Certain businesses are such that they pitch their sales directly to the customer. For others, perhaps due to the nature of the product or the personality of the founders have an indirect, relatively subtle way to pitch sales. For the latter types, certain methods have been collated which will help their revenues grow this year. First of all hyper-local marketing methods need to be applied as majority of customers belong to the same area, thus already shopping from some place. Each time a customer has bought or used the services, aggressive remarketing techniques must be applied. Digital marketing using location tracking on smartphones, laptops or tablets may be an ideal method. The content delivered must be detailed and deliver precise message, but for the target audience this will open up plenty of options. These messages must be delivered using triggered method where time and date are decided depending on importance and opportunity. Strategic partnerships must be developed with cooperative stores and enterprises and they enable localized targeting. In this field, having a top brand partner can be crucial. Due to the primary local efforts, monitoring of the marketing will also be easier. Sometimes, showing off is not bad, as such firms will need to broadcast their achievements. Source: http://m.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/29044/10-essential-steps-to-revenue-growth-in-2016-for-brands-with-an-indirect-sales-model

The concept and growth of digital marketing has broken through country barriers. It is now much easier for companies to target across borders using online marketing tools. Some tools have been identified which are most helpful to such marketers. In order to promote a product or service over social network, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Google + and LinkedIn are the obvious platforms. They have diverse uses as Twitter being more of a virtual phone while Instagram or Pinterest are ideal for developing product narratives. Facebook in addition is also well suited to mobile phone based marketing. Foursquare is another tool well suited to leveraging mobile technologies like GPS or AdWords. Retargeting is a method of tracking existing users and remarketing to them so that customer loyalty is built and they become repeat customers. Community building is another important way of engaging customers as succeeded in this quest by West Jet. Content marketing is one of the most critical steps where a story is promoted using language that is unique and shareable. Intelligent customers can make out the difference between genuine quality content simple sales pitch. The content must be adaptable to various situations depending on type of target market.

Source: http://thetechnews.com/2016/04/09/how-digital-tools-influence-marketing-concept/me

A study has confirmed that high performing marketing teams tend to use business analytics more to the tune of four times the others. This study was conducted across the world with marketers in Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, UK, France, USA and the Nordic region. By the year 2021, digital marketing will account for three fourths of total marketing spend. In fact over the next two years itself, more than seventy percent of companies will ramp up online ad spending. Customer data is now tracked by about five sixths of organizations especially in the B2C segment. Nearly eighty percent of the top performing marketing teams are already using predictive science. Mobile application use has nearly doubled in few years. But the statistic which most proves the disparity is that these high performing teams are nearly fourteen times more likely to possess an integrated business solutions suite. Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2016/03/30/2016-state-of-marketing-high-performing-marketing-teams-4-2x-more-likely-to-use-analytics/#480c3cf675dd

Social media is being increasingly used up by companies to broadcast information about its products to aid in the process of digital marketing. However, this aspect ignores the fact that instead of using social media as the mouthpiece of the organization, it must instead be used more so as the eyes and ears. This implies that social media can be used as a tool for extensive scanning of the market place though listening devices. Real time customer interactions can be recorded and analyzed. Market research can be carried out about the demographics to be targeted. Competitor reports can be generated. News and information related to the broader industry can also be chronicled using various social media platforms. It is an ideal place to conduct experiments on products and observe the goings on.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/03/28/dont-make-social-media-your-companys-mouth-make-it-your-eyes-and-ears/#162c29733b08

Digital marketing has come of age. It is no longer dominated by sleazy campaigns involving stuffing as many keywords as possible. It now seeks to make sure valuable customer experience is the focus of the content. For this it is important for marketers to understand what exactly target audience requires as content. The communication must be clear and consistent across all platforms. Valuable content must be shared with customers. Tracking conversation on social media outlets is a must as this will provide the organization with a treasure trove of business intelligence. Finally it is crucial to develop sound relationships with existing customers. Periodic engagement with them using social media is desirable.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-dodds/how-to-make-customer-expe_b_9455552.html?section=india

It has often been mooted that SEO on its own is enough to conduct digital marketing for companies. Studies however have proven otherwise. Leads get generated but conversion depends a lot on the convergence effect of a multi-pronged approach. That is where the website must be aligned in such a way as to handle customers. This could be through a blog or news page. Social media platforms especially Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are perfect to capture wide audience and engage millennials as they are already hooked to the same. Email marketing while a relatively older form continues to be extremely reliable a source of lead conversion. Social networks and Google AdWords also provide advertising space which can prove to be essential touch points to engage with the customer base. Source:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-seo-alone-successful-lead-gen-online-marketing-effort-thimothy

Marketers are undecided whether to adopt greater digital marketing resources towards social media or SEO. For startups, it is not financially viable to go whole-heartedly at both so a bit of prioritization is needed. There are some instances where both complement each other, while there are others where one can backfire for the other. Social media requires catchy headlines to attract page views. SEO though requires the usage of keywords so as to reflect on users’ search options. Fake accounts are often used by unscrupulous competitors on social media to wreck marketing campaigns of others. On searches, it is highly likely that social media pages from top platforms such as Twitter or Facebook will reflect on the first page immediately below the website. Thus care needs to be taken to maintain the same. The website needs to include links to company social media pages. Also shareable content needs to be created so that both SEO as well as social media platforms can leverage the same.

Source:  http://www.business2community.com/seo/social-media-vs-seo-which-is-better-01280575