Businesses today must find ways utilize the internet for marketing. Ideally, companies should then enhance marketing strategies to Digital Marketing which increases promotional efforts to not only include the internet but social media, mobile phones, electronic billboards, and digital, television, and radio channels (digital marketing).
Digital broadcasting is always changing. Improvements and advancements, along with new tools and techniques in digital technology allow companies to connect with their users, serve the right viewers, with the right message, at the right time, and on the right device (Gabriel Shaoolian, 2017). However, there are two new insights on what makes successful digital marketing strategy: Diversity in approach (Alton, 2017) and returning to advertising's roots (Wehner, 2017).
Success through a diversified approach
Diversity in reaching potential customers permits the spreading out of risk as well as extending reach enabling the following:
- Limit dependence by not relying on one digital advertising channel. Reliance on a single network leads to loss of control over brand direction.
- Focusing on one channel for a particular audience will limit reach possibilities. People are everywhere and are unpredictable in the many marketing channels they choose to view.
- The act of combining different channels is "cross-pollination." The best results come from combining PCC ads, organic search engine optimization, content marketing, and social media through cross-pollination.
There is room for flexibility in diversification. Depending on the objectives, there are many channel choices and as many in how to utilize them. Four key facts to remember when determining a diversified strategy:
- Integrating organic search engine optimization SEO and PPC campaigns increase clicks a promotion receives by 25 percent. It can increase profitability by 27 percent. Therefore, integrate and cross-pollinate SEO and PPC campaigns.
- Companies use social media to increase visibility. A better approach is to use blogs to tease the social profiles and drive activity from the opposite perspective.
- Other than a traditional blog post or press release, there are numerous ways to create content such as infographic, live streaming and recorded videos, webinars, ebooks, podcasts, memes, interactive tools, guides and more. Use them all for fresh and exclusive content.
- A diversified advertising strategy will yield favorable results. However, it is necessary to measure campaigns over time to allocate resources in the future.
There are benefits in digital marketing diversification: First, it facilitates reaching a wider audience and drives more traffic to websites. Second, it helps eliminate fluctuations in cost. Third, diversity prepares businesses for future transformations. Last, it keeps the company's brand on top of shifting market trends (Alton, 2017).
Returning to advertising's roots
Although it is called the next big thing, the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) market is a creative return to advertising's origins by reinventing the classic advertising experience. DOOH focuses on marketing to consumers in transit or public places. DOOH captures everything from digital billboards to screens in elevators or on jukeboxes (Wehner, 2017). DOOH is leading-edge in its interactive technology, but it reverts to the original purpose of advertising which is to provide a pleasant and valuable service to the public.
Creating an effective digital marketing strategy depends on knowing the business, the customers and what works for the two. Marketing strategies rapidly evolve over time, so it is best to keep the plan fresh. Maintain knowledge in the latest digital marketing practices and trends as the right digital marketing strategy will produce surprising results for business (Maloney, 2017).
Article sources
Alton, L. (2017, May 2). Diversity is the key to successful digital marketing in 2017|CIO. Retrieved May 8, 2017, from http://www.cio.com/article/3193828/marketing/diversity-is-the-key-to-successful-digital-marketing-in-2017.html
digital marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved May 5, 2017, from BusinessDictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/digital-marketing.html
Gabriel Shaoolian. (2017, January 5). Media Innovation: What's New in the World of DigitalAdvertising|HuffPost. (Blue Fountain Media) Retrieved May 8, 2017, from huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-shaoolian/media-innovation-whats-ne_b_13973056.html
Maloney, K. (2017, February 7). 6 Digital Marketing Strategies You Need To Adopt In 2017|HuffPost. Retrieved May 8, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-maloney/6-digital-marketing-strat_b_14633672.html
Wehner, M. (2017, May 4). Digital Out of Home: Reinventing Signs From Billboards to Jukeboxes – Advertising Age. Retrieved May 8, 2017, from http://adage.com/print/308906