5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Digital Marketing

by Ralph Trayfalgar

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The goal of any successful business is to provide products and services that meet the wants and needs of the customer. However, this is no easy feat as the wants and needs of the customer are always changing. This adds another layer of difficulty for businesses (especially the newer ones) that have yet to fully tap into their target market and gather a loyal following of customers. Add this to the fact that most if not all major consumer markets around the world are already dominated by some of the largest companies in the world, and we end up with a business environment that is very discouraging for fresh entrepreneurs with new businesses that would have otherwise liked to add variety to the market and introduce healthy competition.

This is where marketing comes in. Being one of the keys to the success of a business, marketing serves as the bridge that connects the business to the customer, and through that, the business gains a following of loyal customers that will get the ball rolling for the company to lead it to further success. And as technology continues to change and improve, the field of marketing changes and improves with it, leading us to the very powerful tool known as digital marketing – the use of email, social media, and other online platforms to connect with your target market. Here are 5 reasons why you need to incorporate it into your business.

1. Digital marketing is the easiest way to reach your market.

Whether you like it or not, your target market is most likely to be found online. Over half of the global population already has access to the Internet – that's over 4 billion people – and around 80 per cent of those people are active Facebook users. This means that there is this huge pool of potential customers that can all be reached through social media and the Internet. This also means that, through the use of digital marketing methods and strategies, any business can easily tap into this customer pool and find their target market, as well as reach new customers both locally and internationally that would not be reachable otherwise.

2. Digital marketing gives you a competitive edge.

Although we have previously mentioned that consumer markets are becoming more difficult to enter into because of dominance from much larger companies, digital marketing gives smaller companies the ability to compete with these larger companies for a couple of reasons.

For one, employing digital marketing into one's marketing strategy changes the competitive playing field from offline to online. With the marketing competition happening online, all companies end up competing for audience reach on a mostly level playing field, as online platforms (for the most part) do not discriminate in terms of what people see online.

This shift to a more level playing field also means that larger companies will not be able to take advantage of their larger size and available resources to outperform smaller companies in terms of customer reach and engagement, thereby giving smaller companies the chance to attract their chunk of the market. Also, utilizing digital marketing strategies will allow a company to stand out from the others and reach more of their target market – especially as much of the market can now be found online.

3. Digital marketing is cost-effective.

One of the factors that allow smaller companies to compete with larger ones through digital marketing is the higher cost-effectiveness of digital marketing. Compared to marketing strategies that use traditional media, digital marketing tends to produce desirable results without requiring a significant investment. This is especially favourable for smaller companies that do not have the capital to launch more expensive advertising campaigns.

4. Digital marketing lets you know your target market better.

In addition to the attraction, engagement, and sales that are the desired result of any marketing campaign, digital marketing methods also give business owners a much more powerful tool – data. As the Internet is essentially made up of data, everything that businesses and customers do on the Internet is represented by data; and with many widely-available tools, businesses can collect and analyse the data that they receive from customers engaging with the businesses' online outlets. Even the simple act of a customer accessing a business' Facebook page with their Facebook account can tell the business owner a lot about that customer – ranging from their age group, their nationality, and their preferences. The more the customer engages with your business, the more data you can collect from them, which you can then use to improve your products and services as well as how you deliver those products and services to your customers. This starts a feedback loop that results in continuous improvement of your business and a continuous increase in customer engagement.

5. Digital marketing prepares your business for the future.

We have mentioned previously that the wants and needs of the customer are always changing. Basic economics tells us that consumers are insatiable; in other words, even if they get the products and services that meet their needs, it is never long before they start looking for something faster, stronger, and better than the one they already have. Besides the needs of the customer, the market landscape is also constantly changing and evolving. As markets and economies rely more and more on technology, there becomes a need to ride the waves and catch up with these trends.

By employing digital marketing strategies into how one runs their business, they gain the tools necessary to stay ahead of – or, at the very least, keep up with – the ever-changing landscape of consumer demand and marketing trends.