Many marketers struggle to understand the intricacies of digital marketing - and it’s no wonder why.
Digital marketing experts tend to operate as if their audiences are digitally fluent. They’ll spout niche terms without explanation, leaving marketers scratching their heads or feigning comprehension.
You should never be afraid to ask “how,” “what” or “why” when it comes to digital marketing. To help you learn the basics, we’ve put together a roadmap that’ll give you a bird’s eye view of this complex landscape.
At its highest level, digital marketing has three main components: Lead Generation, Lead Capturing, and Lead Nurturing.
Phase 1: Lead Generation
The first step to digital marketing is devising and executing a lead generation strategy that draws the right people closer to your brand. This is all about choosing optimal messaging, targeting, and tactics to speak to your audiences. From SEO to social ads, there are many ways to accomplish this.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the optimization of your website to rank higher on search engines (like Google, Microsoft, and Bing).
A good search ranking allows your brand to get more exposure and generate more organic traffic.
There are many factors that impact SEO, mostly to do with the way your website is written and coded. Elements such as messaging, page speed, backlinks, UX, UI, and responsiveness all affect your search ranking.
Paid Social
Paid Social is the use of paid advertising to reach your target audiences on social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram offer robust Ads options, allowing you to reach hyper-specific audiences with branded content and offers.
Phase 2: Lead Capture
Once you attract the right audiences to your content, you have to make sure your digital presence is optimized to drive conversions. After all, the traffic you produced in the Lead Generation phase means nothing if those users don’t convert.
Website
A world-class website is your key to driving conversions. Impeccable messaging, flawless design, strategic UX, and robust code make your website a marketing machine. Once users land on your website, they should know exactly who you are and what they need to do next. In this way, your website acts as a marketing funnel, ushering visitors straight to conversion.
Landing Pages
Landing pages extend your website; they are stand-alone pages often leveraged in campaigns. Their value lies in their ability to drive users to take very specific actions, such as claiming an offer or downloading an eBook. Landing pages help users to focus on the offer at hand, rather than getting lost in the pages of your website.
Forms
Forms are arguably the most important part of any website or landing page. They are exactly what they sound like – digital forms where users can fill out their personal information, such as name, phone number, or email address. Users provide this data in exchange for offers or more info. This is how visitors convert into leads.
Phase 3: Lead Nurturing
So, you’ve targeted the right people and they’ve converted into leads. Now it’s your time to shine. The Lead Nurturing phase consists of providing your hard-earned leads with relevant, insightful content to drive them closer to your brand and persuade them to buy.