11 Digital Marketing Tips: Dominate the Online World

Mobile is on the rise. In 2019, smartphones accounted for 53% of global website traffic. This means that your business – or more specifically, your website – needs to be prepared for that surge.

According to research by Google, 49% of people said they would not buy from a brand again if they had a poor mobile experience. What does this show? Well, if your website is hard to use on mobile, you can kiss goodbye to most of your returning customers.

In order to satisfy your mobile audience (as well as increase your conversion rates) you’ll need to make your website mobile-friendly. A mobile-responsive website will reformat its content in order to display neatly on mobile devices, meaning your visitors can spend less time squinting or sighing, and more time clicking and buying.

When working with your web designer, you’ll need to ensure they create mobile responsive web pages. Using a website builder? There’s no need to worry when choosing a template, because all the best website builders use mobile responsive themes.

Knowing what you’re up against will help you differentiate your business online. This is important because being different means you’ll stand out online, which ultimately means your website will get more clicks than your rivals’.

Let’s say you sell baseball cards. A quick Google search for your related services will reveal your competition, and the digital marketing tactics they’re using.

You’ll be able to see which baseball card-related phrasing, imagery, and blog content your competitors are using, as well as other factors like the services, reputation, and reviews they have online.

Use this research to design your differentiators. If your competitors aren’t doing so, you could add your business to TrustPilot to strengthen trust signals, advertise on social media to reach new customers, or sell a greater variety of products to pique a wider interest.

No list of digital marketing tips is complete without mentioning blogs, is it? We’ll cut right to it – when it comes to writing business blogs, shorter doesn’t always mean sweeter.

Longer, in-depth blog posts generate 9x higher success rates in gaining new customers than short blogs do. Think twice before making your blogs concise!

The average word count of top-ranked content on Google is between 1,140-1,285 words, but only 18% of companies’ blog posts are over 750 words. To ensure your content doesn’t fall into that short and not-so-sweet category, you should aim for that 1,200-word sweet spot.

Your blog can be about anything related to your business. Whether you’re sharing industry tips or discussing your latest product, learning how to start a blog could add tremendous value to your visitors’ experience, while helping your website get found more easily via search engines (blogs are great for SEO).

On average, email marketing returns $36 for every $1 spent – that’s a 3600% return on investment (ROI). Still unsure about email marketing? We didn’t think so.

So, you know you can bring more money and return customers to your business with the right emails – but what are the best emailing practices?

To encourage return visits to your website, you should set up automated responses to thank customers after they subscribe or make a purchase. Consumers like to feel appreciated, with ‘welcome’ emails boasting an average open rate of 82%.

When it comes to sending abandoned cart recovery emails (that’s when a customer leaves your site without finalising a purchase), being pushy brings more profits. Sending three abandoned cart recovery emails to each customer results in a 69% order uplift compared to sending just one email. Both of these email features are available on all the best ecommerce website builders.

Getting personal with your customers is vital for success in most areas of digital marketing, especially in email marketing.

Whether you’re suggesting similar products, using the customer’s name, or sending local deals that match their location, being personal always wins. In fact, personalized emails generated six times higher transaction rates than generic emails, yet only 30% of brands use them.

Being personal with your customers means using conversational tones whenever possible. Users are more likely to respond to a human-like message than some faceless, corporate spiel, which is why conversational commerce is becoming so popular. Think about using a live chat feature or an interactive quiz on your website to make the user’s experience that much more personalized.

Personalizing your content helps to differentiate your business (remember tip number 2?), while creating a unique and enjoyable customer experience. Your efforts won’t go unnoticed, either – a recent study found 40% of customers switch brands due to poor online personalization. 

Best of all? Personalization is one of the cheapest digital marketing tips to implement, requiring little to no monetary investment if you’re already using email marketing tools like MailChimp.

Ever browsed online, then saw that product advertised on Facebook? This is no spooky coincidence – it’s remarketing. Using tags known as ‘cookies’, this digital marketing tactic enables you to track your past website visitors wherever they go across the internet. 

Retargeting works. In fact, website visitors who are retargeted are 43% more likely to make the purchase. It’s also really simple to get started, and you have two options.

You can set up your Google Ads account (formerly AdWords) to display, or ‘retarget’, your products on numerous other websites to entice the user.

You can also use Facebook’s ‘Custom Audience’ feature to have your products retargeted on your past website visitors’ Facebook. If you run a Facebook Business account, then this is one of the best ways to make money through social media.

Prospective buyers experience three stages before making a purchase: awareness, consideration, and decision. Different types of content will suit different phases.

Let’s say an internet user is searching for an ecommerce website builder. These are the types of content you should send to, or direct your customers to, at each stage:

• Awareness: Ecommerce store home page – to provide an overview of your business
• Consideration: Product category page – to demonstrate your industry expertise
• Decision: Product page – to help the user finalize their decision

It’s important that you guide users through your website. You need to direct them to the right content that will suit their needs, and match their stage of the buyer’s journey.

Only 24% of Facebook Business pages use paid ads, leaving little competition in Facebook’s paid advertising space. That’s why you can’t afford to skip Facebook when crafting your PPC (pay per click) campaign.

How do paid Facebook ads work? It’s quite simple really. You can target your adverts to reach certain users based on factors like gender, age, and location. You’ll then pay Facebook X amount for each time your ad is clicked. For online store owners, Facebook advertising is particularly effective, with Facebook accounting for 80.5% of U.S. social referral share to ecommerce sites.

Most businesses stick to ‘organic’ (non-paid) advertising on Facebook, using video, imagery, and blog posts, but you can spend a modest amount to get brilliant results – the average cost per click on Facebook ads is $1.86, while the average cost-per-thousand views is £11.20.

This is one of the more costly digital marketing tips on our list, and you can read more about Facebook Ads Manager if you’d like some more detailed information about where your money’s going.

Most small businesses often give up on Facebook Ads too soon because they only put up quite a small amount of money, and don’t see any returns quickly enough. Fruitful Facebook campaigns take time to grow, but the juicy rewards are worth it. 

Plus, you can still use Facebook for free advertising. By creating a business profile, sharing your company news and offers, and interacting with your audience, you’ll start to grow brand awareness and connect to new customers.

Question: What do gymnasts and digital marketing strategies have in common? They both need to be flexible to achieve success!

Technology, and the consumer preferences that come with it, are always changing. Your business needs to stay on its proverbial toes and prepare for any shift in your audiences’ favourite channels, producing content that is relevant to your audience.

For example, if your audience is aged 15-21 years old, you should prioritize advertising on platforms they use frequently, such as TikTok, Snapchat, or Facebook. On the other hand, audiences aged 35 years + are more likely to respond to LinkedIn ads. 

Market research pays dividends. You should always spend time researching your target audience, learning about the channels they use and the topics they enjoy. That way, your digital marketing efforts won’t be wasted.

Consumers love watching videos, and you want to grow your business. It should come as no surprise, then, that utilizing video marketing is one of our favourite digital marketing tips!

We’ll hit you with some stats…

Research shows adding a video to your email can increase your email click-through-rate by up to 300%, while reducing your unsubscribe rate by 75%. What’s more, eight out of ten users have purchased a piece of software after watching the brand’s video.

Using a video on the background of your website could do wonders for your business, too. The average internet user spends 88% more time on a website that contains a video than those without.

On a tight budget? You can create professional-looking videos using your smartphone, a microphone, and natural lighting. Need actors? Ask your colleagues to step in, or use tools like Lumen5 to add descriptive subtitles.

You’ve probably seen influencers online advertising teeth-whitening products. These accounts are everywhere for a reason: influencer marketing works. On average, influencer marketing campaigns generate $6.50 for every dollar spent!

You don’t even need to spend big. ‘Micro-influencers’, social accounts with approximately 1,000 to 20,000 followers, are naturally less expensive than social influencers with followers in the millions. However, micro-influencers are particularly effective for advertising niche products to your relatively small, yet interested audience.

A recent study revealed that micro-influencers are perceived as ‘people like me’, meaning they could potentially add more credibility to your business than the bigger influencers could. You can find micro influencers on platforms like StackInfluence and Tribe.

Find Out More

• Check out our guide on How To Work With Micro-Influencers On Instagram for more helpful advice
• Worried about the price of social media marketing? Our guide How Much Does It Cost To Advertise On Instagram walks you through the costs involved.

It should come as no surprise that digital marketing is vital for growing your business in the ‘digital age’. Digital marketing can open up your business to the enormous population of internet users, while keeping your brand image fresh in the minds of consumers. Let’s recap our top online marketing tips…

Our best digital marketing tips are:

1. Optimize Your Website for Mobile
2. Research Your Competitors
3. Lengthen Your Blogs
4. Develop Email Campaigns
5. Get Personal
6. Use Remarketing
7. Tailor Content to Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
8. Leverage Facebook Ads
9. Remain Flexible
10. Create Visual Content
11. Partner with Micro-Influencers

Social media, smartphones, and technology in general are taking over the consumer consciousness. In contrast, traditional marketing methods such as leaflets, flyers, and newspapers are falling by the wayside – which, if you ignore the importance of digital marketing, could be the fate that awaits your business. So, let’s get digital!