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Have you ever wondered what marketing geniuses like David Ogilvy would have managed to achieve if they had access to the kind of advertising technology that modern-day marketers have?

It’s an interesting thought and one that requires careful deliberation. In the words of MR. Ogilvy himself, “advertisements are neither art forms nor entertainment. They are just mediums of information.”

For marketers, this quote ought to put things into perspective and encourage them to focus on the essentials. This is especially true in the case of digital marketing.

Digital Marketing Vs Conventional Marketing

Ask a layman what they think is the difference between digital marketing and conventional marketing, and they would respond that both use different channels to communicate with the end consumer. That’s correct, but if we had to explain the difference between the two with just one word, that word would be ‘the internet.’

Digital marketing incorporates all the mediums of communication that rely upon the internet. Whether it’s a mobile app, a social network, or a search engine, if there are users, advertisers will use the medium to reach the audiences.

Internet is a basic essential for people all over the world, and the goal of a digital marketer is to use this fact to their advantage. The internet also enables marketers to gain access to a commodity that is the key to understanding customers’ mindset — data.

Digital marketing is all about leveraging data to derive insights about customers and generating conversions. This works in stark contrast to conventional marketing campaigns that tend to focus more on creative aspects.

As illustrated in the above mentioned David Ogilvy quote, the goal of an advertising campaign is to provide information and generate business, not to provide entertainment. Perhaps this is why digital marketing campaigns tend to focus more on return on investment (ROI) than anything else.

Businesses spend a lot of money on developing campaigns, and it’s only natural that they should expect a high return. To get the highest possible ROI, digital marketers need to make sure they optimize their campaigns. Let’s take a look at some of the ways how they can do so:

Keep Focus on Profitability

There are different metrics that you can use to determine the success of a digital campaign. These metrics include Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per thousand impressions (CPM), Cost per acquisition, Click-through rate (CTR), and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

On the surface, these metrics will give you an idea regarding your ROI for a campaign. However, they wouldn’t give you details about the profitability of each transaction. For that, you will need to dig a little deeper.

Let us use an example to further illustrate this. Suppose you are in the process of developing a digital strategy for AT&T’s high-speed internet. As a part of your strategy, you have developed two campaigns.

Campaign A has a low CPC and has managed to generate a high volume of transactions at a high click-through rate. Campaign B, on the other hand, has a lower click-through rate and a high CPC.

On the surface, campaign A would seem to be a winner. It’s generating a higher level of transactions, but the quality of responses generated by Campaign B is higher. This makes campaign B a more profitable campaign.

Keep in mind that with a high volume of transactions, your cost of customer services also increases. These too can have an impact on the overall profitability.

Keep Track of Consumer Journey

Suppose you spend a lot of money on a digital campaign. You are sure that you have targeted the right audience with your ad, however for some reason, those clicks are not converting into customers. For a digital marketer, nothing is more frustrating.

There are multiple reasons because of which visitors might not be converting into customers. Maybe your web pages aren’t optimized for different kinds of screens and there’s a possibility that your page’s loading speed is too slow.

Your landing pages need to have a call to action in place. The absence of a CTA button can have an impact on conversions.

When preparing customers’ journey, you also need to develop solutions for specific scenarios. For example, if your customer abandoned the process halfway through, do you have any remarketing campaigns lined up to reach out to that customer again?

Suppose if a visitor becomes a customer, how do you plan to ensure that they will continue to stay loyal to your brand? Do you have a proper onboarding process to welcome a new customer to the fold? That too is an important question.

Analytics Platform

To ensure a high ROI, you need to keep an eye on your campaign performance with the help of an analytics platform like Google Analytics. This platform allows you to keep track of revenue generated by the campaign, customer acquisitions as well as traffic sources.

Understand Your Target Market

Who are you selling your products to? What are their preferences, their likes, and dislikes? You will need answers to these questions along with a whole lot of additional information to get an idea about your target market.

Analytics tools can also come in handy in that regard since they provide you with details about customers like their age, location, and devices.

The better you understand your audience, the better you will be able to target your ads and generate higher conversions.

Right Time Right Place

Understanding your audience is just one side of the coin. You also need to ensure that your ad is displayed at the right place and at the right time. Sure, you can always spend money to reach a wider audience, but that’s not an effective tactic for marketers who need to adhere to a budget.

This is where your timing comes into play. Do your research and try to identify the times at which you are likely to reach the highest number of people on social media and other digital platforms. Keep an eye out for events like public holidays, festivals, conferences, and concerts since these can have an impact on your visibility.

Landing Pages

An optimized landing page is the foundation of any successful digital campaign. A landing page is the part of your website that customers visit first, and if it’s not visually appealing or engaging, then the visitor will immediately leave the page.

You want to create a great first impression on anyone who visits your page, and for that, you need to ensure the page has content related to your campaign. The landing page also needs to be relevant with clear branding.

We already mentioned this previously and would reiterate that your landing page should have a clear call to action.

Consistency

In order to create a cohesive brand experience, you need to ensure that all creatives related to your campaign are consistent with the brand’s tone of voice, visual cues, and colors. Remember that customers gravitate towards a brand that is consistent in its communications.

A/B Testing

No matter how experienced you are, there is no guarantee that you will hit it out of the park with the campaign since day 1. The good news is that you will get useful information that you can utilize to mitigate risks and enhance overall campaign performance.

Through A/B testing, you can better understand what works with your customer and what doesn’t. Suppose you sent two separate messages to customers with different CTAs. Customers responded better to message A than they did to message B. Now you know what customer preferences are, and all your future content will be developed based on that.

Through A/B testing, you can gauge what will work with a customer and what wouldn’t and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

Learn To Switch Off

Marketers are quite passionate about their campaigns. It’s natural to feel that way when you are so heavily involved in the process of developing an extensive marketing campaign. However, if you notice that your campaign is not delivering the kind of performance you expected, then you need to switch off.

Just remember David Ogilvy’s words in such situations “it’s not creative unless it sells.”

Baldwin Jackson is a successful digital marketer with expertise in search engine optimization and content marketing. The perfect balance of his analytical ability and creative thinking is what sets him apart from other practitioners in the digital marketing realm. He has helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses in crafting their digital marketing strategies that are not only cost-effective but delivers results as well.

Baldwin is also a proud father of two kids and a Sports enthusiast. When he is not working, you will find him watching ESPN and NFL network. He has been able to get an amazing package on his favorite channels from Buytvinternetphone.com.