Looking at the past few years alone, there has been a consistent increase in results and revenues generated by online marketing, as opposed to traditional marketing channels.
According to clickx.io, companies that blog receive 97% more links to their website while B2B blog marketers manage to obtain 67% more leads.
Still, small to medium size business owners in Australia are challenged by the requirements of a solid digital marketing strategy. The question remains: is it worth investing in digital marketing if you are an Australian SME?
An ongoing cycle of demand and supply
When your online marketing campaign is implemented in a professional manner, results can be seen. Given the constant development of technological innovations within the online and mobile industry, it is only normal that consumers have redirected their purchasing decisions accordingly.
The modern consumer is no longer interested in using primary sources of traditional marketing as influencers of their final buying decision.
Instead, consumers now rely more on what they have learned and researched from the Internet and social media before they come to a resolution. Actually,
(Source: clickx.io)
Customers look for better options, so companies need to generate better results in return. An ongoing wheel of demand and supply, sustained by constant technological improvement.
It’s a win-win situation for all the parties involved, one might say. Or is it…?
In order to produce substantial revenue, you need to understand the industry you are in and how digital marketing can work for your and your customers’ benefit.
The pros – Getting the best out of your online marketing campaign
Lower costs – As opposed to traditional marketing offline campaigns, online marketing can be more cost effective if managed correctly. A good example of this (but not reduced to) is e-commerce: think about costs traditional bricks and mortar businesses require, such as property rentals, maintenance fees or overhead costs for stock rooms. Online marketing does not require any of these, since products can be shipped directly to the end customer. Plus, marketing online via websites is cheaper than using traditional media channels such as TV, newspaper, radio or magazine features. Compared to traditional media advertising, digital marketing through Facebook can give you leads for as little as cents per lead!
Reaching targeted customers effectively – this is one of the most powerful tools of online marketing. Having the possibility to address to specific audiences can really make a difference for your company growth. Whether we are talking about Facebook advertising, LinkedIn promoted posts, or YouTube ads, or even your own website, you can reach your direct target audience when your campaigns are set up properly.
Real time, direct interaction with your audience – It’s all about engagement. Being able to interact with your targeted customers in real time can help build a strong customer-supplier relationship for your company. No to mention the higher customer loyalty that will be a benefit for both sides. This is why most consumers will use social media as their main customer service platform – it is what Facebook is used for. Twitter can turn into a really powerful customer service platform if used correctly.
The ability to publish what you want, when you want – With online marketing, you are no longer constrained by strict marketing rules. However, if you want to obtain visible results, you will need a solid content strategy based on KPIs and clear goals: setting deadlines or following a rigorous marketing template can help you heaps.
The cons – When your online marketing campaign is not working for you
Banner blindness – Customers have come to be rather annoyed at the large amount of ad display, so this form of advertising is quite often ignored online. Furthermore, a lot of customers are using ad blocking scripts to keep the advertising “propaganda” away. However beneficial this may be to spamming, legitimate businesses also lose valuable traffic and revenue in the process.
If it’s not done professionally, it shouldn’t be done at all – When your online marketing campaign is not at a professional level, you will not be taken seriously by your targeted customers. It’s as simple as that. Not only are we talking target audience disappointment, we’re also talking real money being thrown out of the window, and precious time being wasted.
What is more, trying to have one person do it all requires finding someone who possesses multiple skills: copywriting, graphic design, video editing, not to mention knowing what works and what doesn’t in the online world of marketing (which is a different set of skills to knowing what works in offline marketing).
Needle in the haystack – What if your target audience doesn’t even SEE your content, because you are not up to speed with all the latest algorithms or know exactly WHERE your customers will be spending their online time? If the copy/headlines you are using don’t resonate with your target audience, you are also likely to hear the tumbleweeds, so to speak, with no sound of clicks on your links?
Now, digital marketing can be a golden pot. But for a lot of business owners it is still a Fata Morgana: the illusion that you can get a lot of traction just by whacking up a blog post or a social post and seeing the herds come running. This is not the case: effort, time and resources must be invested in digital marketing campaigns for them to bring you the results you want.
And after all, a day only has 24 hours – Time: Whilst costs may be lower when hiring someone in-house, you still need to invest time in making sure the new marketing colleague knows what do and how to implement a digital strategy.
All in all, digital marketing is all up to you and the level of quality you want to put into your campaigns. Should you hire someone in-house to deal with digital marketing? It can get really costly.
Instead, try the Digital Marketing Concierge. It’s as if you are working with your own, in-house digital marketing team. Discover DMC here.