It’s tough for a company to survive the cut-throat competition in this digital era if it doesn’t have an online presence. By not catering to internet users, you vastly limit your reach and opportunities to generate leads. Your competitors, on the other hand, who are leveraging the benefits of digital marketing will easily be able to surpass you in the market.
Thus, it’s safe to say that the need of the hour is to get a robust digital marketing strategy, and for this, you must rely on the services of a digital marketing agency. Other than that, you should know about the major components that form an effective digital marketing strategy. Even though you’re hiring the services of experts, it’s still recommended to develop an understanding of these components and know the potential they have for your business.
With that said, let’s take a look at 5 major components of a strong digital marketing strategy:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Even if you have the most appealing website that’s perfect in every sense – functions, features, speed and optimization, it won’t do a lot for your business if users don’t know about it. You can’t, of course, go knocking around the door of every user and tell them about your company’s website. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture.
The basic aim of employing SEO strategies is to improve the rankings of your website in search engine results. The higher it ranks, the more visibility your website gets against certain keywords, and the more there are chances of lead generation. And when you get more leads, ROI increases as well.
For example, when a user wants to buy a product, they look for it on Google. Statistics reveal that most users don’t go beyond the first page of the search engine results. This makes it imperative for you to land a spot on the first page, and you can do this with a strong SEO campaign.
Simply put, SEO can give your business a firm standing in the digital world.
2. PPC Advertising
If there’s anything else that can land you on the 1st page of search engine results other than SEO, it’s PPC. Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising can significantly help to boost your business’s reach as it yields quick results.
Basically, PPC works on a simple formula. You bid for ad space on the internet for certain keywords. If the ad goes live, your website will be shown among the top search engine results. This increases the chances of traffic, which, in turn, enhances the possibility of lead generation.
Bear in mind that you will be charged for PPC only if the user clicks on the ad. Still, it’s important to set the right budget for your campaign as bidding too low or high both have their disadvantages.
3. Web Design
No web marketing strategy will work if your website doesn’t feature an appealing and SEO-friendly design. So, before you hire a digital marketing firm, it’s important to conduct a detailed audit of your website. Most digital marketing agencies also offer this service.
They will analyze your website thoroughly for several factors, such as mobile friendliness, speed, optimization, etc. Based on this analysis, they will create a comprehensive report on parts of your website design that need improvement.
Among all these factors, it’s the mobile friendliness, scalability and speed that matters the most. If your website isn’t viewed or easily navigable on mobile devices, you are missing out on a large chunk of the audience. The same is the case with speed. No internet user has time to wait for a couple of minutes for your website to load and then navigate it.
The search engine giant ‘Google’ also takes these factors into consideration when ranking a website. This further enhances the importance of focusing on web design for the success of your business in the digital world.
4. Content Marketing
Gone are the days when you could stuff the content with relevant keywords in abundance and hope for your website to rank. Now, it’s considered a black hat activity and can get your website penalized.
So, make sure the contact available on your website is relevant, original, and, most importantly, engaging. It should be able to grab the interest of the use from the get-go. Also, use keywords at the right places to support SEO.
5. Social Media Marketing
Last in this list, but one of the most important components of digital marketing, social media marketing (SMM) can take your business from strength to strength. Provided you use these communication mediums in the right way, they can help your business to grow in the digital world and transform into a reputable brand.
There are many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, etc., you can target for your business. However, you will need to allocate a budget to run social media campaigns. So, it’s important to plan everything expertly and tactfully.
It may feel tempted or a cost-effective way to make digital marketing strategies on your own. However, it’s recommended to hire experts as they have the right expertise, knowledge, experience and tools that can optimally use to create impeccable strategies.