DEMYSTIFYING DIGITAL MARKETING with Kyle Balmer 

What exactly is digital marketing, and why should you care? 

Let’s talk about digital marketing and how overwhelming it can be for business owners. There are numerous strategies like email marketing, lead generation, SEO, SEM, and social media marketing, to name a few. The abundance of information and tools can be mind-boggling.

To simplify things, I’ll skip the exhaustive list of strategies and tools and focus on what truly matters for your business. Digital marketing is just marketing nowadays, as everything we do is online. The term “digital marketing” has merged with traditional marketing, and the online space is where businesses thrive.

The Essence of Marketing: Finding Genuine Prospects

Now, let’s explore what marketing truly means. According to Josh Kaufman, a brilliant author of “The Personal MBA,” marketing is the art and science of finding prospects who are genuinely interested in what your business offers. The key is attracting potential customers who may buy from us quickly and cost-effectively. Whether you label it digital marketing or just marketing, the objective remains the same.

Filtering through the noise is essential. Many trendy strategies and new technologies may not necessarily be the right fit for every business. Instead, we need to start by addressing our business needs and solving specific problems. To find what works, we must align marketing activities with our business objectives.

Aligning Digital Marketing with Business Objectives

So to succeed in digital marketing, we need to start by understanding our business and the value it offers to customers. Digital marketing is just marketing in the digital era, but we mustn’t get caught up in trendy tools and strategies without focusing on our business needs first.

The Baton Model: Solving Business Problems with Effective Strategies

When marketing our products or services, we should follow the “Baton Model” – starting with the business problem we want to solve, then identifying the most suitable strategies, and finally selecting the right tools to implement those strategies.

For instance, if you run a local estate agency and need more clients, a good strategy could be “Local SEO” (search engine optimization). This involves optimizing your online presence to appear higher on Google search results for local searches. Tools like Google My Business and Google Maps are essential for local SEO.

It’s crucial to differentiate ourselves from competitors by providing unique value to customers. Once we have the attention of potential customers, we can build a tribe or community around our business. This means engaging with them through various channels like email lists, social media, or newsletters, creating a relationship of trust.

Remember, digital marketing is about solving business problems effectively. By filtering through the noise and aligning our strategies with our business goals, we can make the most of digital marketing to achieve success.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEO AND PAY-PER-CLICK

So, let me explain something that often confuses people – SEO and Pay-Per-Click (PPC). When you see those ads at the top of Google, that’s PPC, not SEO. Many people don’t realize this and just click on the ads, assuming they are the best results. Even my mum falls for this! She always clicks on ads, and I keep telling her to stop because they might not be the best options. Anyway, the ads at the top are not SEO, but the next part is. This is Google Maps, and being there is fantastic because it’s big, colorful, and grabs attention. The larger your listing, the more likely people will click it. So, getting to the top of Google Maps is vital for local SEO.

The Value of Organic Listings and SEO for Long-Term Investment

Now, the organic listings, that’s where SEO lives. It’s all about trying to get to the top of those organic search results. Why? Because it’s worth a lot of money. When people search for something like “co-working Brixton,” we want to be at the top because those are potential customers. People searching for “Impact Brixton” already know about us, so that doesn’t drive new business. To understand what problems our customers have, we can look at what they’re searching for. Google is a problem search engine, so people turn to it when they need information or solutions.

Being at the top of Google is valuable for a business. For example, if we’re in the top spot for “co-working Brixton,” we might get around 200 clicks from organic search, leading to potential tours and new members. The click-through rate for ads is low and costly, so SEO is a better long-term investment. SEO is sticky; once you’re at the top, you tend to stay there without continuous spending on ads.

Four Basic Steps for Local SEO

Here are four basic steps for local SEO: 1) Claim your Google My Business listing; 2) Optimize it by providing detailed information about your business; 3) Have a proactive review strategy to ask happy customers for reviews; and 4) Work on citation building, getting your business listed in various directories like Yelp, Facebook, and more. These steps can improve your local discoverability and bring in more potential customers.

Building an Audience on Social Media: The Remarketing Strategy

SEO is vast, and if you want to learn more, check out the guide from Moz.com. It’s a good starting point for understanding SEO in a more digestible way. Remember, starting with a solid business problem is crucial for any digital marketing strategy. Then, find your value proposition, reach your target audience using social media and Google, bring them in with engaging content or offers, and eventually convert them into customers. Finally, focus on scaling up your business through networking and growth strategies.

Building an audience on social media, such as Instagram, is not just about boosting a post to gain more followers. When people interact with your posts or watch your ads, they become part of your audience. This interaction is tracked by the platform, and you can use this data to create targeted remarketing campaigns later. As your audience grows, you can then run specific ads or content to this engaged group, which increases the chances of converting them into customers or taking other desired actions.

The strategy involves starting with broader content and ads to reach a larger audience. As people show interest and engage with your content, they become part of your audience, and you can create remarketing campaigns to target them specifically. This approach allows you to nurture the relationship with potential customers and move them through a sales funnel, eventually converting them into loyal customers. The key is to gradually narrow down your focus and target those who have already shown interest, as they are more likely to respond positively to your marketing efforts.

Leveraging Remarketing for Conversions and Customer Loyalty

Remarketing is a powerful tool in digital marketing because it allows you to stay in front of your potential customers and keep reminding them of your products or services, which can significantly increase the chances of converting leads into sales. It’s a cost-effective way to reach an engaged audience that has already demonstrated some level of interest in your business.

Check out the video at the top of this page if you want to hear the discussion that followed this talk! I hope it helps you on your SEO journey.