Digital marketing is the promotion of products or services of a brand by using one or more forms of electronic media. To simplify the statement, “Digital marketing is marketing using the internet and its platforms.”
It differs from the traditional marketing because it overlooks other channels and uses just one channel i.e. digital platforms. This form of marketing helps the organization to analyze campaigns and understand the effectiveness of the same.
There are organic ways to grow in digital marketing without spending large amounts of money because of the low entry barriers and scale. Content can be targeting sharply which can accomplish a lot without wasting much of the effort.
Role of Digital Marketing in the Startup
Startups are new businesses and just like every other business, these need exposure too. The digital world provokes every business to have a digital footprint and maintain their digital presence, to get a loyal customer base and to improve sales.
It can be used to build awareness about the brand and can be positioned to target the potential customer base more efficiently. It can be used to construct a consistent flow of traffic, which might become regular users. Online leads and sales are one of the additional benefits of digital marketing.
It is not a zero-money incurring method, but is surely cheaper than other channels of marketing. Nowadays, companies are targeting the digital footprints of individuals because millions of bytes of data are consumed over the various digital platforms every day and it is believed to be the most effective method of data feeding and consuming in today’s world. A lot of the marketing budget is allotted to the digital aspect nowadays, because of its efficiency.
Methods and Benefits of Digital Marketing, Leading to Growth
Keeping in mind the budget constraints, startups use digital techniques/tools, incurring minimal costs. These tools can be broadly categorized and explained as follow:
SEO or Search Engine Optimization
It is the process of optimizing and providing relevant content to digital platforms about a business and its aspects, aiming to improve its ranking in search engine results. This strategy involves utilizing well-crafted content and backlinks to gain a competitive advantage effectively and at minimal cost.
SEO is not only cost-effective but also offers measurable results and long-term benefits. It serves as a powerful tool for promoting and managing a brand’s reputation. By enhancing visibility, SEO enables free branding and contributes to building trust and credibility. Additionally, SEO ensures a continuous online presence, making the business accessible to potential customers 24*7.
Websites can be optimized by making it mobile friendly and secure with engaging features. Headers and descriptions shall always be appropriate and pages need to be loaded quickly, to get a customer interested.
Startups target
SEO services to get their business out to the world and expect the public to accept it.
Content Marketing
To generate more traffic, more leads and more brand awareness & a positive image, content marketing is practiced, which also builds the relationship with existing and prospective clients and customers.
It requires engaging and relevant content on a regular basis with a formulation of a unique selling proposition, e.g. blogs, short stories or work with other publishers i.e. posting content on other sites and sharing user stories. Startups can share their content with the users to inform them about the brand and its services, which will generate traffic and might lead to sales.
Social Media Marketing(SMM)
The entire world revolves around social media platforms for both personal engagement and professional purposes. These platforms offer a cost-effective way for brands to establish and project their voice and image.
Social media is widely regarded as the best platform for engaging with customers and clients, providing a regular channel to communicate the brand’s objectives. Examples of such platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Plus.
Furthermore, social media is a powerful tool for community building, fostering a loyal customer base. Activities like content sharing, Q&A sessions, and interactive games are common examples of how businesses can engage their audience effectively. Moreover, the results and impact of these engagements are easily measurable, allowing brands to monitor their effectiveness in real-time.
Social media image of startups can be very useful for them to be a part of the generation which largely affects the sales of any business, the Youth. It can be extensively used to target specific communities to improve brand image and formulate a brand identity.
Email Marketing
It is a personal media of communication which lets the brand communicate on a one-to-one basis. It is cost effective, extremely professional, simple and measurable, usually with a high return on investment. Any number of audiences can be communicated with.
Startups use this medium to generate business opportunities and to inform the consumers about the brand and its products. Emails are almost three-folds more concentrated than social platforms like Facebook and Twitter combined.
Growth Hacking
It is a new method in the field of digital marketing which is extremely low in cost and highly innovative. It basically uses the user’s connections by offering them a free product or service, to set up a referral program, from where it goes on its own and growth is expected.
Startups target individuals who might be interested in the referral program. These individuals are offered commission, gifts, vouchers and hampers et-cetera, which encourages them to share the brand with their colleagues, friends and family members. This chain goes long and the brand is established within no time (compared to other forms of traditional marketing).
Conclusion
Startups need to establish their image; to get known and attract as many potential customers and clients as they can. The Digital Era has made everything turn to digital, be it an individual or a business and has given the answer to the age-old question: Why use Digital Marketing more than other forms of marketing? Digital footprint has become the most important profile of a business and can be used for or against it, which not only affects the business proceedings and revenue but also hamper growth and might lead to complete failure.
The Various Methods of
Digital Marketing allow startups to reach customers quickly, with minimal costs of marketing. This zero-barrier form of marketing is largely accepted and used all around the world. The right amalgamation of all the digital tools can be extremely useful for startups’ image building and can increase the growth exponentially.
Author: ClicksYou Media
Started in 2019, ClicksYou is a pioneer service provider in web development, and digital marketing.