Digital marketing is a term used for all online marketing, this includes social media, email, websites, apps and, Google search and advertising.

People spend more time online than ever, with phones and devices online 24/7 customers can connect to research and shop whenever they feel like it. They connect while watching TV, in bed, in the kitchen and even while on the toilet! 87% of Australians access the internet daily at least five times a day, 69% of internet users have a social media profile, and spend up to 12.5hours a week on Facebook. *

Giving the above statistics it makes sense to have your business seen on digital platforms.

Digital vs traditional marketing

How does digital marketing differ from traditional marketing and do you need to use both?

Traditional marketing is also called offline marketing, this includes newspapers, magazines, radio and TV advertising.

The key to deciding on which methods to use relies on knowing your target audience and your customers, so you know where to focus your marketing time and money. A balance of both digital and traditional is great if you have the budget, however traditional marketing methods can be more expensive than digital and harder to monitor and measure.

One of the main benefits of digital is you can view analytics in real time and see how many people viewed your website, email marketing, social media pages and what engages your audience and what doesn’t.

If you are using both traditional and digital methods, it is important to keep consistency across both for your branding.

Digital Strategy

If you have decided you need to focus on digital for your business, the next step is to set up a digital strategy that aligns with the business goals and objectives, and the marketing strategy. The digital strategy focuses on:

• Customer research, competitors, evaluation of your current situation.
• Creating customer personas of your target audience e.g. age, location, income, job.
• Defining goals of what you want to achieve.
• Plan how you are going achieve the goals e.g. resources, budgets, digital channels.
• Action the plans.
• Measure and monitor.

The strategy doesn’t need to be long just a few pages.

If you haven’t already ventured into digital marketing or have a website and social media but no strategy, create a strategy and focus your efforts on the areas where your target audience lies.

Marketing is about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. Today, that means that you need to meet them where they are…on the internet.

If you require any business advice please Contact us.

By Stephanie Oakley, Marketing Manager at Pitcher Partners Newcastle and Hunter

*https://www.sensis.com.au/asset/PDFdirectory/Sensis_Social_Media_Report_2016.PDF