your brand online. And remember — the best time to start is today.
Do you use digital marketing for your business? Share your tips in the comments section.