Do you remember when digital marketing was simply a new and exciting way to reach customers? Fast forward to today and digital marketing is imperative to the success of any marketing strategy across all industries. It’s an integral component of how organisations engage and communicate with their customers. As the internet continues to become a core part of our daily lives, having an integrated digital strategy in place is key to seeing your business grow. Here are 10 reasons why your business needs digital marketing:

1. Reach people at the right time and place

The average person now has up to 7 social media accounts. Yep you read that right – 7. Majority of internet users are on social media everyday and spend over 2 hours on their platform of choice. Social media is now integral in our work, social lives and even school. Consumers are even purchasing products through social media, which is why brands need to pay attention and build a social media strategy. Target the right platforms with the right message and get cut-through with customers.

2. Helps small businesses thrive

With large enterprises dominating many industries, it’s easy to feel sorry for the small businesses of the world. However digital marketing offers them hope and the chance to step out of the shadows of their large competitors. With digital marketing, small businesses can outrank large corporations in search results and utilise their funds efficiently to target their audience to great effect.

3. Targeted campaigns

Digital marketing enables brands to create ads that are laser-focused and targeted to the exact personas they want to target. These relevant ads have more chance of achieving cut-through and are less annoying than traditional means of advertising. From search advertising to social media advertising – you don’t need to spend ridiculous amounts of money to ensure your target market are seeing your message.

4. Personalisation

Segmentation is a key benefit of digital marketing. Segmentation involves grouping your target audience into groups based on demographics, interests or similar characteristics. Segmentation enables you to get more personalised with your messaging and ensuring your audience are getting messages that are relevant to them. This enables you to build long-lasting relationships with them and engage better across various channels.

5. Analytics

The secret to the success of digital marketing is analytics. With analytics you have a tangible way to measure the success or failure of each ad and then optimise them accordingly. You can gain better insights into your customers and decide where you should be better focusing your efforts. Utilising the data at your disposal results in your company making more informed data-driven decisions.

6. Scale

One benefit of digital marketing that small businesses love is its ability to scale as your business grows. If you’re running a social media campaign with display ads, you can scale up and down based on the results and set your desired budget. You are in control and can change things on the fly to suit your needs and see instant results.

7. ROI

Digital marketing is unique in that it’s simple to measure the results of individual ads or campaigns. Whether it’s email marketing, content marketing or social media marketing – you can determine the click throughs, leads and opportunities associated with each activity. As a small business, this is key as you need to make that budget stretch as best you can. If you have confidence you can measure the ROI, you’ll be able to showcase how effective your dollars are being spent.

8. People love to shop online

Instead of going to the shops, many consumers prefer to browse and shop for everything online. These online shoppers also have no patience and will not go past the first page of google search results. That’s why simply having an online presence isn’t enough, you need to optimise your SEO to ensure customers can find you. Invest in SEO, paid advertising and ensure you have a user-friendly website that’s easy to navigate.

9. People prefer to be contacted online

Consumers are sick of traditional advertising and will leave a website with annoying pop up ads that aren’t relevant. Instead, consumers want media that they choose to consume. Consumers know they have the power and they want brands to respect that with content that they want and need. Digital marketing let’s you market to consumers with content that is relevant to their needs and challenges.

10. Mobile marketing

People use their mobile to read reviews, make purchases and even communicate with brands. The smart companies are making the most of this and integrating augmented reality into their advertising that customers experience via their mobiles.

Final Thoughts

In the digital age, your business needs a digital marketing strategy to stay relevant and engage consumers. Customers are online, and your brand needs to be there too. The buyers journey is now predominantly online and you need to ensure you are optimising that journey at every stage.