Consider this scenario. You are a brand who has been contemplating making the move to the digital space for some time now.
The current COVID pandemic has further affirmed your thoughts to do so and finally, you decide to hire a digital marketing
agency to take your brand online. You approach the agency and tell them that you need them to handle the digital marketing for
your brand. The agency, most likely, will ask you which specific services in digital marketing you are looking for. The most
probable answer you could give would include Social Media Marketing & SEO. You might add-website building and development
to boot. Based on your answer, the agency will provide you a quote for the services you mentioned. If you agree with their budget
and are convinced about their credibility, you might collaborate with them and thus, set about establishing your brand’s ‘digital
presence’. Pretty standard story with a standard ending, right? Well, yes; but there are two major points in it which could have led
to a better and more comprehensive ending- one when you told the agency your requirements when it comes to digital marketing
and two, when the agency could have told you what else it could offer apart from the services you mentioned. Because, as
pedestrian as the term might seem, ‘Digital Marketing’ is indeed an umbrella term, encompassing within it a variety of services.
And if you wish to tap its true potential for your brand, it is advisable to explore as many avenues as possible. But for that, you
first need to know what those avenues are. And that is exactly what we will address and talk about here. Here are 7 mediums of
digital marketing that your brand could really benefit from if you are thinking of going online.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Let’s start on a familiar note. Yes, you definitely need Social Media Marketing for your brand. Why? Because a large chunk of your
customers is on it. 84% of the people with access to the internet use it, it’s a great way to create brand awareness and it’s a virtual
copy of your physical store, so you can also sell your products/services from social media platforms. It also has a tremendous
reach and makes your brand truly global. 50% of the global population is using social media. So, apart from the local population,
you can find an international audience for your product/service as well. SMM (Social Media Marketing) is definitely a staple for
your Digital Marketing Plan. Additionally, it also plays an important role in driving the performance of some other digital
marketing services.
SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
Arguably, SEO has become one of the most frequently used and associated terms when it comes to Digital Marketing. A lot of
brands want it. And with good reason. With search engines like Google becoming the go-to place for buyers to search for & buy
various products/services, a strong presence on this platform is important. In 2020 up till now, Google has received 2.3 trillion
searches, and as for the digital marketers themselves, 61% of them say that improving a brand’s SEO & growing its organic reach
on Google is one of their top marketing priorities. So, building a strong presence on a search engine platform like Google, Yahoo
or Bing can help in a huge way. Additionally, if you are a local brand, these search engines also have provisions for targeting a
hyper-local audience. The main play of SEO is using the right ‘keywords’- terms that are relevant to your business/brand and
terms that people use to search for your product/service online. While it takes time & in-depth research to figure out the
keywords that work best for your brand, it is a highly beneficial way to market your brand in the digital space. We will cover SEO
more comprehensively in an upcoming blog soon.
CONTENT MARKETING
They say, ‘content is king’. And everyone pays attention when a king speaks. Content marketing is a channel of digital marketing
in which the content created around your brand helps spread awareness about it. This content is generally accompanied by a Call
to Action for its target audience. While it is not an explicit form of selling a product/service, Content Marketing is seen as a subtle,
personal, and engaging way to generate consumer interest in your brand and increase brand awareness. It is an important way of
increasing customer loyalty as well. Content Marketing ties various other forms of digital marketing together as services like SEO,
PPC (Pay Per Click) and Social Media Marketing are inter-dependent on each other. CMI’s (Consumer & Market Insights) digital
SEM (SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING) & PPC (PAY PER CLICK)
Some people might confuse SEO with SEM. But while SEO gets you unpaid and organic traffic on search engines, SEM is paid
advertising wherein ads are placed to generate more awareness and traffic on your brand’s website. Google Adwords is the most
popular platform for Search Engine Marketing. For an SEM campaign to be successful, it is important for a brand to generate
quality and relevant content about its product/service. Unlike most types of paid advertising, where budget also plays a major role
in deciding your reach and the number of leads generated, SEM falls under the bracket of PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising,
wherein a brand is charged based on the number of clicks on the ad it has placed. So, while one might not allot a big budget for an
ad if the content of the ad is relevant and in accordance with the keywords used in a particular search, that ad will perform well
and will be ranked higher. Google reports that search ads can boost brand awareness by as much as 80 percent. In addition to
search engines like Google, social media platforms such as Facebook also offer this model of advertising.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Looking for even more options to sell and promote your product/service in the digital space? Try Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate
Marketing involves paying a ‘promoter’ who uses his ‘affiliated network’ to promote and sell your product/service and who makes
a pre-decided and agreed upon commission every time he closes a sale. It is one of the more cost-efficient options in marketing, as
the brand only needs to pay the promoter once a sale has been closed. Moreover, the interest in this form of marketing has grown
by leaps as in less than a year, the search interest for “affiliate marketing” on Google, as reported by Google Trends, has grown by
E-MAIL MARKETING
It is understandable if you think that E-Mail Marketing might not be as effective a medium of digital marketing as some of the
others. After all, the misconception that it is equivalent to ‘spamming’ exists among several people. However, make no mistake, e-
mail marketing can be a highly potent tool if utilized correctly. Firstly, a database of email-ids is like a goldmine, as it gives the
brand a rather intimate platform of communication with its buyers/potential buyers. Secondly, it can be used for various
purposes- from giving regular updates about offers and discounts on a product/service, information on loyalty membership
programs, to collecting customer feedback via surveys or Google Forms, e-mail marketing facilitates a brand to do it all.
According to recent statistics, 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email. And with mobile
phones becoming an increasingly preferred medium to access e-mails (Mobile opens an account for 46 percent of all email
opens), e-mail marketing has only become a more intimate and effective medium of marketing.
WHATSAPP MARKETING
Have you considered the most popular messaging app in the world as a medium of marketing? If not, you certainly should! With a
userbase of 1.5 billion monthly users across the world, WhatsApp commands attention on a level equivalent to major social media
giants like Facebook. And much like e-mail marketing, it provides an even more intimate platform for communication and
commerce for brands. With several messaging options like a one-on-one chat (for a personalized experience), a broadcast list, and
WhatsApp Groups (mass targeting till 256 people), it is a handy and influential medium for brands to interact with & sell to
potential buyers. 98 percent of mobile messages are opened and read, with 90 percent of them getting opened within three
seconds of being received. And while social media platforms are generally considered to be good platforms for sharing content
and information about a product/service, WhatsApp has commanded a huge share of the pie for itself when it comes to online
sharing as well. In fact, 84% of online sharing happens on private messaging mediums like WhatsApp. Now, that cannot be
overlooked, can it?!
So, there you have it. With so many channels of marketing, vast potential remains to be explored when it comes to taking your
brand digital. We hope you explore as many mediums as possible and give a comprehensive approach to your brand’s marketing.
Need help in getting acquainted to or using these mediums of marketing for your brand? No worries, we are just an e-mail away!
Reach out to us on connect@gdcs.online and allow us to take your brand digital in a well-rounded and efficient manner.