The world is going digital – fast. A recent IDC report predicts that by 2025 (just 5 years from now!) each connected person will interact with data every 18 seconds. If your marketing team is not currently using digital marketing tactics, now is the time to begin building strategy and implementing ways to connect with consumers on another level.
After all, digital is not something marketers can turn on overnight. It takes learning, strategizing, technology implementation and practice. It will take time to plan how your team will win with a digital marketing strategy.
If you’re not yet sold on the digital way, or you have others to convince, here are three reasons why digital marketing is a must have.
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Everyone else is doing it. This isn’t always a good reason to do something, but in this case, “everyone else” is your competitors. These are the brands appearing in the top half of search results, and on banner ads targeting leads across the internet. To be successful, your marketing should be where the people are…and the majority of Americans are on the internet. While your brand is on the sidelines, your competitors are out in the digital marketplace, gaining skill, knowledge and accuracy with their digital campaigns. Don’t get FOMO… just get moving on your digital strategies and learning ASAP. In this instance, it could be costly to ignore the trends.
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Digital is flexible and nimble. Digital campaigns allow marketing teams to work quickly and stay nimble. If a digital ad is not getting results, the team can spot the issue quickly and change it up. More traditional methods of marketing, such as mail and advertising, don’t allow for this late-in-the-game plan switcharoo. With digital you can see it, react to it, fix it – and you’ll spend marketing dollars more efficiently because of this. The best part about digital marketing is you have the ability to test like crazy, and without a lot of extra expense. If after a short while one test is not working, turn it off and re-focus dollars toward the segments that are doing well. Try Plan A, B and C - learnings will be plentiful.
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Targeted and direct. There are so many great tactics to try in the digital realm. One of my favorites is the practice of IP targeting. This can be done a number of ways, but the outcome is the same – you’re putting the right message in front of the right targets. Today’s digital marketing strategies allow messages to be targeted and direct, resulting in efficient use of dollars to fill the sales funnel.
I hope these three reasons to try digital have helped sway any naysayers. While these strategies are complex and may seem overwhelming, rest assured that there are great partners out there, such as B2E, that are ready to help guide you through it. Now is the time to make the switch to digital!