New business, i.e., boosting sales, is key for growth for any company, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, this may be a daunting task for many new players in the marketplace, which is why some of them turn to specialist firms for help and advice.
According to Alchemis, a London-based development agency, since the advent of the Internet, marketing strategies have changed dramatically. Marketing professionals today can implement strategies using digital technology which people could only dream about a few decades ago.
Today, we live in the age of digital marketing. Goods and services are now marketed using digital technologies, most of which occur online, i.e., on the Internet. The term digital marketing also includes using display advertising, mobile phones, and other digital media to promote products and services.
This new age has seen the emergence of digital marketing agencies, which are now being used by more and more businesses to help with their marketing strategies online. Let’s have a look at some of what digital marketing covers:
SEO includes:
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On page SEO
This works by ensuring your on-page optimisation is right, to make sure you are ranking correctly. If this is not done correctly, even if you are building good quality links, your site will not be properly optimized for searches.
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Content Marketing
By providing quality content, such as an infographics, images, and interesting information, you are more likely to engage and attract visitors. If your content is really good, other websites will notice and place backlinks. A backlink is a link that takes a visitor from another website to yours if they click on it.
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Link Building
Building quality links can be key to ranking well, as having a solid backlink profile is one of Google’s key components. However, beware of black hat agencies that promise thousands of backlinks. Most likely, they will be from low ranking websites. Powerful backlinks should come from reputable sources.
Video – What is SEO?
SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is part of the umbrella term Digital Marketing (Online Marketing, Internet Marketing).
Paid Search
Paid search is a type of digital marketing in which Google, Bing, and other search engines allow organizations to show ads on their SERPs. The letters SERPs stand for search engine results pages.
Some examples of paid search include:
- Google ads
- Display advertising
- Remarketing
- Video Advertising
Email Marketing
Email Marketing also continues to be a very effective approach for many businesses. This means using a tailored and structured marketing campaign to get the best possible results.
Digital marketing professionals say that email marketing offers the following benefits:
- It has an extensive reach.
- You can send specific messages to your target audience.
- Email is great at driving conversions, i.e., turning consumers into paying customers.
- It has a higher return on investment compared to most other marketing strategies.
- Email continues to be most people’s preferred communication channel.
- It is an open platform, unlike online social media networks.
Marketing vs. Sales
People often refer to marketing and sales interchangeably. However, their meanings are not the same. Marketing is all about studying the market, i.e., what consumers want, and working out whether your product or service can sell, to whom, where, and at what price. It also involves finding out who your competitors are and how they are trying to reach consumers.
Sales, on the other hand, involves getting people to buy. It is more face-to-face. Many companies, however, especially small ones, do not differentiate between sales and marketing. They have, for example, a single Sales & Marketing Department, rather than two separate ones.
Promoting customer loyalty could be the responsibility of either sales professionals or their marketing colleagues. Customer loyalty refers to the likelihood of a company’s current customers coming back again and again. It is crucial for solid and growing sales.