Traditional marketing methods for real estate are dying off just like the dinosaurs did millions of years ago .. and it’s time to embrace the future of marketing … there’s still room for letterbox dropping, cold calling, but digital marketing is a far cheaper, more effective way to reach audiences you’ve never previously had access to, attract more quality leads and grow your business faster by using Digital Marketing.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is also called online marketing, and it is the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. it allows organizations to establish a brand identity and has revolutionized the marketing industry. This includes not only email, social media, websites and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channels as well.
Digital marketing first became popular with the advent of the internet in the 1990s. It involves some of the same principles as traditional marketing and is often considered a new way for companies to approach consumers and understand their behaviour. Companies often combine traditional and digital marketing techniques in their strategies.
Smartphones and other digital devices are now making it easier for companies to market themselves along with their products and services to consumers. Studies show that people prefer using their phones to log on to the internet, in fact latest stats suggest 90% of the world’s population log onto the internet on their mobile. So, it should come as no surprise that 70% of individuals make buying decisions (usually on their phones) before they actually hit the purchase button.
7 Types of Digital Marketing:
1. WEBSITE MARKETING – A website is the centrepiece of all digital marketing activities. It is a very powerful channel on its own, but it’s also the medium needed to execute a variety of online marketing campaigns. A website should represent a brand, product, and service in a clear and memorable way. It should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.
2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising – Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising enables marketers to reach Internet users on a number of digital platforms through paid ads. Marketers can set up PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook and show their ads to people searching for terms related to the products or services.
3. Content Marketing – The goal of content marketing is to reach potential customers through the use of content. The tools of content marketing include blogs, eBooks, online courses, infographics, podcasts, and webinars.
4. Email Marketing – It is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels. Many people confuse email marketing with spam email messages, but that’s not what email marketing is all about. This type of marketing allows companies to get in touch with potential customers and anyone interested in their brands. Many digital marketers use all other digital marketing channels to add leads to their email lists and then, through email marketing, they create customer funnels to turn those leads into customers.
5. Social Media Marketing – The primary goal of a social media marketing campaign is brand awareness and establishing social trust. As you go deeper into social media marketing, you can use it to get leads or even as a direct sales channel.
6. Video Marketing – YouTube is one of the most popular search engines in the world. A lot of users are turning to YouTube before making a buying decision, to learn something, read a review, or just to relax. There are several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, and even TikTok to use to run a video marketing campaign. Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and broader social media marketing campaigns.
7. SMS Messaging – Companies also use SMS or text messages to send information about their latest promotions or give opportunities to willing customers.
Why Is SEO in Digital Marketing Important?
Search engine optimization or SEO is the way that companies are able to increase their traffic through search engines with the goal of pushing their websites and names at the top of any search results page. This can be through search results done organically or editorially. When companies are able to successfully apply SEO in their digital marketing strategies, their names and websites become increasingly visible to more consumers. So ideally you want to appear on the first page or two of Google.
The How of Digital Marketing
1. Define your goals
When you’re first getting started with digital marketing, it’s critical you start by identifying and defining your goals, since you’ll craft your strategy differently depending on those goals. For instance, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might want to pay more attention to reaching new audiences via social media.
2. Identify your ideal client/ target audience
We’ve mentioned this before, but one of the biggest benefits of digital marketing is the opportunity to target specific audiences – however, you can’t take advantage of that benefit if you haven’t first identified your target audience. Of course, it’s important to note, your target audience might vary depending on the channel or goal(s) you have for a specific product or campaign.
3. Address your budget
A digital marketing strategy likely needs both paid and free aspects to truly be effective. Ultimately, it’s recommended to focus on building your organic (or ‘free’) reach using content, SEO, and social media for more long-term, sustainable success. However, if paid advertising is part of your digital strategy, then the results might come even quicker.
4. Build your content strategy using engaging content
Once you know your audience and you have a budget, it’s time to start creating content for the various channels you’re going to use. This content can be social media posts, blog posts, PPC ads, sponsored content, email marketing newsletters, and more.
5. Choose your social channels
Strike a good balance between paid and free digital strategies
6. Optimise everything for mobile
This means it’s essential to optimize your digital ads, web pages, social media images, and other digital assets for mobile devices.
7. Conduct Keyword Research
Digital marketing is all about reaching targeted audiences through personalized content — all of which can’t happen without effective keyword research. Conducting keyword research is critical for optimizing your website and content for SEO and ensuring people can find your business through search engines.
8. Analyse and pivot if something isn’t working
Finally, to create an effective digital marketing strategy for the long-term, it’s vital your team learn how to pivot based on analytics.
Why of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing helps you reach a larger audience than you could through traditional methods and target the prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service. Additionally, it’s often more cost-effective than traditional advertising, and enables you to measure success on a daily basis and pivot as you see fit.
There are a few major benefits of digital marketing:
1. You can focus your efforts on only the prospects most likely to purchase your product or service.
2. It’s more cost-effective than outbound marketing methods.
3. Digital marketing evens the playing field within your industry and allows you to compete with bigger brands.
4. Digital marketing is measurable.
5. It’s easier to adapt and change a digital marketing strategy.
6. Digital marketing can improve your conversion rate and the quality of your leads.
7. You can engage audiences at every stage with digital marketing.
If you would like to learn more about digital marketing and how it can help you grow your personal brand, generate more leads, and explode your business click on this link – The Digital Marketing School.