DIGITAL MARKETING: A TOOL FOR GLOBAL EXPANSION - PART 1

In the field of Economics and general production of goods and services, distribution of the produced items in such a manner that reaches the consumer in a quick, safe and efficient way is a major challenge that many face. Whereas much time, energy and efforts have been exerted in the production process, if the final outcome of the product or services does not reach the final consumer, all the costs and efforts will result to exercise in futility.

From the above submission, the need for Marketing comes to play. Marketing can therefore be considered as the action or process of promoting and selling products or services that includes market research and advertising. On the other hand, Digital describes electronic technology that generates stores and processes data. Therefore, Digital Marketing is the activity of integrating electronic technology and data processing for the purpose of promoting the sales of goods and services including market research and advertising for the benefits of the consumers.

Digital Marketing otherwise known as online marketing is broadly broken down into 7 main categories. They include: 1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 2. Pay -Per – Click (PPC) 3. Social Media Marketing 4. Content Marketing 5. Email Marketing 6. Mobile Marketing 7. Marketing Analytics 1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The aim of SEO is to get a business to rank higher in Google search results. This further increases search engine traffic to the business’ website. There are certain factors that bring improvement to a site’s SEO. Such factors include content indexing, good link structure, key words, key words targeting etc

2. Pay – Per – Click (PPC): PPC refers to paid advertisements and promoted search engine results. It is short –term in nature. This means that once you no longer pay, the ad no longer shows. This is another way of increasing search traffic to a business using online processes. Examples of PPC are advertisements you see at the top, bottom or sides of a page of a search results, the ads you see while browsing the web, short video ads before YouTube videos and ads in mobile apps. 3. Social Media Marketing: This includes everything a business does through various social media platforms. Social media platforms includes Face book, twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, etc. social media marketing goes beyond simply creating posts for social channels and responding to comments. To be very effective, efforts must be made towards making consisted and coordinated posts. A crucial part of social media marketing is analytics. Marketing Analytics is the process of analyzing the performance of social media posts and creating strategies based on data generated. Social media marketing requires a blend of creative thinking, objectivity and data-driven strategy for it to be effective. 4. Content Marketing: This is an approach that uses story-telling and information sharing to increase brand awareness. The ultimate aim of content marketing is to make the reader take an action towards becoming a customer. Content Marketing methods propels the prospect to take certain actions like requesting for more information, signing up for an email list or directly making a purchase. Content marketing may refer to blog post, white papers, e-books, digital videos, podcasts, etc. Content marketing is most suitable for people who enjoy writing or audio productions. 5. Email Marketing: This method is closely related to Content Marketing in that it sends ads to people’s email addresses. This is effective in reaching out to prospective customers who regularly open up their email inboxes. Email marketing software can offer many different analytical measures. 6. Mobile Marketing: This is the process of targeting marketing campaigns to mobile device users. Mobile technology is not just the future, it has revolutionized business. Mobile devices are key communication tools for most consumers in the US and other developed countries across the world. 7. Marketing Analytics: This is the practice of measuring, managing and analyzing marketing performance in order to maximize its effectiveness as well as maximizing returns on investment of businesses. Marketing Analytics allows you to monitor campaigns and other respective outcomes thereby enabling the organization spend resources in the most effective way. Furthermore, records have shown that 65% of Americans use smart phones. Also, statistics shows that about 70% of mobile search triggers several actions within an hour.