The purpose of digital advertising/marketing = to get people to your website.
The purpose of a website = to convert visitors to customers
Digital Advertising Free (Organic) Options:
Blogging
Building Landing Pages with Calls To Action
Social Media Posting & nurturing
Website Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Email Marketing
E-mail marketing is included in this area but if your email list gets too large, then it will need to become a paid venture.
The reason this free efforts are also called “organic” is because it is the idea is that people will organically find your website by searching for topics your website specializes in. Search Engine Optimization is the method of trying to get your website to organically reach the front page of a search engine such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
Now here’s the thing - FREE REALLY ISN’T FREE.
It takes time to develop effective free marketing efforts such as blogs, landing pages, social media, and other search engine optimization techniques. Not just the time to do these efforts but it also takes time for these efforts to develop and produce results.
Most people do not have the time, or patience, to focus on these efforts, or don’t want to focus on these efforts so they hire a digital marketing expert (such as blue Hz media<—— shameless plug ) to handle it for them.
Others, abandon the “free” efforts altogether and go straight to the paid efforts.
Digital Advertising Paid Options:
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Retargeting
Geofencing
Email 3rd Party Lists
Pay Per Click Campaigns can frustrate the most advanced SEO plan around. No matter how hard you work at getting to the front page of a search engine, you still most likely won’t reach the very top of the 1st page because those are reserved for people who pay for those spots!! Youch!
The exception is if you target a very niche search term.
Retargeting is the process of putting digital ads on people’s computer or phone who previously visited your website or searched for keywords or sites related to your website.
Geofencing is the process of putting digital ads on people’s computer or phone who previously visited a location you want to target, such as your competitor, a school, or a city event.
Getting outside of your current network is a good way to get more visitors to your website. One way you can do that is by having your ad sent to reputable 3rd Party email lists where people have opted in to receive offers.
One strategy of doing the "free" things is to do those while doing paid options until the free ones start to produce results.
Converting Web Visitors to Customers
Updated Web Design
Informative Website
Offers
Data Capture Tools
Retargeting
Once you get new visitors to your website, whether it be through free or paid efforts, you will need to convert them to customers.
Over 80% of website visitors do not plan to make a purchase on their first visit.
You have to find a way to get them to come back.
To do this, you first need to have an updated website. If your website looks like it was built 10 years ago, people will not be tempted to return to your website when they do actually look to make a purchase.
Even if you have an updated website, it is important to have an informative website. When people can learn things from visiting your website, they will be more likely to return or even share your pages on social media.
Having an engaging website that provides offers such as e-books, white papers, discounts, or free products is another effective way to convert people in to customers. If they get something from you for free, be sure to have a way to capture their email so you can include them in your email marketing efforts. Email marketing continues to be one of the top Returns on Investment for small business owners.
Finally, if you have these other things in place, you can set up a retargeting campaign in order to get people to return to your website!