Is anything more effective than digital marketing? Well, if you’ve paid attention to the shift in the way companies have advertised over the last 10 years, then you’d definitely get your answer. Though tv ads, radio, and flyers can still be useful, none are as effective as marketing online as we can clearly see here.
It’s no secret, if you want to get in touch with your target audience, then it has to be done online. This is especially the case in Singapore, as more and more customers are engaging online. No matter how you look at it, websites, social media and Google search are surpassing the traditional mediums. Sure, brochures and newspapers are still effective to some degree, but people are spending their time online. In fact, in fact, in comparison to the last decade consumers spend twice as much time on the internet. And the good news is that digital marketing offers more versatility and chances to be more creative than offline marketing–even if your company is operating on a tight budget.
That’s why many Singapore companies are simplifying their businesses with SEO and PPC ads. They want to know what works and what does not. And what many of them are learning is that they don’t spend half as much on digital marketing as they would on offline marketing–something that makes them even more competitive.
Digital marketing in Singapore is one of the most common ways for a person or company to expand their brand online. It is highly applicable to Singapore because this tiny island state is one of the most connected in the world – second only to South Korea.
Citizens excepting seniors aged 50 and above have largely embraced digital and internet media as a constant companion round the clock. It is estimated that up to 39% of a Singaporean’s attention span during his or her waking hours is spent on a computer or connected device. Google estimates that as of 2014, internet penetration in Singapore exceeds 82.1% – an astronomical figure.
Within the last decade or so, there has been a significant shift in the way business owners market their companies. Though flyers, radio and tv ads can still give your business a boost, none are as effective as online marketing. Let’s take a moment to talk about 3 key benefits of digital marketing.
Benefits of Leveraging Digital Marketing Platforms
Gain Brands Credibility
Establishing credibility for your brand is paramount for the success of the business. The more you demonstrate to your audiences because you are an authority in your area of focus, the more you gain trust. We can create a thorough content marketing strategy by consistently sharing content that addresses your audience’s needs by providing solutions, clearing doubts, and changing perspectives on various issues.
Digitally active brands have the most credibility; a customer-centric brand builds stronger relationships with its target audiences. Hence, making it more recognizable and authoritative in the industry.
Think for a second. Why do people choose big brands such as Apple or McDonald’s over all other available alternatives? The simple answer is because people trust them.
Let’s look at a few tactics to develop your brands:
- Understand your target audience’s needs.
- Create content your target audience resonates with and with which they can relate.
- Ensure your content is valuable, timely, purposeful, and actionable.
- Provide excellent customer support.
- Consider partnering with influencers that are relevant to your brand.
Boosts Customer Loyalty
It is crucial to retain customers long after they have purchased your products or services. These customers can make other purchases, recommend your business or brand hence increasing sales.
Customer loyalty is built by forming solid relationships with your clients, delivering excellent services, and offering the best value for their money.
Ensure you retain your customers by keeping them engaged through:
- Sending them personalized emails to update them on new products and seasonal discounts makes them feel valued.
- Social media channels form a great platform to keep your customers engaged. Ensure your social platforms stay updated with relevant and valuable content. Through this, they are more likely to purchase from your brand.
Optimize For Better Conversion Rates
Digital marketing provides various techniques to optimize for improved conversion rates; this is easier because online marketing offers tools to track performance. If a higher percentage of your site visitors end up completing your call-to-action, then your marketing strategy is working well. Else there is a need to review and make changes.
Here are the top 5 tips to help you optimize
- Use a clear and straightforward call to action.
- Set realistic and achievable marketing goals.
- Optimize for mobile devices.
- Stay relevant, up to date, and informative through content creation.
- Track your digital marketing performance.
Measure Performance and Results Accurately
Digital marketing provides tools that can measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategy on Return on Investments (ROI). Marketing performance metrics provide insights into which marketing strategy contributes more profits, monitors marketing performance towards company goals, determine areas that need improvements, and assess whether the products or services offered to meet customer’s needs.
While you can measure almost everything in digital marketing, it is crucial to ensure you measure the most critical data based on your digital marketing goals. Some company’s key performance indicator (KPI) metrics include:
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Cost per Click (CPC)
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
- Cost per Lead
Greatly Appeals To Singapore Mobile Consumers
Recent studies have suggested that over 90 percent of people have their phone on them or near them at all times. Digital marketing brings your product to that very phone, and reaches that user where they are.
Helps Convert Traffic Into Sales
You might have a website that is getting a decent level of traffic each month and recurring users. This of course means nothing if you can’t turn that figure into profit. This is called conversion. Digital marketing bridges the gap between the passive observer to the active participant.
Laser Targeting
You see, digital marketing allows you to research the keywords that your ideal customer is using. It gives you the ability to more precisely find the customer who is actually looking for you. This type of laser targeting ensures that advertisers attract buyers who are qualified. These are the people who have a problem and would love for you to solve it, which is an advertiser’s dream. This inevitably leads to a higher conversion rate. In comparison, traditional marketing as opposed to marketing online can be considered a game of chance.
Measurability
One of the most valuable aspects of digital marketing is your ability to measure your success. Traditional marketing can be very effective, but you’re not always able to figure out which form of advertising works best. Digital marketing opens up an entire world of metrics which will tell you exactly which efforts are the most effective. In this way, you will be able to tweak your strategy and invest your money in what works the best. You get a higher return on investment.
Levels The Playing Field
Digital marketing as a whole ensures that even the smallest of businesses have a fair shot at their slice of the market pie out there. When the real mom and pop brick and mortar locations are being drowned out to big box stores, online retail can be a way for a company to sufficiently survive. There are many instances where small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore were able to draw level or even overtake large corporations in terms of share of the internet marketplace. Here at MediaOne we have helped many succeed – contact us to know more on how we did it.
Makes The Company/Brand More Trustworthy
The internet is all about user reviews and opinions, and your digital marketing campaigns are going to be bringing people a lot closer to your brand and what it stands for. This lets each potential customer know what you are about, and allows you the opportunity to keep making a great impression with existing and new users.
There is real evidence that Singaporeans have the perception that if it appears on Page 1 of search engine searches it has to be probably real and trustworthy because it has been “vetted” by many others and proven the most popular. Even to the extent that some fake news do make it top of the page for short periods of time. This is a phenomenon the Singapore Government and indeed, governments around the world are having to grapple with. There are no easy answers because bring these fake news to bear may entail measures that could be seen as being too draconian by netizens and in turn have a backfiring effect.
More Cost–Effective In The Singapore Context
Saving money is something that everyone can get behind. Even the most successful of businesses want to find a way to spend the least amount for the most assistance, and that’s the unsaid tagline for digital marketing as a whole.
In Singapore where getting ad space in traditional media like newspapers, magazine, taxi or bus ads or billboards may be prohibitively expensive for most small firms – internet marketing is the obvious answer. Also there is strong evidence that these traditional media’s marketshare are being severely eroded.
Saves Money
Sure, you could purchase spots on the radio and tv. These channels are able to reach large portions of your audience and in a very short amount of time. However, have you ever taken the time to consider how much these spots will actually cost you? If you’re interested in reaching the most people, then you’re going to need to purchase prime time slots which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the platform. The great thing about digital marketing is that you can reach just as much as your audience for a tenth of that cost. This is especially beneficial if your business is operating on a limited budget.
Though flyers, radio and tv ads can be a great way to reach your target audience, they can also be quite costly. This is especially if you want to reach the maximum amount of people. Prime time slots can cost thousands of dollars–sometimes even tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately, digital marketing usually comes with flat rate fees. And social media accounts cost nothing which is great for startups operating on tiny budgets.
Promotion 24/7
Traditional marketing is great for quick bursts of promotion. But what about the times when you’re not actively promoting? What happens when prime time has ended? What happens late at night when there aren’t as many people around to drive past your billboard or walk past your posters and flyers? In most cases, the effects of your promotions are not as significant.
With digital marketing, there is no such thing as a slow time. Sure, there may be times that are more optimal than others, but the internet allows you to reach people worldwide. And this means that there’s always someone online who can be advertised to. This means that you get to promote your business 24/7 nonstop as opposed to waiting around for peak time.
Helps You Gain A Following You Can Promote To
Call To Action prompts and promotional events can leave you with hundreds (or even thousands) of users’ contact information. This makes further promotional campaigns in the future via email or other mediums a snap.
If you are a Singapore-based business, there is no way to avoid digital advertising and online marketing. You may have a stable base of customers, established channels of partners and resellers but sooner or later you will need to be online in order to defend your turf or expand your market positioning.
Educated Customers
Another less talked about benefit of digital marketing is that you get to educate your customers. And well-informed customers make better buying decisions. Not only will they know which products or services to purchase from you, but they will feel empowered. Being a valuable source of information will ensure that they become even more loyal to your brand.
Expand Your Audience
A huge benefit to digital marketing is being able to expand your audience. Through intense keyword research, you can better optimise your website and appeal to an audience you would have never imagined. Traditional advertising tends to keep you in a box.
Brand Recognition
The great thing about digital marketing is that you don’t have to be limited to one platform. You can blast the same message on several different outlets and platforms. Not only does this allow you to reach a larger audience, but after some time people get used to seeing you. They began to associate you with a certain message or cause. This is what is known as brand recognition. Brand recognition gives you more credibility and people feel as if they can trust you.
One of the best things about digital marketing is the amount of attention your brand is able to garner. You see, there’s no limit to the number of platforms on which you can establish your presence. As long as you have valuable content to offer, you can constantly post messages and attract the attention of your audience. Over time, the audience begins to become more familiar with you. And eventually, you build up a significant amount of brand recognition which comes with trust, loyalty and credibility.
Stand Out From Competition
When it comes to other businesses in your field, the competition can get rather stiff. Though traditional marketing can get your name out there, digital marketing can officially out you on the map. Here’s why, not every business can effectively use SEO, or search engine optimisation. They have no idea how to rank their website for certain keywords. Even if you don’t know how to rank in the search engine, you could always hire an SEO agency to do it for you. There are plenty of SEO firms in Singapore who can instruct you on how to get the most out of your advertising strategy. And this means that even the smaller business can get an edge on their competition. With traditional marketing, all it takes is a big budget to beat out the SME’s. However, with digital marketing, it’s anyone’s game.
Builds Community
Traditional forms of media are known for being able to catch a target audience‘s attention. The problem is, it doesn’t really allow your customers to interact with you. It’s virtually a one-way conversation. One of the best ways to get a loyal customer is to build a relationship with them. And digital marketing is an ideal form of advertising for those who want to interact with their customers. Not only can you build a relationship with them, but your customers can build a community amongst each other.
Attracts Talent
Are you interested in working with new people or adding individuals on to your staff? Well, digital marketing is great in this case. By establishing an online presence, you not only catch the attention or new customers but also those who work in your industry. You could always avoid the cost of recruiting fees and rank certain keywords for the positions that you’re on the lookout for.
No-Brainer Digital Marketing Hacks and Benefits
Digital marketing is the selling of products and services on digital platforms. It leverages reaching out to online audiences and the internet to make sales. However, it requires the brand to come up with an effective digital marketing strategy for its brand.
You can implement various digital marketing strategies on multiple platforms where the brands send curated messages through social media platforms, emails, websites, and search engines.
Digital marketing has become a powerful tool for brands. Nearly 30% of online customers would instead engage and interact with brands online than physically visit the store.
Brands and businesses need to be present across multiple digital platforms to tap into a broader range of their potential clients.
Social media users have an average of 8 social media accounts. And on average, the users spend an average of 2hrs, 22 minutes on their social media.
Consumers in today’s world are highly dependent and consumers of social media content. With social media, online marketers can reach their prospects in different ways.
Email marketing
Email marketing helps brands stay connected with their prospects and customers by sending promotional messages in mass quantities. Hence, boosting brand awareness and increasing conversion rates.
Examples of emails that are marketing-related:
- Newsletters
- Content promotions and offers.
- Sales emails.
Content marketing
Content marketing allows digital marketers to curate relevant, valuable, and consistent content that focuses on the audience’s needs and provides them with solutions. There are various ways of presenting content marketing, such as use videos, relevant content, social media posts or Ads etc.
Brands can use content marketing to effectively boost brand awareness, increase organic reach, search traffic, and improve brand authority and trust.
Use Of Influencers
Brands today are leveraging influencer marketing to promote their products and services on social media platforms through mentions and endorsements. An influencer is a person with a dedicated social following and is considered an expert within their niche.
Brands and businesses collaborate with influencers who have earned their audience’s trust. Thus, recommendations from them serve as social proof to your brand’s prospective customers.
Search Engine Optimization Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mainly focuses on organic reach and ranking. SEO depends on organic searches for content to rank higher on search browsers such as Google. There are various techniques that brands apply to optimize their sites for search.
Some of these techniques include:
- Keyword research
- Link building
- Content marketing
- Page optimization
Best Tools for Measuring Digital Marketing Campaign Performance
Google Analytics
Photo credit: Tom Petryshen
Google Analytics tool provided by Google allows you to track your website, application, and digital marketing platforms’ performance. It has functional features for data reviewing.
You can view traffic statistics on how audiences engage with your website, data analysis, and various marketing channels used for digital campaigns all under one platform.
MailChimp
Photo Credit: Whatagraph
With MailChimp, you can send beautiful, effective newsletters using its flexible custom-designed templates. You can also monitor data to gauge which marketing campaign was most effective. It also helps you automate messages that reach your customers at the right time.
Through its email experiments, you can evaluate your audiences like most about your brand and leverage that.
Hootsuite
Photo Credit: Hootsuite.com
HootSuite is a digital measuring campaign tool that provides a complete overview of your social media performance in real-time. Its analytic feature provides customized reports on every social media performance so that you can view your social media engagements and interactions in one place. It also manages your social media profiles such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and more.
The best digital marketing tools are tailored to help keep track of a prospect’s online activities and demographic information. With this data, online marketers can offer more specific products and services to their particular audiences. For example, a single click on an ad can help a marketer retarget the same user in subsequent related ads.
Retargeted marketing helps online audiences receive content based on their interests and behaviors, making online shopping more accessible and practical. With improved online marketing tools, you can target audiences based on which stage they are in the buying funnel by constantly providing them with curated content.
Web pages have cookies, a piece code that tracks users’ behavior on the web pages. With that, users are provided with data to develop better strategies or create new ones to target the right audiences.
Digital Marketing Encourages Brand Development
Brands and businesses utilize their digital platforms to build their online brand and create a positive image. A well-designed website, blogs that are updated constantly with informative content, and social media channels that curate engaging content for their target audience are ways that businesses can build and boost their brand online.
Digital Marketing Is Cost-Effective
Compared to traditional methods, digital marketing is cost-effective. It enables businesses to save money while obtaining more leads.
With digital marketing, businesses have the same playing field. Whether small, medium or large companies, all have the same opportunity to apply techniques and utilize digital platforms to make sales through budget-friendly advertising methods.
Content marketing and SEO use Ad’s relevance and quality to determine its rank on search. If you create a highly relevant Ad that solves the audience’s needs, you are guaranteed to achieve a high ranking on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Allows You to Engage theCustomer on Every Buying Stage
One key benefit of digital marketing is that it helps you reach your audience at the beginning of their buying journey. The journey begins when the users search for products and services online that interests them.
You utilize online marketing by providing valuable information about products and services; this builds your brand’s exposure online. Users are more likely to look for your profile and learn more about your brand or business.
The leads are more likely to remember your business and buy from you, even if they do not convert right away; this is why it’s crucial to apply the best content and SEO marketing practices.
But what are digital marketing best practices to help you leverage the above benefits?
Identify Target Audience
The first crucial step to getting digital marketing right is identifying the target audiences for your business. As a result, you can locate campaign goals. Your content message for your campaign will vary with different categories of your target audience.
Develop A Content Marketing Strategy
Marketing your content the right way will help you attract more prospects and help your business be easily accessible and visible online. Doing the right way will have your business rank higher on search browsers.
Incorporate SEO Techniques
Online search results attract more traffic to your website; this is the most profitable digital marketing areas. A vast majority of online users rely on Google and Bing to get solutions and answers.
SEO implementation requires in-depth analytics for optimizing search engines, understanding scratch algorithms, and best content strategies.
Use Clean, Fresh, And Accurate Data
Regularly cleansing data ensures you get rid of inaccurate information and replace it with more accurate data that is more targeted and more responsive.
Accurate data helps in better decision making, reduces costs, improves digital marketing and productivity.
Measure Performance
Several available online tools (some discussed above) that you use to track and measure your digital marketing performance. The tools help you analyze digital campaigns performance to devise more improved ways for higher conversion rates, improve Return on Investment (ROI), budget efficiently, choose the digital channels to reach the target audience.
Use Various Platforms for Advertising
Different digital marketing platforms allow scheduling and publishing content across multiple platforms, thus getting your content across various media at a go and, in return, tapping into a broader range audience.
Research indicates that omnichannel:
- Encourages higher engagements.
- Ensures a higher customer retention rate.
- Increases purchase.
- Increases average order value.
Use Relevant Content
Ensure to use relevant content that your target audience can easily read and to which they can relate. Exploring different ways to present content to your audience can also help target a wide range of audiences, such as videos.
Make your digital marketing content mobile devices to help you target where most of your customers are spending their time.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several benefits to digital marketing. It builds brand recognitions, saves you money and helps you create a sense of community. The key is to deliver value. You should also do your best to remain consistent.
When it comes to advertising, you can’t go wrong with digital marketing. Unlike traditional marketing, it ensures that you quickly develop brand recognition, save money, build a community, laser target, measure performance, promote your business 24/7, educate your customers, expand your audience, attract talent, and stand out from your competition. You may be able to do some of these things with traditional marketing, but they are going to take a significant amount of time and a lot more money.
