These days, the workplace is going digital at the speed of light. With social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram taking the place of traditional marketing strategies, many companies don’t know what to do or where to turn. While it can be confusing and unfamiliar for companies to trust a digital marketing agency to their market research and publicity campaigning, it’s becoming more and more normal for large brands and start-up companies alike to use online platforms to spread their message and sell product to a huge number of consumers. So why does digital franchise marketing have such a bad reputation? When it comes to boosting a brand’s profile, it simply doesn’t make sense for companies to ignore the power of digital marketing and its global reach. Still, many businesses are either too shy or too uninformed to make the leap. If you’re thinking about going digital with your marketing strategy, here are a few misconceptions you can safely ignore.
It’s Only For Big Companies
One of the most confusing misconceptions about digital marketing is that it only serves gigantic brands who already have an established web presence. This simply isn’t true. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. Since the advent of social media platforms, small businesses and start-ups have had the most to gain from creating digital marketing strategies. For smaller businesses, the promise of going “viral” with a campaign is enough to get interested in bulking up their web presence and increasing their organic reach. Now that digital marketing campaigns are becoming the norm, the playing field has become much more even than before, when only large companies had the money to invest in large news outlets or traditional billboards to market new products to consumers. Today, creating a simple hashtag is enough to get a smaller brand noticed and launch them into superstardom overnight. It’s not just about creating viral content, either. Small and large businesses alike can expand their reach by using imaginative, down-to-earth social media campaigns that hit consumers where they live rather than using outmoded language and patronizing imagery to speak to a specific audience.
The Strategy is the Same for Web and Print
While many businesses still see the virtue of advertising in print, digital marketing is an entirely new breed of strategy. Not only is the readership and viewership different, the language and tone are completely different as well. While a more formal, traditional marketing campaign might be perfect for a print-only audience, web-based campaigns can skew a bit younger and play with more imaginative, fun ideas while still keeping the company ethos at heart. Digital marketing campaigns can bring new audiences in without alienating core viewers from the company’s primary message. In terms of reach, digital can go much wider, and because of this, a digital campaign strategy needs to take into account a ton of different demographics when searching for the appropriate way to introduce a new product or concept.
It’s Not About Good Content
Paid content may not have always been seen as legitimate content online, especially in the early days of digital marketing. However, today, with big name brands like New York Magazine and Refinery29 putting out tons of paid content per day that’s almost indistinguishable from their normal content, it’s becoming clear that the standard for paid posts and sponsored content is rising by the minute. Companies know that viewers don’t come to the same place every day to see ads. They come because the content is great and because they trust the brand to filter through the right ads and paid posts to serve their unique audience. As brands are redefining the way they think about paid content, consumers are becoming more familiar with seeing honest, high-quality posts backed by a specific company or campaign.
SEO Isn’t Important Anymore
Many companies are losing their minds over the fact that Facebook’s algorithm, along with the upcoming changes to Google search, make SEO and linking irrelevant. However, this isn’t strictly the case. Not only are Facebook and Google making a controversial move by changing their familiar algorithm at the drop of a hat, other companies don’t seem keen on following the trend. While digital strategists may be becoming less reliant on SEO to market their paid posts or sponsored content, they’re still using SEO to build up brands online. The use of SEO and other performance-boosting tools might be changing, but make no mistake, these tools are still a cornerstone of the way we view and create content online.
