In our last article, we asked ‘What Is Digital Marketing Strategy?’ and took a deep dive into the essentials. At Smartweb Canada, we are all about clear and simple approaches to digital marketing. Digital marketing strategy is the identification of a company’s desired direction and growth and what goals will help these come to fruition. Once these goals have been identified, digital marketing tactics or campaigns are used to execute them.
A digital marketing strategy is closely related to the tactics used to carry them out. For this reason, they need to work in tandem, with carefully planned modes of execution.
For example, a digital marketing strategy might require that a time-sensitive promotion appears at exactly noon on Cyber Monday, across all owned media platforms. A digital marketing team will ensure that this strategy has been scheduled and, if the budget allows, tested in advance to deliver more precisely on the company’s goals.
Digital Marketing Platforms For Marketing Campaigns
Platforms used to enact digital marketing tactics are where various aspects of the digital marketing strategy can be exacted. No platform can accomplish every facet of a marketing goal. Together, the use of owned, earned, and paid media across various digital marketing platforms, will help to accomplish a company’s digital marketing strategy by filling in blind spots and blanketing a target audience.
Breaking down the different capabilities of each digital marketing platform can make the process sound overly complex. However, most laymen are familiar with social media and email campaigns, even in the absence of formal marketing experience.
Keep digital marketing strategy realistic and intuitive using SWOT and SMART analysis. Once goals, outcomes, timelines, and budgets are clearly understood, then the best digital marketing tactics can be selected, planned, coordinated, and executed regularly.
The Best Digital Marketing Tactics for Your Marketing Strategy
Digital marketing tactics for small businesses can take place across several digital marketing platforms. There are essential cornerstones, like SEO and Website Marketing, which every small business ought to have a good command and understanding of. From there, additional platforms like Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing become fundamental tools to broadcast important, ongoing digital marketing messages.
We’ll cover these and others below.
Website Marketing
At Smartweb Canada, website design is at the core of what we do. Indeed, we would never recommend a digital marketing strategy without a website! By promoting a company’s website online, website marketing serves as a powerful focal point for digital marketing strategy. And its ultimate goal is to get more website visits.
Website marketing also allows for seamless and successful conversions, such as linking directly to a company store or providing a contact form that connects prospective customers directly to the business.
Optimized campaign landing pages on a company’s website allow for maximum control over a digital marketing message. By adding geo-targeting to these landing pages, visitors will be able to see where the products and services are on offer.
A geo-targeted landing page is unique for each company location, allowing locals to connect with them easily. As 60% of websites are viewed on mobile devices, no business wants to be left out of a ‘business near me’ search. This brings us to SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When you Google a business or service, do you go as far as the second or third page? Chances are if you’re like 90% of other people, you stick to page one to find what you want. SEO is a digital marketing tactic that helps a company get noticed online by occupying that coveted spot. It is closely related to website marketing, as a company’s SEO strategy will find its sturdiest anchor in its website content.
The goal of SEO is to optimize digital content in a strategic way to ensure it shows up on the first page of major search engines like Chrome, Firefox, Bing, and the rest. Digital marketing teams stay up to date with best practices, as algorithm updates can impact SEO strategies and site ranking overnight.
The first page of Google is a coveted spot and can be elusive. A great SEO strategy will successfully maintain first and second-page results for a consistent portion of the digital marketing strategy’s lifespan and enactment. In very competitive industries, SEO will not always be sufficient to hold onto that first-page ranking. This is where digital advertising comes in.
Digital Advertising
A close companion of SEO strategy, digital advertising is the practice of placing business promotions and advertisements across various marketing platforms. Advertising media like a company’s logo and branding collateral are important assets to conciliate across digital advertising, with the company website at its centre. This helps with easy brand recognition. With mindless, endless scrolling, most consumers only spend a fraction of a second looking at most of what they see online. For this reason, a strong brand image and message become necessary to catch and hold attention.
That being said, the most potent and effective digital advertising platforms work on a more technical level. PPC or pay-per-click advertising is a type of digital advertising in which the company placing the ad is charged only if the ad is clicked on. And Google Ad Manager is a highly effective platform that allows businesses to manage these PPC ad campaigns. It enables granular control for the user, allowing fine-tuning to define who ultimately views the ad. Google Ad Manager supports multiple ad exchanges, such as third-party networks, AdSense, and more. And it can be a great partner for active and engaging social media channels.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
A company’s social media environment serves as an extension of its online presence, again with the website at the centre of the strategy. Social media offers a great opportunity to spread attractive, branded content in active environments where the opportunity for shares, likes, and virality abound.
While social media does not have a direct influence on SEO, it does positively and indirectly affect a company’s search ranking. This demonstrates how a digital marketing strategy ought to be spread across several platforms. Not only does this achieve greater market reach, but each tactic bolsters the other in one way or another.
Content Marketing
We’ve all heard the expression ‘Content Is King’. Content marketing is conducted on a company’s website and other owned media to drive conversions. Regularly posted, high-quality content is an essential part of a thriving digital marketing strategy.
Search engine algorithms are designed to prioritize new content that is SEO optimized. That being said, the content has to also hold real human attention (imagine that!), as the algorithm carefully records how long someone stays and looks at a website. When companies create and post high-quality content regularly, it can help improve rankings and drive traffic to and through their website.
A small business website is more than an online tool: it is an extension of its storefront. Or in its absence, it is the storefront. Acting as a bridge between potential customers and the company, tailored content highlights its unique selling proposition across media types. When potential customers find all the content they’re looking for on one website, they have no reason to go elsewhere. This is where meaningful conversions happen, like having a customer sign up for the company newsletter.
Email Marketing
A type of direct marketing, email marketing extends an advertising environment by offering pressure-free education and incentives to engage with the company website. And it works!
60 percent of consumers make purchases through email marketing. Staying connected with current and potential customers through email marketing is a powerful tool to drive conversion. While digital advertising provides an ideal venue to reach new customers, targeted and personalized email marketing campaigns can add significant value for existing clients, driving more regular engagement.
This is a great way to build long-term consumer relationships that lead to repeat business and consequently, word-of-mouth referrals. Like spontaneous reviews and news stories, word-of-mouth referrals are an invaluable type of earned media that can only be gauged through extensive research. And email marketing is a great way to get this ball rolling for a successful long-term digital marketing strategy.
Unleash the Power of Digital Marketing Tactics With SmartWeb Canada!
Clear and simple approaches to digital marketing help to clear out the clutter and focus on business goals and execution. Once goals have been identified, the best digital marketing tactics or campaigns will make them actionable. With a focus on website marketing, digital advertising, and SEO, Smartweb Canada always starts with the essentials to ensure your business has a proven digital marketing strategy leading the way.
Get in touch with us anytime to discuss how we can help you implement your digital marketing strategy today!
604-648-3232
sales@smartwebcanada.com
