Digital Marketing, Facebook, Email, Yahoo, what about Google? You must have heard at least one of these terms, right? They are used almost everywhere, at work, in homes, events, etc. You have heard friends, relatives and co-workers use them. TV, newspapers, Radio… They are everywhere, and chances are; you’ve used them a number of times, yourself.

The big question—Do you have any idea, on how much you can grow your business, just by understanding even the basics?

We are looking at Internet marketing, and it’s changing how you thought your business should grow. It is, the new and digitized form of marketing – you can’t compare to the usual.

Internet Marketing right now, is without doubt the most strategic, flexible and cost effective way to go, for almost all kinds of businesses.

It simply has a lot to offer, that just blends in with the current world we live in. There is a reason why even the biggest brands like coca cola, Samsung and MTN all across the world, are now blending it into their marketing budgets, year after year. IT WORKS.

There are turns and turns, of abilities Internet Marketing provides, but you could never have with any kind of traditional marketing campaign. These are the kinds we are going to look at, in this book. Be ready to be amazed by what you can do with endless possibilities for your business’ marketing, with the different internet technologies we’ll look at.

What exactly is Internet Marketing?

Also known a Digital Marketing, and sometimes called Online marketing, these terms all mean the same thing. It is simply the use of internet platforms/Channels to market your Brand, Products or Services.

It doesn’t really matter what you are marketing, as long as you market it via a platform on the internet, you are…Digital/online/Internet Marketing.

What are Internet Platforms/Channels?

They Simply are; any media carrier on the internet. Almost anything you can visit online is an internet platform. As long as it carries/delivers any form of content like Images/Photos, Videos, text, audio, that’s an Internet platform.

Examples of Internet Platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any website you have ever visited online. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram however fall under a special category famously known as “Social Media”. This is because of their nature being centered around connecting society.

Why Digital Marketing?

There are two types of marketing; Traditional Marketing, and Digital Marketing?

What is the difference, and why should you opt for Digital than Traditional methods? that’s what we are looking at today. Many businesses, large and small, in and around Kampala look at traditional marketing as the superior form of advertising in Uganda, this is mostly because they have no idea what digitizing their marketing means, costs and what it takes.

Traditional marketing; It is the use of print ads in newspapers, magazines, flyers, billboards, commercials both on TV and radio etc.

Digital marketing however is all based on the internet, it’s why we can also call it “Internet marketing”. When a business invests in building a website, making and communicating promotional messages with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, this is what’s termed as Digital/Internet marketing.

Now for the actual reasons

1. A global audience; Digital marketing allows you flexibility to target your local audiences in Uganda, Kampala, Mbarara, or even as small as the smallest villages in the different districts of the country. Similar you can target your adverts to an international, or a local international audience.

Let me explain; Even if you are in Kampala, and have completely no contact in the united states, you can go ahead to set up an advert that targets an audience in New York, and the small communities in the specified country(is).
Digital marketing also allows you to target specific groups of people based of gender, age and interests.

2. You have ability to reach your audience in multipal forms. This means your audience can consume your adverts in several forms. These include Short form text, image adverts, blog post, video content etc according to each person’s preference, traditional marketing doesn’t give the audience these choices.

3. Internet marketing gives you the ability, to easily interact with your audience directly. This is advantage is mostly usable on social media adverts, where, interaction is more so encouraged, that it’s hard not to get it with your audience. Traditional marketing methods doesn’t allow for any of these.

4. Digital marketing is cost-efficient; It is very easy to run adverts on the internet at completely no cost at all. Yes it is much better and easier to invest in paid ads online, but even for this, the cost is still way-too cheap compared to traditional marketing.

5. You can always measure performance of your adverts. Very much data and results are recorded with tools like Google Analytics and other Statistical tools offered by social media networks. This can help you weigh on which campaigns are better than the others, and discover new advertising opportunities.

In some cases, you can even see real time what is or not working for your business online to a adapt as quick as possible, after all “It’s like the animal kingdom. Adapt or go extinct.”—Brett Hull.

6. Any business using Digital Marketing can compete with any competitor regardless of size and authority. If your business has got a good digital marketing strategy, your competitor can only work to get his strategy as good. Traditional marketing however, will not cater for smaller businesses with out big marketing budgets.

7. You don’t have to wait days, weeks or months for a boost in your business if you’re using Digital marketing. This is because you can see the numbers of visitors to your website, and can judge on the impact of your advertising efforts.

8. Digital Marketing content/adverts can go Viral, how often do you see flyers or billboards get views, likes or favorites? They in most cases are never even shared by the people you hand them to. This is where digital marketing takes off. The internet has provided platforms and several forms of sharing your adverts, content here goes viral all the time. Almost every day there is something trending somewhere, and some of these could be your advert.

How and when should you use Traditional Marketing?

It is in most cases a never. At Optibrave, we use both digital and traditional. Traditional has always been in print, but also never in magazines or newspaper. This is because some of our customers have no idea internet marketing exists and may not even be using the internet as often themselves, and so we use fliers, pull-up banners and portfolio booklets as educational materials for them.

Traditional marketing has always been in way, a tactic to complement our digital marketing strategy. It only further strengthens our digital marketing efforts.
For example, after meeting a client for a business meeting, I could leave them a small portfolio booklet that also emphasizes they should find more information on our website, I could hand out flyers on a small event where I was invited, etc.

 

In Conclution, Digital is Better.

We recommend digital, almost always. It’s not because we are an Awesome Digital Marketing Agency, But we have seen it work, and have proved it multipal time. It is the new thing now, it’s what brings the best ROI—Return on Investment, and gives you a better relationship with your customers.

If you are a business in Kampala, Uganda, looking to marketing your products, services or your brand. Digital is the way, it is the future of marketing, and it’s ideal you start now. After all, “It’s like the animal kingdom. Adapt or go extinct.”—Brett Hull.

 

This Article was re-modeled from a book by Peter E. Bampaire, Called “Internet Marketing In Under 1 Hour“

 

Any questions about this topic, drop your comments below, will answer as soon as possible. Thanks for reading.