Digital marketing is a valuable asset to your business’s growth and helps you establish an authoritative online presence. As the Internet becomes entwined with everything we do, the importance of digital marketing is becoming crystal clear. Digital marketing allows small businesses to compete with a much smaller advertising budget. When managed effectively, it gives them laser-focused control over where and how they spend their money. When you have this kind of control and the data to support decisions, you make smarter ones. One of the great features that digital marketing has is the ability to dissect huge demographics. Whittle them down into very targeted groups to get super-focused on a specific kind of person. 1. Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization or SEO refers to the process of growing your online visibility in non-paid (organic) search engine results. SERPs or search engine results pages appear to users after they search for a given set of keywords using a search engine like Google or Bing. Each user receives an individualized results page based on keywords, the user’s location at the time of searching, and their browsing history. Organic search results appear in a list and are ranked using the search engine’s algorithm. As users change the way they search and engage with online content, these algorithms change. The higher you rank on a SERP, the more traffic is directed to your site and the more chances of making a passive visitor an active customer. How do you get your company’s website to appear at the top of a user’s organic search results? By optimizing your website using SEO. ​Search engine optimization includes many factors from keywords within your content to links to your website around the web. It includes both On-page and Off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to the steps you take on your own website to boost your SEO. Off-page refers to the relationships you make and actions you take outside of your website to fuel SEO. SEO trends change as algorithms change to fit user needs. In this way, SEO is never about building a website for the sole purpose of ranking high on a list results. At its core, SEO is about crafting the best possible website for your user. If you stay on top of SEO trends, you’re that much closer to more visibility online and traffic to your site. 2. Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Marketing or SEM covers the ground SEO ignores, paid traffic from search engines. With SEM you purchase advertisement space that appears on a user’s SERP. The most common paid search platform is Google AdWords. Next, is Bing Ads. The search engine charges a marketer a predetermined amount to display an advertisement in a number of places on a SERP generated from specific keywords or phrases. One example of SEM is pay-per-click advertising or PPC. PPC refers to a digital marketing method wherein search engines charge a company each time their advertisement is clicked. Social media platforms began adopting PPC advertising in recent months. These ads show up in the news feeds of a company’s target audience. This system is a great example of how the different types of digital marketing bleed into each other to form a complete digital marketing strategy. In this example, SEM overlaps with social media marketing. 3. Social Media Marketing By now you know that social media is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. But do you know the ins and outs of social media marketing? Social media marketing gives you increased exposure. It allows you to connect with your consumers in a more intimate way. From this interaction, you can gain valuable customer feedback that allows you to improve your customer service, product, or service. Using social media marketing you’ll gain more reach when you post quality content. Everything you do to increase traffic or business on your social media channels is social media marketing. Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or LinkedIn these efforts all amount to social media marketing. Most everyone benefits from social media marketing, but B2C companies stand to gain the most. Pay attention to what your target audience talks about on social media. Engage in the conversation. Use social media marketing as a way to gauge what content you put out does well by monitoring shares and likes. Shares equate to free advertising for you. 4. Content Marketing Content marketing refers to the practice of delivering a quality piece of content to your users to generate sales and leads. This content can live anywhere online. Tweets, a YouTube video, and blogs on your website all comprise content marketing. Content Marketing works because it melds together exceptional content with other types of digital marketing like SEO and Social Media Marketing. Keep your audience in mind as you create content. Remember who you’re talking to and what they’re interested in. This will dictate the subject of your content. Consider the language your audience uses when they search online for information. Use these keywords to boost your SEO. Last, share your content across all of your social media platforms for maximum exposure and feedback. Content marketing is an ongoing practice. It’s not always about sales but more so about engaging and educating your consumer to build brand recognition, trust, and equity. Stay away from fluff pieces. Think about how much content a user comes by every day. Creating relevant, quality content helps you stand out and boosts your SEO. 5. Email Marketing Email marketing allows you to update your email subscribers on a regular basis about your company. This fosters a relationship unlike any of the other types of digital marketing. Your email updates provide value to your consumer. As a result, you build brand trust and brand loyalty. The best email marketing campaigns involve a list of subscribers earned by your content and company, not paid for by your company. People who opt-in to your email subscription prove more likely to become active buyers. 6. Mobile Phone Advertising Each of the types of digital advertising can happen on a mobile device. Some types of marketing using a mobile phone do not fit the above types of digital marketing. These include SMS advertising which could prove an asset to local marketing efforts. You can prompt your consumers to use SMS to receive special offers, coupons, and updates from your company. #paymentintegration #digitalmarketing #marketing #seo #emailcampaigns #socialmedia