Those of us who are (a bit) older and work professionally in marketing and sales have recognized some key differences between “classic – traditional (!)” marketing and …its digital descendant. It can be said that the basic principles of Marketing have not changed much, however Digital Marketing has 7 main advantages that seem to be able to make a difference. So let’s see what these 7 advantages of Digital Marketing are in 2023.
1. Cost Effective
One of the biggest (if not the biggest) benefits of digital marketing is that it is a very effective practice. With digital marketing, you can reach more potential customers for less money than with other forms of marketing and advertising. With traditional marketing, large companies enjoy significant advantages. In general, they have much higher available budgets than SMEs, which means they can “spend” them on television, radio and many other promotional activities, not related to digital marketing.
With digital marketing, competition is (almost) on a level playing field. Strategies, methods and spending amounts can be adjusted according to each company’s capabilities and deliver effective and budget-friendly actions. One example of which is the Pay Per Click (PPC) method, which allows you to have complete control over your budget and adjust it according to the success and performance of your campaign.
Perhaps the only thing worth remembering is that it takes time for each campaign to reach its peak performance score. No one has a “magic wand” and everything is done by organization, strategy, work and testing. So, spend the necessary time with the professionals you choose to work with and reap the rewards of your efforts.
2. Measurable
One of the things I love most about digital marketing is that it is completely measurable. When advertising on television or radio, we can only give approximate results. We often have very little data about recipients and overall campaign performance.
This is why we see, in a technologically advanced world, that television has lost its luster and is at best just a second screen. In other words, mainly young people, they “listen” to TV but are busy with cell phones or computers. Now we see on TV advertising companies just… public relations with channel directors and journalists, so that they do not give bad news from their company.
Even these companies, when they want to get effective business visibility, turn to digital marketing. So when someone runs a campaign, they want all the data they need to evaluate whether the campaign is effective or not. With this data, we can know the important metrics we care about and decide on further actions. Whether it’s a social media action or a Google action, there are “tools” that allow us to track results and make necessary edits or improvements while our campaign is running, work.
This requires expert knowledge and attention to detail so we can immediately understand the data and can take appropriate action.
3. Suitable Customers
Another important advantage of Digital Marketing is the possibility of excellent “targeting”. While in traditional media, we show our ad and… whoever sees it, in digital marketing we choose the characteristics of the consumers we want to reach. We may choose people who have shown interest in products and businesses like ours or reach people who have visited our site or social media page.
In digital marketing we create personas that approach our “ideal customer” and based on this data we adjust our campaigns. For example, some of the characteristics we can choose are age, gender, occupation, interests, hobbies and many other aspects of a consumer’s life. In short, the better our targeting, the more effective our campaigns.
4. Timing
What do we mean when we say “the right time”? What we mean is that with the right targeting, we can reach consumers fairly early in their product purchasing “journey.” It’s important to be able to reach consumers looking for products early enough so we can influence their decisions.
Usually, when someone thinks they want to buy something, they will start by “searching the Internet”. Whether it’s a product or a service, it’s important to be able to provide consumers with important information to help them make choices. When you truly have interesting and useful content then you are seen as an authority and an “expert” on your topic and through this you gain the trust of your audience, which is a Very good step to complete the purchase content.
Even if the consumer doesn’t buy right away, it’s good to have established our company, in the consumer’s mind, as the most specialized, knowledgeable and leading expert in our field.
5. Conveniency
As we briefly mentioned above, another important advantage regarding Digital Marketing is the ability to intervene in our campaigns in real time. That is, by monitoring the data of each action, we can adjust our tactics according to our results, goals and needs. If we see that a campaign brings very good results we can extend its duration or invest more money to reach a larger audience. If another does not have the desired results, then we can improve it, vary it or even stop it.
6. Conversion rate
And what the heck is a “conversion rate”, I hear you ask (and with good reason). Conversion rate is how many people took the desired actions during one of our campaigns. A conversion can be buying a product, signing up for an email list, paystub creator, posting a review or comment, etc. We could say that the optimal conversion rate is achieved, mainly, due to all the previous advantages of digital marketing, as well as with specialized tactics such as that of Conversion Rate Optimization (C.R.O.).
7. Global reach
Traditional marketing strategies like billboards, TV ads, and cold sales calls are limited by geography. But with digital marketing, businesses can access a global audience across locations and time zones. Instead of limiting your reach to people in your community, you can target potential customers in your state, country, and even globally.
Traditional marketing tactics could cost a fortune for companies to promote themselves across multiple different markets. Digital media strategies like social media, content marketing, and email marketing make it easy for businesses to reach potential customers around the world. With a larger pool of potential customers, you can easily scale up your efforts to build your brand and increase sales. Due North is a Brisbane, Australia based digital marketing agency with extensive experience in B2B, trades, & industrial clients.
