Digital Marketing is both an art and a science, and in the past few decades, it has branched out into dozens of areas. There’s analytics, email marketing, SEO, social network marketing, banner advertising, blogs, and more. To business people who are new to the field, it can be overwhelming. So here are some of our opinions about where your time and money are best spent, at least in the beginning.
Facebook ads
Facebook is now the top earner in online ad revenue, and for a good reason. Back in the pre-web days, big corporations would spend millions of dollars on TV commercials, radio ads, and full-page newspaper ads, even though most of the people who saw those ads wouldn’t be at all interested. It was still worth the cost. The way Facebook ads operate, you can define audiences whose interest in your ad will be many times greater, and you can reach them at a fraction of the price. Facebook can make that happen by not only having the world’s largest database of consumers, but also the world’s most extensive market profiles for those billions of consumers. Targeting them has become incredibly simple.
The best Facebook ad agencies agree that, if your business or offering is brand new, marketing to an audience with matching interests is both a powerful and a cost-effective tool.
Google ads
Google was the first major player in online advertising, and its keyword-oriented approach is very different from Facebook’s method of ad delivery. Even so, Google is still a strong contender in ad revenue: about 97% of the company’s sales comes from advertising.
The advantage of keyword advertising is that it’s the fastest way to make the sale when someone is going online with a clear idea of what they want to buy. For industries such as retail and e-commerce, it’s almost essential. Researching keywords can be tricky, but the best Google Adwords agencies can be helpful.
Content Marketing, Keywords, and SEO
Probably 70% to 90% of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves keywords in the content of your website, so we prefer to use the term ‘Content Marketing’ for this activity.
In a nutshell, the goal of content marketing is to make your site rank as highly as possible on search results pages, preferably in the first spot, for specific keyword phrases. Best of all, it doesn’t cost any money (unless you hire someone to do it for you). The only catch is that it takes time and practice to do it effectively. Once you have a set of keywords that large numbers of people are searching, and that aren’t too competitive, all you have to do is add content to your site – such as blog posts, videos, or podcasts – wherever your team’s greatest talents lie, and use those keyword phrases in the text or in identifying tags.
It’s important not to stop too soon, however. Keep adding content four times a week for six months, and you will see a major improvement in your search results.
Things to Remember
When it comes to online marketing, be aware that none of these methods is an all-or-nothing proposition. Facebook ads, Google ads, and content marketing are analogous to the tools for building a structure, such as a hammer, a saw, and a wrench. All of them can work together, but they perform different tasks, and are needed at different times.
We wish you every success on your digital marketing journey!
