Mila Joshua Yona
Entrepreneurship coupled with innovation has evolved substantially both in terms of discipline and practice today. This sudden change is a result of technological advancement.
There was once a time when hard work, general competencies, and good management were cherished as sufficient skills to keep your newly established business afloat.
However, times have changed. In this technology-driven generation, you have to combine hard work with brains to succeed. You have to be willing to innovate. And this innovation is only possible through digital marketing.
As an entrepreneur, you need to familiarize yourself with the concepts of digital marketing as much as you can. This is because digital marketing in this modern era is more than crucial for the survival of one’s business and it remains a fact for almost all types of businesses and industries.
You can never succeed if you keep applying the old traditional, orthodox practices today. Leverage digital marketing and make your business known.
Today, we are going to cover why businesses need to adopt digital marketing mechanisms in order to thrive and stay ahead of their game. But before we do that, here’s a little summary of digital marketing.
So, What Is Digital Marketing?
If we are to give a simple and yet comprehensive definition of marketing, we would describe it as a component of marketing that encompasses the use of technology, largely internet and online-based digital technologies such as computers, smartphones, and other digital media platforms(For example, social media)
The primary aim of digital marketing is to attract cold traffic, then successfully warm them up over time and bring onboard new people to visit your website, and then enable campaigns through your digital platforms.
Perhaps the best channel to enable digital marketing presently is through the internet, specifically social media, and creating an active website for your business.
Why entrepreneurs should embrace digital marketing?
By now, you must be well aware of the fact that as an entrepreneur, running a successful business requires you to have a digital presence, in order to survive in the long run. You need to find out what type of digital platforms your customers are engaging actively in, and then choose the right digital platform for your business.
Having said that, here’s what you will gain out of successful digital marketing and why as an entrepreneur, you need to learn the concepts of digital marketing for your business.
Gaining competitive Advantage
Success integration of digital marketing allows entrepreneurs to innovate and always think ahead of their competitors. This goes both ways. If your competitor is already active on their own digital platform and you’re not, it simply means that you need to anticipate and act in a way that outperforms your competitor’s digital strategy.
However, if your competitor is not proficient in digital marketing, then it means you’re a step ahead. On the contrary, at the same time, you’re also prone to more risks, in a sense that your competitor might attempt to outperform your business, by launching a better digital strategy which is why you need to keep tabs on what the customers want as customer demands constantly change and all this can be achieved through successful digital marketing strategy.
A good way to kick starts your digital platform is to purchase your own domain, and web hosting and begin your e-commerce setup. Web Hosting companies like A2 Hosting is a great option, have you covered with complete solutions.
Building your brand reputation
Digital marketing does not only enable access to a large pool of customers throughout the globe but also allows entrepreneurs to build a strong brand persona (image), one that resonates with the customers. Global leaders like Amazon and Apple have all leveraged digital marketing to create a brand image that resonates well with their target audience.
Practically speaking, it’s not possible to turn your brand into the next Amazon through digital marketing, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s basically, you’re nothing without Digital marketing. Even statistics project that social media usage by individuals at large today is increasing at a rapid pace every passing day.
Building your brand image isn’t that difficult today. Through creating social media platforms and becoming interactive and responsive on them, customers can bound to turn in your brand, which is why active social media platforms are pre-requisites if you want to build your brand image through digital marketing. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter are popular and more approachable social media platforms.
Bolstering your business’ growth
A business generally grows by acquiring new customers, gaining a larger market share, generating more profits and lower costs, and increasing sales, while retaining customers alongside.
If a business ditches traditional methods marketing and abide by digital marketing tactics and integration, it will definitely incur lower costs on marketing. This is because it takes absolutely zero cost to maintain social media presence even run successful campaigns online as compared with the traditional methods.
Business’ reach will increase. Time will be saved and efficiency will be achieved. The cost of acquiring new customers for your business will substantially decrease, while you’ll continue to add new customers and increase your overall sales, in the long run.
Customer retention will also increase as you’re able to stay updated with your customer pool, through discounts, promos, and coupons.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurship and the general trend have changed. No matter how much you don’t want to accept it, you can’t survive without going digital today. If you’re not willing to adapt to new trends, you will be left behind, and trust me you won’t survive.
It’s high time that entrepreneurs get equipped with the fundamentals of digital marketing and survive the cutthroat competition that is only going to increase in the future.
