Welcome to 2020: a new year, a new decade, and an era for digital marketing to continue its dominance. We live in a day and age where nothing is really printed anymore; it’s all about online sharing of videos, photos, content, and visuals through multiple mediums.

The graph below should explain it.

With a worldwide projection of $375.80 billion on digital spending alone, there’s no denying its growth and influence. The “digital realm” is continually evolving towards providing benefits to any business – if done properly, of course.

But digital marketing is an umbrella term that encompasses different avenues for online success. The most notable marketing avenues being social media, Local SEO, Online Ads, and Website SEO.

Let’s get into how each of those tools can push your brand into gaining more customers, business, and industry success.

Social Media

Why are more and more marketers investing in social media? The answer can be condensed into three simple reasons: lead generation, validation, and credibility.

Imagine you’re scrolling through Instagram, and an ad catches your eye. You’re thinking it would be cool to have what they’re offering, but then you’re probably asking yourself, “Is this a legitimate business? Is it worth it?” Only one way to find out: checking out their profiles and social media presence. You start doing things like clicking their post and looking at their content – all in an effort to make a purchase decision.

As you can see, lead generation, validation, and credibility all stem from just viewing that one ad. With up to seventy percent of online traffic happening on a mobile device, social media presents more opportunities for a business to be seen. Where’s that online traffic going? The answer’s in the graph below:

Social media wins by a landslide. Looking at the global report above, it’s no surprise why seventy percent of marketers are increasing budgets on social media marketing. And now in 2020, more businesses are gravitating towards social media, which is making your image even that much more crucial.

Saying that social media is a big part of digital marketing is an understatement. If you want your business to be seen and heard in 2020, social media marketing will be a crucial avenue for you.

Local SEO

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves your business’s online presence in your local and surrounding area(s) and increasing your company’s visibility. Simply put, it’s where your business shows up when you search for something on Google Maps.

When you’re craving Italian food but don’t know where to go, what do you do? You search “Italian Restaurants” or “Best Italian Restaurants” and rely on a search engine like Google to give you the best of the best. Are you going to scroll through page after page in search results? Just like ninety-two percent of search engine users, you probably wouldn’t even make it to the second page of results.

Local SEO ensures that your business is one of the first results a potential customer sees. With ninety-two percent of people clicking on businesses found on the first page, being a search result on the first page will yield dramatically different results than being on the third page.

The heartbeat of getting “real business” from Google will rely on you being active with your Google My Business profile. A feature called “Google Posts” allows you to further optimize your business’s online visibility as you can post a photo, caption, and attach a call-to-action to keep people up-to-date with your business. Combine those posts with good visuals, ratings, and reviews – you’ll bolster your online credibility.

It’s a successful domino effect when it comes to Local SEO – and it all starts with a Google My Business profile.

Websites

Despite having a profile on social media and Google My Business, nothing establishes a unique identity like having your own website. Websites allow more freedom in design than the already created templates of social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Without one, you’re just another profile on a social media site. With one, your business is tangible, standing out from the crowd. They personify and convey your brand, as well as impacting a person’s perspective on your business’s credibility.

Imagine visiting a website and being presented with an eye-sore of a design and writing riddled with spelling mistakes and formatting errors. Would you trust that business with your money?

It takes about 0.05 seconds for users to choose whether to stay and browse your website or exit and find something else. Having tons of people visit your website means nothing if they’re put off with your design and content.

Tim W. Knox, a digital entrepreneur, agrees with the positive impact of a well-designed website and the adverse effects of a shoddy website: “I’ve seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.”

Having no website, especially in 2020, is even worse for your business. Compare a business with a website versus a business without one. Which would you choose? Over half of consumers expect a brand to have a website to provide them with more information. Without one, you can expect them to lose their interest in your business.

It’s not enough to just have a website – you’ll need to reformat it to feature responsive web design. A whopping eighty-five percent of adults believe that a website on a mobile device should be legible and easy to navigate – if they have to pinch and zoom, you’ll lose their interest as well. In addition, slow-loading websites cost companies $2.6 billion in lost sales every year.

With a fast-loading, compelling layout, mobile-friendly, proofread, and precise website, your business is good as gold.

Being in a digital era, it’s no wonder why digital marketing is and will continue to be a powerful method of advertising. Here at Your Listing Expert, we’re masters at managing the constant changes of the digital marketing evolution to your business’s advantage.

Whether you need to improve your social media, rank higher on local SEO, or need an enticing and aesthetically-pleasing website, you can rely on us to help you start the decade right.

Check out our various packages outlining how we’ll boost your online presence, credibility, and more!

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Citations

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/digital-marketing-statistics/

https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/mobile-marketing-statistics

https://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/research_white_papers/the_state_of_mobile_insights_into_emerging_behaviours_on_mobile_devices

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/local-seo-stats

https://bluelist.co/blog/google-stats-and-facts/

https://www.chatmeter.com/blog/why-google-posts-are-essential-to-your-seo-and-veo-strategy/

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65204

https://www.namecheap.com/blog/without-a-website-losing-business/

https://www.sweor.com/firstimpressions