Affordability
Digital marketing has opened up the arena of marketing to smaller and medium-sized firms worldwide, putting them onto a level playing field with more giant corporates through its affordability. For example, Facebook advertising through ad campaign tools such as ‘boost posts’ costs a fraction of printing leaflets and can be directed at a specific group of people. At the same time, you get a much greater reach with a broader audience that potentially spans the entire world, and less paper goes to landfills to boot. Similarly, online banner adverts on websites generally cost less than adverts placed in more traditional outlets like daily newspapers or magazines. With the data generated by these online advertising techniques, you also get feedback on how efficient your ad spend was.

Measurability
A website is arguably the most critical marketing tool. It is an insight into what people are interested in and how they find your website and move around it. How many people have visited your site? Where are they coming from, natural search, through pay-per-click (PPC), social media or email campaigns? You can monitor the change in your figures over time, giving you accurate information about whether your marketing message is getting through to the right people.

Speed
You can also get your message out there quicker in the virtual world – a simple click of a mouse button is all that is needed. Compared to the much more protracted process of getting printed materials produced and distributed, companies can be much more agile with their messaging. Twitter posts or website updates take a few minutes compared to days for developing and printing a flyer. An e-newsletter can be written and controlled when it gets sent out, and you can monitor who has opened it, whereas an advert can take a week to place in a newspaper, and you never quite know how many people have seen it.

Engagement
Digital marketing brings a dynamic edge to how you promote yourself in a fast-paced world. One of the biggest reasons digital marketing has become so important is the engagement it gets – you can converse with your prospective and current customers, answer questions and resolve issues. You can also interact with a broader audience, meaning you can do more than sell. Through competitions, blogs, PR, events, and other marketing activities, one can achieve engagement. Using real-time online marketing, you can comment on issues and update or inform your customers immediately after significant events that may impact the sector you and your customers operate. You can also quickly match or better competitors’ offers with your own, keeping you at the sharp end of the marketplace. So, digital marketing is the need of the hour for your business – it is indispensable.