When starting a small business, the goal is to identify your target customers and get them through the door. If you still rely on traditional forms of marketing, it is time to rethink your strategy. Apart from being expensive, offline marketing is hard to track and personalize. 

Fortunately, there is an easier way to grow your startup. Yep, we are talking about digital. Here is how to use it to boost your startup.

Catering to the Rising Number of Online Buyers

Most of your customers are already online. They use search engines to find new brands, engage with businesses via various digital channels, and read online reviews to make informed purchasing decisions. According to Statista, the number of online shoppers will hit 230.5 million by 2021 – the pandemia has only accelerated this trend

Tech-savvy customers expect legitimate businesses to have a website, social networks, and online customer support channels. Therefore, if they cannot find you online, they will probably go to your competitors.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Many competitor analysis tools allow you to monitor your rivals and understand the advantages and disadvantages of their marketing approaches. For example, you can see which audiences they target, what kind of campaigns help them establish their web presence, what types of content they create, how they communicate brand values, etc. 

Above all, you can identify potential gaps in their marketing campaigns that might help you stand out. Otherwise, you may miss out on the opportunity to put yourself in front of the right customers and compete for their attention. 

Understanding your Target Audience

To appeal to customers’ individual needs, you first need to create detailed buyer personas – fictional representations of your target customers. They rely on two types of customer data – demographic (customers’ age, gender, geolocation, income, education, family status) and psychographic (problems, needs, preferences, buying habits). 

Digital marketing makes it easier for you to analyze your target audience and collect their feedback to make data-backed marketing decisions. For example, you can:

• Use website analytics to understand where your customers click the most, what content they read, and which pages they abandon. 
• Use social media analytics to see how people engage with your brand on social networks. Apart from measuring their engagement, you can also monitor your brand and product mentions. Social media monitoring tools notify you when someone mentions you, allowing you to measure brand sentiment and provide immediate feedback.
• Email analytics tools let you understand which types of newsletter content resonate with your audiences. You can A/B test different subject lines, content forms, and recipient groups to find your email marketing strategy’s silver bullet.
• Analyze your customer service channels, such as email, live chat, and chatbots, to understand their pain points and address them.
• Create customer satisfaction surveys or quizzes on your website, email, or social networks. 

Personalizing User Experiences

In today’s hyperconnected era, one-size-fits-all content does not cut it anymore. Customers expect brands to deliver highly targeted user experiences. Now that you have created your buyer personas, it is time to act on them and personalize user experiences. 

Let’s take the example of up and coming designers selling their pieces online. Not everyone is interested in the same type of products and offers. To deliver individualized user experiences, you need to rely on the customer data you have collected. 

You can start by personalizing your website. For example, instead of promoting the same deals to everyone, you can track customers’ behaviors. If a customer searched for a specific brand on your website, you can display an ad showing the latest items from that brand’s collection. 

Personalizing email marketing campaigns also helps you drive engagement and conversions. You can slice down your newsletter recipients into narrower groups using multiple variables, such as their gender, age, previous interactions with your brand, past purchases, content preferences, etc. 

Building Trust and Generating Qualified Leads

Digital marketing practices elevate your startup’s presence in multiple ways. The right marketing campaigns allow you to increase brand reach put your startup in front of the right customers. When strategized and executed properly, your SEO, content marketing, PPC, and social media marketing campaigns all have a shared goal – to attract audiences that are interested in purchasing from you.

By creating marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audiences, you will convert them into qualified leads. 

The next step is transforming leads into paying customers. There are many digital marketing practices, such as user-generated content, product reviews, customer testimonials, case studies, loyalty programs, safety badges, which will build trust with your customers and inspire their loyalty in the long-run.

Conclusions

Digital marketing helps you personalize customer experiences and show your brand’s human side. That way, you will engage your target audience, convert them into leads, and boost their loyalty in the long-run. Above all, with a wide range of digital marketing tools, you can A/B test your marketing campaigns and analyze them to identify the practices that work.

Eve Anderson is a marketing specialist turned blogger. Interested in sports and exciting travel destinations. Love to share content that can inform people.