Digital marketing ( step by step)

         The superpower to reach millions, probably billions of users using just a digital device such as a smartphone or a laptop is Digital Marketing.

       Let’s take an example of a typical Advertisement in a newspaper before we understand the dynamics of Digital Marketing

          This is an advertisement for Chetan Bhagat’s book “Half Girlfriend” on the front page of The Times Of India.

      Now let’s assume this AD has been published only in the city of Bengaluru on a typical day. The total number of TOI subscribers in Bangalore is around ~ 5 lakh.

      So on a good day assuming every newspaper is delivered, and all the subscribers are reading the newspaper, we can make some assumptions.

   The approximate cost for setting up this ad would be around Rs. 91 Lakhs which will be seen by approximately 5 lakh people. Cost/view = Rs. 18.2

   What percentage of people do you think will pay attention to this AD? 10–15% at max? This is almost 75,000 people. Let’s take 1,00,000 as a safe number.

  How will Chetan Bhagat and his publishers know how many people actually purchased or pre-booked the book because of this very advertisement? They won’t, right?

  According to me, this is a very inefficient form of advertising. You are spending almost Rs. 91 lakhs to potentially reach out to just 1 lakh people. That’s almost Rs. 91 per impression.

Fundamental of digital marketing. 

1) Get a website:

First and foremost, you need to have a website. Its design, responsiveness, the time it takes

to load, user-friendliness – all these factors determine the credibility of your business.

2) Optimize your website:

The better you do Search engine optimization for your website, the more visible it gets and

consequently gathers more traffic. Good content, attractive illustrations, fast response, and

mobile-friendliness are some mandatory features to get a good SERP ranking.

3) Content marketing:

Good content is the basis of a good website. Create informative, exciting content with well-

researched keywords and backlinks to drive users to your website and to build their trust.

Keep updating the content periodically.

4) Social media advertising:

A key advantage of using social media is that you can choose a target audience for your

business. Users on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter are increasing

every day. Selective advertising on these sites can take your business to a whole new level. 

5) Email marketing:

Oh! Yes, I still read emails that catch my attention. So will your readers. This marketing

strategy still works if you use it wisely.

6) Pay Per Click Advertising:

This strategy requires you to pay for an ad only when a user clicks on it. Facebook, Google,

LinkedIn are some popular online platforms that use Pay-Per-Click advertising. You can

filter your target audience to market your ads, and it ensures a greater conversion rate.

Apart from the above points, it is also crucial that you keep a close check on the analytics

reports for your website and keep monitoring which keywords/ search brings you more traffic

and which pages make customers turn away from your website. Closely monitor your online

campaigns and check where you are successful.

The best thing to do is to get professional online marketing services to do a complete check for

your website and to keep it at the forefront of search engines. Not all online marketing

agencies are good at it, but I know the one that delivers services with exceptional quality and

professionalism. Having worked with them for some time now, I acquired considerable

knowledge of these online marketing strategies.

Being new to the field, I have always wondered how I could swim across the ocean of digital

marketing with no prior experience, but KloudPortal made it a cakewalk for me. Today my

business is running well amidst the global crisis because of the brilliant marketing strategies

that KloudPortal applies. Do contact them if your business needs a boost! Cheers!

But before you read upon further, please find below some snapshots from my Analytics data from some of my dashboards -

          Traditional marketing channels involve - Banner ADs near roads, Fliers, Newspaper ADs, Posters, etc.

   None of these traditional Marketing channels give you important insights into how your marketing campaign is performing, because you can’t measure important metrics like :

1. Number of people viewing the AD
2. Time spent viewing the AD
3. People who visit the website/store to inquire moreTraditional marketing channels involve - Banner ADs near roads, Fliers, Newspaper ADs, Posters, etc.

    Now if you’re not able to track your marketing efforts, it becomes very challenging to create effective marketing campaigns. 

and this is precisely where Digital Marketing comes into play - It gives you the super-power to measure, track, and optimize your marketing efforts.

the best part?

Anyone can do it from anywhere with any budget, no matter how small or big.

Digital marketing makes it possible to show your ads to the targetted audience right on their mobile phones, laptops/desktops, smart TVs, or tablets.

There are 2 major divisions in digital marketing.

1. Organic - You spend time, not money.
2. InOrganic - Where businesses pay to achieve goals.

Our smartphones are nothing but advertising screens for the advertisers, who display ADs that are customized to your personality.

The Times of India charges advertisers because they guarantee a certain number of impressions/views. Right?

Let’s take some examples to understand digital marketing.

Facebook - We use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Whatsapp, “n number” of times throughout our day. Facebook takes this opportunity to serve us very targetted advertisements.

• You can target people based on their age, gender, city, the mobile phone they use, the network they are on - 4G, 3G, wifi
• The college they went to, the year they graduated in.
• Their buying habits/behavior on the internet.
• Their likes, dislikes, and a lot of other interesting points.

I mainly use Facebook ADs to get Leads. My AD is served only to the people who fall in the following categories. I can’t share very specific identifiers but here’s a broad selection.

• People in the age group of 26–32 who are in a relationship/ engaged/ married.
• People who live in cities like - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Noida, Jaipur, and Surat.
• People who have shown check-ins at international airports, and have been found to engage in online shopping always.
• People who own - iPhones, Google Pixel, and other flagship phones.

Running ADs on Facebook is all about experimenting madly to find the right niche. There are different types of ADs that you can run on Facebook. But let’s not get into the details for this answer.

Facebook tracks our interests and serves ADs to us which are personalized and there are higher chances of us clicking and engaging with the brand.

Example - I will not be shown advertisements for “A posh honeymoon package trip” or “A luxury car, which I can’t afford”.

I would rather be shown advertisements about “Startup events around Bangalore”, “Interesting self-help / motivational books”, “bright clothes” etc.

Here’s a look at how my Facebook AD looks.

Sneak peek into one of my Advertisements. :) You can see the age grouping, the interests, and the cities.

Facebook offers another very interesting tool called - Facebook Pixel. Pixel allows you to track your website visitors and display targeted ads to them on Facebook / Instagram.

Quora - Well, Quora lets businesses advertise on their platform as well. With an active readership in millions, Quora can accurately target advertisements to its users.

A person following topics like - Books, Literature, Art, Philosophy is likely to click on an advertisement of a “Book” or “a book event”.

I target people who have followed topics like = “Gifting, Wedding ideas, best gift ideas” etc.

LinkedIn - People on LinkedIn are usually professionals. So you’ll mostly find businesses selling their software - Sales automation, Marketing automation, HR Services, Web development.

I haven’t experimented with LinkedIn ADs yet.

Twitter - Usually content websites, news websites, and online magazines advertise actively on Twitter.

I haven’t experimented with Twitter ADs yet.

Google - This is where it gets interesting. There are millions of smaller websites that have viewership in millions, thousands, tens of thousands or more.

Google provides 2 platforms -

1. To website owners where they lease out spaces on their websites to display ADs and be paid by Google.

1. To businesses who want to advertise and earn money (Bloggers, Vloggers, YouTubers earn through this platform of Google - Google Adwords)

Examples to understand