The goal of marketing is, and has always been, to match a company’s products and services with the people who want to access them. That “match” drives the entire marketing strategy, and is essential for sales and growth. However, “the way people consume media has changed rapidly over the past decade—traditional television has made way for smartphones, tablets, over-the-top streaming devices and so many other means of content consumption,” says Toni Fitzgerald, contributing writing, forbes.com. Gone are the days where people discover or convert to new products and services by sitting in front of the TV, yet so many companies are still spending millions of dollars on traditional marketing platforms like TV and radio ads.
According to marketingcharts,com, “In Q3 2018, the amount of time 18-34-year-olds as a whole spent watching traditional TV (live and time-shifted) dropped by about 17.2% from the previous year.” And while the numbers aren’t quite as dramatic for older generations, traditional viewership continues to decline as the number of modern methods for consuming media expands.
Consumers in 2019 are in fact much more than that—they are informed, engaged, collaborative, social, influential and in control. The age-old “Rule of 7,” where a person needs to engage with the advertisers message seven times before taking action, necessitates a much more strategic marketing plan today than it did even 10 years ago. The rapidly-growing digital scene requires marketers to find ways to be heard above the clutter and to be considered the superior choice.
Thankfully, companies today have a huge selection of diverse marketing platforms that can specifically target the right potential customers, positioning them above the noise. A marketing strategy focused on digital mediums is the way to meet customers where they undeniably are—online. It is more essential than ever for businesses to keep up with ever-shifting consumer media trends and make strategic marketing choices. Investing in a well-run digital marketing campaign is the most efficient and comprehensive way for businesses in the current marketplace to see returns on their marketing investment. Digital marketing mediums such as email and social media campaigns afford companies all the flexibility, adaptability and actionable data they need to successfully target and engage with consumers.
Consider Google Analytics, for example. Once established, this platform automatically collects data about potential customers’ behaviors as they engage with a company’s website. Data is customizable and can report everything from age, gender, interest, device, and location of your audience, to how long your audience is spending perusing the pages within your site. Google Analytics can also help you determine how much to spend on various social media platforms based on your audience’s behavior, and it can help you determine what kind of content you should write. Perhaps most importantly, Google Analytics also helps you determine whether you are reaching the goals of your marketing efforts, whether it be sales, gathering leads, subscribing to your newsletter, etc. (www.medium.com).
Now consider how vastly different the actionable data collected from the above example differs from the data you can collect from traditional marketing efforts like TV ads. The comparison is nearly impossible because there’s no statistical way to gather data from media sources people don’t actively engage with. People don’t simply consume media anymore.
If you want to spend your marketing budget wisely and scientifically prove your ROI, digital marketing is the best option. Consider the following benefits of a comprehensive digital marketing portfolio in terms of ROI:
Extremely Low Associated Costs
Because of the online nature of digital marketing, campaign initiatives require very little physical equipment, and once content has been created, campaign elements can be easily edited, adapted, started, stopped, etc. The flexibility afforded by digital marketing mediums results in low associated costs and higher ROI.
Advanced Targeting and Tracking
Unlike offline mediums like TV and magazine ads which can only vaguely guess at who their ads actually reach, digital mediums have options for advanced, specific targeting, ensuring your campaign truly reaches the intended audience. Potential customers and their digital journeys can be captured and effectively tracked to determine behaviors like how and when they make purchases, what other sites they’re visiting and how they engage with their online communities. All of these analytics provide a comprehensive picture of your target audience and allows you to adapt your marketing strategy accordingly. Adaptability directly relates to ROI because none of your marketing efforts are wasted and you can ensure your content is effectively reaching the right potential customers likely to make a purchase.
Actionable Data
Another huge benefit of digital marketing platforms is that you know specifically who engaged with ads, emails, and clicked through various links landing them at your site. This information is invaluable to a company because it directly informs your ROI. You know exactly how many purchases on your site came from people using search engines performing key word searches leading them directly to you.
Next time you’re scrolling your Instagram or Facebook feed or browsing the internet, consider how poignantly the digital ads match your specific demographic. Those ads have been targeted at you through data analytics based on your digital behaviors. The products you see advertised as you go about your “digital day” are not happenstance, and they likely yield high returns for the company using that marketing strategy. The beautiful thing about a comprehensive digital marketing portfolio is the ability to shift, morph, grow and adapt to the surrounding digital climate. With this kind of flexibility, your digital marketing dollars continually produce ROI as they meet your potential clients exactly where they are—online.
https://medium.com/@dineshsem/10-good-reasons-why-you-should-use-google-analytics-699f10194834
Deedra Determan – Entrepreneur
Deedra Determan is the founder of D2 Branding, a digital marketing firm that ignites brands, corporations, start-ups and personal brands to increase their profit. D2 Branding offers business consulting and digital marketing plans using Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube to generate leads online. D2 coaches its clients from the lead nurture process until the sale.
Determan started her career in television where she spent 10 years at a local Fox affiliate and later consulted TV stations across the country for Clear Channel Television.
Determan later became an entrepreneur launching a niche website for moms, growing it to 100,000 moms visiting the site every month using the power of Facebook. After only one year, Determan sold the site to Oklahoma Media Company, Griffin Communications.
D2 Branding was recently recognized as one of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” by Entrepreneur magazine’s Entrepreneur360™ ranking, a premier study delivering the most comprehensive analysis of private companies in America. Based on this study forged by Entrepreneur, D2 Branding is recognized as a well-rounded company that has mastered a balance of impact, innovation, growth leadership and value.
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