Simply put, digital marketing is a form of marketing through the internet or an electronic device. This being said, digital marketing is more interactive than traditional marketing such as print ads, phone communication, or physical marketing – and is a vital strategy used by businesses.
Digital marketing brings in a new dimension of connectivity between businesses and consumers, building a “social currency” with businesses building a distinct relationship by creating engaging campaigns through various media. This personalisation allows each business to capture customers by immersing them in the vision and goals of the business – allowing customers to “imagine” a personalized connection.
More than that, digital marketing allows a business to discover new markets and trade at a global scale for only a small investment, given that digital marketing can be performed through the internet.
Digital marketing brings with it tangible and measurable results by using an inbuilt tracking system inbuilt such as, but not limited to social media and search engine optimization. This comes from tracking various metrics for example impressions, clicks, comments, shares, and conversions. That being said, tangible and measurable results allows for better cost optimizing strategies to specifically target consumers with interest in your company, services, or products.
Among the most used types of digital marketing are:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of ranking or positioning a website appearing in search engine results pages based on keywords. It works by the use of bots to collect information by crawling pages on the web, moving from site to site and then building an index. That index is then fed through an algorithm that tries to match all that data with a search query.
Utilizing this digital marketing strategy requires optimizing and designing a website with content quality backed with keyword research enables for crawlability of the bots and higher positioning in the index.
Social Media Marketing
Using various social media channels, social media marketing
is a means of marketing through posts that then builds a feed or a wall. Major
social media channels are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest,
YouTube, and Snapchat. Being the most interactive digital marketing tool,
social media marketing is framed in 4 stages from social listening; social
influencing; social networking; and social selling. When done right, it propels
businesses for a high market reach, especially considering that in Malaysia
four-fifths of the country’s 32.25 million population are now online, with 78%
being active social media users.
PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) drives online audiences to a website by means of an advertisement. For every advertisement clicked, the publisher (the website pushing its readers to the intended website) receives a fee. The types of PPC is varied – but the most common is the paid search ad, whereby an advertisement appears in the search engine like Google Ads during shopping searches. PPC can also be catered to location, right down to the zip code level which enables ads to be shown when the customer is detected to be located at a specific area. PPC works with two options for delivery – the first being the standard delivery method which shows ads evenly throughout the day and secondly, the accelerated delivery method which shows ads by every query.
But, what are the red flags to look out for?
Most commonly, digital marketing strategies failing are due
to:
Insufficient internal marketing resources: A digital marketing strategy does not end once a strategy has been carried out, the real results come from the measurable data that becomes a feedback loop to track performances. Lack of internal marketing resources results in companies missing out on deciphering critical information to continuously improve digital strategies.
Failure to specifically define a strategy: Based on a research performed by Smart Insights, 45% of respondents answered that digital marketing was being done, however, it was not defined into a marketing strategy or defined in a separate document. That being said, as a digital marketing strategy is highly attuned to human behaviours, it requires adequate research to clearly identify a strategy that is targeted and clearly defined. Businesses engaging in too much, too soon result in having customers drown the intended message out.
Does your organization have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy?
(Source: Smart Insights)
Inability to build a clear methodology: It’s easy to get impatient when adopting digital marketing, but companies need to know that it does not bring immediate results overnight. Inability to build a clear methodology includes the inability to set realistic metrics, key performance indicators and a timeline. This includes setting the right direction of the digital marketing strategy which varies from increased brand awareness, more quality leads, and a higher conversion rate.
Misalignment of marketing and sales teams
A misalignment between marketing and sales teams in delivering the digital marketing strategy results in an unfocused digital marketing strategy. When teams operate different directions across the business, it lacks the integrated functionality. A clear digital marketing strategy spells out the specific roles of the marketing and sales teams into alignment of a common goal which in turn, develops the right type of digital marketing strategy to be adopted.
Our technical professionals at 27Group are always in the know for the latest digital marketing strategies, and we have the right solutions to lead you to your next success in the digital marketing world.
Written by Jo Lynn, Consultant at 27 Advisory.
Having more than 27 years in business, 27 Group is able to provide you with access to investors for competitive funding needs while providing better ways to operate your business through financial and corporate advisory. We are the only 100% Malaysian-owned local consulting firm that is fast, flexible and focused with unique expertise that blends of local socio-economic policy setting, engineering built assets globally and detailed in financial analysis.
We do project development integration to improve project returns and are committed to providing a sustainable environment for a better tomorrow. Our delivery model blends values important to humanity into business strategy through socio-economic transformation modules and we are passionate about building opportunities for the next generation to achieve their highest potential.
#rebuildinghumanity is 27 Group’s vision to collectively rebuild our nation through assets we build (eg. infrastructure, real estate, hospitals) and natural capital (gas resources, plantations, human talent) using innovative and sustainable methodologies.
Speak and rebuild with us if you need fresh ideas or more efficient financing or project implementation to improve your KPIs at ivan@27advisory.com.my
