Top 5 Reasons Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy in 2018

A digital marketing strategy is absolutely necessary for any company who is trying to gain a competitive edge. It’s now 2018, so this is obvious, isn’t it?

There certainly is no shortage of blogs and other experts saying this, but perhaps it’s not a matter of knowing that it is necessary as much as it is why it’s necessary. The funny thing is that many businesses, despite knowing they need to step foot into the digital marketing realm to promote their products and services tend to often be reluctant to because they’re not sure that this whole online thing really works.

However, one of the core reasons that digital marketing exists is to increase website traffic and new customer leads – also the number one marketing challenge that businesses face in 2018 at 63%, according to HubSpot’s Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2018. In addition, 70% of companies list converting leads to customers as their biggest priority over the next 12 months.

So let’s dive into the top 5 reasons why you need a digital marketing strategy

1 – You will have a better understanding of your target audience

One of the first things you will need to do when preparing a well planned strategy is research your target audience (i.e. your ideal customer or client). What do they like, what is their age group, where are they geographically located? Answering these types of questions will not only help you narrowly identify an ideal customer, it will also save you money in the long run by not wasting precious advertising dollars on people who don’t make sense to advertise to since they are not an ideal audience.

2 – You will have a definite goal to accomplish

A great part about writing down your marketing strategy is that you can pinpoint your marketing goal. Meaning, what are the one or two things that you are trying to accomplish through digital marketing? Is it getting more people to visit your store, getting people to buy your new product? Whatever it is, writing it down keeps your plan accountable later to determine if your goals were met.

3 – Planning now saves dollars later

As mentioned before, if you define who you customers are early on in the planning process, you can focus your efforts on advertising to those people only when it is time to start running a digital marketing campaign. Sure, you can run Facebook ads or Google Ads toward a broad audience all day, but without being laser focused on who you’re trying to reach, you will end up spending much more than you need to from unqualified clicks and website visitors. So do yourself a favor and minimize your costs!

4 – Competition is more fierce than ever for local businesses

Perhaps the most obvious reason in our top 5 is competition. For every industry, whether it be law firms, medical practices, restaurants or other, there hundreds of businesses all competing for the same customers. Without a solid digital marketing strategy that ensures strong online presence, your company is at a huge disadvantage against competing businesses. The good news is that you can out-compete the other team. Things like SEO to help you outrank competitors in Google Search as well as ensuring you have a completed Google Business Listing is a great place to start.

5 – A well executed plan will increase sales

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, a core reason for digital marketing’s existence is to increase website traffic and new customer leads. With a higher quantity of qualified customer leads, a handful of them will convert into new business. It’s quite that simple.

Wrap-up

So there you have it. 5 reasons why you need a digital marketing strategy in 2018 and beyond. For many small businesses owners, the thought of investing in a digital marketing partner can be daunting. We can understand that. But the fact is that many major brands are now shifting more of their advertising dollars to online efforts than ever before. And rightfully so, it’s where their customers live. And so do yours.

If you’d like to get started on your own digital marketing strategy, perhaps we can be of assistance. Consider starting with an SEO plan. We’ll have you soaring above your competitors in no time!