Online marketing has been seen by many as a “modern gold rush.” So let’s clear up some confusion. From now on I will refer to online marketing as digital marketing.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing can be defined as the art and science of promoting brands, businesses, products and/or services through one or more forms of online marketing. Offline marketing methods include newspapers, magazines, direct mail and TV. Online marketing includes digital marketing methods such as websites, blogs, social media, video marketing, and more.
There are many digital media channels to try, such as content marketing, email marketing, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. It is a case of each business learning which channels and methods are most effective for their business goals. This means tracking and testing in order to analyze what marketing campaign are working well and bringing in the most traffic, subscribers and sales.
Digital marketing is an art because you have to be almost a “mind reader” to create the kind of content in each channel that your target audience will love. It is part science, because you need to be able to read all of your reports to determine which emails, ads, social media posts and so on have worked best, and then try to create others that will be similarly successful.
Digital marketing has become a proven success. However, there are a number of myths that hold back business owners from getting the best results. Here are a few myths to avoid.
There’s No Need For A Website When There’s Facebook
While it is true that Facebook can connect you with more than 2.2 billion active users per month, it is also true that it is only one of many digital marketing channels. Having your own website gives you a hub around which you can center all of your digital marketing activities.
Facebook has a number of useful features to help you drive traffic, including:
- Creating a business page
- Creating posts/updates at your page
- Polls
- A link to your email marketing list
- Facebook ads
- Facebook groups
But as handy as these tools are, they are no substitute for a website or blog which is updated regularly with interesting content, and information about the products and services for sale.
Creating A Website Is Enough
Your website must be fresh, interesting and kept up to date. You also need to offer a range of content, such as:
- Articles
- Lists
- Video
- How-tos
- Sales letters for your products
- And more.
Any Content Will Make My Website Good
Content marketing is the art and science of creating content with your target audience in mind in order to:
- attract the search engines
- attract regular site visitors
Doing niche-related research will help you understand exactly what your target audience wants in terms of information, so you can craft free and paid content that they feel will meet their needs.
If you’ve fallen prey to these myths, it’s time to take a closer look at your content marketing and digital marketing skills.
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