〉9+ Best Digital Marketing Strategies (2024)

What is a digital marketing strategy?

When it comes to marketing, it's impossible to separate it from the online world.

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Today, everyone engages and interacts with others - and makes buying decisions online.

A digital marketing strategy defines the actions to be taken to achieve online business results. In general, this strategy has a number of common objectives:

Brand knowledge
Audience growth
Generate more leads
Generate conversions
Increase engagement
Generate interactions
Increase sales

Like any form of marketing, a digital strategy starts with identifying an ideal customer persona. After all, no matter what digital platform you are on, it's the message that counts.

And each digital tactic intersects to create a consistent brand image, from awareness and consideration to buying and retaining.

For example, an SEO strategy can bring traffic to a blog and introduce new people to your business. Once they've read content, they can choose to join a mailing list to receive further updates.

Once they're in the thinking phase, retargeting ads on Facebook could remind them of your offers. Maybe they'll end up converting after researching your brand and clicking on a PPC ad.

Remember that sometimes you have to 6 to 8 contacts to generate a viable lead. Your digital marketing strategy doesn't have to be perfect, but it should cover all the bases and send a consistent message in order to improve your results.

What types of digital marketing strategies are there?

Digital marketing consists of free and paid strategies aimed at stimulating a company's online marketing efforts.

When we talk about the digital environment, there are many paths to achieving growth and business results. And each tactic will be different whether you're a blogger, a small business owner, or if you're aiming an international audience.

In this guide, we'll cover the top 10 digital marketing strategies and learn how to execute them, why they matter, and how they deliver results.

1. Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is a paid format that allows your website to be placed at the top of Google's search results.

All the work is done in Google Ads, the most well known tool for creating campaigns and monitoring results.

In the field of CPP, there are two specific work environments: the display network and the search network. We can define them as the two work areas in which the PPC is carried out.

For each click received on the links or banners, Google charges the company registered on the Ads platform directly.

Google Display Network

The Google Display Network Reaches 90% of Internet users. With the Display Network, websites join Google AdSense and provide advertising space. Businesses that want to invest in GDN can then place their banner ads on relevant sites all over the web.

One of the main display network strategies that small businesses should use is retargeting. As soon as a user visits your website, they are placed in your audience group and your banner ads can follow them and remind them of the existence of your website.

Google search network

The search engine network aims to improve results through search engine results pages (SERPs).

Ads appear in one of the top four places corresponding to the keyword the user is looking for.

Google ads are composed of different elements that can be personalized by the advertiser:

The title of the announcement
The description phrases below
Sitelinks
Contact information

Thanks to these two channels, it is possible to serve targeted ads on Google at different stages of the buyer's journey.

RECOMMENDED READING: What is PPC?

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2. SEO

In my opinion, Google is the No. 1 platform for those who have an online business.

With over 77,000 searches performed every second on Google, search engines are an extension of people's minds; they have problems and look for answers that provide solutions.

It is therefore essential to optimize your website and its content so that people find you as the ideal solution. The SEO should be a top priority among your effective marketing strategies.

In case you are not sure how important it is to optimize your website and its content, here are two important statistics:

In an investigation, Google noted that 49% of respondents said they used search to find or discover a new product;
Google is getting more than 77,000 searches per second.

What these numbers mean is that if you don't optimize your site, you won't benefit from all that traffic.

On the other hand, with simple adjustments to the pages and content, it is possible to take advantage of the results.

SEO optimizations help:

Attracting qualified traffic - your buyer persona
Increase visibility on the web
Increase traffic to your online content
Increase brand authority
Improve your conversion rates

A well-designed SEO strategy includes technical SEO, keyword research, properly formatting your articles for research, and creation of backlinks.

You can check out these articles for more information on SEO strategies:

RECOMMENDED READING: What is SEO?

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3. Social media marketing

Social media users spend on average 144 minutes of their day on these platforms. In total, we're talking about 3.2 billion people every day.

Such impressive figures lead to imminent reflection: it is necessary to use all this potential for the benefit of your business.

Regardless of your market segment, your audience is certainly present on multiple social media channels. This means that your business needs to be present on these platforms as well.

However, mere presence is not enough. You need a dedicated marketing strategy for each of these channels. The main ones being:

Small and large businesses can take advantage of all this potential, provided they know where to place themselves. On social media, it's important to focus on things like:

The tone of voice
Content distribution
Interacting with customers
Support
Images and media use
Contests, giveaways and promotions

Social media marketing allows a company to adopt a personality and to be in contact with its public on a regular basis.

Through social networks, it is also possible to promote messages, content, campaigns, and products.

Major brands are still using these platforms creatively and accurately to increase engagement and improve brand perception.

Check out some of the social media posts below and how brands are reaching out to their target customers on these channels.

Netflix on Twitter:

Nike on Facebook:

Each of the various social media platforms has a specific reach and engagement potential. Some usage statistics help to understand this, such as:

Today, Facebook is the main content distribution channel in the marketing field (HubSpot);
Instagram is the social platform with the second highest ROI (HubSpot);
The United States has the largest number of Twitter users in the world (Statista).

RECOMMENDED READING: What is social media marketing?

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4. Email marketing

Email marketing consists of sending personalized marketing messages to approach prospects directly by email. This is the basis of this marketing strategy, one of the main methods used today.

It allows you to create newsletters, including prospects and customers, that is, people at different stages of the marketing funnel. Thus, it is possible to feed them with content of various levels.

The email marketing strategy aims to bring quality content to the public, offer them discounts and move them up the funnel.

For example, if a business is launching a new product or service, email marketing is a great way to promote it.

With an effective lead nurturing strategy, email marketing is becoming an essential marketing tool. It allows you to reach your audience and generate even more conversions.

RECOMMENDED READING: The ultimate email marketing guide

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5. E-commerce marketing

Developing an online store is a challenge for all online store owners.

Des e-commerce marketing strategies appropriate ones can increase sales and attract new customers.

The success of an online store depends on many factors:

Visibility : what referencing (SEO) can bring
Promotion : work that can be done through channels such as social networks and strategies such as PPC)
Commitment : a good content strategy with blogging, promotion and attraction with email marketing and social networks

Therefore, e-commerce marketing is a selection of efforts across different channels.

There's no magic recipe for a successful online store, but there are plenty of tactics to help grow your online store.

E-commerce sites are based on three main pillars: category pages, product pages, and blog posts.

Most of the traffic will come in the form of blog posts covering topics related to your products and niche. For example, if you sell living room decor, blog posts about decorating your living room or bedroom color palettes could attract readers who might be interested in your products.

Category pages include a wide range of products in a single category. These pages should be visually appealing while providing enough written content for search engines to understand what they are about.

Finally, product pages are your money pages that you direct all of your website traffic to. By creating strategic links to your product pages in your blog posts, you can attract more potential sales.

Overall, e-commerce marketing includes SEO, email marketing (and emails related to abandoned carts), paid acquisition via Google and Facebook, remarketing campaigns, etc. The main objective is to generate traffic, get them to sign up for a list to become prospects, and then offer promotions to encourage them to buy.

RECOMMENDED READING: How to optimize the content of an e-commerce store?

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6. Interactive content

Interactive content informs and provides value, while engaging users.

Generally, this media category is part of content strategies. They have a greater capacity for engagement, thanks to their interactivity.

Some of the main interactive content models include:

Quizs
calculators
E-books
Infographics
White papers
Landing Pages
Videos

This content can be delivered at various stages of the funnel, but it is most common at the awareness and consideration stage.

They are created to build user trust and commitment.

For example, a user might need to share their email address to get a white paper.

By stimulating participation, interactive content also makes it easier to measure user engagement.

You can easily tell how many people have viewed a blog post, but you can't always know exactly what words have been read.

Interactive content allows for clearer measurements than static content, according to 60% of businesses that use it.

7. Live events

Still on the subject of content that generates interactions, the live events bring incredible results.

This type of video format has never been so accepted - so now is the right time to invest in this strategy.

By the end of 2020, this content will represent 82% of all internet traffic. In addition to being able to watch your content, the audience can also interact.

Live events provide a sense of urgency and importance.

In other words, the user thinks that content has greater value in this format. They also create a strong FOMO (fear of missing out), which can encourage sales.

As part of these concepts of urgency and the possibility of interaction, brands broadcast in various formats:

Live questions and answers
Live blogging
Live streaming
Live report

To optimize results, always offer the possibility of interaction. In live Q&A, this is natural; after all, it's about answering questions from the audience.

In other formats, use the comments section to generate this interaction. If possible, mention comments during the live streaming, in order to increase the potential of engagement.

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8. Content Marketing

The Content marketing is everywhere - the whole Internet, the news, social media, just about everything - there is only content. It can be content written like this blog post, of images, of webinars, of videos, of podcasts, infographics, online courses - the list is endless.

The objective of content marketing, an integral part of Inbound Marketing is to find new prospects by generating traffic and encouraging them to take specific actions.

It is an exchange: you offer something that brings added value and, on the other hand, the prospect can give you access to their contact details.

Content is the ultimate trust factor because it helps to strengthen the influence and authority of its creator.

With this strategy, creating content for each stage of the marketing funnel is critical.

For example, if you are an online retailer selling camping supplies, your content should cover the following:

Awareness: A blog post about the best camping sites in France.
Consideration: A marketing email with product discounts.
Decision: A product page for a tent with good reviews.

Content marketing can also include referral marketing and affiliate partnerships to amplify word-of-mouth around your business. That doesn't include every strategy at every stage - far from it. But just know that by covering all three phases of the buyer journey, you're offering the most relevant content to your prospects at the right time.

RECOMMENDED READING: Best Content Marketing Strategies

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9. Influencer marketing

A survey prepared by the Digital Marketing Institute pointed out that 49% of respondents rely on recommendations from influencers to buy something.

Today, businesses have invested in influencer marketing as a major strategy. More than ever, consumers need the verdict of people they trust.

Influencers are respected people within a niche, with a strong ability to generate consumer desires and influence purchasing decisions. For brands, these partners can be critical.

In this relationship, brands use social media management tools to find influencers who can reach their target audience.

The success of this strategy depends, in addition to influence, on the content it generates to promote brands or products. The main formats are:

Social media posts
Video reviews
Blog posts

This strategy can have a high ROI: a return of 5 euros for each euro invested - if it is applied correctly. The key is to find micro-influencers with an active and engaged audience.

If you're an online business and considering using influencers to sell your products, be sure to ask them for information about their engagement metrics and estimated sales — not just vanity metrics.

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10. User Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is a marketing strategy that focuses on engagement. It offers users the opportunity to generate content on their own, but always in connection with brand campaigns.

Today, consumers want to be even more participatory in their relationships with brands. For this reason, UGC is a great way to take advantage of this desire.

A good UGC strategy proposes that the audience generates content based on brand incentives. These are campaigns aimed at increasing the proximity between the company and the consumer.

Such generated engagement can also result in sales. A study has pointed out that 92% of consumers place more trust in spontaneous content, in this case content created by users.

Some forms of UGC are used more often:

Comments on e-commerce pages, proving the quality of a product;
Content generated to promote a product (photo of a customer using the article, content produced by the article itself, in the case of cameras, among others);
Content generated to promote events, where participants take a photo at the event location and post it using a specific hashtag. In general, these photos are shown on a large screen or can be printed for each person.

How should small businesses take advantage of digital marketing?

Smaller businesses generally have fewer budgets and resources to invest in advanced digital strategies. However, there are inexpensive ways to reach your marketing goals and get a good return.

1. Investing in high-ROI strategies

Low investment and high return - this is the ratio that every small business is looking for when investing in a marketing strategy.

To optimize digital marketing results, the best ROI tactics are as follows:

Email marketing
SEO
PPC
Content Marketing
Social media marketing
Influencer marketing (micro-influencers)

Email marketing has an ROI of 4,400% and is an excellent long-term strategy. Optimization SEO and ranking on Google for free traffic is also one of the best strategies to adopt.

When it comes to PPC, aim for a 3:1 ROI. That means if you spend $100 on advertising, you should generate $300 in revenue.

This 3:1 ratio is enough to cover other expenses such as employee time (for service businesses) or the cost of goods sold (for e-commerce businesses).

For advertising on Facebook, there are two different strategies: prospecting ads aimed at new audiences and retargeting ads aimed at website visitors.

When reaching a new audience, aim for an ROI of 2. 5:1.

When you retarget an audience that has already visited your website, your ROI will depend on the actions they have already taken on your site.

For example, if the user added an item to their shopping cart and you show them an DPA Facebook ad, the ROI can be 20 or 30:1.

2. Create more engagement

Commitment is one of the keys to an effective digital strategy. Internet users need to act online and not just consult your content.

In most cases, it's about generating sales. To drive more engagement, your marketing needs to be personal, timely, and targeted at the right people Customer persona.

Align your marketing and sales strategies to not only have the right digital tactics, but also the right message at the right time.

Examples of good digital marketing strategies

With a precise marketing strategy, it is possible to achieve excellent results.

Over the past few years, several businesses have completed case studies that every marketer should know.

We have separated a few that are worth mentioning. Keep on reading!

1. ASOS

Relevant brand in the fashion world, ASOS created the #AsSeenOnMe campaign, in which users were encouraged to post photos featuring the company's products.

Thus, thanks to a UGC strategy, the brand promoted its products and encouraged engagement with its audience.

The concept is for people to post photos using the campaign's hashtag. Thus, users accessing it could check a wide variety of ASOS products.

2. Lyft

One of the largest companies in its region, Lyft encourages users to recommend its services to friends and family. In return, the company offers bonuses and benefits.

In this case, it is a brand promotion strategy.

Lyft uses its users as agents to promote the service. These are “paid” with travel discounts and promotional vouchers, among other benefits.

In general, this mechanism generates a chain reaction: each new user can invite another person, and that new person also receives the incentive.

3. “Always Like a Girl”

Using a hashtag with the same name as the campaign, Always has developed compelling storytelling that is capable of engaging its audience.

The idea of the content is to show the challenges that a woman faces as a teenager. In contrast, the campaign reinforces the strength of women, by mentioning the expression “like a girl.”

In this campaign, the company used emotional appeal to give new meaning to the term and the results were astounding. 81% of women aged 16 to 24 described the movement as positive and inspiring, and the The video has been viewed over 76 million times on YouTube.

A good marketing strategy can bring great results, as long as it is chosen according to the needs of the business.

From expanding the target audience to increasing sales, all goals can be achieved through these digital marketing efforts.