10 things you need to know about digital marketing

If you want to grow your business, you need to sell more, it really is that simple. And the greater your ambitions, the more sales you need to make, whether to existing customers, new customers or likely both. Marketing is critical to business growth and digital marketing has become the main focus for many UK SMEs.

Although offline marketing still has a place, in many cases, digital marketing dominates, now powering the growth of many UK SMEs. It involves using online channels, technologies and methods to promote a business, its brand, products and services. Businesses can use digital marketing to make many more sales, even with little budget and know-how. If you want to use digital marketing to grow your business, here are 10 things you should know.  

1 Digital marketing can provide many benefits

Businesses of all sizes and sectors use digital marketing to build brand awareness and trust, increase reach, target the mass market or niche customers, sell more and encourage customer loyalty. Because it can be highly effective, without necessarily costing a lot of time and money, digital marketing can deliver an excellent return on investment. And you can track key metrics (eg  leads generated, conversion rate, email open rate, etc), learn valuable lessons and improve. You can also scale up your digital marketing as your business grows.   

2 Your website is crucial to marketing your business

Websites have a powerful influence on buying decisions. Your website should be your main marketing hub. Having a professional-looking website encourages trust and strengthens credibility. Your website should showcase your products and services in the best way. It should tell visitors why they should buy from you. Your images should be engaging, high quality and evocative of your brand. Your website should be fast-loading, mobile friendly and easy to navigate. 

3 Optimising your website for search engines is still important

AI tools such as ChatGPT answer questions with impressive speed, but they take information from top-ranking websites. SEO (search engine optimisation) can make your website discoverable by AI tools. The right keywords should appear in the necessary density in webpage headings, subheadings, body copy, title tags, meta descriptions and image alt text. Valuable, relevant, engaging and regularly updated content that is original and authentic can also boost your search engine visibility, as do backlinks from other websites. 

4 Email remains a highly successful digital marketing option 

Sending emails to prospects and customers to promote your products and services, share content, news and offers can be a highly cost-effective digital marketing option. Your subject lines should be short and compelling, your copy concise, engaging, value-rich, timely and relevant. Your email contact list should be clean and current, made up of people who have agreed to receive your emails.  Sending emails tailored to smaller “segmented” groups of specific customer types is a proven tactic, as is A/B testing (ie sending two different email versions to find out what works best). 

5 Social media marketing works well for many businesses

This refers to sharing content on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, etc. For no cost, it can raise awareness of your brand, generate leads/sales and build relationships with customers.  Paid social means buying advertising on social media, with ads labelled as “sponsored” or “promoted”. This can deliver much better results. With all social media marketing, you need to take a structured approach, set clear objectives, choose the right platforms, share high-quality content, have conversations, and analyse your results so you can improve.  

6 Digital advertising can help you to generate leads and sales 

This refers to displaying adverts on third-party websites, apps and social  media  platforms. Advertisers use platforms such as Google Display Network, Meta Ads or programmatic ad exchanges. Display advertising gives you the opportunity to retarget visitors who left your website without buying.  Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is where you pay a fee after someone clicks on your digital advert.  PPC campaigns can be targeted and easy to measure, with daily or campaign budgets set to limit your spending. 

7 Content can be king for your business

Content marketing involves creating and sharing content that gives genuine value to customers and prospects. Whether through blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics,  how-to guides, whitepapers or webinars, content can encourage others to know, like and trust your brand. It can drive engagement, prove your authority and boost your search engine rankings. Content marketing is not broadcasting sales messages, but it can ultimately drive sales. 

8 Many UK businesses now use mobile marketing 

With an estimated 95% of UK adults (16+) owning a smartphone (source: Ofcom), mobile marketing provides good returns for many UK businesses. Mobile marketing is targeting prospects and customers via their smartphones and tablets. Options include SMS texts and MMS (multimedia) messages, as well as mobile apps (eg in-app ads, push notifications, etc), your website (optimised for mobile devices) and posting content on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other “mobile-first” platforms.  

9 A mix of digital marketing options will probably work best

You may need to use a few digital marketing options, together with offline marketing (eg leaflets, brochures, word of mouth, postcards and print adverts). Measure key metrics to judge the success of all your campaigns, so that you can learn and improve. Find  out  what works and do it well.  

10 Proper planning prevents poor digital marketing performance

You need to set out your aims and explain how digital marketing will help you achieve them, which can keep you on track and prevent wasted time or money. Start by setting SMART (ie specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) objectives. Target your chosen buyers with the right content and messaging, using the most appropriate marketing channels. Use digital analytics to “measure what matters” (eg click-through rate, page visits, conversion rate, etc). Work out your return on investment and adjust your budget and tactics guided by your successes and failures. Budget allowing, get support from external digital marketing experts, because it could bring you much better results.