“Is digital marketing worth it?” This is one of the most common digital marketing questions that every burgeoning entrepreneur, marketer or business owner has. And as an agency that’s been around for more than 16 years, it’s one we’ve answered for our clients time and time again.
To anyone running a business today, online marketing may seem like a familiar concept. However, before you can start formulating your own strategy, several digital marketing frequently asked questions (FAQs) need to be established and addressed. When you have a high-level understanding, you can start the process of integrating web marketing concepts seamlessly into your brand strategy.
This post tackles the top digital marketing FAQs to help you navigate this complicated online landscape. But before diving into these pressing queries, let’s first revisit that essential digital marketing question plaguing many business owners on a tight budget:
Is Digital Marketing Worth It?
Business marketing is changing faster than ever. And in today’s competitive marketplace, there is no growth without digital marketing. So yes – it is a worthwhile investment for anyone aiming for true, long-standing success in the current digital landscape.
Many businesses rely on digital channels to drive word-of-mouth and earn brand recognition. As more technologies and marketing channels emerge, however, you need to be one step ahead to build a robust online foundation for your brand.
Before you can establish a credible online presence and offer favorable omnichannel experiences, you need to get your digital marketing questions out of the way first. Marketers and companies without a concrete understanding of digital marketing questions and answers don’t have a clear idea of what they want to achieve online to build and grow their business.
So start empowering your brand in ways traditional marketing cannot – get your digital marketing FAQs answered and take the necessary steps to accelerate your results.
25 Digital Marketing Questions and Answers To Guide Your Online Journey
Learn how to protect your brand from web marketing mistakes that hinder your company’s growth. Here are the top digital marketing questions and answers to jumpstart your web marketing campaigns with confidence:
DIGITAL MARKETING
1. What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing (also called online marketing or web marketing) is the use of the internet and digital channels, such as search engines, emails, websites and social media, to promote and connect brands with a larger audience base. Online marketing is considered more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods since it provides businesses with complete control over where to allocate their resources and investment.
2. What Are the Success Factors of Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing companies use different tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console (GSC), to track online campaign results. The overall performance of digital marketing campaigns depends on many factors, including:
| • Website load time • User experience (UX) • Web traffic sources • Returning visitors • Website leads • Content quality • Search rankings • Organic and direct traffic | • Backlink quality • Social shares • Star ratings and online reviews • Lead conversion rate • Cost per acquisition (CPA) • Click-through rate (CTR) • Customer lifetime value (CLV) • Email delivery and open rate |
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3. What Is Franchise Marketing?
Franchise marketing is the process of using various digital marketing tactics and platforms to promote the corporate brand and individual locations. Franchise marketing strategies focus on building a consistently robust brand identity, creating brand affinity and driving revenue to the entire enterprise business.
4. What To Look For When Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency
Experienced digital marketing companies deliver tailored marketing solutions that align with the brand’s goals and values. More importantly, they keep an eye on all aspects of the campaign, from development and implementation to monitoring and reporting, to ensure everything is on track.
Consider the following factors when choosing an online marketing firm:
| • High-performing website • Clear vision and strategy • Proven track record of success • Years of marketing and industry experience • Campaign tracking and reporting system | • Data-driven marketing methods • Client portfolio and success stories • A team of seasoned digital marketing professionals • Cost-effective digital marketing services |
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ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
5. How Do I Create a Digital Marketing Plan?
Digital marketing approaches vary depending on several factors, such as your brand goals, search performance, marketing needs, target audience and financial capacity.
Here’s how to create a solid digital marketing strategy tailored to your brand:
• Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
• Evaluate your current digital performance
• Define your unique value proposition (UVP)
• Create buyer personas
• Establish SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound)
• Choose your digital marketing channels, tools and methods
• Determine your marketing budget
• Set key performance indicators (KPIs) and benchmarks
6. What Are the Key Elements of a Successful Marketing Strategy?
A growth-driven digital marketing plan offers brands efficient ways to maximize opportunities and resources, encourage brand loyalty and increase sales at every touchpoint. To keep businesses on the path to success, every digital marketing strategy must have the following key components:
| • Marketing goals and objectives • Buyer persona • Brand guidelines • KPIs | • Realistic marketing framework • Customer journey map • Monitoring and evaluation plan • Ongoing optimization strategy |
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VIDEO MARKETING
7. What Is Video Marketing?
Video marketing leverages video content (e.g., live videos, vlogs, video reviews, animated GIFs, video ads and webinars) to communicate a unique brand story and increase audience engagement. Compelling videos offer a personalized brand experience to viewers and elevate a business’s thought leadership. According to a Wyzowl research study, 94 percent of marketers found a significant increase in user understanding of their products and services by implementing video marketing campaigns.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
8. What Is SEO and How Does It Work?
Search engine optimization is the process of implementing white-hat strategies (techniques that adhere to the rules and expectations of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo) to improve a website’s organic ranking in search results.
Search engines crawl and analyze web pages based on different ranking factors, including page load time, content quality and keyword strategy, to determine the order they should appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) for a given query. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the higher your chances of acquiring more qualified leads and traffic.
9. What Is the Difference Between SEM and SEO?
The main difference between search engine marketing (SEM) and SEO is that SEO focuses on organic search strategies to boost search visibility. It combines technical, on-page and off-page SEO tactics to produce the best results. Search engine marketing, on the other hand, leverages both organic and paid search strategies to gain better visibility on SERPs.
10. How Can I Improve My SEO Ranking?
Approximately 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine (Search Engine Journal). To improve your website’s position on SERPs, you need to:
• Claim your Google Business Profile
• Design a mobile-first user interface (UI)
• Optimize for the Google Page Experience update
• Implement data-driven keyword tactics
• Publish quality, click-worthy content
• Ensure website accessibility
• Improve internal and external linking strategies
• Drive high-quality backlinks
• Track metrics and KPIs
• Continuously implement data-driven optimization tactics
LINK BUILDING
11. What Is Link Building and How Does It Work?
Link building is the SEO technique of promoting your content to get other websites to link back to your site. Link building delivers the best results when relevant, high-authority sites point to your website. Having a good number of high-quality backlinks indicates your content is valuable and trustworthy.
PAY PER CLICK MARKETING
12. What Is PPC?
Pay-per-click marketing (also called PPC advertising) is an advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on their ads. PPC is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies, enabling businesses to take control of every dollar spent on their advertising campaigns. With the right PPC strategy, businesses can reach targeted audience segments, boost website traffic and increase lead conversions.
13. How Much Does PPC Cost?
The cost of PPC advertising campaigns varies depending on several factors, such as the platform on which you’re advertising, industry and audience targeting. On average, the cost-per-click (CPC) on Google Ads is $1 to $2 per click for the Google Search Network and $1 or less for the Google Display Network.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
14. What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is the use of different social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, to build brand recognition. It involves listening to and engaging with followers, posting fresh, unique content and monitoring brand engagements. Unlike social media advertising, social media marketing focuses on organic marketing efforts to develop meaningful audience connections.
15. How Long Does It Take Before I Start Seeing Results From Social Media Marketing?
This depends on your brand awareness and existing social media presence. With the right mix of content and boosted posts, you may start to see an emerging, engaged audience within only three months. Meanwhile, other social media marketing efforts can take 6-9 months to deliver results.
WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
16. Are Web Design and Web Development the Same Thing?
Web design is concerned with the visual look and functionality of a website from a user’s perspective. Web development, on the other hand, is the coding process of using different programming languages, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, to create the intended design. Custom web design and development are critical to creating a positive impression on visitors and providing the best possible website experience.
CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION (CRO)
17. What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Conversion rate optimization is the method of testing and optimizing your website, landing pages or ads to boost the number of visitors who take your desired action (clicking a landing page, purchasing a product, completing the contact form). It involves understanding user behavior on your website to determine what hinders them from completing your intended action.
18. How Do You Optimize Conversion Rate?
High conversion rate is achieved through content optimization, design improvement, A/B testing and workflow improvement. Other CRO best practices include:
• Using clear, strong calls-to-action (CTAs)
• Establishing social proof
• Writing compelling PPC ads and website content
• Creating a user-friendly lead capture form
• Analyzing visitor behavior data using heatmaps and session recording tools
• Tracking analytics
EMAIL MARKETING
19. What Is Email Marketing and Its Benefits?
Email marketing is the use of email campaigns to connect your brand with potential leads and existing customers. Targeted email marketing campaigns can be used to send reminders to consumers to complete their purchase, request online reviews or promote special offers and gated content like webinars and eBooks. With a strategic email marketing campaign, you can adjust your messaging for different audience segments, build better brand recognition and maintain stronger customer relationships.
20. What Are the Types of Email Marketing?
Depending on your purpose, there are different types of email marketing campaigns you can launch. These include:
| • Welcome emails • Email newsletters • Lead nurturing emails • New content announcement emails | • Sponsorship emails • Event invitations • Product update emails • Re-engagement emails |
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ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT (ORM)
21. What Are the Key Elements of Reputation Management?
Online reputation management encompasses various strategies to protect your brand from fake negative online reviews and build trust around your business. It includes active review generation, review monitoring, review response and reputation repair strategies.
22. What Factors Can Affect the Reputation of an Organization?
Online reputation is formed by various factors that influence public perception of your brand. These include:
| • Customer service quality • Review response strategy • Corporate culture • Quality and price of products/services • Search engine results | • Review quality and quantity • Brand consistency • Digital presence • Social media activities |
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23. How Do I Fix My Online Reputation?
Repairing a damaged reputation involves implementing SEO and ORM best practices to restore your desired brand image. To fix your online reputation, begin by:
• Issuing an apology if you’re on the wrong side
• Responding appropriately to negative reviews
• Monitoring reviews across platforms and channels
• Generating more positive reviews
• Engaging with customers and followers
• Optimizing your social media presence
• Publishing positive brand-related content
• Improving internal processes
eCOMMERCE MARKETING
24. How Do I Optimize My eCommerce Product Page?
Customers make purchasing decisions before they even reach your checkout pages. As such, it’s critical to implement a solid eCommerce marketing plan that involves creating high-converting eCommerce product pages.
Here are key strategies to get you started:
| • Analyze your product pages • Use high-quality images • Optimize for mobile • Craft engaging, detailed product descriptions • Zero in on your unique selling point | • Provide a clear CTA • Display product reviews • Add trust badges • Have a FAQs section |
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25. What Is the Best Platform for an eCommerce Business?
The top eCommerce platforms available today are BigCommerce, Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, Bluehost, Magento and SquareSpace. When selecting the best eCommerce platform for your business, you must identify which one fits your current technical expertise and offers features and functionalities that accommodate your business needs and demands.
If you don’t have the capacity to manage your own platform, you may choose to sell your products on popular eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Target Plus and Walmart Marketplace instead.
Build Your Thought-Leadership Brand With Digital Marketing
These digital marketing frequently asked questions provide you with a brief overview of the web marketing concepts you will encounter as you go on your digital marketing journey. When creating your digital strategy and launching your marketing campaigns, you will likely run into other, more in-depth marketing questions that need to be answered by industry experts.
The best move forward is to partner with an experienced digital marketing company, where you learn the ropes straight from experts armed with years of industry knowledge and expertise. All the insights you gain from this partnership can be applied across your search engine marketing, paid advertising and online marketing campaigns.
Do you have other marketing questions? Contact Thrive Internet Marketing Agency today and let our online marketing specialists answer your digital marketing frequently asked questions. You may also explore our service pages for service-specific digital marketing FAQs.
