One great way to grow your pennies in this internet age, is through online pursuits, in particular, digital marketing.
And you don’t need a big budget to start: when it comes to sheer cost effectiveness, you simply cannot beat digital marketing.
That’s what we’ve all known for some time, and indeed recent research published by analysts GfK has confirmed this, showing that online marketing campaigns are directly competing with press and outdoor advertising in terms of who they can reach – and actually outstripping offline channels when it comes to delivering a short-term return on investment (ROI). Looking at eight separate marketing campaigns for consumer goods, researchers found an average ROI of 75p for online campaigns, compared with 66p for press and just 53p for outdoor advertising.
The best routes to digital success
Given the proven effectiveness of digital marketing, then, what are the fastest and best digital routes to this healthy ROI? The online marketing trade body, the Internet Advertising Bureau, has pointed the way, by noting that the most cost-effective digital advertising campaigns often make cunning use of search engine optimisation and Google Adwords, as well as social media and email marketing. The latter is exceptionally effective, particularly since the initial harvesting of email
contacts to form the necessary database can act as the foundation for other, later campaigns.
The ROI potential of email marketing
There are many online marketing companies that specialise in email marketing and can provide you with various resources, from free email templates to all-singing, all-dancing email marketing software, which not only helps identify and gather contacts, but can also manage the database and ensure that all marketing emails are targeted to the right customers at the right times and can analyse and identify trends, strengths and weaknesses. So how effective is email marketing in terms of ROI? Well in the USA, the Direct Marketing Association said that the method’s ROI for 2011 stood at $40.56 for every $1 invested, which is pretty impressive.
Social media amplified by email integration
When you combine this bedrock digital channel with some of the fastest-growing developments, the possibilities multiply exponentially. The phenomenal growth in social networking, especially into more targeted and niche areas via the likes of Tumblr and Pinterest, has made the potential for integration impossible to ignore. Marketing emails can point customers towards blog posts, promotional tweets or fan pages, and these media can avertise special offers, email newsletter subscriptions and other aspects of your email marketing strategy.
Joining the mobile revolution
The other unmissable development is mobile devices. All of the above should be mobile-optimised, to take advantage in the huge growth in online sales conducted while on the move. Email templates should be intelligible and attractive when viewed on smartphone or tablet, as should all social media. When it comes to short-term ROI, these most immediate forms of digital marketing are unbeatable when it comes to delivering bang for your buck.
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