It’s interesting to see how the evolving digital landscape is continually changing the way businesses communicate with their audience. There’s a story being told in the developing partnerships between huge, multi-national companies, underlining how seriously digital marketing is being taken in today’s world.
Back in November, Google and Disney announced a global strategic partnership that would enable Disney to evolve the way they reach consumers, widening the reach of their portfolio of brands onto smartphones and tablets, moving away from traditional television advertising and onto live-streaming, mobile ads and video ads across the web.
Google will become the powering force behind Disney’s advertising campaigns, and the world’s biggest search engine will now be one of the primary partners that connect Disney the brand, with their millions of consumers on a daily basis.
Search engines, primarily Google have been one of the foundations that have contributed into rapid growth of the internet and what it is today. Millions of people are now using the plethora of Google products; search, YouTube, Gmail are just a few examples. And in 2019 the majority of those are primarily engaged with on a mobile phone.
People’s behaviour is shifting almost entirely online. We watch video online, we shop online, we find new brands online and we review everything from restaurants we visit, to egg timers we purchase on a whim online. Whether you’re Disney, a small-medium sized online retailer or the local coffee shop, the best chance you have of finding new customers is by promoting yourself online.
And that’s where we come in.
The acronyms are all a little old school (SEO – the process of getting your website high up the natural listings. PPC – paid search advertising. CRO – optimising your website to improve the number of people that either purchase or submit an enquiry) but they’re all relevant concepts, if your business hasn’t put an emphasis on a digital strategy within its marketing plan – it’s time to start.
At Affinity we look at it slightly differently. There’s not a single one-size-fits-all approach that your business can take to deliver results, every business will have a different set of needs, which is why we always recommend you strategise based on your strengths, weaknesses and by assessing the visibility of your brand and its presence online.
When you sit down to plan a marketing strategy, every business needs to evaluate how much traffic they currently get to their website, where it comes from and the strength in which it converts. Those factors will start to determine the route you take to begin to grow your presence online.
Some businesses will require a structured approach to improving their site so users can better convert, others have all the foundations in place and the next step is to deliver the right audience onto the site.
So, if you haven’t already, how can you define your online marketing strategy?
The first piece of advice we always give is; tracking, tracking, tracking. The majority of businesses we talk to prior to coming on board aren’t accurately tracking their digital activity, from users to the site, on-site behaviour, to sales and attribution. All factors are so important to accurately form a robust strategy which is led by data.
From there we work alongside businesses to really draw out what it is they want to achieve, both short and long-term, and devise a plan that sets key measurements and KPIs. There’s never been any gain in overpromising, or setting unrealistic goals – one of the most important steps is to look at what’s realistic, and the beauty of digital marketing is that the data is always there to provide the evidence.
Are you 100% confident in how you’re marketing your business online? If you think you could improve the way your website performs, or feel the traffic to your site isn’t qualified enough; or maybe you’re spending a horrendous amount on advertising and you’re not sure it’s giving you the return you’re expecting, get in touch to speak to one of our experts with a track record of delivering transparent, honest and realistic assessments on marketing strategy.
