Understanding Digital Marketing: A Simple Guide for Business Owners

In today’s world, where almost everyone is online, digital marketing is essential for businesses of all sizes. But if you’re like many business owners who struggle to fully understand what digital marketing is and how to implement it in your business, I’m here to break it down for you.

My favorite way to explain digital marketing is comparing it to a toolbox. You can think of digital marketing as all of the tools in your toolbox that help build the foundation of your business and ultimately sell your product or service. This means that services like social media and email marketing are specific tools that help you reach your business goals. 

Now that we’ve made it through my toolbox analogy, here’s how you can and should implement effective digital marketing campaigns into your business. 

Develop your buyer persona. 

Here is where you can build your perfect client/customer and understand who they are and what they want. No matter what kind of marketing strategy you’re building you need to know who you’re marketing to. You want to be very detailed in creating this persona down to their yearly income, buying habits, age, gender, etc. This will ensure that all of your digital marketing components are speaking directly to this audience. 

Identify goals and objectives

Your marketing goals should always tie back to your overall business goals. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness then you’ll want to focus a lot of your content strategy on social media marketing which is where most people discover businesses. Knowing what you’re aiming for will help to guide your digital marketing strategy and ensure all elements are working together towards one common goal.

Choose your channels

Now that you know who your ideal customer is and what your goals are, now you can choose the right channels to connect with them. Back to my previous example, if you want to increase brand awareness through social media marketing, and your ideal customer is 20-35 years old, interested in local fashion, and regularly uses social e-commerce, then you’ll likely want to focus on building your Instagram presence. Knowing the right channels for your audience and brand will help you maximize your efforts and increase the likelihood of your product or service landing in front of the right person.

Create a content strategy

Now it’s time to develop a plan for what kind of content you want to create and how often you want to share it. Digital content includes social media posts, blogs, email marketing, website content, etc., whatever content you choose to create should all work together to reach your business and marketing goals. Once you know what content you want to focus on, you need to make a plan for when they’ll be shared. For example, you may want to post on Instagram four times a week, send an email blast once per month, and post a new blog to your website every two weeks. Each piece of content is working together to enhance your SEO, establish you as an expert in your industry, and let your target audience get to know you and your business better. 

Analyze and adjust as needed

Now that you’re on a roll with all of your digital marketing efforts, it’s time to analyze your content and see how it’s performing. You can use free tools like Google Analytics to track traffic to your website and native tools like Insights on Instagram to track how posts are performing. You want to ensure that you’re always checking in to see how content is performing so that you can adjust your strategy as needed.

Pro tip: make engaging with your online community a priority in your digital marketing strategy. Set some time aside each day to respond to comments, messages, and reviews. That human touch will take your online presence a long way and help you build relationships with your target audience.

Get Started with Digital Marketing Today!

Ready to take your business to the next level with digital marketing? Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your strategy, I’m here to help!

Book a consultation with me today, and let’s create a digital marketing plan tailored to your business needs.