No matter how big or small your business is, if you are looking to be successful in 2024 and beyond, you need to invest in digital marketing. Each marketing channel is unique in its own way and offers its own set of benefits for those who use them wisely.
How do you know which digital marketing channel will give you the best ROI, and which ones should you focus on?
Let’s find out.
What is digital marketing?
The number of people using the internet is increasing daily, and you can reach out to these people using digital marketing. Whether it’s through social media or apps, website content or search engines—digital marketing targets your audience through electronic devices in a place where they are spending most of their time: the internet.
Digital marketing has been around for decades now, and it’s constantly evolving. It helps you:
- Develop a competitive edge in the online market
- Transform into a future-forward digital business
- Stay ahead with new approaches to business and thinking
- Optimise the best marketing strategies available in this day and age
There are so many digital marketing channels out there today, and some more effective than others.
The most effective channels today
5 of the most effective digital marketing channels that yield the best results for businesses across the world today include:
1. Paid search
This is most often used as a blanket term for all activities that come under the process of using digital ads to gain traffic to your website like Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC). PPC advertising is extremely effective across all industries, and as the name suggests, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad. These ads appear on search engine results pages as well as websites and apps across the internet.
This proves to be cost-effective and fruitful as these ads target people who are already actively searching with keywords you use in the ads. It’s a win-win situation for you and the user. Learn more in this Feefo guide to paid search to get all the details and stay ahead of the game.
2. Video marketing
Video is one of the trendiest marketing channels today and will continue to be so for the next five to ten years. Over 80% of video marketers claim that video content has directly accelerated sales, increased the average time visitors have spent on their webpage and increased traffic to their site as well. That is enough motivation to get anyone on the video marketing bandwagon.
Create video blogs (vlogs), incorporate demo videos into product pages, interview experts in your field and highlight your achievements with case studies and event videos. People like to see real stories and will watch engaging and informative content.
3. Emails
Email marketing is one of the most basic, yet important, channels there is. It’s an excellent way to reach customers directly, keep your name relevant in their inboxes and minds and stay in touch with your audience at regular intervals. Make emails as personal as you can by targeting demographics as well as shopping and browsing patterns.
Emails are also an effective way to provide regular updates about your business, inform customers about new products and offerings and share news and thought pieces about your industry. Keep emails short and snappy, with eye-catching subject lines and headings to get your customer to click – all you need is someone to open your email. Once they are in, use engaging content to entice them with clear CTAs that encourage them to take the action you want.
4. Social media
There has never been a better time to harness the power of social media. 54% of online browsers use social media to research an item before they purchase it and it is estimated that there will be over 4.41 billion active social media users by 2025. This is an extremely valuable source of online traffic to your business.
Use social media to engage and communicate with your audience by providing them with content that is shareworthy and interactive. Users need to like, comment, tag and share your posts to increase your leads. Invest in providing authentic content to the right platform.
Look for Millennials on Instagram, Gen Z on TikTok and Baby Boomers on Facebook. LinkedIn and Facebook are also a great way to target B2B brands and professionals. Speak to your social media audience in a voice that they recognise. Keep it light and informal on Instagram and professional on LinkedIn.
5. Mobile marketing
With more and more people using their gadgets on the go, it has become imperative for businesses to ramp up their mobile marketing strategies to target an audience that moves. More than half of us spend more time on our mobile and tablet devices than desktop, and your business needs to keep up.
The first thing you need to do is to ensure that your website, shopping platform, social media posts and all web content is mobile optimized and responsive. Check the load time across all your pages, as even a 2-second delay can put a user off. Keep CTAs clear and messages short to engage shorter attention spans. Mobile marketing is simple, yet effective when done properly.
Which channel works for you?
It’s an exciting time to play around and experiment with your digital marketing strategy. Start slowly at first and then ramp things up when you see results. It’s only when you make full use of a channel that you will be able to properly analyze if it works for you or not.
The channels listed here are some of the most effective, but all may not work for your business. We recommend that you start with a mix of these and monitor the results to see which ones to stick with for the long-term.
