Stepping into the vast and dynamic field of digital marketing can be a daunting prospect for any entrepreneur. With so many different avenues to choose from, it be can be difficult for even the most skilled marketer to understand which is the right media mix for their brand. Added to that, the evolving and dynamic nature of digital platforms ensures you are always on your toes. Figuring out the right digital marketing strategies for your brand usually ends up being a matter of intense research mixed with trial-and-error. Before you delve deeper into this fascinating field, here are some tactics to get you started on the right track.

Understand your target audience and employ micro-marketing tactics

Thanks to customized digital campaigns that can target very specific audiences, it has become more important than ever to ensure you truly understand your targeted customer profiles. For example if you sell shoes your tactics for reaching male versus female customers should be different. This is just the tip of the iceberg, with modern digital marketing platforms such as Facebook ads you can target males between 30-50 with an interest in Ultra Marathons with specific relevant product messaging.

The next step is to figure out what’s the best way to reach your target audience and customize your content to cater to the needs and interests of your particular customer profiles.

Understand desired outcomes and have a clear Call To Action (CTA)

Very often, brands venture into the digital marketing space just because their competitors are doing it. Unlike conventional media, digital channels give you the opportunity to meet a number of brand objectives, a conversion may mean a sale, website clicks, lead capture or just brand awareness. It’s always a good idea to be sure what your goals are before selecting the right media mix.

Having clarity on your brand objectives also helps you come up with more effective calls-to-action (CTAs) for your ads. These CTAs ensure that your audience knows exactly what to do next after watching or reading your ad.

Choose the right channels

Digital marketing as a field has increased exponentially in the past decade. From being limited to just Google advertising and basic Facebook ads, it has evolved into a massive field with a diverse range of marketing channels you can use to get your message across. Content marketing, influencer marketing, search campaigns, display campaigns, social media campaigns are just some of the various avenues you can explore when choosing the right digital media mix for your brand.

You may sell the same product as your competitors, but your proposition may be different. As such, your performance may vary on which channels produce the right results for you.

We would recommend testing as many different channels as you can and measuring the results to see what works best. Once you find the channels that work, invest your budget into those. Don’t be afraid to explore more unconventional platforms if you feel that’s the best way to connect with your audience.

Create compelling and quick-to-consume content

Content is truly king in the digital space! The most important buzzword is Compelling Content. In other words, content that truly adds value to the audience and causes them to engage with your brand. The single most important yardstick to measure your brand’s success on digital media would be measure audience engagement and interaction. Big brands consistently manage to keep a conversation going with their audience by providing them with relevant content. Another aspect to keep in mind while crafting content for your brand is the fleeting nature of online content. In an age of snapchat and 5 second Youtube video ads, it’s important to keep your message short. Your audience may not give you more than a few seconds of their time.

Tweak your strategy over time

The greatest advantage of digital marketing is that you can measure the performance of your efforts in real time. This means that you can not only run multiple campaigns that reach out to very specific audiences but also constantly gauge their performances and tweak them on the fly.

Run test campaigns to measure audience reactions before starting any major campaign. During any campaign you should be continually A/B testing different versions of your ads and measuring the results.

Your A/B tests may include Targeting Differences or Creative Differences for example a Targeting A/B test may vary the age group of the audience in your facebook adds, a Creative A/B test may test a variation in Heading or Images to see the effect that it has. For more information on creating great A/B tests check out this Hubspot A/B Testing Article

Navigating the complex maze of digital marketing can seem a bit daunting, and we’ve only scratched the surface of ideas to get you started when you’re crafting a digital strategy.

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs where we’ll be covering topics from website design to SEO best practices. Please drop us your suggestions in the comment section below.