Your website, SEO, social media, content marketing, marketing automation & pay per click are all important digital marketing avenues and they all work together. A good marketing plan will identify your audience & target where you are most likely to reach them...so the answer may vary depending on your audience (and timeframes, budget, etc). Here is our general rule: Great CONTENT + Targeted DELIVERY = The BEST R.O.I. Good luck!
You can do SEO, SEM, social media, video ads etc. But, if you are not targeting your ideal customer with your marketing, it’s almost pointless. You must determine your ideal client by geography, income level and know their purchase habits, buying signals & truly understand why they need what you offer & when they will most likely need/want it. For some products, you want to even know their marital status & if they have children. When marketing, you must generate a decent ROI or you just end up losing money.
The most important part of digital marketing is having a strategy. Any digital marketing activities could serve a purpose or could be a complete waste of time unless you know why you are doing them and what you want to get out of them.
Before you start any marketing you should be clear on a few things:
Which audiences (aka customers/segments) you are trying to reach?
Value proposition - how will you provide value to your customer? What is unique about you, your product or service?
Messaging - work out key messages you want to deliver to the audience first
Once you have the above figured out, then work through which tactics you need at each stage of the Marketing Hourglass - website/email/advertising/seo/social/content/etc. - to get your audience to Know => Like =>Try => Buy from you.
To sort of summarize most of the answers given so far, it's basically attraction marketing. Attention is like Real Estate, you want to work towards dominating your presence in the online space by creating content that provides value, and then distribute that content across multiple platforms nicely wrapped up within your personal brand. Thats when a lot of the methods mentioned so far fall into place.
It would have to be building a community around your Brand. Whether it's an online forum, social media group, etc..... Uniting people for one common cause under the guise of your Brand will have the most lasting effect produced by any other online efforts. #TeamBLAM!
The most important part of digital marketing is the blend of products, because as you ad products to the mix the results become amplified and increase exponentially. There is no one standalone digital product or medium that can provide you with a complete internet advertising package. Google has shown in case studies that when you add product to the mix such as: Search, P.P.C, Display and Social Media marketing together, that strategy out performs a digital strategy utilizing just one form or product at the same budget. Example: If I and my competitor
have $1000.00
for our add budgets and 1 person chooses to dump the entire thousand into one product like P.P.C-(Pay-Per-Click), and the other person chooses to diversify their thousand by allocation portions of it to each digital product mentioned above and others, the person who chooses a mix or product blend will always out perform the person putting all their eggs into one basket.
Business from Franklin, MI
Answered on Apr 12th, 2019
Great question, Franklin. Everything you mentioned (e.g., website, SEO, social media, etc.) is important in digital marketing, but the most important part is listening. Listening to the issues or challenges facing your audience and address them. Listening to the questions your audience has about your product or service and discuss how you will resolve any issues. Listening to where they are hanging out (if they aren't on Facebook, you don't need to be there either).
Hi Franklin! I would also add that your customer's search intent is huge and carries throughout the rest of your digital marketing efforts. If you understand them enough to understand why and how they are searching for something - everything else falls into place.
While not specifically digital, the single most important thing, especially for a small business, is brand authenticity. Your brand has to be you. Building a brand identity that is not authentically you will sooner than later be transparent. You can't envision your brand and then try to fit that mold. You are the mold. Be you and build a brand that represents you. Otherwise, you are a sitcom while everyone is watching reality shows.
Answers (1-10)
Your website, SEO, social media, content marketing, marketing automation & pay per click are all important digital marketing avenues and they all work together. A good marketing plan will identify your audience & target where you are most likely to reach them...so the answer may vary depending on your audience (and timeframes, budget, etc). Here is our general rule: Great CONTENT + Targeted DELIVERY = The BEST R.O.I. Good luck!
You can do SEO, SEM, social media, video ads etc. But, if you are not targeting your ideal customer with your marketing, it’s almost pointless. You must determine your ideal client by geography, income level and know their purchase habits, buying signals & truly understand why they need what you offer & when they will most likely need/want it. For some products, you want to even know their marital status & if they have children. When marketing, you must generate a decent ROI or you just end up losing money.
The most important part of digital marketing is having a strategy. Any digital marketing activities could serve a purpose or could be a complete waste of time unless you know why you are doing them and what you want to get out of them.
Before you start any marketing you should be clear on a few things:
Which audiences (aka customers/segments) you are trying to reach?
Value proposition - how will you provide value to your customer? What is unique about you, your product or service?
Messaging - work out key messages you want to deliver to the audience first
Once you have the above figured out, then work through which tactics you need at each stage of the Marketing Hourglass - website/email/advertising/seo/social/content/etc. - to get your audience to Know => Like =>Try => Buy from you.
It would have to be building a community around your Brand. Whether it's an online forum, social media group, etc..... Uniting people for one common cause under the guise of your Brand will have the most lasting effect produced by any other online efforts. #TeamBLAM!
The most important part of digital marketing is the blend of products, because as you ad products to the mix the results become amplified and increase exponentially. There is no one standalone digital product or medium that can provide you with a complete internet advertising package. Google has shown in case studies that when you add product to the mix such as: Search, P.P.C, Display and Social Media marketing together, that strategy out performs a digital strategy utilizing just one form or product at the same budget. Example: If I and my competitor have $1000.00 for our add budgets and 1 person chooses to dump the entire thousand into one product like P.P.C-(Pay-Per-Click), and the other person chooses to diversify their thousand by allocation portions of it to each digital product mentioned above and others, the person who chooses a mix or product blend will always out perform the person putting all their eggs into one basket.
Great question, Franklin. Everything you mentioned (e.g., website, SEO, social media, etc.) is important in digital marketing, but the most important part is listening. Listening to the issues or challenges facing your audience and address them. Listening to the questions your audience has about your product or service and discuss how you will resolve any issues. Listening to where they are hanging out (if they aren't on Facebook, you don't need to be there either).
The most important part no matter what is building the relationship with your clients and prospective clients!
While not specifically digital, the single most important thing, especially for a small business, is brand authenticity. Your brand has to be you. Building a brand identity that is not authentically you will sooner than later be transparent. You can't envision your brand and then try to fit that mold. You are the mold. Be you and build a brand that represents you. Otherwise, you are a sitcom while everyone is watching reality shows.