The number of people using the internet to find quick solutions is massive. It is almost impossible for a business to achieve sustainable growth in 2018 without having a strong online presence.

Digital marketing is a modern technique to advertise and promote a business to the online consumers. How can a company miss the chance to market itself on the internet where opportunities are endless?

The companies now are moving away from conventional methods of communication and promotion. Here are the reasons why your business needs a digital marketing strategy.

1. Online Reach

Billions of people around the world use the internet to search and find products and services quickly. An effective online marketing strategy helps a company connect with a wide audience in less time without spending too much money. No other marketing channel offers this feature. Even a small business can afford to have a website and social media presence.

2. Customer Engage

Advertising something in a newspaper or on TV does not allow a business to build relationships with its prospects and customers. On the other hand, digital marketing makes it super easy for companies to listen and fix customers’ concerns. A simple Facebook page, for example, can be a great platform where a company can maintain customer care related affairs and engage with its audience in a very effective way.

3. Measure the Results

Online marketing is full of data and insights that a business can generate and get the exact picture of how much it has invested and what is the output. Google analytics is one of the examples of how a user can easily track and measure his marketing efforts.

4. Increase Sales

A carefully-built digital marketing plan can certainly bring about a dramatic increase in sales and revenue. A business can connect with thousands of its prospective customers, generate leads and grow its revenue.

5. The advantage for Small Business

Most of the companies are now focusing more on web development, SEO, social media and paid online advertising in order to stay ahead of the competition. It is very hard for a small business to outsmart its giant competitors using traditional marketing channels. Valuable insights help a business understand the behavior of its competitors.

6. Track the Progress

Online marketing helps a company streamline its identity and goals. Setting well-defined goals for your company becomes easier through a digital marketing strategy, which not only gives your business the right direction to work in, but also helps you track your progress on an ongoing basis.

7. Target Audience

Online marketing enables a company to use proven strategies and techniques that attract highly targeted traffic. Targeting the right audience that delivers the right results is what online marketing is all about.

Define Your Target Market

Defining your target market is critical for your business if you want to succeed online. You need to figure out who your typical customer is, and design your marketing plan to reach those people.

Generational Marketing

Generational marketing defines consumers not just by their ages, but also uses social, economic, demographic and psychological factors, that give marketers a more accurate picture of that target consumer. Generational marketing is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to defining your target market.

Ways To Define Your Target Market

Look At Your Current Customers: Which one(s) bring in the most business? Why do they buy from you? It’s highly likely that others like them would also benefit from your product/service.

Choose specific demographics: Who has a need for your product/service and who would most likely purchase it. Consider; age, gender, occupation, location, income/educational level, or marital status just to name a few.

Check out your competitors: Who are they marketing to? See if there’s a niche they’ve missed, and target that group.

Check out characteristics: This is also known as “psychographics” in the marketing world. This covers things like; personality, attitudes, interests/hobbies, lifestyles, etc. How will your product/service fit in?

Analyze your product/service: Make a list of every feature of your product/service. Next to each feature, write down the benefit(s) each feature will provide. Once you’ve completed that, make a list of the people/businesses that need what your benefit will fulfill.

Defining your target market is the hard part, but you don’t need to go crazy doing it. Once you have your target market defined, it will be easy to determine what marketing message will resonate with them and what media to use to reach them.

Defining your target market will also save you time and money while giving you a much better return at the same time.