First step for starting out with digital marketing is deciding the goals with the digital marketing. Is it to create new leads or spread brand awareness? Either one demands different marketing strategies and different platforms.
Have you struggled to figure out how you can start with digital marketing? Don't worry! We at Blue Hands Digital are here to help you learn the basics that will help you get started.
1) A functional website
Before we can get into the basics of digital marketing we must point out that the first thing you must do is create a fully functional website. If your website is lacking prominent features, your digital marketing will be a waste and you will lose potential leads.
2) Set goals
As a first step it is important to set up relevant goals for what the marketing should achieve. Is it to get new leads, gain more followers, or is it to have a digital presence and give brand awareness to potential customers? To get an answer to this question you should dive deep inside your company and ask yourself what your brand really is. Basically what services and/or products you provide and why your audience should pay attention to them. Also, if you set out to target B2B or B2C? This will in return give you a clearer view of what you want to achieve and that will influence in what way the marketing strategy is structured.
3) What is my target group?
One of your first questions should be what your audience is or rather what kind of individuals your company wants to reach. Is it for example the younger generation between the ages 16 to 25 or is it the slighter older generation between the ages 45 to 65? Either way, the choice will have a big impact on how your digital marketing will be structured and what platforms you will end up using.
To find out which target group that is most suitable for your company, look at what you are selling and who that might attract. Further, find out who your competitors are targeting and analyze if you should target them as well or target the opposite way. You can also analyze your current website traffic through Google Analytics and Semrush to find out who currently is visiting your website.
4) Set budget
Before anything else you should really look over what your budget for digital marketing is. If you are not well aware of the way of marketing online it can come as a surprise that it is quite expensive. Different platforms cost differently and programs you will have to be using to analyze your results might also cost. Therefore, it is important to set a realistic budget for your online marketing and adjust your goals in relation to it.
5) What are my competitors doing?
We learn early that we cannot look at what another classmate is doing or it is considered as cheating. That has some truth to it even in digital marketing BUT it is important to be aware of what your competitors are up to. Therefore an analysis of your field and rivals is necessary to be able to move forward in your own marketing. It can also be necessary to see what works from them and where they are not as present. It can perhaps be a place where you can fill OR somewhere you don't want to be hence it is not working as well. To analyze you can use Semrush, Google Analytics or manually Google yourself.
6) Which platforms should I use?
When choosing which platforms to use in your digital marketing it is important to really understand them or at least have an overall knowledge of them. Foremost it is important to know what each platform can do for your brand. Each platform has their own nisch and ways of communication. It is important to understand that even if it might seem like a good idea to be everywhere, sometimes it is not beneficial for your brand and it is easier to focus on one or two platforms to begin with. From our experience LinkedIn and Facebook are good platforms to start with, both for organic and paid content purposes.
