Covid-19 irrevocably changed the marketing landscape. For a significant period of time, gone were the out-of-home advertising on billboards and posters; marketing had turned digital in an effort to reach consumers who no longer went out. And this was a successful strategy given that the number of connected users grew to 4.9 billion in 2021 from 4.1 billion in 2019.
But even now that life beyond the home is finally resuming again, and out-of-home advertising is once again popular, digital marketing is not showing any signs of slowing down. The pandemic has clearly shown just how efficient and cost-effective digital marketing can be, and made more and more marketers realize the potential of a robust and well-executed digital marketing strategy.
But oftentimes, digital marketers make the mistake of thinking that digital marketing equates to influencer marketing. That’s simply incorrect; while influencer marketing is a very important and effective aspect of digital marketing, there’s a lot more that goes into a well-rounded digital marketing strategy. If you’re new to the world of digital marketing, you should consult with a digital marketing agency to help you take your digital strategy off the ground. But before you do so, let’s run through a quick list of other digital marketing tactics, and why you should use them.
Digital Marketing Tactics
Content marketing
Content marketing can often form the lifeblood of a digital marketing strategy. It is usually the core around which the rest of your marketing strategy is built. Content marketing involves publishing content specific to your brand and brand missions and values and is closely tied to your brand image. It helps the brand create and develop a persona that is useful and relevant to their audience.
Content marketing can include all types of content: pictures, videos, blog posts, social media posts etc. When developing a content marketing strategy, it is important to always keep the brand image you desire and the brand image projected to your audience at the forefront of your mind. All the content you publish must be aligned with this brand image, and aid in creating a stronger and value-added brand image in the minds of your consumers. Through successful content marketing, your audience will regularly return to your owned media pages to engage with the brand’s content, and perceive this content as useful to them and their lifestyle.
Community management
Community management is the logical follow-through from content marketing. Community management involves building a strong network of followers or fans through engagement and interaction, and guiding the discourse. Effective community management is what turns a follower into a dedicated brand advocate. Brand advocates are usually repeat purchasers who are loyal to the brand and are high-value customers. They are also most likely to spread positive word about the brand to their personal contacts or on their social media accounts and help bring new customers to the brand. They are indispensable to any brand.
Community management is usually conducted through a brand’s social media pages or discussion forums where a brand’s customers are able to interact with the brand’s representatives. Prompt and helpful replies to customer queries and suggestions, addressing customer needs and issues through content, and even casual engagement with customers can go a long way to building a loyal and enthusiastic community.
Paid Media
When talking about digital media, it’s easy to devolve the conversation into organic reach and growth and forget about the importance of paid digital media. Paid media has been shown to be far more effective in growing reach than organic channels, and at a much faster rate. If you have the budget to implement a robust paid media tactic, then it’s definitely worthwhile to do so.
Paid media tactics can include promoted posts on social media channels, influencer marketing, sponsorship deals, promoted posts on search engines, and banner ads on webpages. And the best thing about paid media, is its ability to be controlled. With paid media you can choose who to target, when to target them and where, and what budget to fit. It can also greatly boost the visibility of your posts and advertisements, and often return an assured eyeball level.
Live Streaming
While many of the above-mentioned tactics have been in use for a while, a relatively new tactic is live streaming. Live streaming has surged in popularity recently on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch. Not only do you have influencers and celebrities getting on live streaming platforms, but so are brands!
Oftentimes, brand involvement in live streaming is tied together with influencer marketing in that they leverage the fanbase and popularity of an influencer to talk about their products and/or review them during live streams. This is usually best suited to products that are helped by having a live session where consumers can view with their own eyes the product quality and specifications. If your product is highly technical, you can even staff the live stream with your own people and have them demo the product and answer any consumer questions. As such, live streaming is becoming a popular tool to reassure consumers about the authenticity and quality of a product.
