A great digital marketing strategy is essential in breaking away from traditional Instagram shops. You know that you have a great product, but you need a little help. As a seller you may not be accustomed to digital marketing – that’s where we come in. This article explains everything you need to know about digital marketing to help your business achieve ultimate results.
What Exactly is Digital Marketing?
Several definitions for digital marketing have been coined throughout the years yet the primary definition is, ‘a form of marketing or advertising that promotes products and/or services on the internet with the ambition to sell these products and/or services to fulfil business-related targets.
While digital marketing certainly is important, the name alone does not mean everything. When we think of it in terms of a digital marketing strategy, it becomes another beast entirely. A digital marketing strategy expands and transforms from its namesake into ‘an effective plan to achieve set marketing and business goals’.
Why Should Social Media Businesses be Interested in Digital Marketing?
Sufficiently understanding the premise of digital marketing and a digital marketing strategy is a great start yet as a small seller on Instagram, you may not know its importance or how to incorporate it into your own personal business.
An effective digital marketing campaign can enhance the overall prospects of your business, yet it is these primary reasons that you should implement your own digital marketing strategy today.
1. Budget Friendly
Advertising and marketing campaigns have traditionally involved stupendous amounts of money to get an audience to buy a certain product or service. This may work for large corporations and other retail businesses but not for a small Etsy shop. For this reason, digital marketing strikes a fantastic balance between providing small business owners with budget friendly options while still achieving amazing results.
2. Improved Brand Awareness
Social media has effectively taken over as the leading medium for advertisers and digital marketers alike. And thanks to an ever-expanding user-base – it allows small Etsy shop owners to showcase their products, services, and importantly their brand. People are drawn to brands that have similar values and identities which allows them to become interconnected with that brand. Consistent and clear messages on a chosen social media platform will elevate your brand and lead to further positive outcomes.
3. Increased Lead Generation
An online store will have most of their customers directed to their dedicated webpage through social media. It’s vital that the content that you post on a social media page includes enough details to spark an interest in the product or service. An emotive call-to-action is also essential as it transforms casual readers into real leads with an interest in your product.
4. Rise in SEO
While Google provides algorithm updates on a consistent basis that changes the way your business appears in Google Search, your social media presence will help negate this. Social media and by extension digital marketing, plays a key role in influencing rankings. The better your ranking, the better your chances at converting an audience member into a long-term client. Make sure that your social media presence does what it can to improve your SEO within Google Search and Facebook Search.
5. Customer Retention
For enduring success, a business requires a strong and loyal fan base. This fan base is full of customers that love your product and/or service. Your digital marketing strategy should include messaging that reaches out to such customers to attract them to buy more of your products. It’s a sure-fire way to grow that connection with customers, simultaneously growing your brand and product.
6. Greater Authority within Your Niche
As your business continues to grow, so does your authority within your niche. While you may occupy a specific niche on a platform such as Etsy Canada, you can begin building on this authority through several means – clear and consistent social media posts, helpful information, as well as regular and friendly interaction with you audience.
The Building Blocks of a Digital Marketing Strategy
Building a digital marketing strategy that suits your business can be cumbersome and time consuming. But by understanding what the fundamental building blocks are for a digital marketing strategy, you can then tailor them to your product/service.
1. Who is Your Target Audience?
With your dead stock collecting dust, this most likely happened due to not understanding who your target audience is. It isn’t enough these days to assume that a particular gender or age group will buy your product or service, but this is a great starting point. Go a step further and begin creating buying personas. Create fictional people with names, hobbies, careers, family, and what they value in life. These will help narrow down your target audience in which you can begin to fine tune the message to gain long-term clients.
2. Research Competitors
Unless you’re in a highly specific niche, it’s likely that you will have several competitors to deal with. They may all operate to varying degrees of success yet by researching each of them, you can understand what works in their digital marketing strategy and what doesn’t. Browse through their social media, online store, and other media. You may just find some great opportunities that are ripe for the taking.
3. Customer Journey
The customer journey is an evolution of the predictable sales funnel. Although the sales funnel has worked in the past, it doesn’t understand the exact journey that prospective customers undergo. The buying personas that you have created will work great here. Think how your persona will travel from regular audience member to a loyal and enduring client – this involves raising awareness through your social media where they are directed to a landing page for your online store.
From there they will have the time to consider your product or service and whether they should buy it or not. Make it clear to your persona that your product/service will have a positive impact on their life while also clearly showing the benefits that it has over your competitors.
With a confirmed sale in the books, its all about retention. Keeping in contact with a customer is essential for sustained success. This often takes the form of dedicated emails that give customers a sneak peak of what is to come, a special on a certain product, or helpful information that relates to their previous purchase.
4. Brand Voice
Many larger brands have a specific tone of voice that they use throughout their content and messaging. Nike has done a superb job of this as all their communication is aligned with their famous tagline, ‘Just do it’. It’s positive, emotive, and above all inspires action from their loyal base of customers.
You don’t need to have a slogan, but you need to develop a consistent tone of voice that clearly aligns with your brand and what its attempting to achieve. It can be friendly and witty, or succinct and professional – choose the tone that best suits your brand.
5. Media Platforms
At this point you may be eager to jump onto every social media platform possible but hold on there! Although Facebook and Instagram dominate the social media scene, there are other platforms that you can utilize for your business. Etsy offers a strong alternative, but Grammedit provides your business with the best of both worlds – a fantastic blend of social media with the authoritative presence to take your brand to the next level.
Maintain control of the media channels that you choose. Most importantly, ensure that the content that’s sent out to your target audience is clear, consistent, and measured across all channels.
Challenges of a Digital Marketing Strategy for Instagram Shops
It’s tempting to jump right in and begin building your digital marketing strategy however there are some challenges that must be overcome. While you may think you are in control of every facet of your business, these three challenges throw a spanner in the works just as your digital marketing strategy is in its infancy.
1. Cost
Although digital marketing does provide an array of cost-effective options to grow your brand, the costs involved may exceed your current budget for marketing. Prior research will aid you in understanding how much you can spend to achieve certain results. Facebook and Instagram ad tutorials are readily available and will help you launch your brand to your target audience.
2. Time
Running your own business on platforms such as Etsy takes most of your time – leaving you with very little time to attend to your digital marketing strategy. Set aside predetermined times to work on your digital marketing strategy. This is no sprint – rather take your time to understand each facet of your brand and how to best communicate its message to your audience.
3. Experience
It’s likely that you have never built a digital marketing strategy before – don’t worry, you’re not alone! This inexperience represents a significant challenge but ultimately won’t be your downfall. Understand and accept that you may make mistakes along the way. It doesn’t mean you should go on a whim, rather take the time to research articles, watch videos, and speak to other social media sellers to understand what works and what doesn’t.
Example of a Great Digital Marketing Strategy
Many successful businesses keep their cards close to their chest when revealing their digital marketing strategy. One of these businesses however has become synonymous with their positive campaigns that inspire their audience – Dove. The company has been committed to changing beauty standards yet more importantly changing the way that people view themselves.
This strategy has proved immensely successful because they understand exactly who their target audience is and align each of their products with their overall commitment. Your brand doesn’t need to set out how to change the world. Instead, focus on how your product/service will improve the life of a prospective customer.
The Most Underrated Tool to Improve Your Digital Marketing Strategy
While Etsy and other marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace may be your primary selling points, there is one major SEO tool that will revitalize your brand and business. Grammedit supports the growth of small, Instagram and Facebook shops through a dedicated directory for small business. For the first time, the playing field is now levelled against larger retailers.
An endorsement through Grammedit will further enhance the profile of your brand and business as potential customers can now find you with even more ease. This directory will outline how reputable your brand is through authoritative reviews and other endorsements.
Your business should not be limited to a Facebook Search alone. Grammedit is an integral component within your digital marketing strategy to help break through to a new audience.
An effective social media presence, online store (e.g. Etsy), and affiliation with Grammedit will help potential customers find your business easier, faster, and in larger numbers than ever before.
Final Thoughts
Crafting the ideal digital marketing strategy involves dedication and patience. Since its always an evolving process, you need to ensure that you and your brand are cognisant of changes in your audience and industry. Thankfully, the perfect platform has been laid out right in front of you in which you can ready your brand for success. Grammedit is the ideal partner to authenticate your brand with its influx of prospective customers that are searching for brands like yours.
Have you implemented a digital marketing strategy yet? Share your challenges and achievements in the comments section below.
