What is digital marketing? The definition of digital marketing is a marketing strategy using digital media and the internet. Have you ever seen a brand or company product that carries out a digital campaign or online campaign?

Or maybe you’ve also seen it through a company’s website and social media? You’ve seen all of these things lately. These things are called digital marketing.

The concept and application of digital marketing are things that are done to boost product sales from a brand. Along with technological advances, trends in the business world are also increasingly varied. One of them is the trend of digital marketing.

Then, how important is digital marketing applied in businesses that sell certain products? To answer that question you can listen to the explanation below so that you understand it clearly.

What is Digital Marketing (DM)?

Digital Marketing Steps for Developing a Good & Effective Strategy

The definition of digital marketing is a marketing activity or promotion of a brand or product using digital media or the internet. The goal of digital marketing is to quickly attract consumers and potential customers.

As we know, the acceptance of technology and the internet in society is very broad, so it’s no wonder that digital marketing activities are the top choice for companies.

As a result, companies compete with each other to create interesting content to be displayed in their marketing in cyberspace.

Some examples of marketing techniques included in digital marketing are SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ), online advertising such as FB ads and Google Ads, print media promotions, television and radio advertisements, electronic billboards, email marketing, mobile marketing, and others.

Definition of Digital Marketing According to Experts

Of course, experts in digital marketing have their own definitions. The definition of digital marketing according to experts is as follows, what are they?

Ridwan Sanjaya & Josua Tarigan (2009): Digital marketing is marketing activities including branding using various media. For example, blogs, websites, e-mail, adwords, and various social media networks.
Kleindl and Burrow (2005): The definition of digital marketing is a process of planning and implementing concepts, ideas, prices, promotions and distribution. In simple terms, it can be interpreted as the development and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships between consumers and producers.
Heidrick & Struggles (2009): Digital marketing uses the development of the digital world to do advertising that is not heralded directly but has a very influential effect.

Advantages of Digital Marketing

The large number of digital marketing used by companies, proves that this has many advantages and benefits that can be obtained, what are those? Here are some of the advantages of digital marketing compared to conventional marketing.

1. Speed of Deployment

Marketing strategies using digital media can be done very quickly, even in seconds. In addition, DM can also be measured in real time and precisely.

2. Ease of Evaluation

By using online media, the results of marketing activities can be immediately known. Information such as how long your product has been watched, how many people have viewed your product, what percentage of sales conversions from each ad and so on.

After knowing this kind of information, you can then evaluate which ads are good and which are bad. So you can fix for the next period.

3. Wider Reach

The next advantage is the wide geographical reach of DM. You can spread your brand or product worldwide with just a few easy steps by using the internet.

4. Cheap and Effective

Compared to traditional marketing, of course digital marketing is much cheaper and more effective. Budget costs can be saved by up to 40%, according to Gartner’s Digital Marketing Spend Report.

In addition, the survey also shows that 28% of small entrepreneurs will switch to digital because it is proven to be more effective.

5. Build a Brand Name

Digital marketing helps you build a good brand name. The existence of cyberspace with the existence of your brand is very important because people will do online searches before buying your product.

Types of Digital Marketing

1. Websites

The website plays a very important role in showing company professionalism, helping consumers find out about your business, economical promotion and easy business media.

2. Search Engine Marketing

Efforts to make the company’s website easy to find in search engine systems. Search Engine Marketing is divided into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

SEO is done by yourself, which takes longer and is cheaper, while SEM is paid but faster.

3. Social Media Marketing

Distribute platforms on social media such as Facebook and Twitter because it can be done at a minimal cost or even for free. This of course can enhance the company’s brand.

4. Online Advertising

Media promotion through the internet with paid. This can get consumers more quickly and satisfactorily but somewhat more expensive than the previous type.

5. Email Marketing

You can provide the latest information regarding ongoing promotions or the latest products or services.

6. Video Marketing

This way, you can get straight to the point about your business, explaining the products and how to use them and featuring customer testimonials.

How to Start Digital Marketing?

After knowing what it means and some of the basic concepts of digital marketing, are you interested in trying it? To start marketing using digital media, there are a number of things you need to prepare.

First, prepare the tools used to do the marketing. Several tools that can be used in digital marketing include: websites, social media accounts, brand and product identities, blog uploads, online footprints ( reviews, feedback from customers, etc.). In the world of digital marketing, these tools are an asset to you, so take good care of them.
Second, prepare attention-grabbing and shareable content. Content can be in the form of photos, videos, writing or something else. You should also define marketing goals and target markets tailored to the content.
Third, you can start uploading and then evaluate every upload on every social media you have, determine which ones provide feedback and focus on a few assets that provide good feedback for your business.
The next step that can be taken is to enter and join the marketplace public forum. Make sure your business profile is good, because it will affect the brand image.

Digital Marketing Strategy

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an attempt to optimize a site to get the top ranking of search results. To be top ranking, you need to understand how search engines work. Media that can be used such as websites, blogs and indographics.

2. Content Marketing

Plan, create and share content about the company. This is to attract readers to know about the business and motivate them to become buyers. This content can be made in the form of blog posts , social media, articles, e-books, indographics and online brochures.

3. Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation is a technique of automating repetitive tasks. Tasks such as workflows, content upload sequences and campaign reports. This automation can be done on digital channels such as email and social media.

4. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

PPC is a way to drive traffic to your site for a fee per click. For example Google AdWords, you pay then get the top slot of every search on Google and are charged for each click. Apart from that, there are also Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Sponsored Messaging.

5. Native Advertising

Forms of paid content displayed in a form that bears a resemblance to the media content and its placement. Content that looks and functions like part of the associated media. For example Promoted Post on Instagram and Facebook.

6. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is when you partner with other people’s services or sites to make commissions for referring readers or visitors to your business. For example Hosting video ads with Youtube.

7. Social Media Marketing

You promote your brand and content on social media like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger. Social media is a means to exaggerate the brand.

However, at first just focus on one social media to shorten time, costs, manpower and knowledge. Then determine the personality that you use on social media, such as formal or semi-formal.

What is the Digital Marketing Budget?

Whether digital marketing is expensive or not depends on the type used by your company. If digital marketing such as SEO and content, of course, doesn’t spend a lot of budget. However, digital marketing such as online brochures and e-mails, of course, requires certain costs.

After learning about the meaning of digital marketing, for the success and smooth running of your business, of course, you must also be supported by good financial planning. Performing calculations, reporting, and financial analysis are supporting activities for carrying out marketing strategies.

Steps for Developing a Good and Effective Digital Marketing Strategy

A good digital marketing strategy is one of the keys to business success in today’s digital era. In this article, we will discuss the steps that need to be taken to develop an effective digital marketing strategy.

Define Your Business Goals

The first step in developing a good digital marketing strategy is to understand your business goals. You need to set short term and long term goals that your business wants to achieve.

These goals must be specific, measurable, achievable and relevant to your business. For example, is your goal to increase sales, increase brand awareness or increase the number of website visitors?

Once your business goals are clear, the next step is to develop a strategy that will help you achieve them.

Know Your Target Audience

Once you have set your business goals, the next step is to get to know your target audience. You need to understand who your target audience is and what their needs are.

In identifying the target audience, you can consider age, gender, income, hobbies and other preferences. The better you understand your target audience, the easier it will be to develop the right digital marketing strategy for them.

Choose the Right Digital Platform

Once you understand your target audience, you need to choose the right digital platform to communicate your message. Some of the digital platforms that you can use are social media, email marketing, SEO, PPC, content marketing, and others.

It is important to choose a platform that is relevant to your target audience and the most effective for achieving your business goals.

Create Quality Content

Quality content is the key to a good digital marketing strategy. You need to create content that is interesting, informative and relevant to your target audience.

Your content must be able to educate, entertain or provide solutions to problems faced by your target audience. Also, your content should be easy to read and have an attractive format.

Use Data to Measure Success

The final step in developing a good digital marketing strategy is using data to measure success. You need to regularly monitor the performance of your digital campaigns and measure whether you have achieved your business goals.

The data you collect can help you understand what is working and what is not in your digital marketing strategy. By understanding your data, you can make the necessary changes and improve the performance of your digital campaigns.

In conclusion, an effective digital marketing strategy requires a deep understanding of the target audience, the right digital platform, and quality content.

You also need to use data to measure success and make the necessary changes to improve the performance of your digital campaigns.

By following these steps, you can develop an effective digital marketing strategy and help achieve your business goals efficiently.

Implement Some Tips That Can Help Make It Easier to Run Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Finally, what are some tips that can help you develop a good digital marketing strategy? Here’s the main list:

Use analytical tools: Analytical tools like Google Analytics can help you understand how your website visitors interact with your content. It also helps you to know which pages are visited the most and which platforms are the most effective.
Create a consistent experience: Ensure that the experience offered across all your digital platforms is consistent and reflects your brand well.
Provide added value: Your content must provide added value to your target audience. This can be useful information or entertaining.
Use eye-catching visuals: Visuals such as images or videos can help grab the attention of your target audience and increase their engagement.
Learn from competitors: Learn digital marketing strategies from your competitors and identify what they do well and what you can learn and apply in your business.

By following these steps and applying additional tips, you can develop a sound digital marketing strategy that will help you achieve your business goals.

Remember that a digital marketing strategy is an ongoing process, and needs to be continuously improved and updated over time.

Common Mistakes In Digital Marketing

The many conveniences offered by the concept of digital marketing are indeed tempting. But it’s important for you to note that there are some mistakes like the one below that must be avoided when implementing a digital marketing concept so that your business can run according to the marketing plan.

1. Strategy that is not on target

Strategy and planning is the first step to determine the direction of a business. Especially in the digital era like today, trends change so easily from time to time, so that consumers’ needs and desires are increasingly diverse every day.

Usually, several marketers are determined to get a wide range of consumers, so they are often haphazard in choosing the target market. This will complicate the digital marketing process, especially in the process of analyzing audiences who reach your product.

Before introducing products or services to the public at large, you must determine the objectives and marketing plans for these products. Make sure that the marketing strategy you design is specific, right on target, and easily accessible to the target market.

2. Understanding Prospective Consumers

The business that is being undertaken must be able to be a solution to consumer needs. However, there are still many business people who ignore this, so they tend to offer products that are not in accordance with market demand.

That is why you are obliged to measure the level of market needs before developing a marketing strategy.

Business idealism is indeed very important, but the products being sold must also pay attention to the audience, what their needs are, what are the preferences and trends of potential customers.

Understanding potential customers doesn’t need to change your product, but by adjusting packaging, promotional content, and also selecting Key Opinion Leaders.

You can search for product trends that are currently developing in the community by using Google Trends. Just enter the product name in the search field, Google Trends will show you a graph of the demand for the product in question.

3. Ignoring Digital Marketing Performance Measurement

The digital marketing function does not only focus on easier promotional features but is also measurable. Even though one of the core points of a businessman using digital marketing is to see marketing performance through numerical analysis.

How many audiences are aware of our brand , visit the website, or click on our ads in search engines.

4. Ignoring Story-telling and Copywriting

In a relevant sense, digital marketing is closely related to content. The most important thing in content creation is writing. Whether design or video content, the role of copywriting is very much needed to convey the message that will be given to potential customers.

The writing that is made must also be able to impress and educate the audience so that the products provided can be realized easily.

5. Untidy and Incomplete Website Pages of Digital Marketing

The company’s official website is the first element that consumers generally aim for when looking for product information through search engines. In this digital era, it can be said that the website is the “face” of your business.

That’s why you need to make sure the appearance of the website is able to accommodate the needs of visitors, instead of confusing them because of complicated website navigation.

A good business website must be able to present clear information, call-to-action, and landing pages that don’t distract visitors from finding what they are looking for.

Also make sure the message you display on the front of the website is short, clear, but very informative. An incomplete website, such as not having a blog, not equipped with contact information or About Us, can also damage your business reputation.

Apart from About Us, the company’s telephone number and email address must also be displayed on the website to make it easier for consumers to submit their questions, suggestions and criticisms.

The website must also adapt to user behavior by using the go-mobile feature. The increasingly dynamic user behavior demands that a website can be accessed anywhere and anytime.

6. Inappropriate Ads and Landing Pages

This one marketing mistake will obviously reduce consumer confidence. For example, you are looking for cheap laptops on Google, then click on the available ads, but instead you are redirected to a website page featuring tablets at fantastic prices.

To prevent this from happening to your business, check and re-analyze the elements that you will display on the landing page. Landing page content must match the ads you place on Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others.

7. Complicated Check-out Process

If your website requires consumers to go through complicated check-out stages, it is almost certain that consumers will actually leave the website without completing their purchase.

When the consumer has reached the checkout stage, the steps to the payment process must be short and simple.

8. Not Calculating Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI or better known as return on investment is the ratio of money gained or lost in an investment. If you don’t calculate ROI, then you won’t know the effectiveness of the marketing strategy that has been implemented.

Calculating ROI can be quite tricky. First, you need to determine which components need to be calculated, such as traffic, leads, conversion rate, or number of clicks.

ROI must be calculated by subtracting the total number of sales by the investment cost, then dividing by the total investment cost and multiplied by 100%.

Conclusion of Digital Marketing

That’s what it means and what are some of the digital marketing mistakes that often occur and can destroy a business. Apart from that, there are mistakes that are considered trivial but in fact also have quite a big impact, namely not optimizing the use of social media.

Among them are ignoring responses and suggestions from consumers on social media, buying fake followers or likes, and many more. Apart from implementing a digital marketing strategy, you also need to consider using an accurate system, such as using a company finance application from the online accounting application feature.

This will make it easier for you to manage business finances, especially for those of you who need a sales record application to maintain company data. Easy and practical management will save you time and effort, so you will focus more on business development plans.

Therefore, with the help of trusted accounting software, you can easily and accurately prepare financial reports.

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