If you had to define ‘digital marketing’, how would you do it? I suspect most small business owners with limited marketing knowledge would define it as using digital strategies to sell things. After all, aren’t marketing and selling one and the same? No, they are not. Digital marketing is not just about selling.
Digital marketing is equal parts selling and brand building. Ultimately, building a reputable brand that people trust leads to long term sales. Therefore, one could argue that brand building is more important than immediate sales.
I mention all of this to make the point that there is an intrinsic link between digital marketing and brand building. Digital marketing strategies can enhance brand. Likewise, building a solid brand can boost digital marketing.
A Variety of Disciplines
Do not think of digital marketing as just one thing. It is actually a concept more than anything else. Digital marketing is a concept that relies on a variety of disciplines in order to achieve stated goals. Here are some of those disciplines, most of which you have probably heard of before:
- SEO – Digital marketing services tend to start with SEO for one particularly good reason: you cannot begin building brand loyalty if people don’t know your organization exists. SEO’s main goal is to get the word out through search engines.
- Content Marketing – As the internet and search engines have matured, content has become a more valuable marketing tool. Content drives traffic. It creates online authority. It even sells stuff.
- Social Media – Smart digital marketers know they have to reach audiences where they are. And where are they most of the time these days? On social media. Modern digital marketing services need to include social media in the mix.
Other disciplines within digital marketing include email marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and link building. All work together to drive traffic and build an organization’s brand.
A Brand Represents the Organization
Digital marketing services with brand building baked in rest on the foundational principle that brand represents an organization. For all intents and purposes, an organization’s brand is its unique identity. It might include a logo and color scheme for visual reference, but brand runs far deeper than that.
Webtek Digital Marketing, a Salt Lake City, UT digital marketing agency with a sister office in Austin, TX, says exploiting the intrinsic link between digital marketing and brand building rests in putting together a comprehensive brand strategy. A solid brand strategy includes:
- Brand values and mission
- Brand voice and personality
- Value proposition (a.k.a. unique selling proposition)
All three are aimed at a target audience that can be encapsulated in customer personas. Developing customer personas is not mandatory, but it sure helps a lot. In addition, coming up with a good brand strategy facilitates everything that flows from it, including messaging, visual elements, and integrating one’s brand into digital marketing campaigns.
The Two Feed Off One Another
Once an organization’s brand is on solid ground, amazing things can happen. Digital marketing services and brand building can feed off one another to produce undeniable results. We have all experienced it by way of global heavy hitters like Coca Cola, Disney, and Apple. Truth be told, brand building can be just as powerful for companies whose businesses are primarily local or regional. It is not just for global corporations.
The link between digital marketing services and brand building is undeniable. Here is the bottom line: if you are putting time and effort into digital marketing without paying attention to your organization’s brand, you are doing your organization a disservice. Make brand building a priority for long term success.
