INTRODUCTION TO EXACTLY DIGITAL MARKETING

WHAT EXACTLY IS DIGITAL MARKETING? 

Well It's Actually Pretty Simple It's Delivering Your Brand's Message Through Digital Communication To Influence Your Audience's Perceptions About Your Brand And That's It That's All Digital Marketing Is. 

It's About Influencing Your Audience's Perceptions With Your Brand Message  Through Digital Communication. 

UNDERSTAND DIGITAL MARKETING WITH ADVERTISING 

Now A Lot Of People Associate Marketing And Digital Marketing With  Advertising And Believe That They're One On The Same Thing And I Know This Because That's How I Used To Look At Them I Used To Believe That Advertising And Marketing Were The Same Things And Those Words Were Used Interchangeably But Advertising Involves Paying For The Privilege Of Putting Your Message In Front Of Somebody Else's Audience.

You Pay Whoever Has That Audience Whether It Be Tv Or Radio Or Facebook Or Google You Pay Them For The Privilege To Put Your Message In  Front Of Them But There's A Lot More To Marketing Than Just Advertising You Have SEO You Have CONTENT MARKETING You Have EMAIL MARKETING.

 

So It's Important To Understand That Marketing   And Advertising Are Not The Same Thing And Just Because You're Going To Market Your Business It   Doesn't Mean That You're Necessarily Going To Be Going Out And Paying For Ads. 

So It's Important To   Make That Distinction Early On So You Have Clarity In What Marketing And Digital Marketing Actually Is. 

Now There Are A Lot Of Digital Marketing Platforms And Channels And You Don't Really   Have Many Brands That Would Use All Marketing Channels And All Platforms And Even Those That Do Use Them In Very Different Ways These Channels And These Platforms They're Just Tools To Get Your Message Out Into The Marketplace And Knowing How To Use Those Tools Is Really The Key To Marketing. 

It's Really The Key To Digital Marketing And A Digital Marketing   Strategy You Need To Understand What Tools Are Available To You And How To Use Those Tools To   Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Marketing Efforts. 

SO I WANT TO GIVE YOU FOUR QUESTIONS  THAT YOU CAN USE AND IF YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS THAT WILL BRING CLARITY TO WHAT DIGITAL MARKETING   ACTUALLY IS AND HOW YOU CAN USE IT TO GROW YOUR OWN BRAND. 

QUESTION NUMBER ONE WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?   

Now The Obvious Answer Here Is More Sales Every Entrepreneur Is Going To Answer That Question   Of What Is Your Digital Marketing Goal With More Sales But You Need To Get A Lot More Clarity In Terms Of What Your Goals And What Your Sub Goals Are For Any Kind Of Digital Marketing Efforts  Because It's Through This Clarity That You Can Define A Strategy So You Really Need To Understand   Exactly What You Want To Achieve From Any Digital Marketing Efforts. 

Do You Want To Grow Your Brand   Awareness Do You Want To Generate More Leads You Want To Grow Your Email List? 

You Might Want To Do   All Of Those Things But Where Are You Going To Focus Your Efforts First And Foremost So You must Have That Clarity And You Know What Your Goals Are. 

QUESTION NUMBER TWO WHERE IS YOUR AUDIENCE? 

Now There's This Old Belief That You Need To Be Everywhere And That If You Are   Everywhere Then Your Audience Is Going To See You Time And Again You'll Have More Touch Points But The Reality Is You Don't Need To Be Everywhere And Certainly If You're Starting Off And Your Small  Business And Your Resources Are Limited Then Being Everywhere Is Going To Dilute Any Efforts. 

You Need  To Focus In On Exactly Where Your Audience Is And More Specifically Where They're Going To Engage   With You Where They're Going To Be More Open To You So If You Decide That You're Going To Be  On Facebook If You're Going To Use Facebook Ads. 

When Are They Going To See Your Message   Where Are They Going To Be Are They Going To Be On Their Lunch Break Or On A Bus Or Sitting Down   After Their Dinner In The Evening And If They're In That Environment Are They Going To Be Open   To Your Messaging At That Point And What Type Of Messaging Would They Be Open To At That Point?

As Well So You mustn't Understand Only Where Your Audience Is But What They're   Open To At What Point In Time And That Will Really Help You To Define The Messages That Go Into Each And Every Tactic And Technique 

What You Want To Use So It's Really Important Here That You Understand Who Your Audience Is And Where They Are And In Understanding Where They Are And The   Environment That They're In At The Time That Will Help You To Understand What They Need From You At   That Point. 

QUESTION NUMBER THREE WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE? 

Now This Is Not Actually Defined Within The Digital Marketing Or Marketing Strategy Itself It's Defined Within The Brand Strategy And It's  Absolutely Critical Here That You Know Who Your Audience Is And The Position That You Want To Own  In Their Mind 

So What Image Do You Want Your Audience To Have About Your Brand Because When You   Know That When You Know The Image That You Want To Own In Their Mind And You Know What You Want   Them To Think About Your Brand Then You Can Define The Method For Your Message And How You're Going   To Deliver Those Messages 

QUESTION NUMBER FOUR HOW WILL YOU ENGAGE? 

Now There Are Many Channels  And Platforms Out There But In Reality, They're All Just Tools For You To Engage Your Audience   But Before You Define What Tools You're Going To Use To Engage Your Audience You Need To Know How You're Going To Engage With Them

It's Really Important Here To Understand First Who Your Audience Is As You've Defined Earlier And The Position That You Want To Own In Their Mind And That Image That You Want Them To Have About Your Brand.

When You Have That Then   You Can Define How You're Going To Engage With Them Where You're Going To Engage With Them And   What They Need From Your Brand In That Moment So This Is A Really Important Step To Really Define How You Want To Engage With Your Audience So You Can Influence Their Perceptions About Your Brand.   

A NOTE FOR YOU MY FRIENDS -

Now Look Digital Marketing Is Pretty Broad There Are A Lot Of Channels A Lot Of Platforms A Lot Of   Tactics And You Can Get Caught.

A Bit Of You Don't Really Have Clarity On What Digital Marketing Is All About Before The Get-go And By Answering All Of These Questions It Will Really   Help You To Understand Really On A High Level 

What You're Trying To Achieve From Your Digital   Marketing Efforts And Many Business Owners And Entrepreneurs Make This Mistake They Go Straight   Into The Tactics And Straight Into The Channels And The Platforms Without Really Taking A Step Back And Looking At Their Digital Marketing Efforts And Their Digital Marketing Strategy From A 10 000 Foot View.

If You Answer These Questions If You Take The Time To Define Exactly Who You're Trying To Meet Out There In The Marketplace And What They're Looking For   From Your Brand Then That Will Give You Clarity As You Define Your Digital Marketing Strategy As You Go Forward. 

I Would Love To Hear From You About Where You Are At The Moment In Terms Of Defining Your Digital Marketing Strategy Have You Gone Straight Into Tactics And You Have You Watched Loads Of Videos On Facebook Ads And Seo And Email Marketing.

Without Really Taking The Time To Step Back And Understand What You're Trying To Achieve And Exactly How You're Going To Achieve It  And That's The Mistake That So Many People Make But I Would Love To Hear About Your Experiences In The Comments Below Or Any Challenges That You Might Have In Understanding How To Define   Your Digital Marketing Efforts And How To Develop Out Of Strategy Let Me Know In The Comments Below.