Digital marketing is a bit of an umbrella term that can take on many meanings. A fully robust digital strategy will apply all aspects of digital marketing such as:
- Search engine marketing (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Social media engagement
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Display marketing
- Email marketing
- Retargeting
…and the list goes on.
When it comes to generating traffic for your website there is more than one way to crack an egg. If you have questions about the the SEO vs SEM debate or whether or not you should prioritize a social media strategy, it’s just comes down to a matter of how quickly you require a return on your investment.
Short term
Paid advertising campaigns on platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Through this method you can place advertisements within search engine results, display banners within content or throughout social media timeline’s and other properties. By paying directly for clicks, impressions and video views, you guarantee a flow of traffic but only as far as you’re willing to pay and it’s always important to know the value of a click.
Medium term
Post, engage and grow your social media presence. Interact with users on relevant subjects, post content your audience will find interesting and develop a social calendar to help maintain consistency. The consistency is key as you’re competing for the attention of your followers.
Long term
Earn a high search engine ranking through diligent SEO and increase the flow of organic traffic. While organic traffic is “free” in concept, the days of simple keyword research plus a few dozen backlinks is no longer enough. A lot of work goes into curating high quality long form content as well as employing more advanced SEO techniques such as page load time reduction and adding schema code where necessary.
No single digital marketing technique is wrong and but the resource constraints differ for each strategy. Depending on your goals, you may need immediate performance marketing solutions that can only be delivered with paid advertising or a more long and drawn out approach in service of establishing a brand.