As of October 2021, 4.88 billion people around the globe used the internet—and this number is only growing. Clearly, businesses can no longer choose to avoid digital marketing if they wish to connect with more customers and increase their revenue.
As a result, it has become imperative for brands to implement a digital marketing strategy that targets and fulfills the needs of clients at every stage of the customer journey. When done right, digital marketing allows brands to reach a wider audience, build strong customer relationships, and boost sales and conversions.
Still not convinced about the positive impacts of a strong digital marketing strategy for your business? Read on to learn more about why digital marketing is crucial to your success and how you can maximize your online presence and win your clients’ hearts in 2022.
How Digital Marketing Can Transform Your Business
Expand Your Online Reach
The average American spends 7 hours and 11 minutes a day glued to their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. This makes the digital sphere an obvious and easy way for brands to reach more customers and prospects. With the right help, you too can leverage the power of social media, search engines, and targeted advertising to win your audience’s attention, trust, and business.
Enhance Findability
82% of all smartphone users conduct “near me” searches. With a well-planned SEO strategy, you can ensure your brand shows up on the first page of Google search results and make it easier for customers to find you and do business with you. Ranking high on search engines can also add to your brand credibility.
Targeted Advertising
The biggest advantage of digital marketing is that it emphasizes quality over quantity. In traditional marketing, you can’t control who sees your advertisements and when they see them. But, with digital marketing, you can optimize your ad campaigns to ensure your brand message reaches the right audience at the right time for optimum results.
Cost-Efficient
If you are looking for a cost-effective way to promote your brand, digital marketing is your best bet. With marketing solutions like social media advertising and Google Ads, digital marketing allows small to medium-sized businesses to reach a wider audience at a lower cost.
Increased Customer Engagement
Digital marketing, by definition, is more interactive and engaging than traditional advertising channels. Users can share your blogs and website links, comment on social media posts, leave reviews, and communicate directly with your business. This also provides businesses with the opportunity to directly engage with customers, showcase their authentic brand persona, and gain a loyal customer base online.
Analytics and Optimization
Digital marketing allows brands to track the progress of their campaigns and make real-time optimizations for enhanced results. You can also use web analytics and data to inform future campaigns and determine the best way to approach customers at every stage of the customer journey.
5 Ways to Establish an Impactful Online Presence
Reputation Matters
Even if you don’t care about negative reviews, your clients definitely do. In fact, 89% of buyers don’t make purchase decisions without checking reviews first. So, the more positive conversations and reviews your target audiences see about your brand online, the more likely they are to consider doing business with you.
By responding to positive and negative reviews, checking listing accuracy across multiple sites, and reacting to online conversations surrounding your brand, you can build a trustworthy brand image and win your clients’ trust and hearts.
Another great step to showing your audience you care about their opinions and feedback is inviting them to leave a review. This is also an amazing way to highlight your products and services to future customers. Use review widgets to display positive reviews on your homepage, and watch as your website visitors convert into paying customers.
Make SEO a Top Priority
With 93% of all online experiences beginning with a search engine, a well-planned SEO strategy is a must if you want your website to be found online by customers. High search engine rankings are one of the most cost-effective and sustainable ways to generate web traffic and leads.
For example, in a competitive and niche industry like the cannabis industry, choosing the right keywords and target phrases can go a long way in boosting your online rankings. From on-page and off-page SEO optimizations, quality backlinks, and meta tags to maintaining accurate and up-to-date listings information, a professional SEO expert can help you navigate the evolving SEO trends and stay on top of search engine rankings.
Establish Yourself as the Local Expert
You know you work hard to deliver the best possible products and services to your customers, but do they know that? The quality of your website content, your online ratings, and social media activity matter when it comes to ranking high on Google and other search engines. If your online presence is not up to the mark, your competitors will steal your clients!
Informative, engaging, and relevant blogs, social posts, online videos, and other interactive forms of content are the best way to establish your brand as the go-to business in your locality. This way, your business is both at the top of people’s minds and at the top of search engine rankings.
Set Up an Online Store
Does your website showcase what you do best? With today’s customers relying heavily on online shopping to find what they want, e-commerce has become essential for growing businesses.
As two-thirds of shoppers already use social media to find new products, social commerce is another avenue businesses should consider in 2022. With platforms like Instagram now allowing brands to tag products on posts, consumers can buy your products without leaving the app.
Optimize Your Website for Multi-Device Browsing
In 2021, 53.98% of all web traffic came from smartphones. This means mobile-first websites are no longer an option for businesses—they are a necessity. Additionally, 61% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly website. Clearly, this is not a market that brands can afford to ignore.
Need help building a fast, responsive, and mobile-optimized website? Our expert team of website developers is here to help.
Though a necessity, digital marketing can be an intimidating space to navigate by yourself. Fortunately, the Outrageous Digital team is here to help you stay on top of digital marketing trends and conquer the digital world. Schedule a consultation with us today!