When digital marketing is done right, it can be a cost-effective asset that improves your business performance metrics across the board. Good digital marketing is carefully planned, highly personalized, and precisely targeted to drive customers to you, not your competitors. Market knowledge, vendor relationships, and accurate buyer personas all help you get the most out of your advertising efforts. Good digital marketing can also provide:
- Higher conversion rates, which means higher sales and a better return on investment (ROI).
- Cost-effective advertising. By tracking your campaign performance and adjusting your approach daily, you can reduce sunk costs and improve your ROI because you’re never wasting money on advertising that isn’t working.
- Measurable results. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like impressions, clicks, time on page, views, and shares deliver real results in real-time for a bird’s eye view of your strategy, so you can see exactly how customers are interacting with your business.
- Better customer connection. When you know your customer and all of the media verticals, you can reach them at every critical digital touchpoint at every stage of the purchase funnel, meeting them where they are when they’re making those decisions so you can be the business they choose.
- More digital media options, knowledge of all trending digital media options helps you touch new markets you’d never considered before and generate new leads your competitors may be missing out on.
- A competitive edge. Online, size truly doesn’t matter; connecting effectively with the right target audience does. Digital marketing puts your business on an even playing field with others in your industry, so the small local startup can command just as much attention—if not more—as the big behemoth.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is online marketing that uses digital communication like email, social media posts, online video, and display ads to promote brands, products, and services with the goal of converting prospective customers into paying customers.
The shorter version? It’s using the internet and electronic devices to get your business in front of potential customers.
Digital marketing can include, but is certainly not limited to:
- Content and creation marketing to help ensure the right content is getting in front of the right audience. Thoughtful, engaging content that captures the confidence and attention of your potential customers helps establish a connection between you and your customers.
- SEO, or search engine optimization, makes sure your website — and your business — can actually be found amid the online masses. A user- and mobile-friendly site that’s filled with quality content and amplified with SEO can drive more traffic and more sales to your business, both online and in person.
- Social media marketing puts you in front of potential customers where they already are, drawing attention to your brand and driving traffic back to your website or brick-and-mortar store.
- Email marketing can take your business — and a compelling call-to-action — directly to the customer by combining your most profitable consumer pool with highly targeted distribution.
- PPC, or pay-per-click marketing, positions your ad directly in front of the customers when they’re at a decision point, increasing the chances they’ll decide to purchase from you.
- Native advertising is sponsored content placement that is carefully crafted and placed to feel more organic and less obtrusive than more traditional methods of advertising, encouraging more trust and engagement from your target audience.
Why is digital marketing so important?
Whether you are a brick-and-mortar retailer or strictly internet-based, you need a sound digital presence to be truly competitive in today’s web-based world, and you shape this online public face of your business by choosing what content to place where.
A digital marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan that helps you determine what kinds of content you should be putting out on the internet, where and how you should be placing it, and how frequently, all with the goal of increasing brand awareness, improving customer retention, and nurturing customer loyalty so you can grow your business. A complete digital marketing strategy should deliver a cohesive, consistent voice and message that accurately reflect your company’s values and vision. While you can appeal directly to various demographics, your fundamentals should stay the same — all of your customers, potential and present, should see the same company image no matter where they find you.
How do I find a good digital marketing agency?
A generic, bare-bones, and uninspired approach to advertising simply won’t get you anywhere in the online marketplace abound with competitors. When searching for a digital marketing agency, you need a company that understands both the nuances and the robustness of digital marketing, including what it takes to make your business stand out in a crowd. Your digital marketing agency should be able to create a clear plan for how your digital marketing strategy will support your big picture and help you reach your business goals, all while remaining professional, transparent, and proactive.
Here are some things to look for in a quality digital marketing firm:
- Good team with a good reputation. Digital marketing is dynamic and multi-faceted, and the idea that a single person can deliver the results you need is a little unrealistic. A reputable digital marketing agency will have a strong team of several individuals who boast specialty experience in multiple areas, like social media, sales, web design, SEO, and pay-per-click. The more comprehensive and cohesive the team — and the broader the experience — the more successful your digital marketing campaign will be. Your digital marketing team should also have a good reputation, including a strong online presence and long-standing connections and partnerships with others in the media industry. These are excellent indicators that your digital marketing firm will deliver exceptional support, services, and solutions.
- Creative, flexible, and adaptable. The digital environment is always on the move, and it’s not enough to just keep up. To keep you on top, your digital marketing agency should have the innovation and creativity to stay ahead of constantly changing trends. They shouldn’t be simply familiar with the latest technology — they should be experts who are always prepared to anticipate and respond to changes quickly, to identify potential pitfalls and deliver solutions for working around them
- Proven execution. You pay for marketing to get results. Sometimes those results are immediate, and sometimes they take time to nurture. Regardless, you need a digital marketing agency that understands the landscape and is committed to both your short-term and long-term goals. They should be able to provide services that adjust, scale, and redirect with your changing business needs so you stay successful, and they should have the resources, skill, and time to implement what they say they’re going to do.
- Regular communication. Your digital marketing agency should see you as a partner, not a customer, and partners communicate with honesty, transparency, and consistency. Phone calls and emails should be answered or returned and you should be able to contact the people who are actually working on your campaign, not just an account manager. Good communication should also include regular evaluations to discuss performance, so you always know what’s happening and what needs to happen next to stay on track.
- Analytics. Your digital marketing agency should know more than just the lingo — they should know how to do the research and dig into the analytics, know what they mean, and know how to communicate it to you in a way that makes sense. They should be able to identify areas that need improvement and offer realistic, actionable solutions for how to improve them.
Digital Marketing with Arrow Marketing and Consulting
Why settle for a good digital marketing agency when you could partner with a great one? One of Oklahoma City’s premier advertising firms, Arrow Marketing and Consulting has more than three decades of combined experience developing integrated, methodical, and coordinated digital marketing strategies that deliver real results. What’s more, every member of our team boasts years of experience working for and building partnerships with some of the largest media and print companies in Oklahoma for a wealth of expertise and depth of business acumen you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.
At Arrow Marketing and Consulting, we are always looking forward with creative, innovative strategies that combine best practices with the most impact. We’ll do a deep dive into your online footprint — including your website — to find out where you need to direct your efforts for maximum results; create a campaign plan with real, actionable recommendations; and continuously sharpen your approach, making sure your business remains at the center of the evolving world of search.
Arrow Marketing and Consulting is the digital marketing agency you’ve been looking for. Let’s get started today with a no-obligation consultation and digital marketing evaluation. Call us at 405-213-4268 or email us directly at info@arrowmmc.com. You can also use our convenient online contact form here and browse our full suite of digital marketing services here. The time to grow is now.