***Contributed Post***

The time has come for you to start advertising online, but you’re not sure where to start. You have so many options available to you that it seems almost impossible to know which one is best for you. Exploring those options and conducting your own research is the key to unlocking the full potential on the digital marketing world and allowing your business to fully prosper online. So, let’s take a look at some of the options available to you as you start your campaign. 

Firstly, we are going to discuss social media. If there was ever an example of too many options when it comes to online marketing, then this is the one. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram and so on. There are so many social media websites that knowing where to start is going to be nigh on impossible without doing your research and understanding the USP of each one. 

For example, younger users use Twitter to access their news while older internet users are the driving force behind Facebook’s continued growth. Understanding your own abilities is going to be key with social media as well. If you don’t know how to create video content, why would you spend time on a YouTube channel now? When you’re starting a digital plan, you want to make sure that you’re targeting what is useful for you.

 

Moving away from social media and looking at the alternatives. Search engines and email marketing are two tried and tested ways of advertising directly to your target market. For starters, you should be exploring Search Engine Optimisation. This is the art of improving your website’s online visibility so that it yields better responses in unpaid searches. This is a good way of saving some money on paid marketing while also getting your website up to speed. 

Email marketing should be familiar to anyone who has shopped somewhere in the last ten years. Targeted campaigns will be sent to your customer’s inbox and you base that on their shopping habits or to encourage repeat business. Getting the timing and content of these emails right is vital to their success because the last thing you want is for it to look like junk mail and be discarded without consideration. 

The options available to you might seem too many to comprehend and actually make you struggle on where to start. That is why there are companies out there with the aim to help you with your decision making. Comparison websites like Growth Supermarket, for example, look at all the digital marketing opportunities available to you so that you can make an informed decision. After all, information is crucial to getting the most out of your advertising budget. 

Looking into your options can seem a little daunting when you first embark on a digital marketing campaign, but it doesn’t have to be. Research will get you where you need to be with a little bit of trial and error to carry you over the line.