10 Frequently Asked Questions on Digital Marketing and Their Answers

From research and facts drawn from working with clients over the years, we find that these frequently asked questions on digital marketing live with most entrepreneurs.

In fact, many of our clients often want us to clear the air on the dynamics of digital marketing upfront.

Of course, I agree you will want to be sure that digital marketing will work for you before you start investing. So, we intend to share our answers to the most recurring questions.

Let’s start here…

Q1. What’s my projected ROI?

Yes, cost and revenue! The most important part, right?

In digital marketing, your Return on Investment could mean few things. You might want customer engagements, email subscribers, social following, a retargeting list, product sales or anything else, depending on the level of your customers in the conversion funnel. So, your goal determines the ROI. The specificity of the goals is also why conversion possibility is high. You don’t have to gamble. You can spend on one particular expectation.

 

Q2. Where should I advertise?

We should talk about the appropriate channel for your campaign. But you should ask these two questions. The first one: who is my prospective customer? Let’s say she’s a new mother who likes to find helpful tips on Facebook, you might want to reach people who follow brands like @Cerelac, @YourBabyLibrary and @BabyTips. Secondly, what’s your goal? Brand awareness, lead generation, content promotion or direct sales? When introducing your brand, you might consider using AdWords Display Ads, Facebook promotions and Twitter Ads (for influencers). The point is that your ad channel depends on your objective and where your customers could be found.

 

Q3. Can I go digital as a new business?

Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that we have to be IBM or Google to record credible results from this space. When it comes to digital marketing, your business size doesn’t matter. However, I’ll like you to note something here. As a small business, your approach to digital marketing should be unique to your business needs. IBM might not crave brand awareness like you do. So, if they advertise for direct sales, you know you might have to optimise for your own stage in the customer acquisition funnel (The 9th questions tells more about this). For example, if no one knows you yet through content promotions, you shouldn’t jump to asking for emails. The key is to understand your current needs and run a suiting campaign.

Now, let’s get a little bit specific.

 

Q4. How is Facebook marketing different from having a Facebook page?

Fine, you have a Facebook page, but is that all? No! Unless perhaps your likes (and following) is up to 5 million. That’s only when you can reach a satisfactory number of people without paid Ads. It also means you’re not interested in new customers, which I don’t think is the case. While your following is important, you can’t quickly get enough of Facebook marketing. During the preparatory stage for “Facebook Developers Conference: F8“, you might have seen its ad on Facebook. So, if the community of 1.5Billion people still run ads for a broader reach, then it’s a recurring need for every business. If you want your business to reach a lot of people here,, you need Facebook marketing on your marketing strategy.

 

Q5. How does Google AdWords help my business?

I’m sure you want to know about this. AdWords is fantastic because it makes you available to those who want your products. Let me share this brief scenario. A library in Lekki-Lagos wanted readers in their axis to find them whenever they querry Google for “library in Lekki.” The increase was a skyrocket.

Also, Have you heard about Google Display Networks? That’s something like this:

When you run AdWord campaigns, you can have your banners used on different websites Google works with.

You must note the following “Essentials 101” also!

 

Q6. Can I do without an email list?

I know you often ask yourself this question.  I won’t advise you do without an e-mail list. The reason being that you can’t rely completely on social media followers as your loyal audience. But we can say that the people on your mailing list are your personal friends. If people like you enough to give you their mail, you might as well hope they’ll give you their money someday.  Email marketing transcends into personal conversations. That’s because your audience speaks with you directly now. In fact, it’s the most efficient medium to propel their emotions to take actions.

 

Q7. I have a website. So, why do I need a blog?

Why do you think content creation is now a career? As a matter of fact, digital marketing is driven by contents. I mean valuable contents. People judge your authority in your industry by the type of content you produce. So, why a blog is essential is because that’s the best platform to make your contents public (and home-based). Apart from gaining a wide reach through social sharing, it gives a visitor the opportunity to quickly access your credibility. You should consider providing valuable contents via your blog.

 

Q8. What do engagements say about my contents?

Many times, we get worried when we have no comments, like and shares on our contents. These are pointers to engagement but you shouldn’t conclude something is wrong yet. Some kinds of engagements like comments depend on the nature of the contents. If there’s nothing to ignite conversion, comments might not be necessary. I advise you focus on shares, retweets and mentions instead. These determine the value of your content.

 

Q9. Why do I need a ‘start to finish plan’?

You’ll hear every good digital marketer talk about campaign strategies. By knowing the destination before you start, you can define your map. You can project what happens at different stages of your campaign, including costs and estimated revenue. I said something about conversion funnel earlier. It defines the stages you take your customers through before they fully convert. You could see now that it’s essential to prepare stage-specific actions ahead.

I’ll call this last point “the biggest question.”

 

Q10. Should I forget about traditional marketing?

As a business person, you know public responses vary by demography, location and interest. We might be right that different strokes work with different people. So, you need to be sure about the right means to reach your audience. The millennials are on the social media, but you can’t say the same about baby boomers (born before the ’60s). Although there are few exceptions to this claim, that task is to understand where your prospective customers expect to find your ad. For example, we started using a street stand banner recently. And…? You know that already. We got calls definitely. But the calls are not from young folks!

I hope this list allays your fears or builds on your beliefs about digital marketing.

So, let the worries end here. You should go out there and harness every digital potential for your business.

Do you still have questions? There might be parts we couldn’t touch. But we can continue the conversation in the comment box.