Over 89% of the UK’s population goes online daily, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they enter one of the top three visited websites in the world – either Google, YouTube, or Facebook.
Considering this, if we asked you to choose between marketing your business in the Yellow Pages (Gen Zs are thinking “the what?”) or on Facebook, the answer is simple.
You’re going to advertise on Facebook because digital, or online, marketing is a far more effective way of reaching your audience than offline marketing is in this day and age.
But what actually is digital marketing? Why is it more successful than offline marketing? And how can you get the most out of it?
These are some of the burning questions small business owners need answers to before embarking on their marketing journey. So read on to learn everything you need to know about online marketing and more.
Or, if you’re serious about marketing your business, why not get support from a digital marketing agency? Not only will they be able to assist you with your marketing strategy, but many agencies also support their clients with brand building and content creation.
To save you the hassle of the UK’s 7,200-plus agencies, we recommend you use our free, and simple, digital marketing agency cost comparison tool to get quotes from the UK’s most trusted providers – and find support in minutes!
Or read on to find out more about our own top agency picks both for digital and social media marketing in the UK.
Exactly is digital marketing?
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, refers to any form of marketing via digital means. That could be to promote your product/service, maintain healthy customer relationships, or build brand awareness.
Any marketing campaign that occurs on the internet is digital – using online communication to forge a bond between customer and company.
Considering how connected we all are now (what with the plethora of devices we’ve come to depend upon), creating and nurturing a customer/business bond has never been easier.
However, digital marketing is a many-stringed bow. There are lots of advantageous ways to use technology when it comes to marketing, but not every digital marketing method is suitable for every business.
You can read on to find out about the different digital marketing channels, including a breakdown of what each is most suitable for, and how you can use each channel to promote your business.
But first, let's look at the key reasons why digital marketing is so important for all small businesses.
There are countless reasons why online marketing is the way forward for any startup. Even if you still want to use some traditional marketing methods to advertise your business, the benefits of marketing digitally are not to be underestimated.
We’ve listed some of these benefits below:
Huge reach
2.91 billion monthly users on Facebook, over 1.5 billion monthly users on Instagram, and a cheeky 1 billion monthly users on TikTok.
These user stats alone are testament to the massive audience at your fingertips when marketing your brand online and, in particular, on social media platforms.
And the best part is, there are no geographical barriers stopping you from marketing your brand anywhere in the world. When you post an ad online, you reach audiences everywhere.
To find out more about marketing on social media, check out our what is social media marketing article.
Cost efficiency
Digital marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of building excitement around your brand.
Traditional marketing ('i.e' printed, physical, and outbound marketing) is expensive, and the landscape is often monopolized by the bigger brands with budgets to match – making it hard for small businesses to compete.
But in the digital world, you get a lot more bang for your marketing buck – making it an affordable alternative.
While traditional marketing tactics can often have a hidden price tag, digital marketing is relatively cheap and the costs are transparent. However, what it will cost you is a lot of time and patience.
Organic and predominantly free tactics, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media marketing, take time to gain enough traction to have an impact.
So save yourself time by using some clever social media management tools.
And, you can also speed things up with methods such as pay-per-click, display, and social media advertising, which will come at a small cost but deliver results more quickly.
Measurable, quantifiable impact
Imagine you have a killer campaign with brilliant graphics and stellar copy, but no way of knowing if it’s actually had an impact when it comes to sales (or if anyone’s seen the campaign, for that matter).
With digital marketing, this scenario is completely avoided. There are always analytics tools that will tell you exactly how many people your marketing campaign has reached, how many people engaged with the brand as a result, and how many conversions it generated.
Analytic tactics take the mystery out of marketing. You can see the direct impact of each and every campaign – brilliant for making smarter, more targeted marketing moves in the future.
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