Understanding Digital Marketing- the eCommerce Frontline Library
Understanding Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is an online marketing program that boosts cross channel promotion of a brand, product, or service.

Understanding Digital Marketing

Article written by James Bledsoe, Director of the eCommerce Solutions Center

Getting Started With Digital Marketing

It is recommended to do some research on international digital marketing strategy to help  ensure your business success, you can begin with this recorded webinar “International Marketing Strategy to Grow Your eCommerce (B2b & B2C)” hosted by strategic partner IBT Online.

Digital marketing involves many different media channels and can get rather expensive, so try to understand your costs and returns from it.
Digital marketing involves many different media channels and can get rather expensive, so try to understand your costs and returns from it.

Before investing a lot of capital into digital marketing efforts, it is always important to look at your website’s current internationalization to help facilitate international sales. Website internationalization is the process a business goes through to make their website more effective at reaching potential customers and business partners in other countries.

Digital Marketing Best Practices

Digital marketing should be used in conjunction with planned calls to action, such as preparing for trade show outreach, to drive measurable traffic towards your website and other online sales channels.

Digital marketing is a great tool for your trade show preparations.
Digital marketing is a great tool for your trade show preparations.

Properly deploying digital marketing for your business involves many business skillsets, to include content creation, content management, website translation, organic search (SEO), paid advertising, email campaign, social media content management, website development, and website design. It is recommended that each business perform their own due diligence when searching for Digital Marketing Service Providers.

5 Steps to Effective Digital Marketing

  1. Define Marketing Goals and Objectives: Determine what general goals management wants, match measurable marketing objectives with your digital strategy to ensure your sales channels and tactics lead to the management goal. Learn about your audience and how they get information to help you determine achievable, measurable goals.
  2. Find Your Best Market: Get help from your Local Trade Specialist to decide on countries to market to, based on market research and website analytics
  3. Ensure Website Internationalization: Use SEO services like the WGR Service to see if your website and online sales channels proactively indicate international sales. Emphasizing “Made in USA”, translated landing pages, and other “international sales welcome mat gestures” in addition to search engine optimization is essential for cross-border ecommerce.
  4. Review Web Analytics: How do you know if you are reaching your digital marketing objectives? Make sure to regularly review your website analytics dashboard to monitor data points like unique website visitors, and visitor country of origin, in addition to web sales conversion rates and total social engagement rates.
  5. Identify Effective Channels: Identify most effective online channels, and use web analytics strategically to understand how to further achieve management marketing objectives through those channels.

     

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