Digital marketing originated from businesses’ experimentation with new marketing tactics as a result of the proliferation of digital technology, including the widespread use of computers and smartphones.
Looking ahead to the present day, digital marketing has become just as crucial, if not more important, than traditional marketing techniques. Some businesses are experiencing an increasing distance between traditional and digital marketing, while others have developed innovative approaches to bridge the gap. It is critical for all companies to carefully plan and implement an effective digital marketing plan, regardless of their approach.
What Are the Basics of Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing involves utilizing electronic devices, including online marketing methods on the Internet, to promote products or services. To accomplish this, businesses may use websites, social media, search engines, blogs, email, video, and comparable mediums to connect with potential customers.
Traditional marketing is often considered “one-way” communication and does not allow for customer interaction. In contrast, digital marketing is a constantly evolving and dynamic process that enables businesses to engage in two-way communication with their existing or potential customers. This means that customers cannot interact with a business through print or billboard advertisements, but digital marketing provides an avenue for communication between a business and its clients.
Nowadays, numerous individuals spend a lot of time in front of screens. This fact is utilized by digital marketing to advertise various products and services of businesses on the internet. By doing so, businesses can make sure that their marketing endeavors are well-directed towards clients who spend a significant portion of their time online.
A diverse digital marketing plan can result in noteworthy business advantages for both startups and large companies. A prosperous strategy often incorporates a range of techniques such as online advertisements, search engine optimization and marketing, social media management and marketing, and content generation, among several others.
Are There Different Ways to Conduct Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing can be executed in a multitude of ways, tailored to suit the specific needs and objectives of a business. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Nevertheless, there exist various typical approaches for executing digital marketing, among them are:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — SEO is the practice of improving ranking within major search engines to increase online traffic.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — SEM leverages paid online advertising to increase website visibility within search engines. SEM is often used in conjunction with SEO.
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) — PPC is an online method for advertising where a business only pays for its ads when a person clicks on them.
- Social Media Marketing (SMM) — SMM is the practice of using social media channels to promote business products or services. The use of social media influencers, often referred to as influencer marketing, is prevalent in SMM.
- Email Marketing — Email marketing enables businesses to send branded, promotional content directly to prospective customers via email. The use of automated newsletters is common in this context.
- Affiliate Marketing — Affiliate marketing is a performance-based exercise that enables revenue sharing and pay-per-sale (PPS) compensation within a common network.
- Content Marketing — Content marketing refers to the publishing and distribution of text, video, or audio materials to customers online. Blogs, videos, and podcasts are common ways for businesses to engage in content marketing.
- Native Advertising — Native advertising involves blending marketing materials into a medium, making the underlying message and marketing purposes equally important. Sponsored content, in which one business posts its own content on a different website, is a common method of native advertising.
What Benefits Can I Achieve Through Digital Marketing?
Due to the variety of options available in the realm of digital marketing, there are numerous advantages for those who are digitally skilled. Digital marketing provides businesses with the ability to connect with customers while they engage in everyday activities like browsing social media, consuming online content, and watching videos. This approach to marketing, which is both natural and recurring, can result in a multitude of commercial benefits.
To be specific, digital marketing has the potential to bring businesses a variety of advantages, including each of the following.
- Global Reach — Unlike traditional methods, digital marketing is not necessarily bound to a specific geographic area. The Internet is available to customers across the globe. This allows businesses to market and sell to customers who live in a different state or country, removing many traditional barriers to entry.
- Low Cost of Entry — To achieve the global reach of digital marketing through traditional channels, there would be a serious price tag attached. On the other hand, certain aspects of digital marketing can be achieved with a small investment of time and resources. For example, even small or startup businesses can create a website, manage social media and publish blogs without breaking the bank.
- Measurable ROI — In order to maximize profits, businesses must carefully evaluate return on investment (ROI). With traditional marketing, ROI can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to measure. On the other hand, digital marketing provides real-time visibility into the effectiveness of each campaign, enabling business leaders to make well-informed decisions to drive revenue and increase profit.
- Improved Targeting — Digital marketing allows businesses to target very specific demographics of potential customers. By engaging customers in a particular geography, industry, or social channel, businesses have a much better chance of reaching their target demographic.
- Dynamic Adaptability — Digital marketing strategies are extremely malleable and flexible, enabling businesses to adjust course when needed. Unlike long-term, traditional marketing campaigns, businesses can adjust their digital efforts on the fly, enabling quick pivots when necessary to realize a commercial opportunity.
- Immediate Connection — Before making a purchase, modern customers generally conduct online research and evaluate reviews. The first step in this process typically starts with a search engine. In this way, businesses with developed SEO, SEM, and PPC strategies can connect immediately with customers.
- Relationship Building — The rise of social media has turned it into a dominant communications platform for many customer demographics. Furthermore, customers increasingly want to interact with businesses on their terms and on their preferred platforms. As a result, businesses that engage in effective SMM practices can build longtime and loyal relationships with current and prospective customers.
Digital marketing methods can generate significant advantages for businesses of all types and sizes. Additionally, the cost of digital marketing may be customized to suit each business, removing various obstacles to entry inherent in traditional techniques. Given the numerous benefits that can be obtained at practically any budget level, it’s no surprise that many companies are experiencing success with digital marketing campaigns.
Boost Your Bottom Line with a B2B eCommerce Funnel
This article will concentrate on a B2B eCommerce funnel, despite the assumption that you are already well-acquainted with the concept of a sales funnel.
These steps are created with the intention of persuading your customers to take the desired action, which is frequently to buy your products or services. The model of the funnel demonstrates the process a buyer goes through, beginning with a wide opening at the top and gradually becoming narrower as the consumer becomes more devoted to your brand.
While the sales funnel sounds lovely in theory, it’s not a guarantee. Certainly, not everyone who enters the funnel will result in a sale. But beyond that, not all customers enter the funnel at the top, and many don’t move through it in a linear path. Nonetheless, it’s a solid framework from which to build a plan.
Although the idea of a sales funnel is relevant to various sectors, a B2B eCommerce funnel possesses specific intricacies that distinguish it from the typical model.
B2C vs. B2B eCommerce funnel
Typically, B2C customers make buying decisions on their own or seek advice from their social circle. Contact with a company representative is infrequent, unless an issue arises, for eCommerce businesses dealing with B2C customers.
Sales representatives often come into the picture towards the end of the funnel for B2B buyers. The B2B purchasing process also involves the participation of multiple individuals from different departments, who provide input and steer decision-making.
The Stages of the Funnel
We should analyze and examine each step of the funnel individually.
Awareness
The highest level of the funnel is awareness, where prospective clients are introduced to different marketing strategies, including social media, traditional and digital marketing, SEO, and advertising.
Prospective clients not just get introduced to your enterprise, but also gain knowledge about your offerings and solutions, preferably on how you can assist them in addressing an issue.
Collecting potential customer information can assist you in advancing their journey through the B2B eCommerce funnel.
It is crucial in this stage to share significant content rather than focusing on sales. Take advantage of this moment to initiate a dialogue with your clients, introduce them to your brand, and provide quality and visually appealing content that adds value to their knowledge.
The manner in which this occurs can vary, depending on what you offer in terms of products and services.
- Long-form content that educates potential customers on issues meaningful to them, or provides thought leadership for your industry
- Shareable content, like downloadables, white papers, templates, etc.
- Engaging, visual content such as videos that tell your brand’s story and showcase your personality, or demonstrate how your products work
B2B brands may need to customize their content to reach a particular group such as C-suite, managers, marketing teams, etc. Therefore, the content created may need to be extremely technical in order to effectively cater to the intended audience.
Interest
Interest is the subsequent step in the sales funnel. It’s essential to note that not all individuals who are conscious of your brand will be interested. The timing may not be suitable, leading them to become aware of your brand and return later when your products or services alleviate an issue. Remarkably, 90% of B2B purchasers retrace their steps through the sales funnel, revisiting at least one stage before arriving at the point of purchase.
However, if there is a potential customer who is interested, this is the stage where they will invest more time in getting acquainted with you.
To attract potential customers, you can encourage them to take specific actions such as visiting your website to download a tool or signing up for your email list to receive a welcome series drip marketing campaign. Additionally, some may choose to follow your social media account to gain a better understanding of your brand or read your most recent blog posts.
Explore methods to boost the curiosity of potential clients. You may incorporate social media into your eCommerce platform. Certain companies take it a step further by making it highly personalized: followers on social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter can add their handles during account creation, and items that they “like” subsequently get included in their individual suggestions.
Make sure to create an easily navigable website with distinct calls-to-action, intuitive points of guidance, comprehensive product pages, and a search feature. This is indispensable for ensuring customer happiness, as approximately half of B2B purchasers will abandon a website if they are unable to comprehend the company’s message or what it offers, while another 40% will leave due to unsatisfactory design or navigation.
Investing in an effective content marketing strategy can strengthen the relationship between potential customers and your business. However, it is important to invest wisely in the appropriate types of content marketing that suit your needs. According to most B2B businesses, SEO and blogs are the top lead-generation tools.
It is crucial to ensure that your content marketing is genuinely significant and tailored to your intended audience. The primary cause of low interaction between B2B sellers and business clients is the excessive transmission of irrelevant content by marketers.
Consideration
When a person enters the consideration stage, you can commence communicating with them in a more tailored manner. This comprises providing exclusive deals and advantages, trial periods at no cost, and other strategies that aid in their progression further down the B2B eCommerce funnel.
The major reason for discouraging online shoppers is the unanticipated shipping fees; the availability of free shipping may significantly motivate them to make a purchase by clicking the “Buy Now” button.
This is an opportune moment to enhance the credibility and worth of your brand. Incorporate materials such as customer success stories, evaluations from other customers, product rankings, endorsements, and other components to persuade interested consumers.
According to research, peer reviews hold more credibility among online shoppers as compared to the traditional rating system of 1 to 5 stars. Moreover, detailed accounts of the experience shared by buyers are deemed more reliable.
Showcasing positive customer experiences through peer reviews can help push someone into that next phase.
Intent
During this phase, prospective clients express their eagerness in your offerings. For B2B companies, it could be communicated to their account manager or sales representative. Or, they may add items to their shopping cart, giving you an opportunity to connect and motivate them to finalize their purchase, either through a sales representative or a follow-up email.
Assessment
Customers are making their ultimate decision on whether to make a purchase during the evaluation stage. They may require more product information, comprehend warranties, return policies, and other essential pieces of information to aid their decision-making process, especially in B2B purchases where they may need to negotiate.
Before making a purchase, there is an increase in the number of individuals engaged in the decision-making process, an uptick in the amount of time spent online evaluating choices, and a broader range of information sources that are researched.
If you make this information readily available and accessible at every stage of the sales funnel, you increase your chances of closing a deal.
Purchase
The ultimate phase entails a potential customer transforming into an actual customer after making a purchase. Pleased customers may become regular buyers, and more importantly, yield referrals. An endorsement subsequently kickstarts the funnel process anew, enabling the potential customer to begin their own individual journey from the initial stage.
