Breaking Down Digital Marketing For Brands

If I told you India is home to the second-largest digital market, would you believe it?

It is true. We have over 500 million internet users and more than 450 million smartphone users. 1 in 3 Indians is hooked on video content. And these numbers are still rising, both in urban and rural areas. 

With this rise in mobile adoption and internet penetration, the way people shop and buy is also changing. Google estimates that 48% of consumers start searching for a product on search engines, 33% go to the brand’s website, and 26% use a mobile app. 

Remove all the facts and figures, and it boils down to this – traditional marketing is not effective anymore. If you want a return on your ad and marketing spend, you need to connect with the audience at the right place and at the right time.

In today’s era, that means online, i.e., through digital marketing!

But what is digital marketing?

Any promotion that you do online falls under digital marketing. Traditional marketing includes TVs, print ads, phone communication, etc. Digital marketing includes the internet and electronic devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. From search engines to emails, from websites to social media, every marketing effort is part of digital marketing.

What makes digital marketing important for brands of all sizes?

Peel the layers of the onion that is digital marketing, and it comes down to this: it empowers a brand to reach a larger and more targeted audience. That it is also cost-effective and offers results that can be measured and tracked are just incidental benefits.

Let’s unwrap why is digital marketing essential for every business, small or big, further. 

A deeper audience reach

Traditional marketing is limited by geography. A print ad in a national newspaper gets you visibility only within India. An ad on Instagram, on the other hand, makes your brand discoverable around the world. Besides letting you cast a wider and deeper net, digital marketing helps target people most likely to buy your brand. 

A TV ad or a billboard gives you no control over the audience. Your target niche might see the ad, or they might not. That is not the case with digital marketing. You don’t shoot darts in the dark because you can identify audiences on any digital platform.

For instance, if your target demographic is working professionals, then LinkedIn is the place to be. On the other hand, if you’re targeting females between the ages of 25 to 39, then Instagram is a great choice. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. With digital marketing, you can target an audience based on age, gender, location, behaviour and interest. Moreover, you can send personalised ads to those who’ve shown interest in your brand or have searched for similar keywords, ensuring higher conversion. 

Outrank bigger brands

Big brands have deep pockets. They can afford an ad spend of millions to catch the attention of a national audience. For small or mid-sized brands, this is not an affordable option. Fortunately, digital marketing is a great equalizer. You don’t have to spend a lot to reach the right customer.

All you need is the correct long-tail keywords and great content that includes it. Together, they can help your brand land on the first page of Google search, even above a big brand, and gain more traffic. However, the key here is to create superb quality content that resonates with the audience.

The additional benefit of influencer marketing

Another route through which digital marketing lends an outsized voice to smaller brands is influencer marketing. The consumer of today is too savvy by half. They can sniff an ad in nanoseconds. It has become muscle memory for them to skip such blatant promotions. But they do trust influencers and content creators, which means small brands can partner with them to showcase a product or service and reach a new audience. 

More pocket-friendly

For any business, the crux of every decision is money. Can you afford to spend an X amount on marketing? With traditional marketing, the answer typically means a lot of number crunching and shuffling. With digital marketing, that is not the case for two reasons. 

One, you can alter your strategy based on the capital you have. Say you’re a new business with limited funds. You can easily invest in SEO, a blog or social media to tap potential customers without breaking the bank.

Two, you can track the efforts and reduce the money spent on any channel that is not performing. For example, if you see LinkedIn ads are not getting you any leads, you can pause them. 

What types of digital marketing can a brand target?

Digital marketing is a smorgasbord. Email marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing, website, social platforms – all of it comes within it. If you plumb the depths of it, it’ll fill a sea. So, for the sake of brevity, let’s tackle the most important tactics that fall under its umbrella. 

Content Marketing

Any content that you create and promote to raise brand awareness, get more traffic, or have higher lead generation is part of content marketing. What does it include? From marketing collaterals like online brochures to blog posts, from e-books to articles, from infographics to white papers. 

Keep in mind that content marketing is a tricky beast to tame. The writing has to be engaging enough for the reader and optimised enough to rank on a search engine. So, the safest bet is to always partner with a professional digital marketer.

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation

Less a form of marketing and more a tool, SEO makes your website more attractive to search engines. In other words, when a site is optimised for search engines, it ranks higher on the result page. That leads to more organic traffic to your blog or web pages. Some of the things that come within search engine optimisation are:

• Is the site mobile friendly?
• Is the content quality good?
• Are there enough inbound links?
• Are they the right quality?
• What is the level of user engagement?

SMM or Social Media Marketing

A huge chunk of digital marketing comprises of social media marketing such as promoting your business through platforms like Facebook. SMM is a vast field and the strategies you can follow are massively varied – from creating a brand page on each social network to running ads on them. 

Irrespective of what your social media marketing approach is, it will undoubtedly drive traffic and generate brand awareness. Why? Because socials have the maximum number of customer eyeballs.

And the result is not just more people talking about your brand. Brands can even sell directly from to customers ow that most social media platforms have become shoppable.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube – there is no dearth of social networks. This makes developing a strong SMM strategy an uphill task. More so because not every channel fits every business. The savvy way is to hire an expert in digital marketing who can create the right strategy for you. 

PPC or Pay Per Click

Search for any product on Google – say shoes online. Notice the very first results and the tiny “Ads” written on top? Those are examples of PPC. Pay per click allows you to post ads on any online platform. In return for that space, you pay the platform a certain amount every time someone clicks on the ad. 

Google Ads are the most common example of PPC, but they also include:

• Paid ads on Facebook
• Twitter ads campaigns
• Sponsored messages on LinkedIn

The challenge with PPC is finding a slot that fits your target audience, because the minute a spot opens up, the search engine runs an instant auction. There is no guarantee that you will get a slot as there are multiple factors involved, like keyword, bidding amount, ad quality, etc. 

Sponsored content

Any content online that you pay someone else to promote is called sponsored content. For example, asking a well-known magazine or publication to post an article authored by your brand. Another example is influencer marketing. Paying influencers to publish Stories on Instagram or videos on YouTube or posts on Facebook is sponsored content. 

Recently, sponsored content, particularly influencer marketing campaigns, has become very popular. The reason being they’re an effective marketing tool for any brand as they reach a new pool of audience and give quantifiable results. 

Email marketing

Traditionally, email marketing was thought to be ideal for business-to-business (B2B). But let me put that myth o rest. It works for every business when done right. Newsletters, which are part of email marketing, are a fantastic way to communicate with your customers. During festive seasons, they can help promote products or events or lure in repeat customers through discounts. 

An impactful tool only when wielded right

Digital marketing is the most powerful tool in a brand’s arsenal. There are no doubts about it. Companies that have a strong omnichannel engagement strategy retain 89% of their customers. And when they don’t? The retention is an abysmal 33%.

That said, there is a key that unlocks this goldmine. And that is to dig deep and build an intricate cross-channel approach. 

Why cross-channel? 

Why can’t a brand just build a Facebook page and call it a day?

Because the whole of digital marketing is greater than the sum of its parts. If you want to tap its real potential, you need to create engagement on all channels.

What brands need digital marketing?

Every brand. 

Digital marketing is crucial for every business in every industry. Regardless of what product or service you sell, digital marketing can help pad profit margins. Having said that, it is important to note that not all digital marketing strategies work equally for all brands. 

Digital marketing for a B2B brand 

For B2B companies, marketing is meant to generate leads or keep customers loyal. For that reason, all your digital marketing has to focus on driving good quality traffic to the website or the primary support channel. Your approach is more about getting the business in front of the right audience rather than going viral online. That means keeping the focus on professional channels like LinkedIn.

Digital marketing for B2C brands

For business-to-consumer brands, marketing efforts span the entire buyer journey, from the moment a person discovers your brand till after-sales. Therefore, the digital marketing strategy is like a funnel and includes various channels. For instance, Instagram for generating awareness, Pinterest for more in-depth knowledge of the product and the website for the final purchase. 

Create growth with digital marketing

I’ll cut to the chase.

Businesses that ignore digital marketing, do so at their peril. A social media presence is essential. A website is imperative. A digital ad strategy is indispensable. 

The consumer doesn’t just expect it. They demand it. So, when they don’t find you online, they drop you like hot buns and quickly move on to a competitor.

However, embracing digital marketing is not enough. Since there are so many options and strategies to implement, most brands face a litany of challenges. 

That is where a digital marketer swoops in with a cape on. Their expertise guarantees that your brand is present on the right social platforms; has an engaging website that ranks well, and leverages all sorts of content marketing.

Moreover, they can experiment and get creative (while remaining within budget) to achieve your business goals. So, if you haven’t already, now is the time to invest in digital marketing!