Digital marketing: the ultimate guide to promote your business online

With the wide accessibility of the Internet, digital marketing became one of the most important tools you can use to promote your business. In this article, we are going to share 7 key ways to promote your business online, such as website building, email marketing, SEO, advertisements, and all the tips and tricks for each strategy.

7 key ways to promote your business online

1. Build a website

Creating a website is a great starting point to let the public to learn about your company and your business. A lot of online software such as WIX, WordPress, HubSpot, Squarespace etc. allows you to build a website without much knowledge on coding. When building your website, consider user-friendliness, ensure all information are clearly presented and that the website is compatible on different devices. On your website, you may include:

• A banner to promote new products, events, achievements
• Contact form and information about your company
• History, values and vision of your company
• Your products or services, their features and price
• Blog for content marketing

You can also take websites of similar businesses as a reference for what to include.

2. Social media marketing

Apart from building a website, establishing social media accounts is also an amazing way to get your website publicized. First, choose platforms that suits your business' needs, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tiktok, Pinterest etc. Since social media is a platform for trends, captivating contents and bite-sized information, try to introduce your product with captivating visuals paired with short, playful descriptions rather than being formal and cold. Remember to engage with your audience to foster relationships and loyalty. You may consider the following strategies:

• share tips and how-tos related to your products or services
• respond to the latest trends
• make hashtags for your services or products
• respond to inboxes and comments
• create trends, open Q&A boxes
• livestreaming

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the practice of improving the visibility and ranking of your website on search engines. To do so, you can target three types of keywords: brand names, product/service names, and general search words from consumers' needs. Use keyword research tools such as Google Search Console to identify the most popular keywords related to your business and add them to the titles, metatags (tags), and other content of your pages. You can also create separate landing pages, such as blog posts for your targeted keywords and link it back to your main website.

4. Email marketing

Reach out to your existing and potential clients through emails. The first thing you can do is to identify your audience and build an email list. One way is to ask for sign-ups for newsletters on your website, or ask them to create their account before they purchase a product/service. By doing so, you can acquire their email address and send product updates and promotional emails to them. Another way is to search for potential clients through online communities such as Linkedin. 

After that, you may start creating your email campaign to connect with your existing clients or introduce your service to new people. An email campaign is a series of emails that are sent to a list of recipients, aiming to generate leads and sales. Think about the frequency of sending and sequence of your email. A lot of tools, such as MailerLite, Mailchimp, HubSpot can help you with this. If you are promoting an event, EventX not only provides you with the platform for your event, but also offers built-in attendee list generation, customizable and automated emails.

When designing your email, produce emails with a title that stands out, and make your email professional or visually appealing. You may consider making your email signature for a more professional brand image, or including a poster or photo to capture the essence of your content. 

5. Use advertisements

Another way to get more visitors and increase exposure is through different digital advertisements. The below are some common types of digital ads:

• Search advertising: ads that are placed on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Naver. They are texts that appear as the top search result when people type in certain keywords.
• Display advertising: it is a visual advertisement with images and texts. They can display on a website or a blog, and as posts or stories on various social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Video advertising: video advertisements can appear as display ads, called out-stream video ads, which are shown on websites, blogs, social media etc. They can also appear as in-stream video ads, which are found before, during or after video content, such as those on YouTube.

Ads can be charged based on how many clicks they generate (cost-per-click), how many times they appear (cost-per-mile), how much engagement or sign-ups you get (cost-per-engagement). A lot of sites allow you to track your ROI (return on investment), so that you can see how much benefit you're getting from your ads and refine your advertising strategies.

6. Join and host events

Networking is a crucial part for your business growth. It gives you the opportunity to exchange ideas, to become noticeable, to assess the newest trends, professionals, resource and opportunities. That being said, events are one of the most effective ways for networking and promoting your business. Holding events also demonstrates your lead in the industry. Some ideas of events to join or host includes webinars and workshops, fairs and exhibitions, talks, networking and roundtables. There are three ways to hold an event: 

• Virtual events: allows you to access and connect with people around the world, but attention and interaction could be undermined.
• In-person events: allows more social interaction and provides a more engaging environment to focus on the event, but could be less accessible and has limitations on holding capacities. 
• Hybrid events: in-person event that allows virtual participation, so it captures the benefits for both virtual and in-person events. 

If you are organizing an event, it is important to think about the nature and goal of your event before you decide the type of event you hold and the method you are using. There are also softwares and firms out there to help you organize your event. Whether it is virtual, in-person or hybrid, webinars or exhibitions, EventX provides solutions to help host your event successfully. 

7. Offer freebies

You can promote your business by giving free promotional merchandise at events or in product purchases. Choose things that are useful, such as pens, calendars, notepads, bags are good choices, as they tend to be used and seen for a long time. However, what about online events where you cannot distribute physical products? Why not consider passing out NFTs as a souvenir? EventX has recently developed an NFT event solution to help you promote your business.

Conclusion

Digital marketing can help you reach new customers and build a stronger business. What strategies do you use to promote your business online? We’d love to hear from you.

Frequently-asked Questions about Digital Marketing

1. What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is the use of digital technologies and strategies to create, manage, and deliver marketing messages to customers and leads.

2. What are the different types of digital marketing?

There are different types of digital marketing strategies: social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, event marketing.

3. What are the benefits of digital marketing?

The benefits of digital marketing include the ability to reach a large audience quickly and easily, the ability to track and measure your results, and the ability to generate leads and sales from a global pool of potential customers.