November 5th, 2015
One of the most important things you can do nowadays as a small business owner is to work with a digital marketing agency to get your business seen and heard. However, if you're like one of the hundreds of other small business owners out there, you're either skeptical of its efficacy, or you're not even sure what "digital marketing" necessarily entails.
To help you see what it is, what it can do for you, and why it's so important, here are a few things you should know.
What Is It?
Digital marketing is primarily using digital platforms to get your brand seen and heard, as previously mentioned. It's an umbrella term that refers to several different tactics and strategies, such as search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns, display, and pre-roll video, social media strategies, and a litany of other tactics.
Why Does It Matter?
Digital marketing matters because the Internet is the place people go to find new businesses and services. Less than 10 years ago, people were still relying on the phone book to see what they needed, but today, they can just sit down at a computer -- or even pull out their phone -- and find what they're looking for. A frequently cited statistic indicates that a whopping 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 44% of online shoppers begin by using a search engine. These users are most likely to click the first result and are extremely unlikely to go past the first page of results. A study from 2013 shows that the first ranked Google result gets 33% of the traffic, while the second and third-ranked results get 18% and 11%, respectively. From there on out, it declines exponentially. Digital marketing can help your business reach its site to the top of the search results page where people are going to find it.
Does It Work?
In short, yes. Using online marketing tactics is not only effective but cost-efficient. Content marketing -- such as blogging, posting to Facebook, and posting videos on YouTube -- generates three times as many leads as traditional forms of outbound marketing, such as cold calling, but costs 62% less. About half (50%) of all mobile searches are done in the hopes of finding local results, and 61% result in a purchase. Leads from search engine optimization, the ones earned by ranking well on Google, have a 14.6% close rate. That doesn't sound all that great, but consider the fact that outbound leads only have a 14.6% close rate.