How to Approach Digital Marketing as a Business Owner?

When we think of Digital Marketing, most would think online ads but it’s truly so much more than that. For business owners and founders, how we understand Digital Marketing is imperative to the success of your digital marketing activities.

Of course, at the end of the day, it all boils down to results. Digital Marketing is merely a tool in which businesses reach their objectives. For example, if you’re starting your own restaurant, you might be thinking where and how do I start with Digital Marketing? Your only reason for doing digital marketing is to get more customers in your restaurant and that’s your bottom line. If this happens to be you, click here.

So how does one with little to no understanding of digital marketing approach digital marketing?

It’s obvious at this point that you’d probably need some outside help from a freelancer, a consultant or even an agency to help execute your online campaigns, but more importantly, you need to have a basic understanding of digital marketing before you begin looking for help. This is imperative.

Reason is most marketers are hungry for your cash and will do what it takes to convert you, it’s simply the nature of most marketers. However, with basic digital marketing knowledge, you’re less likely to be conned and can right away point out inaccuracies.

Keep in mind that the first sign of a bad marketer is one that yaps away, while high quality marketers do their best to listen and understand your brand, followed by accurate recommendations. There’s a fine line between selling and marketing!

One sign to look out for is Marketers offering “Guaranteed Results”. It’s simply impossible but more often than not, its music to the ears for business owners. Unfortunately, marketing of any kind is always a gamble and revolves around several factors, particularly budget.

As a digital marketer myself, I give ranged results that correlate with the budget. It’s a dignified approach I take with my clients.

We’ll be going through some of the fundamentals to help you get a bit familiar with Digital Marketing, just enough so you’re not being deceived by questionable digital marketers or cash hungry agencies.

Firstly, Digital Marketing comprises of 5 main components, but remember, they’re not entirely independent from each other.

• Social Media Marketing - This largely consists of social media advertising and organic postings aimed at increasing brand engagement/awareness and reaching out to relevant target audiences. Click here to learn more.

• Email Marketing - Emails help keep your brand top-of-mind towards your closest customers with the help of automated monthly newsletters or specially curated content for specific audience segments in your email list. Click here to learn more.

• Content Marketing - The most important aspect of digital marketing! Content marketing often involves planning and creating content most valuable to your target audience. Content marketing can also include other digital marketing components mentioned here. Click here to learn more.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - This is purely about how your website ranks organically for targeted keywords of Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) as well as how in-line your website is with Google’s Search algorithms. Click here to learn more.

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - This is all about PPC (Pay per Click) campaigns on Google Adwords where you bid with competitors for keywords most relevant to you and your target audience. The goal is similar to that of an SEO campaign with the difference being that SEM costs money. In a way, you’re skipping the queue on Google’s SERP to be seen on the top. Click here to learn more.

Now that you know the 5 main components of Digital Marketing and its basic definition, you’re already one step ahead in knowing what’s expected from each component when being pitched by a digital marketer or an agency.

It’s encouraged to research each component individually to understand which combination of digital marketing components best suit your business.

Once you have an idea, you can start looking for digital marketers specializing in those areas,

OR,

You can drop me a message for a chat.

Intrigued?

Drop me a message here to learn more.