Digital marketing is a word that everyone has heard of these days. Most people today are wondering if digital marketing is a scam because there are so many online businesses, influencers, and companies that offer digital marketing services. This blog post will try to answer that question by going into details of digital marketing.
Understanding Digital Marketing
Digital marketing entails the use of media channels for the marketing of products or services to customers.
This includes:
Social Media Marketing: Making use of Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to create content for reach to the audiences.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Promoting a website in order for it to be easily found in search engines such as Google.
Content Marketing: The process of delivering useful content to a desired group of customers.
Email Marketing: Marketing through emails to particular leads and existing customers.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): Advertising campaigns where users click on the ads to be directed to their sought-after sites or products.
Affiliate Marketing: A marketing technique that brings profits from promoting and selling other people’s products.
The Legitimate Side of Digital Marketing
Proven Strategies and Tools
Digital marketing involves analysis of data and uses such analytics in real time. Fortunately, it is possible to track consumer engagement accurately with a CRM tool and other tools like Google Analytics and different insights on various social media platforms. Using this approach helps in improving the strategies, aligning financial budgets for expenditure and also in improving the return on investment.
Cost-Effectiveness
The useful facet of digital marketing is that it is cheaper than the traditional type of marketing. Digital marketing tends to be more effective in providing a greater return on investment (ROI) compared to conventional marketing. Social media advertisements for example can actually be placed so that they reach persons of a particular age, gender, location among others thus the company avoids spending cash on the wrong people.
Measurable Results
In digital marketing, everything that is done can actually be seen and analyzed into figures. Evaluations of CTR, conversion rates and other relative values like customer acquisition costs helps in proving that the campaign has worked or not.
Scalability
Finally, digital marketing provides great opportunities for scalability that are not present in any other media. Small business spends less capital initially then the investment is scaled-up depending on the results yielded. This flexibility is very important for various kinds of businesses.
The Dark Side of Digital Marketing
Unrealistic Promises
Some agencies or consultants would try to lure customers in with the dreams of attaining quick success and immediate outcomes. These facets of marketing need effort, time and precise planning. This can force the business to incur high costs for services which may not yield positive results.
Lack of Transparency
Each of the agencies may not fully communicate their processes and outcomes. To make matters worse some ‘consultants’ tend to speak in complicated terms and language so as to confuse clients or even give ambiguous responses that make it almost impossible for the business to determine what he or she is getting in return for the money paid.
Poor Quality Content and Black-Hat SEO
Unprofessional content and unethical SEO technologies are capable of causing harm to a brand’s image and value. Some agencies engage in keyword stuffing, link farming as well as using private blogs to shift their way to engage in rankings and they end up being penalized.
Overselling Products and Services
Promotion may also be accompanied with product or service promises which are beyond its delivery capacity of the agency.
Limited Expertise
Not all individuals with talent or possessing certain skills are employed in digital marketing. They might be very good in one or two areas but may not have the overall picture of digital marketing hence they compromise on the quality.
How to Avoid Falling for a Scam
Do Your Research
Do some prep before approaching a digital marketing agency. Search for some comments, examples of similar projects, and feedback from other customers. A good agency should have good records in their previous performances.
Set Clear Goals and KPIs
You should make sure that your company goals and expectations are clear and also the KPIs that will be used to measure performance. In the same way, agencies are easily evaluated with clear goals on the basis of their effectiveness of interaction, thus enhancing accountability.
Demand Transparency
The agency has to empower customers with information about the activities and outcome of the provided services. Employees should be asked for regular reports and updates as it will help the employer to track progress.
Start Small
First of all, start with a small project or a pilot campaign. It also enables you to evaluate the agency’s capacity with no considerable expense required from your end.
Educate Yourself
Read definitions of general and specific digital marketing concepts. The awareness of these concepts will assist you to make the right decisions and in the evaluation of the strategies presented by the agencies to you.
