What is Digital Marketing and Digital Marketing Strategy?
As marketing continues to evolve, differentiation is placed in a wide array of areas. For those of you who remember web 2.0 (otherwise known as social media), digital marketing has now grouped a variety of marketing efforts together. So, what exactly is digital marketing? Digital marketing includes any marketing effort that utilizes an electronic device or the internet. You may be using digital channels like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PPC/CPC advertising, email, or websites to connect with your audiences. It’s digital marketing that has simply brought all of these areas together.
As You Move Online
Many of you have looked into how digital marketing can assist your business, but first you have to think about the strategy that you are adopting. Are you trying to drive candidates? Are you trying to keep in touch? To continuously communicate with consultants? Drive new leads? Are you a thought leader? As you develop your strategy, it becomes clear what you are trying to achieve and what the various approaches are to achieve that result.
SEO/SEM
After taking a look at your site, have you built out your ongoing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy? While there are thousands of staffing firms in the United States that you compete with online, your SEO strategy differentiates you and allows you to be viewed by your desired audience. However; to be successful, it must be continuously updated and monitored. SEO is a fantastic driver of both candidates and clients, organically, to your site. Whereas, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) targets specific client and candidate bases with the messages that drive action. Both are essential elements in your digital marketing strategy and need to be reviewed for their respective value.
Social Media
Your social media is an integral part of creating your company’s digital profile, as well as assisting your SEO. We live in a “give to get” world where social media is your opportunity to share original articles, items of interest, company culture, and events in order to create a consistent communication between you and your audience. Social media does an amazing job, when used properly, in driving candidates and keeping in touch with your consultants. Additionally, the uses for your client base offer an ability to open doors for your sales team.
Website
Is your website responsive? Are you following the “content is king” approach? There was a time when we all looked at our websites as online brochures and if you still look at yours that way, then no need to worry about a digital marketing strategy. The fact is, those days have passed and your website is one of the first places that clients, prospects, candidates, consultants, and potential internal staff look at to understand what you bring to the market, how you’re different, and why they should be interested in you. Have you looked at your site on your phone or an iPad, as well as on your desktop and laptop? If the answer is no, please stop reading and do it now. You need to be able to see what your audiences see in order to determine how to improve in this area. I’ll close this section by simply suggesting, content, content, content, and more content.
We live in a world of email clutter. Email is one of the most cost-effective tools for reaching your audiences, but is also one of the most widely used. Have you looked at what you’re writing in your email subject line? Have you asked five clients or prospects if they would they open that? Have you looked at your content for its directness, brevity, and clear call-to-action? If not, I bet you can guess what I’m going to say. Email marketing is about creating a properly targeted list, developing a campaign that speaks to the audience, creating subject lines that the audience will open, as well as strong content and calls-to-action in order to drive success.
More and more questions continue to come up about digital marketing and the fact is, every staffing firm could benefit from enhancing their marketing strategy with a digital marketing strategy. The digital marketing approach assists you in growing your business, making sales people and recruiters more effective, and driving a positive overall perception of your firm. Let’s go digi!
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.