When you focus on digital marketing, your audience explodes in terms of both reach and frequency without running through your available budget on the first day. This makes digital marketing an extremely valuable focus for reaching new audiences and converting leads to paying customers.

Whatever niche your business focuses on, make sure digital marketing is at the heart of your campaign plans. Let’s discuss the differences between digital and traditional marketing, why you need to focus on digital marketing, and how to get the most out of your digital marketing efforts.

Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

Digital marketing is made up of any campaigns or strategies that use online communication methods. Brands use online and digital channels to communicate with audiences about their products, promotional, and company information.

Some common channels for digital marketing include:

• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Paid ad campaigns on search engines and third-party sites
• Ads on streaming television platforms (OTT/CTV) and digital music stations
• Search engine optimization
• Content

Traditional marketing is a broad category that encompasses all the styles of marketing besides online channels. This includes any kind of marketing on conventional broadcast channels, on paper media, and in person.

Some common types of traditional marketing that are still popularly used today include:

• Direct mail with coupons, promotions, and calls to action
• Commercials on broadcast TV and radio
• Newspaper ads and sponsored articles
• Billboards
• Phone Calls

There are three key differences between digital marketing and traditional marketing that make digital marketing a superior option for the vast majority of businesses:

1. Better Analytics and Tracking: Digital marketing efforts are more trackable and generate more data. You can then track which campaigns lead to more engagement, greater clickthrough rates, and more sales. Companies can also better track A/B testing and experimental marketing campaigns to quickly assess their value and zero in on the marketing strategies with the best ROI.
2. AI and Smart Marketing: Most digital marketing strategies can be supplemented with smart or AI-based systems that instantaneously use machine learning and data to determine which ads should be used with specific users on specific platforms. For example, smart digital marketing interfaces can decide if users have already been exposed to one ad in a series and send them the next ad instead of a repeat.
3. Inbound Marketing Possibilities: Inbound marketing is an increasingly common content marketing strategy of creating and publishing content so people can come across it when they need it. An organization's premade content bolsters the self-directed buyer's journey, so buyers feel more confidence and trust in the company. It's less interruptive than traditional marketing.
   
   

Why Does Your Business Need Digital Marketing?

Every business needs digital marketing to reach new audiences reach new audiences and guide users through a convenient shopping experience. As more and more markets focus on online commerce efforts instead of traditional brick-and-mortar stores, digital marketing becomes more and more essential.

Some examples of crucial use cases for digital marketing in modern marketplaces include:

• Exposing new audiences to your brand. Digital marketing has far fewer barriers, such as geography, so that you can reach new consumers.
• Putting promotional deals and coupons in front of subscribers and shoppers where they spend a lot of time: on websites, social media, and in their inboxes.
• Having educational content about how to solve niche problems or use your products and services.
• Creating an online presence on local business directories like Yelp or Angie's List and map services like Google Maps so prospective customers can find you when they're searching for a service.
• Placing paid ads and links that send viewers directly to a relevant product page or demo signup.

Ultimately, digital marketing offers convenience, both for your efforts to outreach to customers and customers' efforts to find a suitable solution to their problems. They can instantly search for organizations in your industry and answer their specific questions. They'll also be repeatedly exposed to your brand through retargeting ads and ads based on recent searches, which increases trust in and familiarity with your brand and products.

5 Ways to Leverage Digital Marketing

Whether you're new to digital marketing or you want to add more structure to your marketing campaigns, incorporate these to grow your business:

1. Use social media paid ad campaigns to broaden your geographic range for advertisements.
2. Develop local business directory profiles so your company can be found on local online searches.
3. Build a business blog to cultivate more visitors and increase your website's rankings in SERPs.
4. Pay for streaming television ad time, so you're not restricted to local broadcasting audiences.
5. Use paid ad campaigns on search engines to reach hot leads at the start of their service search.

Make Arizona’s Family Your Media Partner for Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is powerful for small businesses that want to expand their audiences. At  Arizona’s Family, we can help you navigate different digital marketing approaches, monitor results, and refine your digital campaigns.