Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Marketing for Businesses
Welcome to your introduction to all things digital! The world of digital marketing can be confusing, but we’re here to simplify it. We’ve compiled answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive from clients.
The Digital Marketing Basics: Learning the Terms
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing encompasses all forms of advertising and marketing using the internet, from search engine optimization (SEO) to content marketing, social media and more.
What’s a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency is a business (like us!) which assists other companies with their online marketing efforts. Agencies can be as involved as the client would like. For some of our clients we handle all digital projects but for others we only provide ideas and recommendations through consulting. Our goal is to be an extension of our clients’ teams, support internal marketing teams with specialized digital services.
What’s the difference between B2B and B2C digital marketing?
B2B stands for Business-to-Business. This type of marketing refers to businesses who sell products or services to other business. For example, at Blue Compass we work with other businesses to produce stellar digital marketing campaigns. B2C stands for Business-to-Consumer, or businesses that sell their products or services to individual consumers. While all facets of digital marketing can apply to both B2B and B2C, the strategy will differ.
The Ins-and-Outs of Digital Marketing
What goes into digital marketing?
There are a variety of tactics which make up digital marketing. At Blue Compass, our digital experts tackle:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Display Advertising
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Management
- User Experience (UX) Testing
- Research
Not every business will benefit from each type of digital marketing, so it is essential to think about your audience. That being said, one area of digital we think every business should take advantage of is performance reporting. Whether you’re doing SEO, content marketing, SEM or social media, you can’t make data-driven decisions if you’re not analyzing the metrics.
What is the purpose of digital marketing, and how can digital marketing help my business?
Do you have an audience that spends time online? Nowadays, the answer is yes for just about every business. Digital marketing will help you reach your target audience online and drive valuable conversions. Digital marketing is so versatile, it can be tailored to suit just about any brand!
What are the benefits of digital marketing?
There are so many benefits to digital marketing! The underlying goal of digital marketing is to bring more qualified users to your website. Through a mix of digital marketing tactics, you are able to guide users through their online journey, resulting in more conversions for your business.
The beauty of digital marketing is that all of the tactics work together in harmony. An effective digital marketing strategy will also reinforce your traditional marketing, providing your target audience with cohesive messaging.
There are also a number of benefits to digital marketing over traditional marketing. Digital marketing is flexible. With digital, you have the ability to make changes over the course of a campaign, unlike traditional where you’re locked into long campaigns that are set in stone.
Digital campaigns are also much easier to track because you can set up tracking pixels, create robust event tracking across your website and develop trackable links using utm parameters, which all tie your success directly back to specific campaigns. These pixels allow for remarketing campaigns which target users who have previously visited your website based on the actions they took.
How do you start digital marketing?
We recommend starting digital marketing by thinking about your audience and your priorities. This will help you decide which digital marketing tactics will be the right fit for you. For example, if you’re selling a service aimed at individuals nearing retirement, Instagram and Snapchat probably don’t make sense for your business, while LinkedIn and Facebook would be a better fit for your audience.
Next, it’s time to think about your priorities as a business. The digital marketing tactics you choose should align with your business goals. If your main goal is to spread the word about your local business, then local SEO is for you! If you’re more interested in understanding why users are leaving your website, you should think about UX testing.
If you have the time and the manpower to take on multiple tactics at once, go for it! But if you can only devote attention to a few tactics, then we recommend you start strong with those and add more to your marketing mix as you can.
Can digital marketing increase online sales?
Absolutely! The goal of digital marketing is to improve website traffic and online conversions, thus helping you reach your overall business goals. If you’d like to ultimately increase online sales, we would recommend a variety of tactics to reach this goal. These may range from UX research and conversion rate optimization to advanced product schema to social media. When we’re developing a campaign for a client, we get to know their business and objectives, then propose plans to align with those goals.